"Could I ask you to bear in mind that sometimes issues look very different when you have personal experience of them, and the trans debate is one?"
I'm not going to do that. I would like to reply to several points in your comment, however, as I recently gave birth, using my uterus (something that is materially real), I don't have the time to do that, so I will have to reluctantly limit the scope of my response.
I appreciate that this must be an extremely difficult time for you; I would be devastated were I in your position, and my daughter had been caught up in this. I'm fortunate that I'm on the 'post' side of this rather than the 'pre'. That means I can take certain actions like restricting social media/smartphone usage, encourage critical thinking in my child, monitoring educational input - I might even consider home-schooling, depending on how things are, but I know this comes with other disadvantages.
But I still find this idea that being a woman is something that can be identified in or out of pretty offensive TBH, and I'm not going to pretend I don't for the sake of being polite; that's what got us into this mess.
I puked myself into hospital on probably 10+ occasions. After the birth, I was 6kg LIGHTER than my booking weight. I didn't bother to eat for days on end, because it would always come back up, regardless of what medicines I took. This was a consequence of being a pregnant woman, and having specific organs and certain hormones and physiological processes at work. I could not identify out of that living hell - would have been great if I could have. You are trapped, with only 3 routes you can take:
- Endure the living hell.
- Abort a very much wanted pregnancy.
- KYS
I could have identified out of this in the same way someone can identify out of a wheelchair, or someone can identify into another ethnicity, or I can identify to be a different age.
I could have had a 'female' name, or a 'male' name. I could have decided on whatever pronouns I wanted. Worn trousers, a conservative dress, a mans shirt or had short hair, purple hair, ticked whatever option on a form. It would have no bearing on the material, actual reality of the situation. If I decided I wanted to dress and present as a man typically does to the extent I ticked 'passes as a man' as well, it wouldn't stop me puking.
If a man decided he wants to identify as a woman, he is never going to have to be in that situation; he does not have the biological hardware. Doesn't matter whether he has a 'female name', decides he wants to pressure other people into using 'she/her' when talking about him in the third person or wears a full face of slap. He won't somehow end up sobbing and puking simultaneously because he decided to identify as a woman.
Being in most demographics has both pros and cons - some have a lot more cons than others. Society's response to these cons often helps to even this out. Children get a lot of protections because of their vulnerability. e.g, medical consent given by an adult; can't get a tattoo; can't drink ect.
Women get (well, got) separate sports categories, because in most sports they will perform worse than men because of their physiology.
If someone tries to appear to be in another demographic than the one they actually are, they can gain some of the pros, which may be accommodations specifically for some groups, of being in that demographic, while not actually having the cons when it doesn't suit them. Sometimes there may be no impact of this - e.g, if non-disabled people decide to walk up the wheelchair ramp, it won't typically affect wheelchair-users at all (unless a very crowded area). But if people decide to park in the disabled spots, it will. That's why this issue is important. It doesn't have a uniform effect; it depends on the demographic, but people in one demographic identifying into other demographics and accessing those 'pros' illegitimately often reduces the impact of those 'pros' for the people who actually need them.
If someone says, I'm suicidal if everyone doesn't pretend I fit into 'X' demographic, I'm sorry that they're in their situation mentally. I really mean that.
But everyone pretending they are actually that demographic, and for serious purposes that affect other people is not a reasonable solution to this. Its an adult version of a child saying "I'm going to keep holding my breath until I get what I want." No. We're not doing that. Go ahead, hold your breath.
Maternity outcome statistics are a serious purpose; they might affect what interventions are offered to people who actually need them. Its not acceptable any portion of these resources be frittered away to accommodate a delusion.
When someone 'passes as a man' that means that person is having to make a very deliberate effort to get everyone else to believe they are that demographic. This has actual consequences for other people. That person should get MH support, ofc. The tide is turning now, thank God, most regular people are actually aware of what is going on. In the future, this will probably be seen as some kind of culturally bound delusional disorder.
Before my pregnancy, I would probably try to be a bit more polite in how I phrased this, while keeping the meaning the same; now I don't have the patience for this. Sometimes issues look very different when you have personal experience of them:
Woman is based on biological reality; mother is a title you earn. Any man who emphatically says he is a woman and expects you to act as if this is reality is either dangerous or delusional. Traditionally, women have been expected to make personal sacrifices for the comfort and convenience of men. This was not acceptable then; it is not acceptable now. I will not pretend it is acceptable for the sake of peace.