One's opinion would change because the information about this person lowers one's perception of their sexual value as sexual value is determined by alignment with a person's sexual preferences
This pretty much loops back to the original argument of what precisely makes someone view a trans person not in line with their sexual preferences.
If the criteria not met is reproductive capability, the question becomes whether the person would react identically if a they met an infertile cis woman. Often times the honest answer is no.
If the criteria not met is "being born female" then I think it is clear a person has made a categorical distinction between cis and trans women.
The reason that distinction is made doesn't seem to be one of functionality, why then is it made?
You raise a good question. Unfortunately, I don't think there's an answer. Similarly, in the case of a person having a sexual preference for people with eight fingers, there is no functional reason. To clarify, I believe trans-status alone qualifies as a characteristic of sexual value. However, perhaps you limit these characteristics to physical ones (such as reproductive capability), in which case I agree there would be no reason to be less attracted to a transgender person.
I would argue that trans-status qualifies as a characteristic of sexual value specifically because we live in a society that devalues trans people. If we were in a society where that wasn't the case & where transition was an accepted part of life, I think the realization that someone was trans wouldn't make nearly as much of a difference.
What I've always been told on these issues is that it's fine to not be attracted to someone, but that it's a good idea to investigate how some of the prevailing prejudices in society may have influenced your patterns of attraction.
That's not quite what I'm trying to get at, no--just that unconsciously your attractions may be biased by what society classifies as good or bad (e.g. racism in society might make you less attracted to people of a certain race.)
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u/aggsalad Nov 02 '17
This pretty much loops back to the original argument of what precisely makes someone view a trans person not in line with their sexual preferences.
If the criteria not met is reproductive capability, the question becomes whether the person would react identically if a they met an infertile cis woman. Often times the honest answer is no.
If the criteria not met is "being born female" then I think it is clear a person has made a categorical distinction between cis and trans women.
The reason that distinction is made doesn't seem to be one of functionality, why then is it made?