Saturday, June 6, 2015

Gender Confusion

I can understand persons of one gender wishing they had been born with the other set of "plumbing." Many bright girls born in traditional Muslim societies must wish they were men, for reasons too self-evident to require exposition. Expressive fellows born in stoic societies may envy their sisters' freedom to be emotional, to cry when sad.

Wishing one's gender different is one thing, believing it to be different is something else entirely. Such belief is delusion. If a person has both X and Y chromosomes but believes they are female, what is "broken" is their perception of reality, not their DNA.

We humans live with many unfulfilled wishes. I wish I were young, slender, and wealthy, I'm none of those things. Too bad, eh? Certainly not a reason to undertake medical treatment, or radically change my life. 

Wouldn't I look silly pretending my wishes had come true? Answer: yes, I would. I know this because I see fellow oldsters trying to "pass," to be mistaken for young. I pity them.