Transgender children and gender dysphoria • Hacker News Board

Re: Transgender children and gender dysphoria

#51

Post by dang » Mon, Nov 23, 2015, 8:17 PM UTC

lmm wrote: post #47

Sharlin wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what your definition for "satisfies intellectual curiosity" is but this article definitely does it for me. Sexuality and gender issues are fascinating , as is developmental psychology.

I find the subject fascinating (and, FWIW, extremely personally relevant). But I didn't find this article at all satisfying; too much is anecdote, the Guardian is too far from neutral (and I say that as a reader and fan of a lot of their work), and parts of it ring false in terms of my own experience (contrast e.g. e.g. Wandering Son ( Hōrō Musuko ), which felt very true-to-life for me - though I guess it's possible…

This is a perceptive comment that is a fine addition to the thread. You could make it even better by expanding on what parts of the article ring false in your experience. But an article having bias or other weaknesses isn't enough to convict it of offtopicness, the capital offense of articles. Many on-topic articles have that degree of weakness, especially when the topic is poorly understood.

Nor would I call anecdote a weakness. Anecdotes are legitimate, fascinating, and indispensable to good conversation. Half if not more of the best material on HN is anecdotes. That's how communities function, so it's deeply ok.

Re: Transgender children and gender dysphoria

#52

Post by aninhumer » Mon, Nov 23, 2015, 9:14 PM UTC

ogig wrote: post #5

SN76477 wrote: post #2

I feel like we are confusing children with people that have actual gender identity issues. My 5 year old can decide what her favorite color is, much less what gender she wants to be the rest of her life.

Just my experience: My wife worked in contact with a child that, years later, happend to be one of the earliest officialy recognized trangender of the country at the age of nine. My wife realized this child was a transgender, very probably earlier than their parents. She saw it clearly in the behaviour, preferences, movements. Is not that someone asked the child about it, but that the child acts and strongly feels so…

I'm very much inclined to consider anecdotes like this as simply hindsight and confirmation bias.

They most likely had a slight suspicion, which has been amplified in their memory. They may also have had similar suspicions about other children, which have been forgotten after they came to nothing.

Re: Transgender children and gender dysphoria

#53

Post by aninhumer » Mon, Nov 23, 2015, 9:29 PM UTC

ludamad wrote: post #3

SN76477 wrote: post #2

I feel like we are confusing children with people that have actual gender identity issues. My 5 year old can decide what her favorite color is, much less what gender she wants to be the rest of her life.

IYHO, what do you suggest to do with a child that cries when dressed as their apparent gender, or called by their apparent gender's pronoun?

Treat them however makes them happy, but don't read anything into it. Children are often upset by things for reasons that aren't obvious.

Re: Transgender children and gender dysphoria

#54

Post by simplexion » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 3:02 AM UTC

Washuu wrote: post #28

simplexion wrote: post #19

“I was wearing my Spiderman costume,” Tom, now five, remembers. I couldn't read past this. No... he doesn't remember that.

I remember being carried as a two year old up and down the long driveway at my parents' place so they could deposit poopy diapers in the trash bin.(Trash service was only available for a few years out there.) We all remember moments from our early lives that seem odd.

No you don't.

Re: Transgender children and gender dysphoria

#55

Post by simplexion » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 3:08 AM UTC

h_ar wrote: post #33

simplexion wrote: post #19

“I was wearing my Spiderman costume,” Tom, now five, remembers. I couldn't read past this. No... he doesn't remember that.

Remember what? If you mean memories when people were that young, trust me, you'd be surprised about human memory. I still remember my 3.5-year-old self trying to type some simple first grade calculations with MS Word 97 and print them. And I didn't knew English back then.

If he was 3.5 years old I wouldn't have said it wasn't believable.

Re: Transgender children and gender dysphoria

#56

Post by lmm » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 3:15 PM UTC

dang wrote: post #51

lmm wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find the subject fascinating (and, FWIW, extremely personally relevant). But I didn't find this article at all satisfying; too much is anecdote, the Guardian is too far from neutral (and I say that as a reader and fan of a lot of their work), and parts of it ring false in terms of my own experience (contrast e.g. e.g. Wandering Son ( Hōrō Musuko ), which felt very true-to-life for me - though I guess it's possible…

This is a perceptive comment that is a fine addition to the thread. You could make it even better by expanding on what parts of the article ring false in your experience. But an article having bias or other weaknesses isn't enough to convict it of offtopicness, the capital offense of articles. Many on-topic articles have that degree of weakness, especially when the topic is poorly understood. Nor would I call anecdot…

Then conversely, what is it that makes a political or gossip article off-topic? Many such articles are just as fascinating, just as curiosity-satisfying, as this one. (To my mind objectivity and generality is what separates intellectual curiosity from the regular kind; if not that, then what?)