I’m trans so I have a motive to search for evidence that suggests I am ~biologically valid~ and not subject to some kind of psychosocial delusion.
I’m personally not a fan of viewing things this way to begin with because I believe all differences in human behavior is “biologically valid”.
If two people are exactly the same in every way except one prefers purple and the other prefers green, I expect we would find a difference somewhere in the human body and brain that matches this and explains it. Whether favorite color comes from a single part of the body or a complex emergence of various parts, I still expect a difference. I expect if Omega were to come down and examine a person’s body/brain, they would be able to predict basically everything about that person. “This guy likes green, likes to wear shorts during winter, has a crush on Heather at work and is still embarrassed about that time he peed himself in fourth grade”. We are not Omega, human understanding of our own physical existence is poor and we can’t tell the sorts of things it could but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t exist.
Trans people are “biologically valid” by default in the sense that their behavior is explained somewhere in their physical self the same way the green fan buying a green shirt is “biologically valid”. Omega could look at someone and tell “this person will call themselves transgender, take cross-sex hormones and present the cross-sex social role accordingly”. Omega also could tell if someone was gay. A similar pet peeve of mine is the debate over whether or not homosexuality is a choice. The issue to me is that we can always go up one step further on the free will ladder “ok that’s a choice, but why did they make that choice?” and eventually end up, always, with that their biology made it so.
Of course other people have different views on free will especially those who believe in metaphysical existences like a soul. Even Omega could not determine the difference between the soul that prefers green and the soul that prefers red just by looking at their physical body, but I’m not religious or spiritual. And I’d argue that a soul doesn’t even really change the discussion, because I assume Omega with a Soul Reader should be able to do it again.
That doesn’t mean anything has to be viewed as morally acceptable. I still think there are people who are immoral and bad even if I believe it’s the result of their biology. I still think there are people who are dangerous and need to be locked away even if in the far off abstract it’s not “their fault” that their biology drives such behavior. And that doesn’t mean that trans people have to slot into man-made category A instead of man-made category B, or whatever.
But I do think “is it biologically valid” a silly argument to be having to begin with.
I appreciate your comment, and thank you for reading my post :)
I do think what you wrote may be missing the point a bit. The debate is not over whether there is an observable-in-principle physical cause for being trans somewhere in a trans person’s body.
The debate is over whether that cause was itself caused by biology (genes, epigenetics, hormone disruptors in the water, random errors of prenatal neuroendocrine development) or social factors. Because the answer to this question has massive implications for what healthcare should look like for trans people.
Yeah what caused it is definitely still up in the air, although I doubt it’s going to end up as an either/or situation. Even if we can point to social factors as a major cause, how environmental stimulus impacts people differently still depends on their preexisting biology so it’s going to be a mix there regardless. Just how much? I don’t know.
Because the answer to this question has massive implications for what healthcare should look like for trans people.
Now I’m very libertarian so I don’t think it should impact much at all for adults. Trans people already have the freedom of choice and they’re using it. In terms of bad healthcare decisions, there’s a lot worse going on where people can even straight up die from foregoing useful stuff in favor of magic herbs and other snake oil so it’s not even a major priority if we were to crack down on bad healthcare. Which to be clear, I’m against doing even for that worse stuff.
Regarding children is definitely a harder choice but that gets into the messier topic of child freedom vs parental authority.
I’m personally not a fan of viewing things this way to begin with because I believe all differences in human behavior is “biologically valid”.
If two people are exactly the same in every way except one prefers purple and the other prefers green, I expect we would find a difference somewhere in the human body and brain that matches this and explains it. Whether favorite color comes from a single part of the body or a complex emergence of various parts, I still expect a difference. I expect if Omega were to come down and examine a person’s body/brain, they would be able to predict basically everything about that person. “This guy likes green, likes to wear shorts during winter, has a crush on Heather at work and is still embarrassed about that time he peed himself in fourth grade”. We are not Omega, human understanding of our own physical existence is poor and we can’t tell the sorts of things it could but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t exist.
Trans people are “biologically valid” by default in the sense that their behavior is explained somewhere in their physical self the same way the green fan buying a green shirt is “biologically valid”. Omega could look at someone and tell “this person will call themselves transgender, take cross-sex hormones and present the cross-sex social role accordingly”. Omega also could tell if someone was gay. A similar pet peeve of mine is the debate over whether or not homosexuality is a choice. The issue to me is that we can always go up one step further on the free will ladder “ok that’s a choice, but why did they make that choice?” and eventually end up, always, with that their biology made it so.
Of course other people have different views on free will especially those who believe in metaphysical existences like a soul. Even Omega could not determine the difference between the soul that prefers green and the soul that prefers red just by looking at their physical body, but I’m not religious or spiritual. And I’d argue that a soul doesn’t even really change the discussion, because I assume Omega with a Soul Reader should be able to do it again.
That doesn’t mean anything has to be viewed as morally acceptable. I still think there are people who are immoral and bad even if I believe it’s the result of their biology. I still think there are people who are dangerous and need to be locked away even if in the far off abstract it’s not “their fault” that their biology drives such behavior. And that doesn’t mean that trans people have to slot into man-made category A instead of man-made category B, or whatever.
But I do think “is it biologically valid” a silly argument to be having to begin with.
I appreciate your comment, and thank you for reading my post :)
I do think what you wrote may be missing the point a bit. The debate is not over whether there is an observable-in-principle physical cause for being trans somewhere in a trans person’s body.
The debate is over whether that cause was itself caused by biology (genes, epigenetics, hormone disruptors in the water, random errors of prenatal neuroendocrine development) or social factors. Because the answer to this question has massive implications for what healthcare should look like for trans people.
Yeah what caused it is definitely still up in the air, although I doubt it’s going to end up as an either/or situation. Even if we can point to social factors as a major cause, how environmental stimulus impacts people differently still depends on their preexisting biology so it’s going to be a mix there regardless. Just how much? I don’t know.
Now I’m very libertarian so I don’t think it should impact much at all for adults. Trans people already have the freedom of choice and they’re using it. In terms of bad healthcare decisions, there’s a lot worse going on where people can even straight up die from foregoing useful stuff in favor of magic herbs and other snake oil so it’s not even a major priority if we were to crack down on bad healthcare. Which to be clear, I’m against doing even for that worse stuff.
Regarding children is definitely a harder choice but that gets into the messier topic of child freedom vs parental authority.
yup definitely a mix! appreciate your perspective and going through transition has made me more of a libertarian on health issues.