@adrienner99
I agree and disagree that Jenner has not changed the minds of others on transgenderism. It honestly depends on a lot of factors. At my TG support group last night, the entire hour and a half was focused on Caitlyn Jenner's coming out.
- I know of someone in my group who said that they saw a bunch of guys finding a transgender woman to be attractive.
- When I came out to this 80-year-old man last fall, he was completely opposed to this. Now that he has seen Caitlyn Jenner, he left me a message about it and is probably a bit more open to discussing TG issues, being aware of TG, and possibly coming around to acceptance. I won't know for sure. I've been recovering slowly from bronchitis since mid-April so I haven't returned his call yet. I do plan on calling him once my voice recovers a bit.
- I know several people in my group who said they had similar experiences with people who were unknowledgeable of TG learning more about us, or friends or family members who are coming around towards acceptance as a result of Caitlyn Jenner
Not everyone however will react so positively. There are three groups of people who really hate us.
1. Religious fundamentalists. Most of these people have been brainwashed by their churches and will continue to be brainwashed and are just not open to any idea that goes against their religious beliefs. This even has an effect on transpeople who were raised in such backgrounds - many of them have high amounts of internalized transphobia and had a much more difficult time coming out to themselves because of seeing themselves as abominations.
2. TERFS. These people are potentially worse, because unlike people who grew up in religious fundamentalist homes who were brainwashed, most of these people were not raised in TERF families, but rather on their own accord chose to be this way, for whatever reasons unknown. I don't know of any TERFS personally so I don't really have any insight into how they think, but my guess is they're so riled up about how bad men are that they will only see transwomen as perverted men who invade women's spaces, and transmen as women who betrayed the call of womanhood to attempt to achieve male privilege.
3. People who are too smart for their own good. In AA, we are taught that you can never be too dumb for recovery, but some people are too smart, and sadly some of these kind of people will never recover from alcoholism. I personally know of people like this both in and out of AA. Although I haven't met any in AA who have openly opposed my transition, I do personally know of three such people who are not in AA. My father, my brother, and this guy who is in his early 40s. My father and brother don't touch alcohol, and the other guy has been know to drink irresponsibly and to get violent when drunk. I would probably guess this category is mostly male but there could be females like this too. All three of them have one thing in common. They are all too smart for their own good.
Here are some things I have noticed in their behavior and thinking.
- They think WAY too much - they are probably extreme Thinkers on the MBTI. No offense to anyone who scored as T - there are some fine thinking types out there, especially those who are moderate thinking types. Also, keep in mind that "feelers" do think. Everybody thinks. Some more than others, and we all think differently, but everybody thinks.
- They question everything.
- They are not easily swayed. Most people can be swayed by Caitlyn Jenner, religious fundamentalists, AA, a doctor's opinion, the internet. These "too smart" people aren't swayed by anything. They will question Caitlyn Jenner (or Bruce to them because most of them will never see her as Caitlyn). Most of them will question religious fundamentalists, AA, doctors, and anything on the internet. They even critically question science. They are inherently skeptical about everything.
- They are not easily succumbed to peer pressure. They will typically not drink because other people are drinking. There are exceptions, and there are some who might drink to numb out, but usually not to fit in.
- They don't have a lot of friends - they either have no friends or very few friends. There are exceptions, and if they do have friends they will likely influence their friend's way of thinking rather than the other way around.
- They are very soul sickened. Something traumatic may have happened to them when they were younger to trigger this kind of response.
- They believe that most people are stupid, beneath them, and are easily brainwashed by religious fundamentalist, pop culture, or easily give in to peer pressure to drink or smoke.
- They have the worst of male egos.
- Will argue that "other people" - religious fundamentalists, drinkers, people who are into pop culture, gays, transgender people, people in AA, people who have a life - are all unhappy
- Will say that they are more "enlightened" than others, and that they are happier than those "unenlightened" people
- Are probably some of the most unhappy people in the world. I would probably say that most religious fundamentalists are probably happier people.
- Have no life. Probably spend most of their time in front of their computers.
- Will tell you that everything in life is ultimately a path to self-destruction
- Will likely call themselves "liberals" while being just as closed-minded as fundamentalist Christians. They are not centrists nor liberals. They are self-centered, closed-minded, egotistical, self-absorbed people.
- Will accuse psychologists of being ultra liberals who simply tell you what you want to, while at the same time will criticize religious fundamentalists for being closed-minded bigots
- Believe that you need to take the straight and narrow path (does this sound like a fundamentalist), but their path isn't any established religion but their own sick way of thinking
- Do not believe in any established religion, and are usually atheists
- Will spend excessive amounts of time talking against established religion
- They believe that everything is "shit" in this world, and will spend excessive amounts of time talking about what's wrong with this world
They will question the science behind gender variance. They will say that gender dysphoria isn't real, and that something else is causing us to feel the way we do.
- Asperger's
- being a gay man who hasn't accepted being a gay man, or wants to be a woman in order to attract men
- being a failure as a man
- having succumbed to peer pressure
- having been brainwashed by the transgender community
- having come in contact with wrong company
- having smoke in your head
- being mentally ill
- your just a fetishist who is taking your fantasy too far
They might also cite scientific reasons why we can never be women. They will say that we have
- male DNA
- male bone structure
- male reproductive organs
- male anatomy
- male hormones
They might also say that we have a testosterone deficiency, or that taking male hormones can masculinize the brain. Contrast this to a religious fundamentalist who might think that they can "pray the demon out of us."
How do I know so much about these "too smart" people. I grew up with two of them. I know very well how they think. These people are real. If you are unfortunate to have one in your life, they will try to talk you out of transitioning using scientific arguments and or excessive amounts of logic. So much logic that they end up sounding very illogical.
These kinds of people, will NEVER change. They will never be swayed by Caitlyn Jenner, nor by anyone else. I see more hope for a religious fundamentalist or even a TERF being swayed. Most religious fundamentalists are people who have been swayed by brainwashing from their churches and families. Although they have lots of brainwashing to overcome, there is a chance some of them might be swayed by Jenner. Of course, many of these people will be the ones who try to form a backlash against us.
Are these people dangerous. Probably not unless one of them gets any kind of power, but if they do, they can be more dangerous than TERFs or religious fundamentalists. Some of these people might become doctors, and have negatively influenced the medical community about 30-40 years ago. They convinced us that being transgender is just some mental illness. They are the ones who created all these barriers to transition. They are people like Blanchard, who believe that MTF TSes are either fetishists living out a fantasy, or gay men who are attempting to attract a male partner, and not as women.
I also found an article about Caitlyn Jenner, which was anti-trans, written by such a guy. Here it is, and you can see for yourself the logical idiocy behind his argument. He essentially called transwomen "mentally ill crossdressers."
http://www.theblaze.com/contribution...elusional-man/