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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022

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I think it's a good thing to compare transgenderism to body dysmorphia and have done so before but we should be careful as most mainstream trans advocates are very much not arguing in terms of merely aesthetic/feeling better about yourself. If the desire was merely to allow for men to bolt on some breasts and max out their femininity while still claiming to be fundamentally men(and vice versa for women) we'd have a very different debate.

Hey, there's a reason I'm drawing this comparison here rather than, say, /r/politics.

Though I dislike the characterization that "merely feeling better about yourself" is something frivolous and unimportant. I do agree with you that trans advocates would absolutely object to my characterization above, but I think this is basically just respectability politics; people can and should reshape their body as much as technology allows to suit their desired aesthetics.

The fact that trans advocates would be likely to find the parallel unflattering I think more speaks to societal puritanism around self-modifying your appearance than it does the parallel being inappropriate.