Penn swim team.

[PopsNole]

I mean boys/men and girls/women. I know we won’t agree but I don’t see other options. What people want/wish/identify as doesn’t change biology.

That’s perfectly fine and if they want they can switch sports to male and female but currently sports are designated by gender.

 

[GbrNole]

Maybe we should crown our XX and XY Winter Olympic Champions beginning this Friday?

 

[GeddyLee09]

Maybe we should crown our XX and XY Winter Olympic Champions beginning this Friday?

You'll have to add YY to that as well. Also, there is the first openly nonbinary athlete competing. Whatever that is.

 

[PopsNole]

You'll have to add YY to that as well. Also, there is the first openly nonbinary athlete competing. Whatever that is.

Doesn't identify as a boy or girl, I believe.

 

[GeddyLee09]

Doesn't identify as a boy or girl, I believe.

HTF does that work? So its a barbie doll?

 

[PopsNole]

HTF does that work? So its a barbie doll?

No. Sex is not gender. Male and female are sex. Man/Woman and boy/girl are gender. Non-binary refers to gender not sex. We use those interchangeably in our society but they are not the same thing. Man/Woman is how that person sees themselves identifying within the cultural norms we have setup over millenia. The vast majority of people see themselves and everyone else sees them as the same thing as their sex aka male/man or female/woman.

Some people that are transgender people might be male but do not feel like a "man." They may identify as a woman for example so they may cross dress to look like a woman even though they are still male. Non-binary people do not seem themselves as a man or woman they are something in between, combination of both, or whatever it is.

Listen, it's hard to wrap your brain around it for a lot of people. I still am trying to really understand it and make sense of it and I still don't completely understand it because it wasn't really a thing when I was growing up. However, it's no skin off my back to call a male that identifies as a she "she or her." Will I probably forget? Yep. Will I potentially offend the person? Maybe but I'll try my best to call the person whatever they would like to be called.

I've listened to podcasts with and interviews with transgender people to try and understand their point of view on it. All of them feel differently as their all unique individuals like any of us but the constant theme they mentioned was growing up not feeling like who everyone wanted to be. Not feeling like a boy or girl but something different and being scared to tell anyone because of what might happen and constantly feeling uncomfortable in their own skin and it wasn't until they started dressing how they felt or identifying how they felt that they truly started feeling happy.

My very best friend's wife is a child psychologist who has her doctorate in it. I've spoke to her about it and the attempted suicide and suicide rates among gay and transgender teenagers/young adults is crazy high because they are so afraid of what will happen if they admit to themselves and others how they feel and whom they want to be and that makes me sad as hell that someone would rather commit suicide because of actual bullying or feel of bullying because of what we as society decided how they should dress or identify. If giving a transgender person a smile and a nod and treating them like any other human being helps someone feel better about themselves instead of treating them like a freak then it's fell worth are time IMO because it can make a great impact in their lives and requires very little effort on our part.

Sorry I didn't mean to write that much and wasn't directing it at you whatsoever but thought it should be said.

 

[GbrNole]

You'll have to add YY to that as well. Also, there is the first openly nonbinary athlete competing. Whatever that is.

YY is technically moot since it's generally accepted to be a male only syndrome. I can't really think of a YY Olympic champion but i'm not sure there is any particular reason to know?

It was rumored that Michael Phelps is XXY but he has denied that.

 

[PopsNole]

So which is stupid? Thinking a male can be female or people are born as they are?

No one has said that male is female or that female is male. I don't think a single person has said that.

 

[GeddyLee09]

No one has said that male is female or that female is male. I don't think a single person has said that.

You know what I meant. Perfectly fine conversation on here about a touchy subject so no need to call folks stupid because opinions don't line up.

 

[PopsNole]

You know what I meant. Perfectly fine conversation on here about a touchy subject so no need to call folks stupid because opinions don't line up.

There has been plenty of reasonable discussion on the matter. There has also been some pretty bigoted comments but the vast majority of the debate has been fine.