Can someone please explain... (trans)

[WednesdayAllTheWay]

So I've been trying to follow this trans situation for a while but now having skin in the game in the form of a child (and also noting through work how more and more people are identifying as the opposite gender) I need to understand it better.
Feel slightly embarrassed asking but:

1. How exactly do the words sex and gender differ in this area?
2. What reasons do trans people give for wanting to change their physical bodies? As in what do people believe they will get from this that they couldn't get in the body they were born with?
3. What are children being taught at school about this?

Thanks!

Well, thanks everyone for your help

Really not sure what happened to your thread, wednesday it sure does have a lot of content, at least....

I've read every post and have learned a lot

Where I am still not clear is why trans people may want to change their bodies.
I'm disturbed by the talk about rape.
I perceive the viciousness of this fight and know this doesn't translate to the positive experiences I've had with trans people.
I am saddened that I've not heard any trans activist ever (not just on this thread) give an indication they understand the repression of women or what it is like to be a woman, or that they wish to fight alongside feminists.
(please do direct me if you know of one)
I am heartened though by the eloquent, intelligent responses of many feminists.

Just to refer back to a comment from earlier - the risk to women in prison from Rose Wsst or whomever else doesn't involve possible pregnancy and being physically less able to defend themselves.

@HollowTalk

Though according to my daughter, who is as woke as fuck, there's no such thing as biological sex... Our conversation ended at that point as she no-platformed me

If it helps I thought the same until I was about 20. At 25 I know differently.

@CorianderQueen - My son is 24 and this is the song I was referring to

@SophocIestheFox

Good point re the gendered luxury of being able to believe oneself above the mundanity of the flesh.

When I got through menopause I was completely gobsmacked at how easy life is with no periods, cyclic pain, hormonal swings, fear of or longing for pregnancy etc. Post menopause feels much closer to being a man than pre menopause does- the sense of liberation is real. No wonder older women are seen as so dangerous- we bloody are!

That's a nice thing to look forward to, perhaps! Although I like having the cyclical rhythm of periods.

well this has been entertaining. I still haven't had my questions answered but I'm not sure I care any more - and after countless threads of discussion from all of us trying to elicit an explanation that makes sense. Sort of along the lines of....

Q. What is a woman? A. A woman is an adult human female.

I have got far enough along in life to find out that life's fundamental concepts can be explained and evidenced very simply and clearly. There is no simplicity or clarity in any explanation of the experience of being transgender that we have been offered so far.

The one explanation that makes sense - that some people have a mental health condition that causes them to feel a rejection or disassociation of whichever aspect of their existing body gets rejected by people who claim experience of this so where does that leave us?

This topic is unique in the fact that the more I find out about it, the less I understand (although obviously I think many of us are developing our own theories).

and thanks Sophocles - that makes the female experience I have to look forward to sound more bearable - I was a bit worried about it but I think I will go towards it with more positivity.

The one explanation that makes sense - that some people have a mental health condition that causes them to feel a rejection or disassociation of whichever aspect of their existing body gets rejected by people who claim experience of this so where does that leave us?

YY this is what I think too.

Going through it was horrible (I was only 42), but coming out the other side was fantastic, and I really do try to take the positive of having it all over and done with young, and hopefully moving smoothly to wise young crone

Hoping to skip the horrible bit! Apparently walnuts will do it.

@SophocIestheFox

Going through it was horrible (I was only 42), but coming out the other side was fantastic, and I really do try to take the positive of having it all over and done with young, and hopefully moving smoothly to wise young crone

52 and still waiting....

Very heartening to read that Sophocles

Maybe after menopause I will also gain misplaced miraculous self confidence and the audacity to share my more outlandish ideas as actual fact-based science created from my own internal essences and feelings? Bonus!

I always hope to learn something from threads where trans people engage.

So far I’ve got ‘I’m female because I have a female gender identity’????

‘I was always female that’s why I had to transition’ - if you were already female surely there is no transition. We’ve all been told women can have penises. If you were ‘born female’ you’ve just had a bit of cosmetic surgery because you didn’t like some things about your physical appearance - a bit like me having a boob job.

I’m now more confused by what being trans means.

[quote Positrans]This is a good one for some background science:

blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/stop-using-phony-science-to-justify-transphobia/[/quote]
Oh my god. I cannot believe I missed this old chestnut! This is such a poorly written and ill conceived article.

But it all comes back to relying on other people’s medical conditions as a justification of a pseudoscientific theory. It is so deeply flawed and I cannot believe that people read these articles and theory pieces.

It is honestly like thinking people born with a missing leg proves that humans are not bipedal animals.

It is so deeply flawed and I cannot believe that people read these articles and theory pieces.

Sorry, I didn’t finish my sentence.

It is so deeply flawed and I cannot believe that people read these articles and theory pieces and come away thinking that they a well explained and convincing scientific basis for redefining the way we see the sex categories of humans.

@BewaretheIckabog

I always hope to learn something from threads where trans people engage.

So far I’ve got ‘I’m female because I have a female gender identity’????

‘I was always female that’s why I had to transition’ - if you were already female surely there is no transition. We’ve all been told women can have penises. If you were ‘born female’ you’ve just had a bit of cosmetic surgery because you didn’t like some things about your physical appearance - a bit like me having a boob job.

I’m now more confused by what being trans means.

Shit!

I’ve always been female and I’ve realised I’ve forgotten to transition!

Can someone remind me next week when I have more time. TIA.

@Deliriumoftheendless

I’ve had a glass of wine - should probably not post but ...

As I understand:

This poster is not saying their gender identity does not match their sex, they are saying they were born female. If you are what you are at birth, despite many bigots refusing to accept it, you cannot transition because you are innately the sex you are.

In which case @Positrans and I are denying the existence of trans people.

I am going away to scratch my head, think a bit more and have another glass of wine.

Have one for me, I’m off to bed.

Regarding Rose West, I read an autobiography by a woman who had spent time on UK prisons for drug trafficking in Thailand, and according to her observations, Rose West was more in danger from the other prisoners.

No strength advantage over any of them, no Fred, and universally loathed.

@WednesdayAllTheWay

Where I am still not clear is why trans people may want to change their bodies. I'm disturbed by the talk about rape. I perceive the viciousness of this fight and know this doesn't translate to the positive experiences I've had with trans people. I am saddened that I've not heard any trans activist ever (not just on this thread) give an indication they understand the repression of women or what it is like to be a woman, or that they wish to fight alongside feminists. (please do direct me if you know of one) I am heartened though by the eloquent, intelligent responses of many feminists.

That's it - the lack of empathy there is often what makes women fed up, when we've been inclined to be supportive and kind and all the rest.

The body-changing made sense when the issue was being transsexual - it does not in this new, vague, umbrella usage of 'trans' and the associated gender identity stuff. It is an incoherent position at present, so to be confused is normal!

@PotholeParadies

Regarding Rose West, I read an autobiography by a woman who had spent time on UK prisons for drug trafficking in Thailand, and according to her observations, Rose West was more in danger from the other prisoners.

No strength advantage over any of them, no Fred, and universally loathed.

I wouldn't worry about Rose raping me though.