Every once in a while it pops up: an article in a newspaper or magazine by someone who is worried about ‘all that gender stuff’. Last week Friday, August 13, 2021 it was that time again.
In fact, it’s always about the same thing. It always starts with that biologically there really are only two genders: male and female. Totally correct. That is not denied by anyone. However, this is also not the point that gender variant people – and their loved ones – are making. The point is that in addition to a biological sex, there is also something like a gender identity. This is where the shoe pinches, because a gender identity is about one’s feelings. immeasurable. Just like many other feelings. Think of happiness or pain. It may well be that we don’t understand why someone is happy or sad, but does that make it less true? Nope! That’s not how it works. We assume someone is sad when that person says so. It’s the same with gender identity. Just accept it, it’s that simple.
When it turned out that Emma feels like a boy, I really wanted an instrument with which I could make it measurable. Because then I could also determine it and then I knew for sure which choices I had to make as a mother. So I can understand that there are people who find the fact that you can’t determine gender identity difficult. This does not alter the fact that everyone wants to be recognized in what he, she or them feels and is entitled to it.
The other thing that always pops up in such articles is the fear that men can easily call themselves women and then attack women in any way. The examples of how men do this are countless, but the danger has never been substantiated. Over the past 2021 years, men have been able to assault and rape women without any problem whenever they wished. There is no need for a changing room in the gym if it can also be done in the bushes, train or your own bedroom. In addition, the vast majority of perpetrators come from family and friends.
In short, that there are only two genders biologically, no one disputes and the fear of attacking women is in no way substantiated. Do you know what is substantiated? The danger that such stories pose to gender variant people! And as a mother of a transgender child, I am terribly concerned about this. It’s also harsh. If you don’t know, don’t suspect my son is transgender. Does knowing suddenly make him a different person? Or even less human? Not for me. If that is the case for you, then I ask you to scratch behind your ears. It says everything about you.
Wouldn’t it be much nicer if we accept someone for who that person is. What difference does it make how someone identifies themselves? Look at how someone treats you and base your judgment on that. To appeal to someone born as a woman as a man? Just do it! Really, you are doing the other person a great favor and it makes you a nicer person!
Freedom of expression is a great thing, but for me it is not limitless. Articles like this that deny the existence of gender identity and the variation in it may be prohibited by me. Even if it is presented as an individual’s opinion. And the suggestion of danger without any substantiation seems completely out of the question to me.