MAKE UP BLOG

I don’t really know how I feel about the gender identity topic and transsexuals, maybe because I’ve never been in this situation or know anyone who has (that I know of). I really try to be sympathetic and put myself in the shoes of these people who go through these things because it seems like such a tragic life. But then I feel like I’m questioning everything that I believe and everything that I was taught. Does this mean that my religion is wrong and that the God I believe in makes mistakes? It becomes a really hard choice to make as far as what I think is real and what’s right. But I still try to give people a chance and understand where they’re coming from. So when I read Devor’s essay I instantly felt conflicted. He gave all of these scientific facts and studies to back up everything he said. What really caught my attention was in the beginning how he makes all these references to transgender children, how kids settle into their gender identities between the ages of eighteen months and two years. I have to disagree. When I think about babies I don’t think about anything because I just don’t think they would be able to comprehend a gender identity at such a young age. They’re only babies. And besides how would these scientists even know what babies think? Yes they can do all types of tests on the brain and study how it works, but I’m pretty sure no one can read a baby’s mind and figure out exactly how they think. As for children I think they’re too young to know what sex they are. Devor even says kids don’t think of gender in terms of private parts, but from other things like hair styles or clothes. So if a little boy wants to be a girl because he likes playing with dolls and wearing dresses he might tell his parents he wants to be a girl because to a kid that’s what being a “girl” is. That little boy might even know that girls and boys are genetically different, but he won’t understand what this really means. I think it might just mean the boy is feminine in our society, but even still he’s a boy. That’s the way he was born. I think if our society became more socially accepting of gender roles than these issues might go away or become easier to deal with. The question then becomes how does our society progress towards this? It’s something I’m still thinking about and trying to wrap my mind around since reading this essay. But I still feel like okay religion can be wrong in some people’s eyes well so can science. In the end you have to have your own beliefs to fall back on.