> Trans activists tend to be
> vile, aggressive bullies

Amy, Steve Sailer has a lot of writing about this. M2F's in particular tend to be guys who are especially arrogant, with over-the-top masculine aggressive personalities before they become women… Perhaps not all of them, but the disproportion is striking.

I learned a lot about Nigeria from her books.

Sorry Goddess - no stopping at the midpoint of the slippery slope.

Male and female are terms obviously rooted in genetic and biological differences that are consistent and universal.

There are no genetic or biological markers, causes, or consistent expressions of homosexuality OR transgenderism. The mapping of the human genome conclusively proved that gays are not "born that way". But it's hard to counter Big Lie propaganda with facts.

If the language of civil rights (and sacred victimhood) is not appropriate for transgenderism - neither is it appropriate for homosexuality.

If trans demands are coercive, manipulative, and beyond the pale - so are gay demands to change bedrock social norms (marriage, childrearing).

Both homosexuality and transgendrism are behaviors, not identities - with clear dysfunctional aspects. The only way to normalize them is to dismantle healthy Western values - which is why the Left has cynically adopted them as a cultural crowbar. Setting aside the straw man of criminalization - neither one is a civil rights issue.

Sorry - if you supported gay rights, you get trana... and pushes sexualize minors. Pick up one end of the stick, you get the whole stick.

Sit down and stay on the ride.
Or admit you were wrong about gay "rights".

(...and before you preen about allowing gays to raise chuldren you should check the statistics... Number 1 risk factor for molestation is presence of an adult who is not the child's biological parent in the home. And the gay rights movement is still heavily backed by groups with pedo agendas.)

"My feeling," she said, "is that trans women are trans women. I think if you've lived in the world as a man, with the privileges the world accords to men, and then change gender, it's difficult for me to accept that then we can equate your experience with the experience of a woman who has lived from the beginning in the world as a woman, and who has not been accorded those privileges that men are."

We may then be told, in desperately imploring tone, 'But I always felt like a little boy! (Girl!)' To which we might ask, how would you know what it feels like?'

It seems to be that this entire charade is designed to shift the Overton window away from evaluating anything objectively or having any base standards of civilized behavior at all.

Some form of woke anarchy is the apparent goal.

We may then be told, in desperately imploring tone, 'But I always felt like a little boy! (Girl!)' To which we might ask, how would you know what it feels like?' ~ Crid at June 18, 2021 6:56 AM

It's all conjecture. She felt like she didn't fit in with the other girls, so she must have been a boy underneath. Desperate to fit in somewhere, she manufactures a gender dysphoria, only to find to the boys don't accept her as a boy. So, she becomes militant, demanding acceptance of her solely on her terms.

I feel like this kind of binary thinking promotes gender stereotypes. She likes engines not dolls, pants not dresses - so she doesn't fit in with the other girls and, therefore, must really be a boy.

It's human nature to want to fit in. And instead of teaching our children it's okay to not fit in, we're teaching them to do drastic things in order to fit in somewhere. The problem is that once they do, they find they don't fit in there either.

A woman with a male reproductive system will not fit in seamlessly with a group of women with female reproductive systems. The experiences throughout growing up are very different - as Adichie is trying to point out. And hormone blockers will not change that.

We should be able to find a way to accept gender-dysmorphic people without ignoring common sense - e.g., pretending that a transgender woman needs a pap smear, or calling biological women "birthing persons" to avoid upsetting the delicate sensibilities of non-biological "women." That is, if the gender-dysmorphic folks will work with us in getting through this, instead of insisting that we accommodate them unquestioningly at their chosen gender.

Some form of woke anarchy is the apparent goal. ~ Isab at June 18, 2021 7:42 AM

I think there's some form of delayed and societal adolescent rebellion in all this. Whatever shocks or upsets Mom and Dad - i.e., the "old order" - is pursued vigorously, regardless of the consequences.

Just as children often reject their parents' religions, customs, and mores in order to establish their own independent identities, the "woke" are all about overturning longstanding cultural mores as a form of emotional and ideological rebellion, more so than to build the better and more-inclusive society that they tell themselves is their goal. Anything to poke the eye of the old order. Contempt, not inclusiveness, is the real motivation.

If you look at the first part of the essay above, describing the traits of the woke, you can see deep deep resentment at the world. If you feel entitled and have an exaggerated sense of your ability, it is inexplicable that at 22 you are working at starbucks. Why won't the world recognize your greatness and give you a lexus NOW? Why won't the world give you unending praise for your bravery and wokeness? They must be evil and must be made to pay. Also, these diaper-babies have just discovered that human history is a horror show, and they don't want to know about it. They simply deny that Mao killed tens of millions, and wear a shirt with his picture on it. Their simplistic conclusion is that if the past had evil in it then civilization itself must be destroyed. That there has been a gap between our ideals and the reality of life to them is a crime rather than our source of striving to be better. Of course, anarchy is NOT a pleasant system to live in. You get warlords and no electricity and starvation (just go visit Somalia and see, or venezuela).

> So, she becomes militant,
> demanding acceptance

That's a big part of this.

In a huge hall for a science lecture decades ago, we were shown a photo of a young person severely deformed by a birth defect… Too big a group to interrupt, but I considered asking the instructor how I was able to instantly recognize the person as a girl despite profound disfigurement.

The answer was plain enough— For human beings and an uncountable number of other species, there's no distinction more consequential than recognizing whether the counterpart in an encounter is male or female. And few distinctions are as well indicated for those around us by our own phenotypes and behavior. Old Spice and eye shadow are fun, but completely unnecessary.

Perhaps a typical girl's appearance will send ten thousand cues through a photo like that… If you include scalp, cheekbones, complexion, eyebrows, etc. And maybe this girl's problem had dropped that number down to 200.

It's nonetheless a safe bet that every hormonal undergraduate in that lecture hall could spot those 200. Or even just the 20 cues sufficient to flick a switch in his understanding: This is a girl. Whether on a Big Ten campus in the disco years or staring at a rival tribe across the savanna 100,000 years ago, survival (and much else) can depend on making the correct judgement.

When I see M2F's making feminine gestures as they speak and move through the world, that insight always come to mind— These people* are making a social point of confounding the most deeply-grounded hardware and software in the human soul.

Well, for the duration of a cocktail party, it's not a problem. And I've had a couple of friends who were trans, and we got along great.

But you get the sense they're trying to prove things to somebody. And when I think Sailer's point about the arrogance of many M2F's....

*By which I secretly mean -guys-.

By the way, "hormonal undergraduate" in the comment above meant the guys.

(Maybe the women, too, but women aren't like normal people.)

> I learned a lot about Nigeria
> from her books.

What comes to mind?

Honestly I'm embarrassed to say I never really learned about Nigeria before reading her books, other than some vague ideas about Boko Haram... so it was interesting reading Half a Yellow Sun and learning about Biafra.

You know a lot more about it than I do. Mostly I've known one Nigerian in particular, and he doesn't flatter the homeland.

"Let's kill all the lawyers."

—Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2

—Me, 2004-2020

BenDavid,

>The mapping of the human genome conclusively proved that gays are not "born that way".

Not trying to start trouble, but I have had a curiosity about this. What does examining the genomic hardware tell us about personality? Kids in the same culture, same family even, turn out way different in areas of ambition, artistic ability, compassion, and such inherent traits.
You don't really know what the software will do until you boot it up. As an example, for myself, no amount of brainwashing would alter my admiration for women . On the other hand, I used to play tennis with a gay guy. The courts were next to a community college football field. During spring training when all those 20-something young men were running around with their shirts off, winning was easy.

>The mapping of the human genome conclusively proved that gays are not "born that way".

I haven't studied it, and not sure I completely agree with the premise. I know of some studies on identical twins separated during adoption and their similarities. But even with that, it's a tough one since earlier environment is more important than later, and neo natal is an environment that has a major effect. Making nature vs nurture difficult to separate fully.

People like me who are longtime defenders of gay rights (including the right to marry and adopt children) and all people's rights are not "anti trans" or transphobic because we -- while standing for the rights and dignity of everyone -- won't go for, say, calling mothers "birthing people" or calling women "menstruators."

I'm not sure how sexual orientation and gender identification got lumped into the same "LGBT" package. The last letter is unrelated to the first three.

And Conan put this very well:

We should be able to find a way to accept gender-dysmorphic people without ignoring common sense - e.g., pretending that a transgender woman needs a pap smear, or calling biological women "birthing persons" to avoid upsetting the delicate sensibilities of non-biological "women." That is, if the gender-dysmorphic folks will work with us in getting through this, instead of insisting that we accommodate them unquestioningly at their chosen gender.

"The Republican Party has turned fascist – it is now the most dangerous threat in the world"

Headline for an article in today's 'Independent' (UK).

The hyperbole level is insane.

The hyperbole level is insane. ~ Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at June 18, 2021 3:22 PM

That kind of hyperbole enacted into law allows the Republican Party to be made illegal, to be declared a threat, an enemy of the state.

That's why the Jan 6 incident must officially be deemed to have been an insurrection. And a commission must be established in order to ensure that it is deemed one by a partisan agency that can claim to be non-partisan - i.e., not a Congressional committee.

Hyperbole? HYPERBOLE???

How dare you!!

!

"Hyperbole? HYPERBOLE???"

Well, okay. My hyperbolic assessment of their hyperbole was, um, hyp .... a bit much.

In any case, there's a COVID variant out there that would like to discuss the definition of the word 'threat'.

Heh, Crid, my first experience with Nigerians was as a teenager camp councilor at an international boarding camp in the '90s... we had an Arab/Muslim Nigerian girl who played Jasmine on our parade float, and three little girls who used to shower me with affection and grab my boobs and were very naughty.

So when I think of Nigeria the first thing I think of is boob-grabbing kindergartners.

But I do recommend "Half a Yellow Sun".

Conan, it TOTALLY promotes stereotypes. It's like preschoolers who think short hair=boy and long hair=girl.

Kevin I assume you're familiar with the Drop the T movement?

There are no genetic or biological markers, causes, or consistent expressions of homosexuality OR transgenderism. The mapping of the human genome conclusively proved that gays are not "born that way". But it's hard to counter Big Lie propaganda with facts."

Actually, since you post this with such certainty, you can answer two questions which you have been asked before:

1) Where is the, ONE, genetic or biological (as if they were different things, check yourself) marker that expresses your heterosexuality?

Please recall the concrete, indisputable evidence that American citizens are born with both or neither obvious distinctions of gender - and that Johns Hopkins, possibly of greater expertise than... you or I, for instance... stopped gender reassignment surgery on infants when this problem was discovered.

2) What do you want to happen to Sir Elton and David John, and George and Brad Takei?

-----

You want a "consistent marker"? Gays have existed throughout human history. You can't get much more consistent than that.

Go ahead: tell Patrick he's mistaken about his entire life, including that part spent in service to all Americans, that he suffered needlessly because of a simple choice, and you know better.

"The mapping of the human genome conclusively proved that gays are not "born that way"."

Hah. Such total bullshit.

Although the sequence of the human genome has been (almost) completely determined by DNA sequencing, it is not yet fully understood. Most (though probably not all) genes have been identified by a combination of high throughput experimental and bioinformatics approaches, yet much work still needs to be done to further elucidate the biological functions of their protein and RNA products.

This reveals a mind-boggling amount of work by seriously dedicated researchers in a multitude of fields. There's more. Follow the link. Although serious brains produced the article, nobody has to be a geneticist, or even particularly smart to read that. They just have to not be you, who, like many religious people, don't show their work but just shout, "Voila!"

> a mind-boggling amount of
> work by seriously dedicated
> researchers in a multitude
> of fields

✔

But it always seems like people who are really certain there's an answer to the question, or certain they know that answer, want to DO something about it.

Which is annoying.

Conan: It's human nature to want to fit in. And instead of teaching our children it's okay to not fit in,
______________________________________

As Gloria Steinem herself wrote, in 1977:

"But the question remains: If the shoe doesn't fit, must we change the foot?"

Not to mention that while skin-lightening products exist in many countries (and I heard they're dangerous to your health), would we not be horrified if they were widely used in the U.S.?

BenDavid: (...and before you preen about allowing gays to raise chuldren you should check the statistics... Number 1 risk factor for molestation is presence of an adult who is not the child's biological parent in the home.
_____________________________________

Um, does that include stepparents? Or adoptive parents, for that matter?

Besides, if gay parents were so likely to be criminals, wouldn't the far-right media be trumpeting that news on a daily basis by now?

(From what I've heard at least once, adopted children do pretty well when raised by gay parents, mainly because adoptive parents, gay or straight, have to jump through multiple hoops to prove that they really DO want to be parents AND are suitable candidates. Not to mention that heterosexual adoptive parents often are not completely happy, since they typically thought, when they were younger, that they would have biological children instead, and then had their dreams dashed by their doctors. Dan Savage portrayed such parents in some detail when he and his future husband, Terry, went to the adoption seminar. It's in his 1990s book The Kid. Their son is now 21.)

Aargh, I'm absent-minded. I meant 23.

I think for those of us that are bi, it can be hard to understand that for some people, whether to date men or women really isn't a choice.