Talk:Ruka Urushibara/@comment-30871318-20161228000234/@comment-70.54.1.199-20180319032519

I'm a little late to the party here, but lemme give my input.

The original comment is severely lacking in understanding of what transgender means, how transgender people define themselves and think of themselves, and the semantics/linguistic differences they use.

You seem to think that when someone with XY chromosomes says "I'm a girl", that they are referring to someone with XX chromosomes. That is completely incorrect. Transgender people entirely recognize that they have XY chromosomes, and that they are biologically male. They also understand that they can never be biologically female. When they say "girl, "boy", "woman", "man", they are not referring to biological sex. They are referring to a different, although related concept; gender. The way they define the two of these terms you seem to be mixing up, are:

Sex: Biological, absolute, unchangeable. Typically centers around primary and secondary sex characteristics, such as breasts or gonads. Determined typically by chromosomes, although abnormalities (more than two, although rare) in these chromosome arangements exist, such as XXY, or XXX. These people are referred to as intersex, not always falling into distinct male or female categories.

Gender: A much more complex and contextual concept. It is how society defines specific groups of people, such as the concept of womanhood or manhood. I urge you to read up on what people use this to refer to, as there are a couple differences in everyone's personal understanding of gender. In short, it's a group defined by different cultures in different ways, such as manhood or womanhood, and sometimes different cultures will have a third gender, which is a group seperate to the typical two in western culture, which can either be a combination or seperate entirely. It's a cultural concept. I can't perfectly explain it here, so please take some time to research what people mean by gender in contrast to sex.

Now, you most likely use "gender" and "sex" interchangeably to mean the same thing, biological sex. However, when a transgender person uses the term "gender", they are referring to the definition i gave above. When they say "i am a woman", they would mean a significantly different thing than if you were to say "i am a woman". This obviously causes some semantic confustion, making you think they were referring to sex, saying they're something they are not. This is a very common mistake, and one people have a hard time to and often refuse to acknowledge. But please know, that a refusal to acknowledge the terms in which they are using "gender" in favour of always thinking they mean it in the way you do, is simply intellectual dishonesty. They are referring to an entirely different concept.

However, as a side note, there do exist poeple who call themselves "transsexuals", and they are specifically people who wish to undergo hormonal transition therapy or gender reassignment surgery to alleviate gender dysphoria and make them more comfortable with their body. Despite the name, they full well know they cannot perfectly change their biological sex to match that of someone born the opposite sex. They wish to change their secondary and primary sex characteristics, such as breasts, to match those of someone born the opposite sex. This is an extension upon transgender people though, and an entirely different story. Transgender people are specifically referring to gender, not sex.

Now please attempt to understand the concepts the other group is trying to put forwards, rather than misrepresenting them and causing a huge semantic misunderstanding resulting in an argument full of misinformation. Good day to you, and I hope you read this someday, or at least others read it and understand what trans people mean rather than continuing to live in a fantasy world where trans people think they can change perfectly switch sex, which they don't ever think.