Questions about Gender Dysphoria

[*PhilHos*]

(12-03-2015, 04:48 PM)Benton Wrote: Good topic.

Personally, I think the issue here is what a person defines as society. Not to make this into a Clinton deposition, but that definition gives you very different answers.

I'm from the rural south. I live here. Most of the people I know still live here. If you are talking about a small sliver of society (say, the town I live in or really even the geographic area it encompasses for a hundred or two hundred miles), then gender roles aren't out the window. And if you as a guy show up at the Friday night high school football game in a sequined gown because it makes you feel "right" then you'll probably get kicked out. Which may not be the case if you live in a more metropolitan area or another part of the country.  

So, if you're from that area, your society has dictated pretty well what your gender role is to be. So feeling "right" would come from your society's perception of that role.

For an example, I know a guy who I went to high school with. He was gay and comfortable telling people that. What he wasn't comfortable telling people was he identified as a woman. He went off for a few years and came back to the general area to work at a college. He feels more comfortable wearing jewelry and makeup to work now, but he wouldn't have done it 20 years ago in the same rural area. And, to add, he's still got all his parts, he doesn't wear dresses. He just — for whatever reason — identifies with some of the more feminine aspects. But his gender role is still defined by the area he grew up and now lives in.

Thanks for your input. 

I get what you're saying and agree with you. But, I'm thinking more in the lines of what our society as a whole (i.e the whole country) believes to be "right". For example, say there's a township that still doesn't let anyone but white people serve in public office. Well, if that became national news, pretty much everyone would be agreed that that's wrong.

Honestly, my thinking right now is that society is WRONG and that there ARE male- and female-specific emotional and psychological roles characteristics and by saying there aren't they are actually de-legitimizing gender dysphoria.