People Magazine: Jenner "transitioning into a woman"

And, it's funny too.

We live in an age of self identification.

Barack Obama's white mother gave birth to the first Black president.

But, Bill de Blasio's black wife gave birth to a mixed race son.

Elizabeth Warren is part Native American, based on nothing but her own self identification.

You want to call yourself Christian, you're Christian.

You want to define yourself as gay, fine.

But, suddenly, if you want to identify yourself by gender, that's crazy.

 

Read up on body integrity disorder. I don't get it. I think the medical profession should help sufferers of it find ways to better cope. I don't think the medical profession should indulge their fervent desire to cut off perfectly healthy (and generally important*) parts of their body.

*Foreskins and forearms ... they ain't the same thing.

 

People should do whatever they believe will make them happy as long as I'm not exposed to measles because of it.

 

Not taking a side, but do you really not see how permanent surgery is different than an identification which can be reversed as quickly as it's declared? There's a reason parents let their kids apply Cracker Jack tattoos but not real ones.

 

Michael Sam and Jason Collins were able to tell their stories, in their own way, at the time of their choosing. Their public lives, and their working with competing media to create a narrative did not leat other outlets to rush the story, and out either of them.

But, I guess this is different:

That silence has troubled numerous trans advocates, who noted that the outing of someone in mid-transition is almost without precedent.

“Jenner has not self-identified as transgender,” said Denise A. Norris, the director of the Institute for Transgender Economic Advancement. “The current situation is not something for the public consumption. This is not something for the media to feed off of to generate advertising revenue. It is a private matter until Jenner decides to make it public.”

Janet Mock, who chronicled her own transition in the book “Redefining Realness,” said that there are various possibilities of how someone self-identifies, not all of which fall into the binaries of male and female, making any speculation seem premature at best.
...

Understandably, numerous advocates for transgender people are angered by the coverage thus far.

“The media knows it’s unethical to speculate about someone’s sexual orientation,” said Nick Adams of Glaad, the gay-rights group. “It’s also unethical to speculate about a person’s gender identity. Five years from now, I hope people will look back and be embarrassed by the circuslike atmosphere being created around the simple idea that someone might be transgender.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/05/f...-news.html?partner=socialflow&smid=tw-nytimes

 

But the thing is: It's probably Jenner's publicist leaking it.

 

The perfectly healthy (and generally important*) parts of the body aren't cut off until the process has been under way for a long time. And, despite the media's curiosity about genitals (Op-ed: Can The Media Please Stop Focusing on Trans People's Bodies? | Advocate.com not everyone even goes that far.

And, I would not advocate for plastic surgery on other body parts for teens who might be transgender.

But, should we be surprised some would take this route?

We live in an era where a teen can have an abortion -- which is pretty permanent -- without parental consent.

And, we have "personal belief exemptions" which allow parents to let their kids go unvaccinated.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's 8-year-old child apparently identifies with male and has since the age of three:

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Support Their Kid Wearing Suits | Advocate.com

Now, maybe this identification will change. But, as a society, or as a parent, what should the reaction be? Opposition? Therapy?

 

The Bruce Jenner I remember was an Olympic hero. If he likes becoming a woman, I love it. But I must admit, he's not very attractive looking as a woman from the photos I've seen.

 

Therapy is standard in these situations and uncontroversial.

 

Used to be standard for homosexual children too.

 

Here's the hard part about this. Unlike Sam and Collins, he's physically changing. THE MEDIA could just ignore the changes, I guess, but when you're a public figure and you are physically changing, people are going to ask questions. The fact that he is photographed every time he steps into the public doesn't help, either.

 

Exactly. It's just how the wiring goes.

Bruce is a girl. Is happy as a girl.

Needs to be a girl. Became a girl.

Nothing more, nothing less.