I don't think anyone under the age of 18 should be allowed to undergo surgery or hormonal treatment. 

Noah Fence said

Any surgery or just surgery you don't agree with?  

You knew what I meant. 

I don't think anyone under the age of consent should be able to consent to a surgery that permanently alters their bodies. Not because I disagree with transgendered individuals right to live their preferred gender, but rather because they are still children and are making permanent life-altering decisions that they may not understand the full ramifications of. If someone can't legally get a tattoo until they are 18 they should not be able to have gender reassignment assignment surgery. 

King Lucem Ferre said
Shit is changing, and it's hard to accept change, but both science and history are supporting the idea that the gender spectrum is larger than we thought.

 

Science is always challenging and often disproving things we believed our whole lives. I guess people are too invested in their own egos to ever entertain the thought that they could be wrong or that perhaps they don't truly understand as much as they thought.   

Not sure it is larger than we thought. I see the current gender spectrum as it is viewed at this time as potentially infinite.

And there is a problem with the wrestling issue. There are guys who are wanting to compete as girls who absolutely do not identify as girls but are willing to say they do just to "prove a point".

And where does it end and who decides what is valid and what is not? The realm this is going is open to abuse. I do not care one way or the other how someone identifies themselves, but I think an open mind must be tempered with scepticism.

There are people who identify as other species. Should they be able to walk around in public nude like dogs do if they identify as a dog? What of the people who identify as a child. Should they be able to compete in sports against children when their biological age is something like 27? There are those who self identify as vampires. Whould we be bigots if we said we don't see them as vampires?

I know I branched away from the gender issue but I was showing the road it could lead. Will it lead to that? Hopefully not and probably not. But it is unclear where to draw the line and say, "Ok, that's far enough." And who gets to decide that line?

Psyral Infection said

Not sure it is larger than we thought. I see the current gender spectrum as it is viewed at this time as potentially infinite.

And there is a problem with the wrestling issue. There are guys who are wanting to compete as girls who absolutely do not identify as girls but are willing to say they do just to "prove a point".

And where does it end and who decides what is valid and what is not? The realm this is going is open to abuse. I do not care one way or the other how someone identifies themselves, but I think an open mind must be tempered with scepticism.

There are people who identify as other species. Should they be able to walk around in public nude like dogs do if they identify as a dog? What of the people who identify as a child. Should they be able to compete in sports against children when their biological age is something like 27? There are those who self identify as vampires. Whould we be bigots if we said we don't see them as vampires?

I know I branched away from the gender issue but I was showing the road it could lead. Will it lead to that? Hopefully not and probably not. But it is unclear where to draw the line and say, "Ok, that's far enough." And who gets to decide that line?  

There is growing evidence that suggests that people who are transgender actually have different brain structures than that of males or females: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-there-something-unique-about-the-transgender-brain/

Most of these studies have embarrassingly small sample sizes, so obviously more research needs to be done. I am also curious as to whether or not identifying as the opposite gender has an effect on brain imagining vs the opposite. 

Identifying as a child doesn't change the cognitive development of the brain, and identifying as a different species is ridiculous.

Personally, I think the Tumblr culture that makes it "cool" to be trans, promotes identifying as other species or inanimate objects, and glorifies mental illness is having a negative impact on young people; causing people to identify as trans who may not otherwise do so in order to fit in more. I think this does a tremendous disservice to individuals who actually have gender dysphoria.

I don't have any evidence to back this up though so it could be bullshit.