"I Am A Transsexual Sportswriter."

[Degenerate39]

The original article, all the posts after, or just Dom's last response?

The original article.

[KittyDuran]

The original article.

But it made ya look!

[GAC]

If and when he/she starts dating, will they be forward and upfront and let that person know? Should they? I'm simply asking that relevant socialogical question to protect guys like Puffy.

It's obvious that there is a "disorder" involved. But the causes of transsexualism are unknown. Some try to state it is a medical condition, and not a psychological one; but there is no definitive scientific evidence, as of yet, to validate that claim. It's not genetic, because the DNA says otherwise. So it is basically falls under the classified as a psychological disorder ("of the mind"), involving Dysphoria (mood), which can also be chemically induced.

And there are also other varying factors involved too. Such as developmental (childhood) and environment. But to claim that someone was "born that way" or even somehow God screwed up and placed them in the wrong body is stretching the factual data to date.

"There is no conclusive evidence that sex change operations improve the lives of transsexuals, with many people remaining severely distressed and even suicidal after the operation, according to a medical review conducted exclusively for Guardian Weekend tomorrow. The review of more than 100 international medical studies of post-operative transsexuals by the University of Birmingham's aggressive research intelligence facility (Arif) found no robust scientific evidence that gender reassignment surgery is clinically effective."

http://society.guardian.co.uk/mental...272093,00.html

But I've always felt I was a 5-tool ballplayer born in the wrong body.

[Sea Ray]

Nothing in life is as black and white as you would like to think, not even this. We are all made in a multitude of different ways. Some of us are born with missing limbs, autism, mental retardation, homosexual, straight, elephantitis, high IQ, low IQ, heart conditions, skin disorders, sociopaths, psychopaths, etc. Science, biology, the human brain, none of it is as discriminatory as either choice A or choice B in any area of a person's life. There is no such thing as a "normal" person, because who is to determine what is normal? If only normal people have a say about what is "normal", then that is already a discriminatory statement.

Wonderful. We're now at a point where anything can be debated. Nowadays people argue as to whether marriage is between a man and a woman, whether Saddam Hussein is more of a villian than George Bush and now we argue the point that people are born either male or female.

With all the bloviating you spewed above, you missed the only exception to M/F being a black and white issue. There are some disorders where people are born with screwed up sex genes, such as XXY or XYY but I've heard nothing about that being the case here.

Assuming you are born with two sex Chromosomes (be it X or Y) you are who you are, end of story, debate. You can argue a lot in life, but this is not one of them. You can't argue facts.

[Sea Ray]

If and when he/she starts dating, will they be forward and upfront and let that person know? Should they? I'm simply asking that relevant socialogical question to protect guys like Puffy.

It's obvious that there is a "disorder" involved. But the causes of transsexualism are unknown. Some try to state it is a medical condition, and not a psychological one; but there is no definitive scientific evidence, as of yet, to validate that claim. It's not genetic, because the DNA says otherwise. So it is basically falls under the classified as a psychological disorder ("of the mind"), involving Dysphoria (mood), which can also be chemically induced.

And there are also other varying factors involved too. Such as developmental (childhood) and environment. But to claim that someone was "born that way" or even somehow God screwed up and placed them in the wrong body is stretching the factual data to date.

"There is no conclusive evidence that sex change operations improve the lives of transsexuals, with many people remaining severely distressed and even suicidal after the operation, according to a medical review conducted exclusively for Guardian Weekend tomorrow. The review of more than 100 international medical studies of post-operative transsexuals by the University of Birmingham's aggressive research intelligence facility (Arif) found no robust scientific evidence that gender reassignment surgery is clinically effective."

http://society.guardian.co.uk/mental...272093,00.html

But I've always felt I was a 5-tool ballplayer born in the wrong body.

Your post trumps the much ballyhooed one by Dom, bigtime. Why? Because it includes facts. Good one...

[KittyDuran]

Wonderful. We're now at a point where anything can be debated. Nowadays people argue as to whether marriage is between a man and a woman, whether Saddam Hussein is more of a villian than George Bush and now we argue the point that people are born either male or female.

With all the bloviating you spewed above, you missed the only exception to M/F being a black and white issue. There are some disorders where people are born with screwed up sex genes, such as XXY or XYY but I've heard nothing about that being the case here.

Assuming you are born with two sex Chromosomes (be it X or Y) you are who you are, end of story, debate. You can argue a lot in life, but this is not one of them. You can't argue facts.

Speaking for my own family... when things concerning people were put into the "black and white" box - it would end up biting them in the rear with irreversible consequences. Of course, passing judgement from afar is so much easier...

[Yachtzee]

If and when he/she starts dating, will they be forward and upfront and let that person know? Should they? I'm simply asking that relevant socialogical question to protect guys like Puffy.

It's obvious that there is a "disorder" involved. But the causes of transsexualism are unknown. Some try to state it is a medical condition, and not a psychological one; but there is no definitive scientific evidence, as of yet, to validate that claim. It's not genetic, because the DNA says otherwise. So it is basically falls under the classified as a psychological disorder ("of the mind"), involving Dysphoria (mood), which can also be chemically induced.

And there are also other varying factors involved too. Such as developmental (childhood) and environment. But to claim that someone was "born that way" or even somehow God screwed up and placed them in the wrong body is stretching the factual data to date.

"There is no conclusive evidence that sex change operations improve the lives of transsexuals, with many people remaining severely distressed and even suicidal after the operation, according to a medical review conducted exclusively for Guardian Weekend tomorrow. The review of more than 100 international medical studies of post-operative transsexuals by the University of Birmingham's aggressive research intelligence facility (Arif) found no robust scientific evidence that gender reassignment surgery is clinically effective."

http://society.guardian.co.uk/mental...272093,00.html

But I've always felt I was a 5-tool ballplayer born in the wrong body.

I think that if that person wants a healthy relationship, they'll be open about they're "situation." However, as Mike Penner/Christine Daniels has already announced his/her decision in the LA Times, I don't think there's any intent to hide things.

I don't know what causes one to want to do the transgender thing. I think you raise some valid points for debate on the issue, GAC. However, whether iit's a medical or a psychological condition, I think that we should respect that person and how they wish to identify themselves, even if we might think its "weird."

[savafan]

However, whether iit's a medical or a psychological condition, I think that we should respect that person and how they wish to identify themselves, even if we might think its "weird."

Exactly, who are we to judge what's weird? I like cinnamon, peanut butter, and maple syrup on toast. To some people, that's "weird", but to me, that's just who I am.

[Sea Ray]

Sounds like we've come to a consensus.

1) It's a free country. To each his own.

2) Let's hope this helps this particular person

3) His sex will not change

[Dom Heffner]

Your post trumps the much ballyhooed one by Dom, bigtime. Why? Because it includes facts. Good one...

Not sure you read what I wrote.

I said the dude is still a guy- we agree.

I just said that if he wants to wear panties instead of underwear, I'm not getting mine in a wad.

If this is a mental disorder, I find no fun in calling him "whacked," just because I'm one of the 99% of people that don't have to worry about it.

Obviously the guy has some mental problems- he would tell you himself this is not normal.

If your grandmother had Alzheimer's, would you call her whacked? Misguided?

Why you are trying to turn this into some scientific debate is beyond me.

To walk around as a different gender than what you are born as takes courage, and I merely pointed that out.

And if you want to take a cheap shot at me for defending the guy, I'm proud to take it.

[Sea Ray]

And if you want to take a cheap shot at me for defending the guy, I'm proud to take it.

No worry. I will not take any cheap shots at you. That would serve no purpose.

[GAC]

I don't know what causes one to want to do the transgender thing. I think you raise some valid points for debate on the issue, GAC. However, whether iit's a medical or a psychological condition, I think that we should respect that person and how they wish to identify themselves, even if we might think its "weird."

I wholeheartedly agree Yachtzee. That individual obviously has enough problems as it is without someone maliciously pointing the finger at them and condemning them. And I'm referring to acceptance on a societal level. Because lets be honest - and this reminds me of the old Woody Allen movie "Everything You always Wanted To Know About Sex", and that bit on a cross dresser - we may say "to each his own", but we still feel it is an aberration and not normal behavior. Society will even say that person is not right in their mind, and because why? It goes against the natural order.

[Ltlabner]

when things concerning people were put into the "black and white" box -

As I get older I'm learning more and more I can not controll situations by simply tossing ideas in a "black and white" box. There are far fewer issues that are B/W than I used to think even just several years ago. It was comforting just to wrap everything up in a tidy little box and move on without real consideration of all the various aspects of a situation.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that "nothing is wrong" or that we should analyize a situation to death, I'm just realizing that there's a lot more grey in life that I first wanted to admit.

[Sea Ray]

As I get older I'm learning more and more I can not controll situations by simply tossing ideas in a "black and white" box. There are far fewer issues that are B/W than I used to think even just several years ago. It was comforting just to wrap everything up in a tidy little box and move on without real consideration of all the various aspects of a situation.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that "nothing is wrong" or that we should analyize a situation to death, I'm just realizing that there's a lot more grey in life that I first wanted to admit.

Consider me another resident "traditionalist" on this board. I believe in right vs wrong, good vs evil and fact vs fiction. Today's culture makes a lot of things more complicated than they really are in that they like to paint nearly everything gray.

Society will even say that person is not right in their mind, and because why? It goes against the natural order.

I don't know what the societal norm is anymore. Society of this generation accepts a lot more than societies ever did for thousands of years and I think rather than improving things it has merely clouded them.

The natural order has been time tested and that's how it came to be. It still works most of the time.

[savafan]

I don't know what the societal norm is anymore. Society of this generation accepts a lot more than societies ever did for thousands of years and I think rather than improving things it has merely clouded them.

I'd say that previous societies throughout history accepted way more than we do today. It only seems that way to us because we're a relatively young society coming from a puritan background.