I have never considered homosexuality a disorder, because homosexuals are more often than not happy and comfortable with who they are. The transgendered as often as not find out they aren’t any more comfortable being the other gender as they were being their real gender.
For what it’s worth, Cecil did a column on this in 2012:
As far as racial disphoria goes, since race cannot be firmly established, and there are no psychological traits that differentiate members of different races, then it’s entirely a subjective experience. If someone says they are black, they are black. If someone says they are white, they are white. This of course does not mean that other people have to acknowledge their self-image. Barack OBama, despite his identification as black, for example, is biracial, IMO, which is such a large group today that I think it is distinct. But that doesn’t mean he’s a liar, he just self-identifies as black and chose to join a black church and to represent a predominantly black legislative district. Likewise, this lady has chosen to live as a black woman and has fought for the rights of African-Americans. She is, for all intents and purposes, black. Since race is a social construct, and she successfully portrayed herself as black, then she’s black. Since race has no scientific basis, it makes no sense to worry about the skin color or national origin of her parents. There’s a lot of people with a drop or two running around claiming this or that ethnicity when there’s a benefit to be had(cough, Warren), but never shared any of the struggles of actually having to be considered non-white by others. THis lady has made herself look black to the extent that she is treated as a black woman, with all the good and bad that that entails. She is, therefore, a black woman.
The irony is that the NAACP doesn’t care, and said as much in its press release. The only people who seem to care are the media, her family, and the professionally offended.
Yep. And personally, I question the motives of the media folks who thought this was a story worth reporting on, at least to the extent that they gave it top billing. Some people are just obsessed with race I guess.
I fall into the ‘let people be whatever they feel they are’ camp where it comes to gender, and am comfortable with their doing whatever they can to make their bodies mesh better with their beliefs.
And I’m mostly indifferent to the racial classification matters. Since there’s no real objective ‘rules’ on who is what race, especially with the huge numbers of people who are from a mixture of backgrounds, what does it matter? You’re a hulking six foot tall redhead of Norwegian descent and what to say you’re Japanese? <shrug> Okay, whatever. Feel free to dye your hair or wear makeup or whatever. And I guess I’d be okay with pretty much any plastic surgery that they might seek. At least, I’m assuming that a surgery to create a folded eyelid, for example, is possible.
But there does seem to be a whole spectrum of … somethings, call them disorders, where people internally feel something that the outside observer wouldn’t agree with. Surely there is a line somewhere, where we stop agreeing that their emotions overrule reality?
Take those people who earnestly believe that some part of their body ‘isn’t theirs’ and thus want it taken off. Should doctors cut off perfectly normal, functional arms or legs from these people? Or refer them to psychiatrists?
And what about people who claim they are wholly or in part something other than human? Half elf, reincarnated dragon, part wolf or whatever? Can we agree that their beliefs are simply wrong? Delusional? What if Mister “I am destined to be a dragon” decides the way to complete the transition is to get burned alive? Should we stand aside and let him try?
And if those are ‘disorders’ aren’t to be allowed… how are those beliefs different than those about sex or race except in how extreme/rare they are?
But it’s not, unless your position is that every classified and studied mental disorder/syndrome out there is “entirely subjective”. Which would be bonkers.
I agree. And I think people in general absolutely have the right to decide that they’re part of this race or that race if it makes them happy or feel special. While living in perma-blackface is a bit more involved that claiming you’re 1/16th Cree, it’s not really harmful to anybody. A bit sad I guess, but, eh.
However, her living in perma-blackface is not the *only *element we have to assess whether or not that person has a serious case of the cray-crays.
I don’t think there’s any motive beyond “this is downright weird” clickbait. It’s a man bites dog story on so many levels.
I admit I haven’t followed this story closely–but isn’t there some indication that she reported hate crimes against her to the police, crimes which either did not happen at all or which she herself was responsible for? If true, that may still not move the needle past “clickbait,” but does put the deception into a very different place–and to my mind at least makes it much more newsworthy.
Can we agree that, regardless of their other mental issues, this woman whose name I forgot and Ms Jenner are both attention whores? I liked Jenner much better during her Wilderness Decades, when she and her families vanished from my consciousness, and that other woman all of her life up to two days ago, when I first heard of her.
Absence truly does makes the heart grow fonder sometimes.
Personally I don’t care (though deception of this type would make me wary of giving her any fiduciary obligations) but what about the various claims she has made about being racially abused? They all seem to have been false but the fact that they were made at all is troubling.
I’m reminded of a girl I went to high school with, that identified as African-American (she was born in apartheid South Africa, so this wasn’t technically a lie, but misleading as hell!) on college scholarship applications. She thought it might give her an edge. Just to be clear, she was lily-white, blonde and blue-eyed. Don’t think it actually got her any scholarships.
But I remember the anger that it stirred up - even the school faculty were said to be horrified, and one teacher allegedly vowed to FedEx a picture of her to any scholarship foundation that awarded her a nickel. Black kids, white kids, teachers - EVERYONE hated it and wanted to expose her for a fraud.
Honestly, I think Dolezal should lose her job - it’s built on a lie, and what with the accusations of abuse, fabricated racial hate incidents… that’s not something that sincerely wants to help race relations would ever do.
And idle curiosity… that’s got to be a wig, right? Judging by earlier pictures, that’s got to fall into the realm of very implausible hairstyles for straight-haired people. It looks really natural though.
I don’t wish to add more fuel to what may not in fact be an honest debate, but historically, hasn’t it often been the case that what is now diagnosed as a condition, starts off being categorised as bad behaviour?
This is a strange story but it is interesting to see the real faces something
It is quite interesting you automatically invent the idea automatically that the science around this must be biased and invent also out of thin air the idea of scientists being coerced - contra you simply admitting you know nothing of the subject.
it says a great deal. About your thinking and bias, not about the science.
i suppose you shudder to think of any women’s hair salon where the perms are done… or the straightening. You think somehow to have curly hair is so specially difficult?
This would seem the normal way, it is not as if either the straightening or the curling of the hair in salons is some kind of unusual operation…