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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   32856 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022

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Even if it isn't sociogenic, that's still true though?

It could be, but it being sociogenic makes a stronger argument. If it's genetic you're stuck with dysphoria, and the only way to alleviate it would be with body modification. The costs might still not be worth it, but that would be the only known "cure". If it's sociogenic the costs might be entirely unnecessary, as a social intervention could alleviate dysphoria altogether.

If it's genetic you're stuck with dysphoria

This doesn't follow - at all. A condition being entirely genetic in the current environment doesn't mean it couldn't be changed in a different environment. And 'trans' isn't a medical condition, it's a complex set of desires and actions on the part of a person. "Being trans" may be a complex outcome of many decisions, social factors, and other things. Type 1 diabetes is genetic, but we can treat it.

You're splitting hairs, and taking your argument way too far than is justifiable.

Yes, we can treat Type 1 diabetes, and some extreme social factors might cause irreversible damage, but if we take all things caused by genetics, and all things caused by society, which group do you think would tend to be easier to change?

but if we take all things caused by genetics, and all things caused by society, which group do you think would tend to be easier to change?

"Having albumin in your blood" is caused by genetics. "Blood type" is caused by genetics. "Being gay" plausibly has some genetic cause. "Hair color" also has a genetic cause. These are not at all similar in modifiability. Hair color - hair dye. Being gay - opinions vary, but it's maybe in principle possible to meditate and stick with women if you're bisexual but lean gay, or something. Blood type can't really be changed short of gene editing, but blood transfusions exist. Having albumin in your blood is not changeable at all without killing you or some severe and all-encompassing rework of human biology.

Just picking a class and saying 'most of class A are more X than most of class B' doesn't tell you anything about how X a particular thing is if it's in A or B if you already know more about the thing than just the class.

That seems like a tangent but - in order to understand what to do about trans, we should look directly at the actions, tendencies, etc that make up the trans experience and evaluate those, instead of just flinging it against existing ways of discussing things ("is there a gay gene?") ("does it hurt children?")

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