Opinion of J.K. Rowling

[Velasco]

I' ve never read Harry Potter books, although I've seen one movie or two with Emma Watson

I get the origin of the controversy is a serial killer in her latest book, entitled Troubled Blood. According to a Telegraph review, apparently there's a moral fable within that says "never trust a man dressed as a woman". There are things more truculent and scary than this,  just remember the skin dress wore by Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs. However, JK Rowling has been lambasted before for alleged transphobia. I'd say she's doing herself no favours, in case she wants to reject the accusations.

The issues related to sex, gender and identity are sensitive topics. It's an objective fact that trans persons are subject of high levels of violence and discrimination. I think the problem with the TERF and their likes is not only the claim that trans women are not 'real women'. Defining women only by biological facts may be narrow-minded, but the notion that all women must menstruate and have a vagina is very common. The meanest thing is the characterization of the 'impostor' trans women as mentally ill persons threatening the 'real' ones. People making such claims deserve to be execrated, because that's hate speech and causes suffering to a group of vulnerable human beings. Rowling is not so far from TERF stances, I am afraid

[Velasco]

I will never understand this thinking. If a person was of the sincere belief that they were the reincarnation of so and so, and ought to be treated such and such, would we indulge them, or medicate them? If someone went around saying they fully in their heart believed they were not a human, but an animal, and behaved as an animal would, would they end up in therapy or not? Trans people are not "imposters", but they are mentally unwell all the same. It is an abberation of the brain for there to be such a disconnect between mind and body in the same way that there is an abberation of the brain in Autistic child - and we use therapy to treat those with Autism and make life easier for them. It doesn't mean Trans people should be mistreated, but it also doesn't mean their delusions should be indulged, either. If Jack feesls he is Jane, let him or her, but why should the public foot the bill for his transition? Why does he or she deserve a parade for cutting their penis off, you know?

You are basically implying that trans persons need a conversion therapy, similar to those therapies aimed at curing homosexualism and bisexualism. Should a trans conversion therapy include electroshock or not? Which medication would be the more appropriate to treat that disease?

The typical English curriculum includes Dante Alighieri? Lol

(which would be less strange than it including J. K. Rowling by the way)

Dante is like Shakespeare and Cervantes. He is not only an Italian medieval author, but a heritage of humanity

[Velasco]

You are basically implying that trans persons need a conversion therapy, similar to those therapies aimed at curing homosexualism and bisexualism. Should a trans conversion therapy include electroshock or not? Which medication would be the more appropriate to treat that disease?

I'm not a physician; I do not know what treatment but I am certain some form of medication would help the illness. I do not support electro shock therapy for anyone; it's barbaric. That being said, do we or do we not try to treat Autistic people to make life easier for them?

Do we not help people with Asbergers, or diseases of the brain which involve other motor dysfunctions better adjust to life?

Similarly, do we or do we not treat addicts? Addiction as I was taught in college is a "brain disease." Do we encourage and indulge and celebrate an addict being an addict, or do we encourage treatment and being clean?

Or if you take a look over the galley of the other various mental disorders like Anxiety, Depression, Body Dysmorphia Disosrder...Do we tell someone with Body Dysmorphia that purging and anorexia and bulimia is okay? That they are exactly what they see in the mirror? Do we throw them parades? Or do we try to help them realize that what they see subjectively is not objective fact?

And gender dysphoria is treated by transitioning. There is an actual scientific consensus about this being the best way and having the best outcomes.

I'm sorry that you don't like it, but it's actually the transperson themself who is important. Not your own poorly conceived prejudices.

Also, again, I don't indulge mental illness. You do, because you have been conditioned by your professors to do so.
Gender dysmorphia isn't treated by transitioning. It is indulged. It's basically saying the best way to treat a heroin addict is to pump them full of heroin. A gambling addict's best bet at recovery is gambling some more. That is the mindset of people like you.
I'm sorry you don't like it, but it's the truth, not your bull--it politicized "science."

It's obvious that you are not a "physician", let alone an expert. Thankfully for the people involved, gender dysphoria is no longer regarded a disease by medical organizations.

The American Psychiatric Association gives the following  definition of "gender dysphoria"

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria

Gender dysphoria involves a conflict between a person's physical or assigned gender and the gender with which he/she/they identify. People with gender dysphoria may be very uncomfortable with the gender they were assigned, sometimes described as being uncomfortable with their body (particularly developments during puberty) or being uncomfortable with the expected roles of their assigned gender.

People with gender dysphoria may often experience significant distress and/or problems functioning associated with this conflict between the way they feel and think of themselves (referred to as experienced or expressed gender) and their physical or assigned gender (...)

Definitions in official sites mention "conflict", "discomfort" and "distress", but there are no mentions to "mental disorder". According to the same source, the treatment options are:

treatment options for gender dysphoria include counseling, cross-sex hormones, puberty suppression and gender reassignment surgery. Some adults may have a strong desire to be of a different gender and to be treated as a different gender without seeking medical treatment or altering their body. They may only want support to feel comfortable in their gender identity. Others may want more extensive treatment including hormone treatment and gender reassignment surgery leading to a transition to the opposite sex. Some may choose hormone treatment or surgery alone.

Individual Therapy can help a person understand and explore his/her/their feelings and cope with the distress and conflict. Couples therapy or family therapy may be helpful to improve understanding and to create a supportive environment. Parents of children with gender dysphoria may also benefit from counseling. Peer support groups for adolescents and adults and parent/family support groups can also be helpful (...)  

"Counselling", "hormones", "explore feelings", "cope with the distress and conflict"... I see no mentions to medication to cure a mental disorder.

Possibly psychiatric associations all around the world are indulging themselves, because I think gender dysphoria was regarded a disorder or disease years or decades ago. Gays, lesbians and bisexuals were also regarded mentally ill in the past. It happens that concepts attached to a certain (patriarchal) mentality evolve over time, even though people suffering discrimination may think the evolution of mentalities is too slow. Sadly there's still people associating transsexualism and homosexuality with abhorrent practices like paedophilia and other sexual predatory behaviours.

In what concerns JK Rowling, I feel no pity if she's lambasted for her opinions of trans people. I would never ban her books, though. She's by no means as good as Dante, but that's not reason to banish her to the depths of hell...

[Velasco]

Is this about the revelation that Luna Lovegood is trans?

We don't know what this thread is about, really.

I had to search "Luna Lovegood" in Google, but anyway I'm shocked by the revelation. Is her trans condition affecting her loony reputation at Hogwarts? Did JK Rowling release a statement in her Twitter account?

[Velasco]

If you support JK Rowling, you're on the same side as the person who made this. And do you really want that?

That picture is before or after the sensational revelations concerning the identity of Luna Lovegood?

Wearing school uniforms should be banned for adults, with the sole exception of the AC/DC guitarist Angus Young

[Velasco]

Worth mentioning that Reduction in Mental Health Treatment Utilization Among Transgender Individuals After Gender-Affirming Surgeries: A Total Population Study was broadly criticized for widespread methodological issues, and should be more properly titled No Reduction in Mental Health Treatment Utilization Among Transgender Individuals After Gender-Affirming Surgeries: A Total Population Study. The evidence that sex-change surgeries help people with gender dysphoria is not very strong despite intense pressure from activists.

Part of this is because society, in general, just isn't that good to trans people.

Partly, it's because we have an even harder time accepting masculine women and especially feminine men. If people were allowed to be whoever they wanted and were not boxed in by gender, perhaps fewer people would feel the need to change genders in order to fit these silly societal ideas on gender roles.

Take this scenario -

Billy puts on makeup at age 6
 
Mom - Don't do that, makeup is for girls

Now Billy thinks maybe he's a girl instead of just a boy who enjoys makeup.

Billy might also be influenced by the nonsense idea that boys can actually be girls and vice versa. Biological sex is clear, immutable and binary.

I doubt that Billy will undertake SRS only because her Mom's advice. Billy could be a She (transgender) or  a He (a boy who enjoys make up). In any case Billy does no harm to society, but society harms Billy. The same rules for Tom Boy, although masculine women and trans men are relatively less mistreated by patriarchal society.  Gender expressions like using lipstick or wearing baggy trousers are unrelated to biology. The claim on biological sex is a clear sign of ignorance, on the other hand. Sexes are not always binary, clear and immutable

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex

[Velasco]

But what about those raised in traumatic, abusive backgrounds where no one had a degree in gender studies or sociology? You don't think years upon years of being told that what they were doing was "feminine" and "for girls" wouldn't convince someone that they were the other gender, when if they'd been raised in a loving society that let boys and girls be whoever they wanted, they might grow up okay with what's between their legs?

My understanding is that most persons undertaking SRS are driven by a strong and intimate desire. I can't conceive someone who is "convinced" to make such a drastic decision on these grounds, except perhaps in cases of extremely weak and insecure personalities that require some kind of psychological or psychiatric assessment