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Is Transgenderism a choice?

X Factor

X Factor

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I, personally, feel the question regarding homosexuality is settled. It isn’t a choice any more than being hetero is. I’m not as sure with regard to being trans. From my extremely limited perspective, there seems to be a lot of choice involved but I don’t think people undertake changing their physical gender lightly. Can this even be answered by a simple yes or no?
 
How is there choice involved? The TG I know repressed all these feelings all her life until she just couldn't anymore. The very last choice she would have made if she had one.
 
Transgenderism is not a choice, defined as a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth gender. Doing something about it *is* the choice part.
 
Question...

" Is Transgenderism a choice? "

You bet.
It's a choice of something that you're not.
 
X Factor said:
I, personally, feel the question regarding homosexuality is settled. It isn’t a choice any more than being hetero is. I’m not as sure with regard to being trans. From my extremely limited perspective, there seems to be a lot of choice involved but I don’t think people undertake changing their physical gender lightly. Can this even be answered by a simple yes or no?
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My non-medical unprofessional opinion is - no, it's not a choice. How a person acts on it is a choice, or choices, but the condition that can be described as Transgender, is not a choice. Cross-dressing, which is completely different from Transgender, IMO, is a choice.

Transgender, as I understand it, is when your brain tells you in every way possible that you are the opposite sex than what your body actually is in reality when you were born.
 
For the Thread:

Yes I bitch about the low quality of work coming out of the infantile Hollywood but the other day I saw a movie which revolves around transgenders that was fixating.

It is on Netflix.





Fun Fact: This movie was I think one of the first to be of this quality shot with IPhones
 
Beaudreaux said:
My non-medical unprofessional opinion is - no, it's not a choice. How a person acts on it is a choice, or choices, but the condition that can be described as Transgender, is not a choice. Cross-dressing, which is completely different from Transgender, IMO, is a choice.

Transgender, as I understand it, is when your brain tells you in every way possible that you are the opposite sex than what your body actually is in reality when you were born.
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What about the 76 other made-up genders?
 
X Factor said:
I, personally, feel the question regarding homosexuality is settled. It isn’t a choice any more than being hetero is. I’m not as sure with regard to being trans. From my extremely limited perspective, there seems to be a lot of choice involved but I don’t think people undertake changing their physical gender lightly. Can this even be answered by a simple yes or no?
Click to expand...

No. I think transgender people genuinely believe they are people of a different sex than what they were born with.
 
X Factor said:
I, personally, feel the question regarding homosexuality is settled. It isn’t a choice any more than being hetero is. I’m not as sure with regard to being trans. From my extremely limited perspective, there seems to be a lot of choice involved but I don’t think people undertake changing their physical gender lightly. Can this even be answered by a simple yes or no?
Click to expand...

yes it can be answered with a simple yes or no and the answer is no, its not a choice.

My GUESS is (and correct me if im wrong) you are confusing many things or not asking your question clear enough.

Being transgender is NOT a choice... just like being hetero or homosexual is not, although transgender is NOT a sexual orientation its still not a choice. (not claiming you siad it was just being clear)

a person is still homosexual if they never have sex or touch the same gender sexually, just like a person is stil heterosexual if they never touch the opposite sex thier whole life. the action is choice but not the orientation

transgender is very similar. Some may do many different things to change and some may not do anything, thier transgender none the less.

is that the part that maybe has you confused? the choice to get surgery or the choice to do hormone treatments etc etc? those are choices, eventhough for some they could lead to worse or better results.

But again the transgender part is not a choice its there regardless...
 
OrphanSlug said:
Transgenderism is not a choice, defined as a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth gender. Doing something about it *is* the choice part.
Click to expand...

Can a person be trans without physically changing anything?
 
enderpotato00 said:
What about the 76 other made-up genders?
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I can't get down with that! Or the movement to remove gender entirely from the 99.999% of people who are totally comfortable with theirs for the sake of the .001% that are not.
 
PTF said:
Question...

" Is Transgenderism a choice? "

You bet.
It's a choice of something that you're not.
Click to expand...

sorry its not a choice LMAO
 
Felis Leo said:
No. I think transgender people genuinely believe they are people of a different sex than what they were born with.
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its also not a "belief", you may have not meant to say it that way but its not a belief just to be clear.

When a transgender person looks in the mirror they fully know and understand what they see, they do not see a girl if they have external boy parts. They are fully aware of thier genetic and external make up, its one of the thigns that can cause some of them stress.
 
X Factor said:
Can a person be trans without physically changing anything?
Click to expand...

Yes of course...
can you be heterosexual with out ever touching a girl?

a transgender is transgender no matter stage of transition or lack of one
 
I believe it doesn't matter either way.

Nearly all of our behaviors are a combination of genetics, experience, and choice.
Different people in different proportions, but there it is.

The idea that it's settled science that a person is "gay" or not, seems absurd in every meaningful way.
That it matters whether it's mostly a choice, or genetics, I think also seems absurd.

What matters where LGBTQ++ etc whatever is concerned, is civil/human rights. Beaten, killed, blamed for mass tragedies, disowned by families, the legacy of hate and mistreatment, largely fueled by religious mythology, ignorance, and monkey-see-monkey-do. We're trying to change society to treat everyone civilly, and there will be growing pains, sadly.

So I sort of agree in that I don't think yes/no even matters, it's about human rights IMO, and loving your fellow humans.
 
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X Factor said:
Can a person be trans without physically changing anything?
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Yes. They could simply be able to deal with any feelings of unrightness (my word, only one I could come up with) without much of an issue. Many though need to do something (even if just presenting as the gender they feel they are) to live the best life they feel they can. What they need to do to live a healthy life or close to it for them varies. But should be between them and their mental healthcare professional and allowed completely.
 
X Factor said:
I, personally, feel the question regarding homosexuality is settled. It isn’t a choice any more than being hetero is. I’m not as sure with regard to being trans. From my extremely limited perspective, there seems to be a lot of choice involved but I don’t think people undertake changing their physical gender lightly. Can this even be answered by a simple yes or no?
Click to expand...

I don't think they take it lightly either. I've had conversations with perhaps a half-dozen transgenders over the years, and they all describe the same sense of basically, horror, at looking at the mirrored reflection and seeing a body that their brain cannot recognize as belonging to them. Their brains are hard-wired for one gender, and one gender only; unfortunately, the body they possess is not the same gender.

These people go through a lot of heartbreak, emotional trauma, years of psychological counseling, and varying degrees of physical pain (depending on whether they choose surgery or hormone treatments alone).

So to your question, it's not a simply "yes" or "no" to anyone who has not suffered a lifetime of gender identity dysphoria. They'd have to be pretty much in the "no choice" camp to undergo an actual physical transformation.
 
X Factor said:
Can a person be trans without physically changing anything?
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That would depend on if continuing to suppress and hide one's dysphoria would have a better life outcome than treating it; for example, the acceptance and love of one's family meant more than dealing with one's own inner turmoil. It's a shame, but too many TG dysphoric individuals have absolutely no support mechanism, and can't imagine losing ties with their loved ones; so they suppress and keep silent.
 
I think we have to trust the testimony of transgender people themselves, who, as far as I know overwhelming say it is not a choice, that they feel in their deepest being that they were born different. I also think that like homosexuality, transgenderism probably exists on some sort of continuum. Only the individual can determine where he or she might fall on the scale.
 
AGENT J said:
its also not a "belief", you may have not meant to say it that way but its not a belief just to be clear.

When a transgender person looks in the mirror they fully know and understand what they see, they do not see a girl if they have external boy parts. They are fully aware of thier genetic and external make up, its one of the thigns that can cause some of them stress.
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I must not fully understand what you are trying to convey. To illustrate the point I was trying to make, I am a biological man and I believe that I am a man (as in I accept the proposition of my manhood as true), and my belief can be verified through independent empirical study. If another biological man believes that he is actually a woman in a man's body, I do not doubt the sincerity of his (or her) belief. And I do not think that the transgender individual has any choice in the matter except insofar as how he or she chooses to act upon that belief.
 
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Felis Leo said:
I must not fully understand what you are trying to convey. To illustrate the point I was trying to make, I am a biological man and I believe that I am a man (as in I accept the proposition of my manhood as true), and my belief can be verified through independent empirical study. If another biological man believes that he is actually a woman in a man's body, I do not doubt the sincerity of his (or her) belief. And I do not think that the transgender individual has any choice in the matter except insofar as how he or she chooses to act upon that belief.
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Well i dont know how to make it any more clear. its not a belief, they know what they are.

here maybe this will help, a person who is delusional may believe they are something they are not . . pick what ever you want, person place or thing when they look in the mirror thats what they see, the BELIEVE they are that person place or thing.


Thats not what transgender is, If i ask my friend amy (made up name) who is transgender what she was born as, she is fully away she was born genetically male. She is not under the belief she is genetically a woman. She knows when she looks in the mirror that she is looking at a genetic male. Now the part of her brain that is in control of that is female so she feels female, her soul is female (her words) she has no belief she is female (physical exterior) Like you said you "accept" it, they do to, they accept their exterior and know what they are genetically. They dont "believe" otherwise.
 
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