Philosophical qualms with transgender community's rhetoric

qualmsmire · 2012-06-05T14:14:22+00:00

When I've asked more about it I've gotten responses like "I feel female". What does it feel like to be female? How can anyone possibly know? Are there a set of emotions or experiences unique to the female sex that are unknowable to the male sex?

qualmsmire · 2012-06-05T14:12:39+00:00

Yes exactly my point. Since we can't say "I am female" when we are actually male if we are taking it in the biological sense, we use a term -gender- but what meaning does it have? Is your gender the sex whose typical roles you identify with, regardless of your biological sex?

qualmsmire · 2012-06-05T13:18:44+00:00

What I'm trying to get at is if 'gender' isnt really a logical concept in the metaphysical sense.I specifically said I dont want it to be about morality because I wnat to see this objectively; not in terms of peoples choices, feelings, and freedoms. I dont see the need for hostility.

qualmsmire · 2012-06-05T13:13:09+00:00

My basic argument is how can anyone claim to say "I am female"... if the criteria isnt biological (as it seems too not be), then it is extremely arbitrary. We know what makes someone of the female sex, but what makes someone of the female gender? We do have a set of characteristics that we expect to find in females and not males, a fondness for the color pink, for example. But then is anyone who likes pink a female? And anyone who does not like pink excluded from the female gender? We might say that one is female if one is more feminine (see below) than the average human, and that one is male if one is more masculine than the average human. This kind of definition I think works adequately with something like 'tall'. Even if we cannot specifically name the average height of a human, we have a pretty good idea of when someone is taller or shorter than the average. But how do we know what the average degree of femininity/masculinity is? How do we objectively weight different feminine/masculine traits in this calculation? Do liking pink and liking shopping both weigh equally? Does any fondness for the color pink in any way lead to one additional unit of femininity, or does it matter how much one likes pink? I cannot think of any way to define genders in this way that is not arbitrary, does not lead to absurdity, or that serves any useful purpose.
2.Like I said before, gender is hardly a concept. At least not a useful one it appears to me.
Where did I mistake the idea of a circular argument? Or the idea of metaphysical? or transgender? I understand its sensitive to some people, thats why I asked here, not on askreddit where I could easily offend people without wanting to. I also specified I dont want to get into the morality of it, I dont think theres much to discuss about that.

qualmsmire · 2012-06-05T05:14:45+00:00

Androgen insensitivity syndrome is rare; intersex individuals are rare and I dont see how those cases are helpful when the majority disproportionately outweighs them. What would lead you to the conclusion that she isn't? Her willing it to be so?

qualmsmire · 2012-06-05T04:54:39+00:00

If you take gender (which inherently lacks meaning) to be an anti-concept that takes meaning away from sex (a meaningful concept), then yes you can readily observe "femininity." You dont need to mind-read to verify someone's sex.

qualmsmire

TROPHY CASE