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 Transgender symbol Transgender

 Transgender acceptance is now politically correct and I welcome this.
However, as I say here, its political correctness (PC) may have gone too far:-
  • When research into reverse-transgender people was blocked as not PC - see here.
  • If we are being ordered to accept the definition of woman must include transgender women. I see the intensity of the debate here, here, here, here, here, here. Can people choose for themselves? 
It is this second point that I want to look at here.

I accept trans women see themselves as 'real' women.
I also see it okay if a woman (or anyone) wants to make a distinction between a trans woman and a lifelong female or 'real' woman.
What is not okay is to persecute the other's reality, whichever viewpoint you have.

However, I do think all this makes life far more complex or chaotic in many ways, as we have to adjust a binary society (males and females) to something else. Nevertheless, I do support this societal transition, but not in the exact way transgender advocates ask.

Toilets
For example, the issue of transgender toilets - see here, here.
As much as we respect transgender people, I think we need to respect those women that do not want to share a toilet with transgender people. We also must value the safety of transgender people disallowed to use the female toilet, who are then forced to use the male toilet where they are likely to receive abuse.
Perhaps three toilet types (or four if disabled is included) are the way, with the third/fourth option being trans-friendly or gender-neutral toilets (which mirror the toilets in many homes)?

Refuges
The argument for more than two categories becomes even more critical with women's refuges or shelters - for women fleeing domestic violence. I'd prioritise the needs of the non-transgender here.

Prisons
Prisons require similar sensitivity. In 2017, a transgender prisoner in the UK - Karen White (born male, identifies as female) - sexually assaulted two women in a women's prison. So I feel it is right that the UK's first transgender prison unit was opened in 2019, within a woman's prison, but without allowing access to the other women.

Island Refuge

Competitive Sport
Another case where a transgender woman entering the woman's world is dubious is in competitive sport. David Avellan (posted and accessed 23 October 2018) argues that male-to-female transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete against women. In MMA, it not only gives the transgender athlete a massive advantage in many physical attributes, but is also far more dangerous for the opponent. Just like martial arts already have many weight categories, perhaps there needs to be further categories for transgender athletes.
Professor John Brewer, professor of applied sport science at St Mary's University (cited at BBC, posted 4 March 2019, accessed 5 March 2019) says:-
  • "Whether we like it or not, genetically the very best males will nearly always beat the very best females in most sports where physicality is critical."
  • "If you have those physical and physiological characteristics of a male athlete and you are competing in a female environment, then you will inevitably do extremely well and have an advantage."
  • Males "tend to have more testosterone" that stimulates muscle growth.
  • Male "legacy physiology" (larger heart and lungs) does not necessarily change despite the transgender transition process.
  • "So, inevitably, when you go into high-performance sport, where the difference between success and failure is quite small, that 'legacy physiology' alongside the muscle growth testosterone creates will give, almost inevitably, transgender athletes/individuals a physiological and indeed a performance advantage."
International Olympic Committee guidelines state that transgender women must suppress testosterone levels for at least 12 months before competition. But Sharron Davies believes that reducing testosterone for 12 months before competition does not represent a level playing field for female athletes. She says that despite those guidelines, transgender female athletes retain biological advantages gained in puberty. (Adapted from BBC, posted and accessed 26 July 2019)
Is it human arrogance to think that that surgery and chemistry are enough to change gender, something that has taken nature millions of years to differentiate and maintain? Perhaps competitive transgender athletes need their own category, similar to toilets (see above)? So we have male, female, disabled and transgender? There could even be an open/mixed category (as sometimes in chess), free for all to participate in. Obviously, if it’s social sport, these divisions are not essential.

Also see here, here, here, here, here, here, here.
Silhouetted Sport

'Real' Man or Woman
I also want to ask is there such a thing as a 'real' man or 'real' woman? I once watched a TV show where a woman had an orgasm for the first time and she said she now felt like a 'real' woman. I suppose everyone has their own thoughts about what is a 'real' man or woman.

Fuchsia Yin-Yang symbol

Animal/Human/Angel
Finally I want to look at transgender people from the angle of Animal/Human/Angel, and with reference to personality from a spiritual viewpoint.
The trans person identifies with a gender different from the animal level, the anatomical sex. Science tells us this may be caused by genetic, environmental, cultural, or psychological factors. Current research suggests that like anatomical sex, this gender identity is almost entirely determined in the womb (see here, here, here).
However, one factor rarely mentioned is the spiritual...
  • At an animal level, we are born into a body that is male or female or intersex. This is our anatomical sex. A transgender person can influence this with hormone supplements, and even genital reassignment.
  • At a human level we have the influence of culture and environment. 
  • At a spiritual level, it is taught that our soul has had many lives in male and female bodies. Some souls may have had many more past lives in one body sex than the other. Or recent past lives of the soul were all in the same body sex, and today the soul is incarnated in the other body sex. These spiritual influences can create a gender identity different from the animal/body level. 
Also, if we go deep enough into the spiritual level, we may realise that we are spirits or angels with no gender. We are incarnated in gendered bodies and typically in gendered identities, but we are all essentially angelic beings. So, love one another! 

Rainbow flame mandala
 Also see:-

Political Correctness [PC1]

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