[Solumina]

Originally Posted by Languor

Saya answered my question to Solumina and Solumina answered my question to Saya! You two are joined at the hip! Hahaha : )

We've both been around here long enough (and had enough of these threads) to usually be able to fill in a bit, certainly helps keep discussions going ^_^

Originally Posted by Languor

I've read a lot of Trans people writing lately that gender is innate and it is transphobic to say otherwise. This confused me a bit so I was wondering what you guys think.

I haven't heard that except to say that you can't tell someone what their gender is, it is something very personal and if they identify a certain way that is how they are. I guess it is kind of like sexual orientation, you aren't exactly born that way, environmental factors play a part too, and it isn't strict or unchanging but it's still intrinsic. Did that make sense?

Originally Posted by Languor

Also if anyone can help me out with this one I'd really appreciate it.
I always felt that the gender constructed for women was destructive or at least used in destructive ways. From what I know, this is pretty much agreed upon across the board in feminism.

To put a complicated topic into a few short sentences: gender roles most determinately have been used to oppress women but gender roles were constructed to keep society stability. Unfortunately stability is often brought about through oppression but gender roles are continually changing and at some points in time a virginal woman could have great privilege so in those times it would be familial roles that were oppressive.

Originally Posted by Languor

If society has constructed this gender for us to exist in then is transgenderism the need to be part of a socially constructed role or is it the need to be biologically female?

I'm far from an expert on the specifics of being trans* but I do want to point out that trans* people and people with gender identity disorder are not the same, for the sake of accuracy I'm going to break from using trans* for a bit because there are non-transgendered people who identify as trans*.

There are plenty of people with GID that are not transgendered. They could have no desire to change their physical body, just a desire to take on gender roles that are not what society expects of them and meet the criteria for GID. A lot of people with GID find that role playing or cross dressing resolves their gender conflict so for them it isn't about their physical self but actions and aesthetics. Transgendered individuals are troubled by their physical self, dressing up or taking on traditional gender roles does not fully alleviate their conflict, for many just the sight of their own body causes them great distress.

I want to clarify that nobody can change their biological self, your chromosomes are what they are, you can only change the physical, but as far as I know that doesn't trouble anyone. I also want to say that it is completely possible for a person to be born genetically male but physically female (not sure if it can work the other way) and, while they have a higher rate of GID than average, most do not have any conflict about their identity (or at least not in regards to gender).