About the idea that playing along with trans fantasies is the polite thing to do

submitted by BiologyIsReal from self.GenderCritical

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[–]Shesstealthy 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (4 children)

My understanding is that a delusion is only classified as a delusion if it's in contradiction to what the person's community believes. So if you grew up in a cult that said you were the embodiment of a god, you believing it is not a delusion. So there's that.

Voices are real, to the person that hears them, and they may have concrete material causes in terms of how your brain works. Loads of otherwise hralthy people experience auditory hallucinations. Voices are only a problem if they interfere with your day to day function. For some they are quite helpful.

With an anorexic person the issue is less that they think they're fat and more that they restrict food to a dangerous degree.

So while I agree that trans people's feelings should not be allowed to harm others, and that they like everyone else need protection when their beliefs can cause them to harm themselves, I also believe it's unhelpful to say their beliefs are "not real".

[–]forwardback 14 insightful - 3 fun14 insightful - 2 fun15 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

I also believe it's unhelpful to say their beliefs are "not real".

Sorry, as a scientist, this statement reasoning does not compute. Reality can be unpleasant, but denial is problematic, to understate.

[–]EveSerpent 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Anorexics restrict food because they believe they’re fat, so their incorrect belief/delusion must be fixed in order to prevent that harmful behaviour. TIMs/TIFs harm women because their incorrect beliefs/delusions that they’re incredibly special and different allow them free reign to behave in deeply misogynistic ways. Addressing their narcissism and other mental disorders will help to curb their anti-social behaviour.

Enabling their delusions will only perpetuate it.

[–]MarkTwainiac 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I also believe it's unhelpful to say their beliefs are "not real".

Sorry, there's a huge body of evidence from psychology and psychiatry and the behavioral sciences that shows it's really not helpful - to the deluded, to those in their midst, or to society as a whole - to reinforce deluded peoples' delusions.

You don't have to hit people over the head with reality by screaming at them that they're wrong, of course. That indeed is not helpful. But you also don't have to play along and coddle them, particularly when they are adults.

[–]BiologyIsReal[S] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It really feels like transgenderism have become a religion by now. Under that view, their beliefs may not be classified as delusion, however that neither change that they are not the opposite sex nor the importance of sex. They are free to believe so despite all the evidence to the contrary. They problem arises when they force their beliefs on everone else. They are free to refuse help, but they are not only hurting themselves but also draging down everyone else with them. So, it's necessary to point out the truth.