The news reports of this controversial story are pretty bare bones. Basic story – Seventeen year old transgender Australian youth allowed to have breasts removed by court approval; Catholic church is upset about it. Note: Transgender youth Alex has been on hormone treatments for about four years. The hormone treatments would indicate that he has been in the care of professionals for some time – so the controversy raised of it being too hasty a decision seems unfounded to me.
This particular article covering the story, piqued my interest – even though it adds nothing to the basic report by Australian & UK newspapers – I wanted to point this one out, because I found the comments in this post interesting.
First, here is some of the text from the main body of the story, showing the writer’s obvious bias in the Alex case, and their uncanny ability to sum up the broad concept of gender identity and transgenderism in a few sentences:
Catholic groups view the (Alex) decision as irresponsible, and to this day, “gender identity dysphoria,” … is often spoken of as a “disorder,” or even … as a “psychological condition.”
Theorists of gender like Judith Butler argue that all gender identities are dysphoric — that none of us inhabits them as comfortably as we think we do. (Some women don’t feel “feminine,” some men don’t think they’re “manly,” and every other discomfort in between.) Transgenderism, in a way, just makes all of our gender dysphoria more obvious.
Oh dear writer, I’m so glad to know that everyone is going through the same ‘diiscomfort’ that I am, and that I am just a little more obvious about it. PLEASE GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK AND GO READ A BOOK OR SOMETHING.
The writer attempts to sway the conversation against Alex by insinuating that all people have gender dysphoria to some extent, and that transgender folk are just the more obvious extreme. Even so, the response from these commenters is all very intelligent and sensitive. It’s really wonderful to hear people making comments like that.
Sample comment:
Wow! Lots of transgender news on TresSugar lately! That’s cool, I think this is the next agenda as gay rights become more mainstream.
I’ve known a few people that have transitioned. I’d be honest and say I don’t think it’s a panacea – in my experience there are often strong emotional and psychological issues that still cripple them. I think this comes down to the whole experience of living in the wrong gender is very traumatic. All the more reason for the law to support people transitioning as soon as they’re capable of making the decision.
This person is obviously not transgender, yet the insight and compassion is amazing. This is truly inspiring to me, to see that people can be so empathetic. I find that a lot of responses to trans people in the US are overburdened with the ‘gay response’. It seems that in North America, gays feel they have the right to judge transsexuals – and do so freely in articles and comments all over the web, ridiculing and demeaning us. It really, truly amazes me – that the gay community (and I mean mostly gay males) can throw stones at ‘trannies’, from their little table for two in front of that glass house they built.
Sample of gay sentiment toward transgender folk regarding the word ‘tranny’:
by Justin. Comment from http://www.connexion.org
*Yawn*. I can’t believe this is a “news story”. Most Trannies I’ve seen are messes, and a lot look like dudes in a dress. There’s a few select ones id call “hot” but they’re very few and far between.
That quote is from an article I wrote regarding the controversy surrounding use of the word ‘tranny’ – read article here
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