Before we add gender identity and expression to anti-discrimination laws and international agreements, it might be a good idea to try to understand what is driving those the law is supposed to protect –the transgendered, transsexuals, transvestites, cross-dressers, drag queens and kings, gender queer, adults and children with gender dysphoria (previously know as gender identity disorder), and autogynephiles (men who are in love with the image of themselves as a woman).
With such a diversity of expressions of gender dysphoria (being unhappy with the sex you were born), no single characteristic could be expected to be applicable to every person who could claim protection under “gender identity and expression” status, but there is reason to consider the possibility that many could be described as being motivated by pathological envy.
As I was trying to find a way to explain why men who claim to be women trapped in male bodies aren’t women, I came across a web post by Thorin25, a man struggling against the temptation to cross-dress. I felt his insights were significant since dressing in clothes associated with the other sex is the gateway to the transgender world. (more...)
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