Thread by @MForstater

"Born this way"

The idea that sexual orientation is an inborn trait (whether true or not) was a powerful political strategy for gay rights, which has now been transferred to trans rights.

Is transsexualism a rare condition some are born with? Possibly, we don't know.

Is everyone who now identifies under the broad transgender umbrella 'born with it'. Seems unlikely.

In any case rights (e.g. privacy, autonomy) don't rely on a characteristic being in-born.

But we do know for sure that sex is something which everyone is born with

Every person is born with the type of body with the potential to produce sperm or the type which comes with egg on board, and it is impossible to switch between the two types (hence sex is immutable) .

Another thing which we are born with is the instinct to perceive the sex of other people (in fact, even stronger: an inability not to notice it, nor to forget it). It is instinctive, and between adults usually very reliable.

This is unsurprising when you think about evolution

An ideology which tells young people that if others perceive and remember their sex they hate them and wish them harm is a way to isolate and destabilise. Encouraging mental health to rest on this impossibility is cruel.

The idea that "acceptance without exception" means something different from JKR's formulation "dress how you please, call yourself what you like.." but instead means others should stop noticing male and female bodies, was always going to be on a collision course with reality.

I am am an adult human female, and I generally correctly perceive and remember what sex other adults are, because millions of years of evolution made it impossible not to.

I was born this way (and so were you)