I Don't Know

So much talk lately about transexuals.  I gotta tell ya - I don't know what's going on with them.  It's not so cut and dried.  There are so many facets to that issue that I think it's dismissive to just say, "Oh, how brave!" and move on because there are undoubtedly some cases where mental illness is a factor and someone needs help more than accolades.

To think of changing sexes as the empirical solution is missing the bigger problem.

Is the person in this picture being brave, delusional, or a unique combination of both?

Here's what makes me think most people agree, whether or not they realize it.  People don't seem to have much problem criticizing celebrities who get a lot of plastic surgery.  When a person has altered their look so much that they are hardly recognizable as their old selves, it makes pop news headlines about how freakish they look, or how they ruined their face.  And that's usually capped off with, "How can they think that looks good?" implying that there must be some kind of delusion going on.

A guy that puts on lipstick and a dress and thinks he looks like a woman probably has some of that same sort of delusion, but instead we say he is brave.  Seems a little unfair.  Both of these types of people are struggling with the idea that they are living in the wrong body.  We should apply the same standard, whatever that is.

I usually add my "I have no hate for anyone here" preamble to posts that take on sensitive subjects like this, but I wanted to put it right before these next few thoughts.  

I understand that people can feel a... misalignment (fair descriptor?) between their sexual identity/preference/physiology/etc., but I think there's a way to help with the confusion or struggle many of these people feel.   Don't try to redefine your anatomy.  Redefine what a man or woman is.  Don't physically mutilate yourself to match some staid definition of what a woman or man is supposed to be.  Change your opinion of what a woman or man is.  Wear whatever clothes you like best.  Wear as much or as little makeup as you like.  Have complete freedom to act however you want in the body you were given.   Just because you have a penis doesn't mean you have to like football, chewing tobacco, and trucker hats.  Having a vajayjay doesn't mean you have to like soap operas and valances.  You do you.  I don't think society will have any less acceptance for that approach, and I think avoiding surgery and hormone treatment is being more true to yourself.