Anyway, I caught an article by Mark Davis this morning relating Felicity Huffman's performance as Bree in Transamerica with Lily McBeth's transition at an elementary school.
Mark's article is fairly compassionate for the first half, but then he launches back into how we are all defined by our chromosomes and children can't handle transgender topics. Now, I don't know about everyone else, but I hate being so easily defined by something that we don't know enough about...especially when there are people out there that aren't defined by their chromosomes...especially women born with Androgen Insensitivy Syndrome.
So, here's my email response to his article:
Mark,
although the first half of your article is a fairly compassionate piece, you let that compassion flow through into the second half and affect your judgment.
Our nation has grown into nothing more than a black and white nation. You're either one or another, with nothing in between. Democrats or Republicans, man or woman, straight or gay, conservative or liberal...when in fact, there is a wide spectrum for a lot of different items.
You proclaim that 'we are defined by our chromosomes'. Again, this is not a black and white world. There is more than simply XX or XY. There are scientific mutations. Some women are born with only one X chromosome, instead of two. Some people are born XXY or XXXY. And some women are born with XY chromosomes, but have something called Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome where they are immune to testosterone. Their bodies develop as women. ( see this or this ) Some of these women end up ultra feminine and can be very tall. It is rumored that a higher than normal percentage of models have AIS. Could you imagine yourself being attracted to a woman with XY chromosomes? It's likely you are.
Also, you mentioned that little kids like 'Katie and Billy should never have to be put into the position of asking the teacher why she used to be a man", but in reality, kids do the best at handling transgender related topics. It's parents (I can only assume you are a parent) like yourself that are the problem. Children don't harbor the hate, insecurities, or bias that adults have learned over their lifetime. If you teach and expose children to tolerance, they don't have to experience the discrimination that older adults are so easily able to inflict. So, please do not presume to know how a child will handle transgender people because they do not harbor the bias that adults have.
To judge someone by the way they look shows just how shallow a man you really are. Don't look with your eyes, look with your heart.
Kara
Transsexual
Omnisexual
Engineer
Human
...choose the label you need to give you that warm fuzzy feeling.
although the first half of your article is a fairly compassionate piece, you let that compassion flow through into the second half and affect your judgment.
Our nation has grown into nothing more than a black and white nation. You're either one or another, with nothing in between. Democrats or Republicans, man or woman, straight or gay, conservative or liberal...when in fact, there is a wide spectrum for a lot of different items.
You proclaim that 'we are defined by our chromosomes'. Again, this is not a black and white world. There is more than simply XX or XY. There are scientific mutations. Some women are born with only one X chromosome, instead of two. Some people are born XXY or XXXY. And some women are born with XY chromosomes, but have something called Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome where they are immune to testosterone. Their bodies develop as women. ( see this or this ) Some of these women end up ultra feminine and can be very tall. It is rumored that a higher than normal percentage of models have AIS. Could you imagine yourself being attracted to a woman with XY chromosomes? It's likely you are.
Also, you mentioned that little kids like 'Katie and Billy should never have to be put into the position of asking the teacher why she used to be a man", but in reality, kids do the best at handling transgender related topics. It's parents (I can only assume you are a parent) like yourself that are the problem. Children don't harbor the hate, insecurities, or bias that adults have learned over their lifetime. If you teach and expose children to tolerance, they don't have to experience the discrimination that older adults are so easily able to inflict. So, please do not presume to know how a child will handle transgender people because they do not harbor the bias that adults have.
To judge someone by the way they look shows just how shallow a man you really are. Don't look with your eyes, look with your heart.
Kara
Transsexual
Omnisexual
Engineer
Human
...choose the label you need to give you that warm fuzzy feeling.
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