“I’m not gay” Bruce Jenner said in his recent interview with Diane Sawyer, “I’m heterosexual”.
When I heard Eddie Bravo giggling about this claim on a recent Joe Rogan podcast (language warning), I thought to myself “hmmmm…which locker room will he use if he were to, say, work out at the gym?” When I heard that he “plans on keeping his penis, at least for now”, the whole deal got even weirder.
Jenner’s mindset is quite bizarre; it’s as if he’s saying “sure, I had my trachea shaved, and I’m growing some C-cups, but come on now, I’m not a deviant!”
For anybody who has a daughter who may someday work out at a gym, or use some kind of generally accessible locker room, I would think this is a somewhat important question. Here we have an individual (and others who will follow his lead) who was born a male, plans to keep his genitals, who is attracted to females, who may be showering alongside your daughter at the gym!
I am completely sympathetic with those who are not quite comfortable with this proposition.
Our mindlessly PC culture seems to have decided that self-reported “gender identity” is the only standard dictating which locker rooms/restrooms/showers one may use (in other words, for perverts who feel no need to tell the truth, it’s a free-for-all). But why is gender identity the overriding consideration, rather than gender-attractedness?
Most transsexuals (at least here in Hawaii, where there are plenty) identify as homosexuals — ie; possessing sexual attraction to members of the gender in which they were born. So the standard assumption is that “post-transition” they would shower etc. with people to whom they are not attracted. But here we have an individual who appears to have no such inclination.
This revelation throws a monkey wrench into the gears with which most people think about these things.
Is Jenner a lesbian? Well, he certainly isn’t a traditional one! This raises some questions for society to wrestle with:
1) Do people have a right not to be leered at? How about at least a reasonable expectation to the contrary? If they don’t at least have that, why are the genders currently segregated?
2) Should institutions which accommodate all these “spinoffs” from traditional sexual identity provide “non-traditional” restrooms/showers etc. for people who aren’t in the two standard categories?
3) Who is liable if one of these non-traditional individuals acts out sexually in a setting within which he/she would traditionally not have been allowed? I hate to say it, but it’s only a matter of time before this happens.
Now that you’ve stuck with me through the body of this article, I’ll mention that I agree with many psychiatrists that transgenderism is a mental illness fomented by mindless political correctness, and that to accommodate it is enabling and destructive.
People who “change their genders” are more than 20 times likelier to commit suicide, and many institutions, like Johns Hopkins, have decided to stop providing these services as a result.
People who want to change their genders need help, but the kind of help they need does not involve scalpels or self-delusion. Some will refuse help, but meanwhile, I think protecting children is a reasonable bottom line goal in terms of public policy.
