I learned that the figure of trans kids I’d read from different sources, .06, may be overestimated. That is, self-reports of feeling trans may entirely be a culture-bound syndrome and have no biological basis. “If gender is constructed, then how could trans not be a culture-bound syndrome?”

submitted by Chipit from boghossian.substack.com

sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]JulienMayfair 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I'm in my 50s, and I'm constantly struck by how quickly gender has exploded as an identity category since 2010. I used to teach university classes, and in 20 years of teaching, I never had a single trans-identified student. Yes, I had known a few transgender people -- very few -- but it was still very rare. And whatever "transgender" is, I still think it's not well-understood.

What I do think is that the phenomenon seems to express some need for identity categories on the part of younger people. They seem to be looking for some points of stable reference in our culture, and gender appears to have been offered to them as an option. It reminds me to some degree of people I've encountered who were deeply into astrology or some other kind of trendy identity, one difference being that astrology hasn't been taken this seriously for centuries.

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

It's exactly like that, but this trend is incredibly harmful. Hormones have literally become a street drug with this generation, taking them is a part of their culture with or without medical oversight. These kids aren't going to be able to shrug off their blunder years when they grow out of this nonsense, they're going to wake up and realize they destroyed their bodies.

[–]ClassroomPast6178 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

If you’re interested in the what, how, why’s and wherefores of all of this stuff, Peter Boghossian interviewed Andrew Doyle about it and Doyle explains a great deal of the issue in a completely entertaining hour or so.

Andrew Doyle just wrote a book on the rise of the new puritans, which is what he calls the wokesters.

[–]JulienMayfair 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Andrew is brilliant.