From what I can tell, and forgive me if I am mistaken, you seem willing to accept that sometimes there are some anomalies that cause individuals who are apparently one sex to actually be a different sex.
I accept that there are some extremely rare disorders that cause ambiguous reproductive systems, which make it difficult to discern whether the individual is male or female without additional tests. I'll further point out that those disorders come with deleterious effects, and in many cases significant health concerns outside of just fertility. They're actual medical conditions, with actual real medical problems and risks.
The outside doesn’t match the inside.
Almost never, and those extraordinarily rare cases of CAIS have nothing at all to do with transgender identity issues.
You seem fine with that EXCEPT when it comes to individuals who—again, due to a biological anomaly, feel to be male when their body appears female or who feel to be female even if they have a penis and testes.
I challenge you baseless assertion that it's a biological anomaly in the first place. Furthermore, at no point have you elaborated on what exactly is mean by "feels female". So far as I can tell, you;ve simply accepted the claim made by others that 1) transgender identified males genuinely feel like females and 2) that their feelings are congenital in nature.
Regarding the first, you haven't challenged what that even means, you've just accepted that if someone says they feel like a female, that must somehow mean the same thing to them that it means to you. I very strongly disagree, and I don't think that any of them have any basis on which to even make that claim. I don't think any of them actually feel like a female in any way that you or I or most women would recognize as being valid. I think it has just as much validity as Rachel Dolezal's assertion that she feels like a black woman - which is zero validity.
Regarding the second, there is no actual support for the claim that such feelings are congenital in nature, let alone that a congenital cause is the predominant driver. There's no more support for transgender identity being innate than there is for anorexia being innate. In fact, there's far less of it since we know that at least some portion of current "transwomen" have a transvestic paraphilia expressing with autogynephilia.
Such trans individuals feel such a level of discomfort with their bodies that they seek out surgical and hormonal interventions so that they can feel like themselves, whole and complete. Do you think they are pretending? 35 years ago, I pretty much discounted the possibility that such a phenomenon existed because I had never encountered it and because it just seemed weird.
I'm the opposite of you - 35 years ago I would have been far more inclined to accept that transexxuals need phsycial and hormonal intervention in order to obtain mental well being. Now, however, things have changed. The volume of people identifying as transgender - NOT transsexual - has skyrocketed, and a huge number of them do NOT want surgical intervention at all. In fact, a rather large number of them are extremely fond of their "ladydick" and seem to really enjoy telling actual women to suck it, as well as threatening actual women with violence and rape for the crime of objecting to bepenised individuals stripping down in front of them without consent.
And then I met pre surgical trans individuals. And other trans folks. I recognized that this was their truth and as valid as my truth that indeed, I could do math and science and play football ( tackle) and basketball despite being a girl —and a pretty small one at that. Indeed, my size was the biggest impediment. There was a world of difference between me resenting restrictions placed on girls, my dislike of the fact that I would menstruate and that I found bras uncomfortable ( and largely unnecessary except to my mother) and the expectation that whatever my achievements, I would be expected to set those aside to take care of children and husband I would surely have. I despised the sexism I grew up surrounded by—and my parents actually encouraged us to achieve whatever we could, not just in ‘girl areas.’
But never for a moment did I doubt my sex or my gender. Lucky me: they matched. As they do for almost everyone.
Almost. What is it you want trans women to do? Continue to go to the men’s room and locker room? Is it better that they risk rape than that cis women do?
Set aside your beliefs on this for a moment.
- If a male tries to rape another male, what do you think are the odds that the victim will be able to successfully fight off his attacker?
- If a female tries to rape another female, what do you think are the odds that the victim will be able to successfully fight off her attacker?
- If a male tries to rape a female, what do you think are the odds that the victim will be able to successfully fight off her attacker?
For years, I've been unable to find any cases of a transgender-identifying male being sexually assaulted or raped in a male intimate space - bathroom, changing room, showers, etc. The single exception being prisons, and that's a different issue. And unlike Loren, I've done the research, I've *tried* to find them. On the other hand, I've found many cases of women being sexually assaulted or raped by transgender-identified males in female intimate spaces, as well as many cases of women being sexually assaulted or raped by men who claim to be transgender when they're arrested.
I accept that men can pose a threat to other men. I absolutely know 100% that men can pose a threat to women.
What I don't get is why on earth anyone would think that giving some males access to female intimate spaces is a reasonable solution. Especially since transgender identified males commit sexual offenses at a rate HIGHER than that of other males. Even if somehow being transgender makes a male magically safe for women to be around, and all genuine transwomen are guaranteed to present absolutely no risk to women at all... you've still created a situation in which
literally any man at all can simply toss on some lipstick and say they're trans. Do you think those words are actually magic? Do you think the act of saying them is like confession, and wipes their souls clean of all tendency toward sexual offending?
I think that a good 98% of transgender identified males will be just fine in male spaces - I think most men aren't going to be bothered by their presence other than perhaps a second glance. But I also fully support making individual use unisex restrooms available for use, so that those very few small-boned, delicate, transsexuals who don't pass have somewhere they can feel safe.
I absolutely do NOT think that women should be expected to serve as security blankets for Eddie Izzard or Sarah McBride just so their feelings don't get hurt.
Yes, there are absolutely bad actors who exploit laws and rules and some do so explicitly to gain access to victims. That is something that I also worry about. I DO worry about girls and women facing fear and trauma in supposedly safe spaces from bad actors. Unfortunately, that is not a zero risk. Fortunately, it is a much smaller risk than the risk girls and women ( cis or trans) face every single day, usually from someone they should be able to trust.
I think that sexual assault is a different issue than trans vs cis rights. And much much more prevalent and insidious.
I don't think you can pry the two apart. If you have some actual plan that somehow provides greater protection to transgender-identified males and does NOT increase risk to women, and does NOT increase the access to women for sexual predators, then please put that forth.
But as it stands right now... there is no way to tell them apart. There's no way to tell whether the male in our midst is a harmless genuine transwoman or whether they're a flasher/voyeur/offender exploiting some lipstick to gain access to nonconsenting victims.
