mercalia wrote:I havent been saying any thing of the sort, just commenting on their use of language. so get
your facts right. You should read more carefully what I am and not saying.I am more subtle than you are crediting me with. I am not saying any thing about whether they are experiencing something authentic, only the language they use. "trans-woman" fine just dont infer "woman" its no good quoting (a Harvard postgraduate) science as any discoveries they make have no simple bearing on common language use that predates any thing they find. Atleast you need to accept as legitimate whether our common useage should be adjusted - some will say no. Science tends to redefine common words or replace them eg we say that person is crazy, or mad. Scientists have more sophisticated useages or notions that we dont use in ordinary life & it would be wrong to do so? "Gender" as used by scientists is a scientific term that has re interpreted a common useage( if any). To some extent the issues are multi disciplinary requiring the input of scientists and philosophers. The Harvard lady was only contributing the scientific side ( it seems). Scientists generally are very naive when it comes to matter of language as they mutate language very readily
Thanks.
if you want an very old example of how scientists mutate the language they use consider our understanding of colour & perception. science has shown us that eg
redness doesnt reside in a
red object the same way as its shape does ( secondary and primary qualities) that light reflected on objects absorb some wavelengths and reflect others and our eyes translate that into the experience of
red.
so should we stop saying things are red? scientists regard
red ( light) as a certain wavelengh of light.
man and woman, male and female are very very old ideas?
I'm sorry mercalia, but I read what you posted quite carefully, and more than once. If I have misintrepretted it, I don't think that the fault lies entirely with my reading.
That said, as far as I am concerned, trans women are women. In general, I do not see a need to distinguish. There are circumstances in which it useful. Most of them are either scientific, or none of my business. The scientific ones, I may have some interest in, if only because I want to support trans friends. Personal ones, I will leave to the relevant person to sort out or share, or not as they wish.
Trans folks tend only tell others that they are trans when it is significant in some way:
-they want people to refer to them by a different name and pronoun
-they are transitioning and want support/understanding from the people around them
-they are activitists and want to share their background.
I also know trans folks who don't talk much about gender or use the word trans. Science and medicine need the words. Activists need the words. The rest of us? Maybe not.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom