You know something? My gut reaction upon reading this thread was that the guy’s got to be nuts, but upon looking at the article, I’ve got to think he’s got a point (no pun intended). If “transgender” is legitimate, why not “trans-species”? Please don’t take this as knocking transgender folks, BTW. It just seems to me that as long as it’s true that people can be genuinely uncomfortable in the body they’re born with, what rules are supposed to govern just what body they are comfortable in?
Oh, no! I just broke my pit virginity!
Hmm…maybe I’ll try a rant next…
Chaim Mattis Keller
If “transgender” is legitimate, why not “trans-species”? Please don’t take this as knocking transgender folks, BTW. It just seems to me that as long as it’s true that people can be genuinely uncomfortable in the body they’re born with, what rules are supposed to govern just what body they are comfortable in?
CM—There have been numerous studies on what causes transgenderism, which is an actual neuro-endocrinological disorder, probably caused by exposure to hormones at about the sixth week of pregnancy (though there may be environmental factors as well). I doubt this guy was exposed to tiger hormones in utero . . . Though I may be giving his mom too much of a benefit of a doubt.
Maybe mom was frightened by a tiger while she was pregnant, like the Elephant Man’s mother was frightened by an elephant.
(sincerely hoping nobody from GD shows up besides CM)
I just hope he doesn’t want a REAL tiger pelt grafted onto him. There’s only so many REAL tigers in the wild, after all. I’d hate to think some poacher made some bucks off this guy’s overweening desire to be unique.
IIRC - the main character in Greg Bear’s ‘City of Angels’ is trans-species, but she has dolphin-like skin. It’s set in LA, of course, in the mid/near future. Gotta be So. Cal. As body sculpting surgery becomes safer and more affordable I think we will see a whole lot more of this. If they can convert a vagina to a penis, and vice-versa, and still have some functionality, then whiskers and teeth should be a piece of cake. The fur thing can’t be comfortable, though, unless they can do something with his sweat. I don’t even want to think about the smell…
I’m pretty sure it would be medically impossible to “graft” tiger fur onto him—look at the trouble balding guys have just getting hair plugs! He could just glue an old pelt on, but it would be VERY bad for his skin and would come off pretty quickly.
Does anyone know if I can get a hunting license for tigers
in Ca. ?
I dissagree that it is a legimate disorder as it is not a disorder.
I don’t see much difference between this guy and people who get body piercings to identify as part of a social group. He is no different than transgendered people when it comes to people making fun of him. I would hope that no one decides not to make fun of transgendered people because of scientific studies because the scientific studies didn’t always exist.
" . . . I would hope that no one decides not to make fun of transgendered people because of scientific studies . . . "
—No need to worry on that count. There will always be people to make fun of, harrass and kill the transgendered, no matter how many studies are done.
“I dissagree that it is a legimate disorder as it is not a disorder.”
—Huh? 'splain, Lucy. Or not . . . We’ve already had a number of transgendered threads, and we don’t want to wander too far from our Tiger Man . . .
Being transgendered has no real adverse mental effect on the person for it to be a disorder of the mind. It is primarily a dissagreement with the idea that sex determines gender and a secondary dissagreement with the idea that there are some changes you shouldn’t make to yourself to like your body better.
And by sex i mean physical characteristics while using gender I mean mental characteristics.
Not me. I’d teach him to turn left and send him to Talledaga!
As for Tiger Man, I’ve got just the girl for him.
Sterra—I think that needs to be a whole separate thread; but it’s been done to death, so I’m not sure it’s worth digging up again at this point.
Has anyone else read the sci-fi book “Moving Mars”? Part of it talks about people who used nanotech to transform their bodies into all sorts of crazy forms - centaurs, sea mammals, living stone statues, etc. I wonder if that’s where we’re headed?
Maybe I should clarify my position. I don’t have a problem with the idea of body modification to look like a tiger. I have a problem with the execution in this case. The guy looks lame as hell! If I hadn’t been told he was going for “tiger” I’d have thought he was trying to look like those Mexican wrestler guys with the masks. He looks nothing LIKE a tiger. The whiskers are all wrong, the face shape is wrong… he just looks stupid. Done right, I would probably think it was pretty cool. (not that I’d have wanted to keep this longer than a day.)
I wouldn’t make fun of him (or anyone) to his face (or among his friends, etc), and for all I know he’s a nice person. But I do think he looks silly and I have no problem saying so here. I really don’t think that totally anonymous ridicule is that big of a problem in a case like this. We’re not making fun of a whole group of people, just an individual. And we don’t know him, he doesn’t know us… I really don’t see this as a big issue.
What about Cleopatra woman? She’s had so many cosmetic surgeries, only so she can look like Cleopatra! I can’t find pics of her online, but she was on the Guinness show just like Lizard Man was.
Sam
I dunno, it always makes me happy to see people doing what makes them happy.
Looking like a tiger seems to make this guy veeerrrrryyy happy.
The teeth are freakin’ cool. I had no idea you could actually do that with human teeth. I would have thought you’d hit nerve long before they got that narrow. I imagine he has to be pretty careful with them.
Originally Posted by OpalCat:
I say we just send him an anonymous note that freaks like him aren’t welcome in the neighborhood.
Good Lord, this is the pit?! How tame. No flame, just general discussion about someone who wants to be different, can afford it, and is eccentric enough to do it. Why is this here?