More than 1 million nonbinary adults live in the US, study finds

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

I would be curious what percentage of non-binary identifying people are actually medically transitioning.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

I do think it's likely that there are some people who are legitimately non-binary; i.e. they feel genuine gender dysphoria over identifying with either gender.

But I also get the impression that a significant number of people who now identify as nonbinary don't actually experience any dysphoria in the medical sense.

Rather, they are mostly just embracing an aesthetic that has become popular within a certain Gen-Z niche.  Somewhat like the kids who identified as "goths" back when I was in high school.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

I do think it's likely that there are some people who a legitimately non-binary; i.e. they feel genuine gender dysphoria over identifying with either gender.

But I also get the impression that a significant number of people who now identify as nonbinary don't actually experience any dysphoria in the medical sense.

Rather, they are mostly just embracing an aesthetic that has become popular within a certain Gen-Z niche.  Somewhat like the kids who identified as "goths" back when I was in high school.

The debate over "transmedicalism" (believing that dysphoria is required to identify as transgender) is ancient and ugly, and best avoided. While it's possible for some cases, it's generally not considerate to jump to the assumption that people choose to identify as trans, and thus incur all of the associated risks, merely as an aesthetic statement.

But isn’t the medical basis for gender dysphoria the primary reason why identifying as transgender is seen as legitimate while identifying as transracial is not?

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Even if there was so contingent of people who aren't really trans (whatever that's supposed to mean), who cares. Just let people live their lives. Not sure why the continued maintenance of rigid gender roles is so important to so many people here

I totally agree with this.  People should be able to look the way they want, dress the way they want, use whatever name they want, and accept or reject any "gender roles" that they want.

But if we are going to be accepting of an otherwise privileged person adopting a trans identity without experiencing dysphoria or discrimination or any of the other negative aspects of this transition that trans people has historical experienced, why are we so quick to condemn an otherwise privileged person who wishes to embrace some aspects of the identity of another race or culture?

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

The key difference in your analogy is that identifying a certain gender is all that's needed to "become" that gender, while identifying as part of a different race, ethnic group, or socioeconomic class cannot make you a part of it.

But this argument is begging the entire question.

The claim that "identifying a certain gender is all that's needed to "become" that gender" is certainly not a universally agreed upon premise, even among trans people.

Obviously, there are people that believe you need to be born a certain gender to legitimately claim a gender identity, but that's not what I'm talking about.

There are people who believe you need to experience dysphoria in order to claim a gender identity different than the one assigned at birth.  There are people that believe you need to take some affirmative visible step(s) toward transitioning in order to claim a different gender identity.  There are people who claim you need to "live your life as" the gender you choose to identify with.  But in all these cases, bare identification is not enough.

If you do wish to remove all considerations of gender dysphoria, physical attributes, or visible presentation from gender identification, how are race and gender not equally pure social constructs?  

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Even if there was so contingent of people who aren't really trans (whatever that's supposed to mean), who cares. Just let people live their lives. Not sure why the continued maintenance of rigid gender roles is so important to so many people here

As I've said before, suggesting that how someone dresses and behaves determines that person's gender is actually what maintains rigid gender roles.

Good thing nobody says that?

Then what then does determine gender?

A man is someone who identifies as a man. A woman is someone who identifies as a woman

If that was all there was to it it would be an empty concept and there'd be no reason anyone would be upset about being misgendered.

Also it just drifts into nonsensical territory. For a concept to exist there has to be a manifestation of the concept. Even for imaginary things there is a definition of what it would be if it existed. Saying a man is someone who identifies as a man is circular reasoning and doesn't answer the question.

Gender is an empty concept, correct, and it is nonsense. If everyone understood gender as it actually existed, it would not exist. Unfortunately, we've spent millennia building rigid definitions around them with no basis, and anything that is a threat to those rigid definitions is going to be hard for most people who grew up in such a society to accept

It's also not circular reasoning any more than it's circular reasoning to define Republican as someone who identifies with the Republican party

If gender is an entirely empty concept that is only defined by bare self-identification, why couldn’t you say the same thing about race? 

There are clearly more discrete physical differences between the genders as assigned at birth than between people who are assigned different races at birth.  So how can you say that these differences are irrelevant to determining one’s actual gender, but decisive in determining one’s race?

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Until someone can even give a semi-coherent definition on what “non-binary” means, I’ll remain convinced it’s more or less just a way for people to make themselves sound more different and oppressed.

It means someone does not identify as male or female.

But I thought gender was a social construct. And since our society hasn't constructed gender roles for any genders aside from male and female, a "nonbinary" person has no alternative genders available to them to identify as.

Maybe “assigned at birth” is not completely analogous terminology when talking about race.  But you know what I mean.  Typically, I’m referring to someone who would like to identify as a race different than either of their biological parents identify as.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

I guess no one has really attempted to answer my question.  If the acceptance of transgender identity is not based in gender dysphoria, and indeed gender is just a social construct, how is this distinguishable from transracial identity, which surely is at least as much of a social construct as gender?