| Transexualism is a mental health issue. |
| most have no physical problem at all. |
This may be true, but how do you know? I certainly know very little about this subject and I'm not
convinced that you do either. I personally find the whole discussion around the 'causes' of it quite fruitless. Many 'liberals' will choose to believe that it is a biological condition, because that allows them to see it as a self-determination and 'rights' issue, while many conservatives will see it as a chosen deviancy because that allows them to comfortably maintain their faith in traditional values and lifestyles. In other words, ignoring the anyway inconclusive scientific evidence, each side simply chooses the beliefs that fit with their wider agenda.
I prefer to cut through the whole Gordian Knot of 'whys and wherefores' entirely and see it as a moral issue of kindness and respect. The older I get, the more in tune I find I am with many conservative values. The reason, however, I can never go the whole hog is that conservatism seems to me to require an unnecessary cruel streak that I could never be truly comfortable with. I stress the word unnecessary because of course intellectually it is difficult to argue with 'necessary cruelty', if there is such a thing.
I realise of course, from reading works by conservative philosophers that many believe that the prejudice and disrespect that 'deviants' are subjected to is a 'necessary cruelty' that preserves crucial cultural values. Roger Scruton is particularly good on this. Such thinkers are often sensitive enough to acknowledge the extreme unpleasantness for those on the receiving end, but console themselves with the thought that the sufferings of a minority ultimately lead to the greater good.
Of course we
all draw a line somewhere. I dislike homophobia and prejudice against transsexuals, but shed no tears for the plight of pedophiles. I draw the line where I do, because I make deliberate 'harm to others' my criterion of judgement. (I may be wrong in that and arguably am 'drawing the line' in an arbitrary place). Conservatives may also
claim that homosexuality and transsexualism 'harm' society in some general sense, but I am a liberal (in the original sense of the word) and am equally uncomfortable with the social prescriptiveness of conservatives and communists (who to me are just two flavours of 'communitarianism').
Wow. Thank you for the stimulus for my little essay. Lots of issues to pick apart here.
