Mercator.net has two good articles concerning same-sex attraction disorder and gender confusion. Women must understand these things, because of guiding souls and our tendency to confuse love with enabling behaviour. First Dale O'Leary comments on a bill working its way through the legislature:
One of the problems with the legislation is that the new categories are not clearly defined. For example, the reference to "actual or perceived…gender identity" in the legislation is an effort to cover persons classified as transgender, transsexual, and transvestite, conditions that have been classified as psychological disorders.
Those pushing for the addition of sexual orientation and gender identity to protected categories insist that they are normal variants -- part of human sexual diversity. Others see these "variants" as deviations from the normal and evidence of underlying psychological disorders.
It is true that the American Psychiatric Association decided that "homosexuality per se" is not a sign of mental illness; however, subsequent research has found that persons with same-sex attractions (SSA) are more likely than the general public to suffer from a host of psychological problems. Four large well designed studies* found significantly higher rates of diagnosed psychological disorders among persons with SSA.
No one should be mean to the mentally ill, but when people suffer from mental illness they often interpret ordinary differences of opinion as personal attacks. By including sexual orientation and gender identity in the hate crimes legislation Congress would open the door for mentally ill persons to claim they are victims of intimidation or "hate" every time someone disagrees with them or opposes their political demands.
Many have had the experience of "walking on eggshells" when dealing with persons in one of these categories, indicating that it's impossible to speak freely or discuss some things rationally. Hence, the fragility that is part of this sad situation.
Secondly, Theron Bowers writes specifically about the medical industry's current approach to gender "reassignment," which requires at present two years of counseling before drastic measures are taken. Referring to Newsweek's recent sympathetic view towards this population
Newsweek also avoided the other key debate about this difficult issue: whether or not transgenders have a mental illness or merely an inconsequential desire. The word "transgender" is a neologism coined by activists to denote people who at least sometimes identify themselves with the opposite sex. Typically, these folks are transsexuals and/or transvestites. Both transsexuals and transvestites have been in the psychiatric "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM). Transvestitism is intense sexual arousal to women’s clothing. Transsexuals identify themselves as the opposite sex. In 1980, transsexualism was added to the third edition of DSM. In 1994, the term "gender identity disorder" replaced transsexualism.
Doctors get involved because transsexuals often demand hormones and surgery to fulfill their desires. But are physicians enabling a mental illness or merely complying with a cosmetic request?
Many transgender activists object to the "crazy" label. The brother/sister of actors, Rosanna, David and Patricia Arquette was featured in Newsweek. Alexis Arquette is on a crusade against current standards of care. He/she complains that sceptics are "questioning the sanity of people like myself". Most sexual reassignment centers require two years of counselling before the procedure. Alexis objects to the counselling and seems to propose that physicians ought to treat castration and penile amputations as casually as nose jobs.
Then the author wades into the philosophy behind gender "stereotypes" which are now said to be simply cultural constructs, created because of the disconnect between biology and vocation, i.e. sex and procreation. The surgical option, it has been found, is no panacea and brings a host of problems with it for the patient and all family and friends who cooperated with the decision. Dr Paul McHugh has studied the issue for a long time and convinced his institution (Johns Hopkins) to stop gender reassignments and to focus on the mental illness behind the desire to change genders.
Still, confusion reigns and we would do well to be familiar with the hard evidence.
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