Posted by
Andrews on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 5:09:19 PM
I am sometimes puzzled by the rules our culture has established. So in the interest of clearing my mind, I am trying to figure this out.
In the case of "transgendered" (should be transsexual) individuals, we are fine with accepting their claim that they were born in the wrong body and giving them the external appearance of another sex. But were the same to happen with the case of race, we would not be so good with helping a black man look white. Likewise, deaf activists tell me that cochlear implants, instead of curing a birth defect, are "genocide against the deaf." So surgery to correct defects, or even claimed defects, only applies to those unhappy with their sex.
In the case of homosexuality, there are similarly complex rules for therapists. A man who has both homosexual and heterosexual impulses can be "helped to understand his homosexuality", but he cannot be urged to adopt a heterosexual identity. Therapy can only herd one toward homosexuality, anything else is intolerant. The argument is, apparently, that one is "born gay" and to be "forced' into heterosexuality is cruel. To which I would reply, how do we know those who are confused are born gay and just faking being straight? Couldn't they be born straight and faking being gay? Why assume all are born gay? Is all sexual confusion a certain sign of some "gay gene"? Is there anything in biology which supports this claim?
And then we come to cultures. We are told that to teach majority culture to minorities is oppressive and destroys their identity. But to teach minority cultures to the majority, even to force them to adopt those identities for a time as an "exercise" increases tolerance. Does this mean only the majority can be intolerant?
I am sure there are many more questions hiding in the back of my mind, but those three are the ones that have been bothering me of late. I still don't understand the rules our society seems to adopt, but at least I can put them into words.
Perhaps someone could help me understand the rationale.