A backlash against gender ideology is starting in universities

[Ferguson97]

The term "gender ideology" is only used by authoritarian crackpots who think that the idea of gender existing separately from sex is an affront to their reactionary views of social order. As a trans person myself I'm beyond sick of being made to constantly justify the bare nature of my existence when the parameters of my experience of living in the wrong body are already so harrowing, and facing discrimination on top of it is deeply offensive and existentially exhausting. Being told that my existence is "ideology" is patronizing, and I don't care whether braindead "academics" like Richard Dawkins or people like the OP of this thread with backwards noble-savage conceptions of working people or ethnic minorities are those dishing it out. Discrimination can only be ameliorated through greater understanding, not suppressing deviation from societal expectations.

I agree that transitioning isn't always the answer, and there are people here who can explain that better than I can, but it sounds like you're swinging too far in the other direction and trying to scare people off of even considering that another way is possible for them. I don't always have the most politically correct takes on issues related to gender or trans solidarity myself, depending on how my own experience has informed them, but you seem opposed to this for all the wrong reasons.

The Economist can be pretty ghoulish when it comes to covering issues that actually directly affect people rather than spheres of international theater and made-up numbers that are hardly relevant to most people.

Wonderfully said.

[Ferguson97]

This thread has been an absolute mess, and intellectual arguments are being reduced to inane drivel, a lot of which is totally irrelevant.

The thing is, what is gender? If you can’t answer that question, then this debate becomes totally unintellectual in nature, and is more based in personal feelings. In the latter case, then the feelings of a trans person who calls themselves a gender different than there biological sex are no more important than the feelings of someone who thinks that “a man with a uterus” is an oxymoron. Simple as that. They can still respect one another, but you can’t force either one of them to respect the other persons view.

The difference is that for one person, this is just an opinion about a set of issues that barely affects their life in any way, while for the other (trans) person, the way society feels about this issue determines their ability to be safe and successful in every aspect of their lives.

Even if this does come down to a debate about feelings, why would you deliberately hurt someone’s feelings when it costs you nothing to just treat them the way they are asking to be treated?

Like I said, it’s not too much to expect them to respect one another (for example, use requested pronouns). But if the person says, “I still think you’re 100% a man” when the person claims to be a woman, you can’t get mad at them for stating that when you can’t prove them wrong.

I can and will absolutely get mad at someone for misgendering and disrespecting a trans person.

[Ferguson97]

This thread has been an absolute mess, and intellectual arguments are being reduced to inane drivel, a lot of which is totally irrelevant.

The thing is, what is gender? If you can’t answer that question, then this debate becomes totally unintellectual in nature, and is more based in personal feelings. In the latter case, then the feelings of a trans person who calls themselves a gender different than there biological sex are no more important than the feelings of someone who thinks that “a man with a uterus” is an oxymoron. Simple as that. They can still respect one another, but you can’t force either one of them to respect the other persons view.

The difference is that for one person, this is just an opinion about a set of issues that barely affects their life in any way, while for the other (trans) person, the way society feels about this issue determines their ability to be safe and successful in every aspect of their lives.

Even if this does come down to a debate about feelings, why would you deliberately hurt someone’s feelings when it costs you nothing to just treat them the way they are asking to be treated?

Like I said, it’s not too much to expect them to respect one another (for example, use requested pronouns). But if the person says, “I still think you’re 100% a man” when the person claims to be a woman, you can’t get mad at them for stating that when you can’t prove them wrong.

What "proof" is needed beyond someone's stated gender identity? Anything else is exclusionary purity-test nonsense that absolutely goes against your principle of respecting other folk.

“I said so” isn’t proof for any claim.

That's literally how gender works.

[Ferguson97]

This thread has been an absolute mess, and intellectual arguments are being reduced to inane drivel, a lot of which is totally irrelevant.

The thing is, what is gender? If you can’t answer that question, then this debate becomes totally unintellectual in nature, and is more based in personal feelings. In the latter case, then the feelings of a trans person who calls themselves a gender different than there biological sex are no more important than the feelings of someone who thinks that “a man with a uterus” is an oxymoron. Simple as that. They can still respect one another, but you can’t force either one of them to respect the other persons view.

The difference is that for one person, this is just an opinion about a set of issues that barely affects their life in any way, while for the other (trans) person, the way society feels about this issue determines their ability to be safe and successful in every aspect of their lives.

Even if this does come down to a debate about feelings, why would you deliberately hurt someone’s feelings when it costs you nothing to just treat them the way they are asking to be treated?

Like I said, it’s not too much to expect them to respect one another (for example, use requested pronouns). But if the person says, “I still think you’re 100% a man” when the person claims to be a woman, you can’t get mad at them for stating that when you can’t prove them wrong.

How is telling someone “I still think you’re 100% a man” respecting them?  Why would you say that when it is obviously very hurtful to the person you are saying it to, and doesn’t make any difference to the way you live your own life?

It’s just them stating their opinion on how gender works.

If you walk up to a random person and say "your face is ugly", that might be your sincere opinion, and it might not be disprovable, but it certainly wouldn't be respectful.  It wouldn't even by respectful if you said that to your friend.  

There are lots of contexts where it is not respectful to share one's opinion, and a non-trans person's opinion of the "true gender" of a trans person is going to be one of those times virtually always.

Calling someone delusional to their face is certainly disrespectful. Disagreeing on what constitutes “gender,” doesn’t.

I fundamentally disagree.

If you claim to be a Christian, and I say that you aren't because you don't fit my definition of what a Christian should be (say, weekly church attendance and donating to charity), I'd be a disrespectful jerk if I said you weren't "really" a Christian.