My son can tell...

I don't have to prove I, or any other trans person, has changed sex

You haven’t. No one has. Ever. There is nothing to prove. It’s impossible.

I'm a woman. I'd still be a woman if I had never sought surgical and hormonal treatment. I'd still be a woman if I was nothing more than a few scraps of neurological tissue.

This is your belief. But it’s objectively not true. Is this what “living as a woman” means? Really, really believing it? It’s not clothes. So can someone demonstrate they are “living as a woman” by just saying they believe they are?

As for whether I am medically female? That depends on who is asking and what specific part of my body is relevant at the time. I view with great suspicion any person who tries to reduce reality to a string of lazy ontological essences with no room for nuance.

No part of your body is female, medically or otherwise. It’s not an “ontological essence”. It’s just reality.

How can someone tell if a male they see is trans or not? What is “living as a woman” other than that person internally believing that’s what they’re doing?

I don't have to prove I, or any other trans person, has changed sex. I don't spent my days worrying about the metaphysical implications of the hormonal and surgical changes I have made to my body; they are real and tangible enough for me and they alter the behaviour of others through their perception of me.

I'm a woman. I'd still be a woman if I had never sought surgical and hormonal treatment. I'd still be a woman if I was nothing more than a few scraps of neurological tissue.

As for whether I am medically female? That depends on who is asking and what specific part of my body is relevant at the time. I view with great suspicion any person who tries to reduce reality to a string of lazy ontological essences with no room for nuance.

I think it’s also apparent that the high grooming and presentational standards that are required for women to be on television are not required for tw. Which is another double standard.

What is the "anti-trans movement"?

This 'trans people exist' trope:

Of course if 'trans people' means 'people with no heads or bodies', then, no, trans people don't exist.

But if 'trans people' means 'people who think they have changed sex', then, yes, trans people do exist.

So, now, the $64000 question: if 'trans people' means 'people who have actually changed sex', do trans people exist? This question may elicit different responses. Clearly enough, it goes proxy for another question, viz, can people actually change sex?

The answer to this latter question is simply no. But of course that's too obvious. Hence, to muddy the waters and hide behind resulting opacity, we get this nonsense of 'denying existence'.

I don't deny your existence, @ButterflyHatched. I just point out you haven't changed sex. No-one has.

Convince me otherwise. Explain why you think I'm wrong. But please, please, leave off with this 'denying the existence of trans people'. It's just such an obvious tired attempt at fallacious equivocation.

does is get tiring being this transphobic?

If we’re told that trans people are such a tiny group of people - so small in numbers, such a minority, then why are they so disproportionately visible on TV. I can’t even watch Pottery Throw Down without having to have a difficult conversation about Rose.

i know it’s a diversity hire, but it’s tedious to keep trying to explain to the children. I feel guilty enough about the Santa, elf and fairy lies without trying to convince them the 6ft bloke in a dress is a woman with a deep voice.

My friend who now calls himself a woman's name disappears off for an hour and a half to shave his entire body, put on makeup, style hair, squeeze into shape wear and top that all off with a dress before he's "a woman" in order to go out with his boyfriend. He doesn't bother at home.

Yeah, no.

Being gay was illegal, it was seen as abhorrent. Guess what, it’s not seen that way anymore.

In theory it’s possible the vast majority of transwomen are as you describe, @ButterflyHatched , and quietly pass under the radar.

I find it unlikely though, given how many I see out and about inappropriately dressed. Given the small proportion of the population that are trans, I should not see so many men dressed ‘like but not like’ women out and about. A chap I saw last year looked like he was on the way to a fetish party. I can’t give a full description as I was driving and needed to concentrate on the road. There were definitely knee high socks of stockings, and a sports bra involved though. It was his aggressive walk that caught my eye, then I wondered what on earth he as wearing before I twigged.
The most appropriately dressed trans woman I saw was a goth. So full scope for dramatic clothes and makeup within the genre.

The transmen I’ve seen have a much harder job. Short hair, jeans, trainers, no make up… How on earth can you make a young woman look they are trying to look like a man?

I've had my kids ask "why is that man wearing a dress?". And I'll reply "I don't know, because he likes it?", because I don't know if it's a man being trans-identifying, or a man who just likes dresses.

My youngest once saw Lia Thomas on the podium in that infamous photo where he was towering on the 1st place platform and the other "winners" were all posing waaaay off to the side, and she asked, "Why is that man there and those women there?" (and yes, she DID say that, and no, it's NOT made up. KIDS CAN TELL INSTANTLY, like we all can lol).

Fantastic parenting is not grooming your child to engage and participate in adult falsehoods.

I'm going to copy and paste what I replied to you before, in the comment that you have just quoted: "Not sure why you're telling me that people with DSDs are not anything to do with trans people, as I literally said that in my original comment!"

And I said I agreed with you.

"The GRA's intent is very clear."

Is it? The much touted legal history seems to be all about permitting men to marry men. (And claim a pension at 60 before equalisation).

No idea what the intent is now that they can without a GRC. Is it to make single sex exemptions impossible? That seems to be the most desired and aggressively promoted outcome of "gender recognition".

We have seen a lot of photographic evidence that says other wise though! So there's that.

How do we know a male is trans if we see them walking down the street? How do we know that person is “living as a woman” rather than a man if it’s not about clothes?

@Emotionalsupportviper

That would be "encountering in real life".

Yes, it would. Which is exactly what happened with the OP and her son. Again, I invite you to read the OP's second post.

In the UK certainly, support groups etc for people with DSDs have repeatedly stated that they are NOTHING to do with transgenderism, and have repeatedly asked the TRAs not to drag them into the argument as evidence that people can change sex.

I'm going to copy and paste what I replied to you before, in the comment that you have just quoted: "Not sure why you're telling me that people with DSDs are not anything to do with trans people, as I literally said that in my original comment!"

Please take the time to read the OP's second post, which is what I was replying to.

Sounds like you've dealt with it brilliantly: true, to the point, not at all preachy!
It is very difficult. I have a neurodivergent DD and the fact that this stuff is everywhere makes me terrified for her. There are such clear links between neurodiversity and accepting this massively damaging nonsense. Quite aside from the safeguarding issues with lying to children about what a man or woman is.
Hopefully it will have died down a bit by the time your DS reaches a more vulnerable age.