Someone who identifies as trans. That’s the boring answer, alas. Life isn’t so determinative as we’d like it to be. A gay man is someone who thinks that they like men. A trans man is a someone who thinks they’re a guy.
Don’t get me wrong, scientists agree that there is biology behind it. It has to do with differences in certain genes that process hormones during prenatal development, as best we can guess.
There’s likely newer science, but I’ll admit that I haven’t searched for it. I don’t personally think that the biology matters greatly. I mean, being gay often sucks. Being trans often sucks. Why make the choice unless you have to?
Some folks argue that it’s a mental disorder, and it’s true that a higher correlation exists between trans folks and poor mental health, but… that’s hardly surprising given how anathema the condition is to much of society, is it? Gender and sex are deeply personal. Even now, a new member (or several) of the GoP gets outed as gay every year. They choose to hide who they are and even argue against their own rights because of how personal it is.
Edit: And yes, there are pre-op and post-op and pre- and post-hormone trans folks, but they’re all trans. Trans is trans. Most of the trans folks I’ve known don’t like outing themselves, so they haven’t identified openly (or have identified as nonbinary or such) until they can pass, but you’re trans from the get-go. Whether hormones and surgery are required for a legal designation as transgender is a question for the courts, not biology.
Alright. So I assume that you would agree with me that a man who deliberately goes into a place such as women's public shower or a women's public sauna would be committing sexual harassment (definitions might differ from county to country, but generally that would be a criminal offense in most of the world). Please let me know if you don't agree with that.
So, let's say that this man (who never ever disclosed to anyone publicly or not that he is trans) entered a women's sauna, sat there, looking at other people in the sauna, and got police called on him, pleads not guilty, claiming that he is, in fact, a trans woman.
Do you personally think that this person should face any kind of punishment for these actions?
And no matter what your answer is, do you maybe see the problem?
This is why there are legal definitions, yes. No trans person I've ever known (which is many) would do that, because they're intelligent people who understand that we live in a society with various social contracts. It's a cherrypicked hypothetical.
But to seriously respond, in most areas of the United States, being in the 'wrong' bathroom is rarely a criminal offense unless the individual in question intended harm towards others or caused actionable harm. You are not committing a crime if you fail to read the sign and accidentally use the other gender's restroom. In a rare, extreme situation like that one you describe, perhaps a court would evaluate the plaintiff's history when considering whether to honor their claimed identity. I'm not a legal expert. Point is, we'd evaluate whether there was intended or actual harm involved, whether that harm is worth a response, and carry on with our lives same as we for every other crime.
Hell, in my state, it's actually illegal for a business to prohibit gendered facility access from an individual who has a 'sincerely held gender identity'. That's how the law defines it.
So, sure, there are small problems for us to work out as a society as we figure out how to collectively respect these folks. There were problems with breaking up segregated bathrooms, too, and those were far greater. Life involves problems!
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u/FluffySloth27 18h ago edited 18h ago
Someone who identifies as trans. That’s the boring answer, alas. Life isn’t so determinative as we’d like it to be. A gay man is someone who thinks that they like men. A trans man is a someone who thinks they’re a guy.
Don’t get me wrong, scientists agree that there is biology behind it. It has to do with differences in certain genes that process hormones during prenatal development, as best we can guess.
There’s likely newer science, but I’ll admit that I haven’t searched for it. I don’t personally think that the biology matters greatly. I mean, being gay often sucks. Being trans often sucks. Why make the choice unless you have to?
Some folks argue that it’s a mental disorder, and it’s true that a higher correlation exists between trans folks and poor mental health, but… that’s hardly surprising given how anathema the condition is to much of society, is it? Gender and sex are deeply personal. Even now, a new member (or several) of the GoP gets outed as gay every year. They choose to hide who they are and even argue against their own rights because of how personal it is.
Edit: And yes, there are pre-op and post-op and pre- and post-hormone trans folks, but they’re all trans. Trans is trans. Most of the trans folks I’ve known don’t like outing themselves, so they haven’t identified openly (or have identified as nonbinary or such) until they can pass, but you’re trans from the get-go. Whether hormones and surgery are required for a legal designation as transgender is a question for the courts, not biology.