Misnomer Mischief By Marilyn Penn
http://politicalmavens.com/
Certainly the most famous transgender in America is Caitlin Jenner who has graced the cover of many magazines, occupied two slots on reality t.v., received recognition and many awards from the media, the LGBTQ movement and praise from the president of the U.S. Her Woman of the Year award from Glamour magazine for her “courage” in telling her story prompted the return of a similar award issued in 2001 to first responder police officer Moira Smith who rushed into the South Tower to save lives on 9/11, dying at the age of 38. Her husband questioned why this award was now being given to a man when there were so many heroic women in the military, police force, fire brigades or medical teams who put their lives on the line daily. Less forgivable was President Obama’s own use of the word “courage” coming from his position as Commander in Chief with dedicated troops offering their lives in Iraq, Afghanistan and various other global hotspots. That same word simply doesn’t apply to a man squeezing himself into a bustier, hiding his package between his thighs and posing for the cover of a magazine whose title more aptly fits the situation – Vanity Fair.
Caitlin, formerly known as Bruce, has not had sexual reassignment surgery although it does appear he has had breast implants; we may soon find out if the rumor that she will be photographed nude turns out to be true. In any event, it is true that gender dysmorphia can now be rectified by the sufferer without altering the biological equipment that was present at birth. This means that many transgender women are actually bi-gender, sporting features common to both sexes: breasts, hairless face, smooth skin, female hormones and a penis. Ordinarily, what’s underneath one’s clothes would be unknown to anyone but the individual and those people with whom he was intimate. That has changed however, with the Justice Department stipulation that transgenders must be entitled to use the bathroom, locker room and shower facilities of whichever sex they choose to call their own. The state of No. Carolina disagreed and issued a law reserving bathrooms and locker rooms to biologically appropriate users. In answer to this flouting of her department’s ruling, Loretta Lynch claimed, “They created state-sponsored discrimination against transgender individuals who simply seek to engage in the most private of functions in a place of safety and security.” (NYT 5/10/16) The question is for whom?
For adolescents who have been spared exposure to the multiple pornographic sites on t.v. and the internet, the sight of a boy or man with a penis and breasts would certainly be confusing, if not alarming. The same is true for many adults, despite the growing attempts by social and conventional media to become increasingly explicit with previously considered “fringe” elements of sexual behavior. Several series and films on cable tv have featured bondage, torture and recreational urination as just some other kind of sex the folks enjoy. This defining deviancy down has now decided that the rights of bi-genders trump the rights of those with conventional gender identity. Somehow, a girl who thinks she’s a boy and vice versa, has been parlayed from a gender dysmorphic problem with an abnormally high suicide rate (even after sexual reassignment surgery) to a civil rights issue. Our president, attorney-general and NY governor want us to believe that all the Caitlin Jenners have not only the freedom to morph into the opposite gender but the constitutional right to do so. Why bi-gender people deserve more consideration than people suffering from other forms of delusional thinking remains a mystery. A white woman who chooses to identify as black will not be protected under the same acts that prohibit discrimination by race. A man who wishes to be known as Napoleon and dresses accordingly will not be tolerated in the military and probably not even at the local gym. Neither the military nor the gym will be forced to provide a place for him to park his horse.
Yet the gay lobby has successfully captured the media, the politicians and the virtucrats who conflate this specific type of delusion with issues of discrimination. Somehow, we are to believe that asking bi-gender people to use a unisex bathroom or locker room is humiliating and therefore discriminatory. Why isn’t it equally humiliating for handicapped people to use a separate entrance to a building? Why hasn’t the Justice Department insisted that all main entrances and elevators must become wheelchair accessible? In the state of No. Carolina with a population of 10 million people, 11.7% are classified as disabled while .0037% of the population identifies as transgender. Even after factoring that not all disabled people use wheelchairs, we can be sure that those who do greatly outnumber the miniscule percentage of people affected by the bathroom brouhaha.
It is conceivable that in future years, sexual reassignment surgery itself will be considered as primitive and harmful as we now consider frontal lobotomies. It remains to be seen whether transgenders continue to grow in numbers or go the same route as those now-vanished multiple personalities so popular in the 50’s and 60’s. It’s hard to believe that the law would insist that 99% of the population should ignore its own discomfort zone in order to satisfy the demands of less than half of one percent of the people. More logical as a prescription for harmony is to encourage bi-gender people to accept the fact that many differences in people necessitate different treatment. This is neither humiliating nor discriminatory. If you don’t grow taller than 4 feet, if you are deaf or blind, if you suffer from bi-polar disorder or Down Syndrome , if you are one of the 48% black or Hispanic people considered obese – you will have personal challenges that aren’t always met to your liking by society. This is a simple fact of life. If you like to wear bustiers but use a penis to urinate, accept the fact that you are fortunate to live in a country that won’t execute you for your proclivities but will give you the freedom to dress as you like and will even create unisex bathrooms to accommodate your idiosyncratic needs. Perhaps the next administration will agree.
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