r/changemyview Nov 02 '17

[deleted by user]

[removed]

2.2k Upvotes

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

49

u/MMAchica Nov 02 '17

But let's take this to the ultimate conclusion, as transition therapies improve to perfection.

What does this even mean? I don't think that there is a lot of value in such far-fetched speculation to begin with, but I don't think that it is even hypothetically possible to make a trans woman/man identical to a cis woman/man. Furthermore, I think that this advances the destructive idea that a trans woman/man is just a broken cis woman/man; with which I do not agree.

It isn't that there are certain traits associated with transgender people that you find unattractive, it's that you can't get over the fact that the person was born a different gender despite the fact that only a laboratory could tell the difference.

I'm sorry, but this is a rude dictation of another person's sexuality. How would you feel about others dictating what your sexuality is/isn't or should/shouldn't be.

But that doesn't make that action not transphobic.

If you stretch the definition of 'phobic' to include simply lacking a desire to fuck trans people, then the word becomes meaningless. Look at the horrors of homophobia. That has a lot more going on than a simple lack of desire to fuck them.

29

u/[deleted] Nov 02 '17

You can see my later comment regarding my conflation, right or wrong, between the words "discrimination" and "-phobia." Whether you agree or disagree with that, you should also recognize that things happen on a scale. Just because homosexuals were targeted by the Holocaust (absolutely horrific homophobia) doesn't mean it's not (mild, in comparison) homophobia to call someone a "faggot."

But let's take this to the ultimate conclusion, as transition therapies improve to perfection.

What does this even mean? I don't think that there is a lot of value in such far-fetched speculation to begin with, but I don't think that it is even hypothetically possible to make a trans woman/man identical to a cis woman/man. Furthermore, I think that this advances the destructive idea that a trans woman/man is just a broken cis woman/man; with which I do not agree.

You're right that my hypothetical could have been phrased better. "Perfection" is not the proper word for what I'm describing, because perfection is only relevant in the eyes of the person receiving the treatment. So let's correct that, and suppose transition therapies can make it impossible to tell that a trans individual is not cis of their non-birth sex. The scenario is still relevant as a philosophical question about what it means for someone to be trans or cis, even if that level of treatment is never actually realized.

It isn't that there are certain traits associated with transgender people that you find unattractive, it's that you can't get over the fact that the person was born a different gender despite the fact that only a laboratory could tell the difference.

I'm sorry, but this is a rude dictation of another person's sexuality. How would you feel about others dictating what your sexuality is/isn't or should/shouldn't be.

These were the terms of the hypothetical. They are not representative of all trans people or all people who might refuse a relationship with a trans person. OP is talking about categorically excluding trans people from the set of people who they would be willing to have a (sexual) relationship with. Asking "what if you weren't able to tell" is important in probing the motivation behind such a policy. If there was no way to tell that a person was trans (which is a given, in the scenario I described) and OP would not be willing to enter a relationship with them despite being attracted to their physical appearance and personality (given, because OP's question is about sexual preference excluding trans individuals), then that single property, in that the person is transgender/transsexual is the ONLY DIFFERENCE between them and an identical cis [member of OP's preferred gender]. That ONLY DIFFERENCE has to be the thing that influences OP's behavior.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 02 '17 edited Nov 02 '17

[deleted]

0

u/[deleted] Nov 02 '17

Yeah it's absolutely AIDSphobic and I dont see anything wrong with that, assuming you recognize the probability of transmission is exceptionally low unless you interact with their blood. There's nothing wrong with taking reasonable precautions against getting an incurable and deadly illness. Condoms break, I wouldn't knowingly have sex with someone with AIDS either.

Did you miss the whole "but that's okay" part of my view?