I don’t have a lot to say in response. I think you make several good points, especially about fertility. I’m not so sure about the following though:
On the face of it, people taking drastic, permanent, alterations to their biology as a strategy to cope with social isolation seems unhealthy? I would guess that, for most people transitioning for broadly these reasons, that strategy will fail to address the underlying desire to be loved, and will impose additional large costs on their life.
Maybe I’m way too pessimistic, but for many people, it may be very difficult (or even impossible) to otherwise satisfy this desire.
But if many of those transwomen are following a life path [...] not because that’s a better fit for their essential being, but because it’s a life path that functions as a coping strategy, which is more cognitively and socially available than (possibly more effective or more functional) alternatives, then I think something has gone badly wrong.
Likewise, I’m not sure there are viable alternatives in many cases, much less more effective or functional ones.
I don’t have a lot to say in response. I think you make several good points, especially about fertility. I’m not so sure about the following though:
Maybe I’m way too pessimistic, but for many people, it may be very difficult (or even impossible) to otherwise satisfy this desire.
Likewise, I’m not sure there are viable alternatives in many cases, much less more effective or functional ones.