[DanaC]

It certainly is.

[DanaC]

But being a woman isn't just about your organs either. It's about what goes on in your head, it's about self-identification and external identification, and it's about where you fit in society's rendering of gender. If the things you like, and the things you feel and the way you think places you in one category and your physicality places you in another: who is to say which of those should take precedence?

[Northern Monkey]

Originally Posted by DanaC

But being a woman isn't just about your organs either. It's about what goes on in your head, it's about self-identification and external identification, and it's about where you fit in society's rendering of gender. If the things you like, and the things you feel and the way you think places you in one category and your physicality places you in another: who is to say which of those should take precedence?

That's just a chemical inbalance in the brain.If you're physically male then you're male or vice versa.You can't change that no matter what you THINK you are.

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by EyeballPaul

That's just a chemical inbalance in the brain.If you're physically male then you're male or vice versa.You can't change that no matter what you THINK you are.

I don't think there's any 'just'about it. If it is a chemical imbalance, it is one that occurs during fetal development. Essentially in such cases the brain of the male fetus follows a female developmental path. It isn't a chemical imbalance in the present which can be corrected through some kind of chemical re balancing, like clinical depression.

If the self is created by the brain, then the self in that case is female.

Given that science has found ways to make the body match that self, and hasn;t yet managed to find a way to make the developed brain match that body, we can either consign such people to a linguistic no man's land (;p) or accept the new designation as valid.

[Livia]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I don't think there's any 'just'about it. If it is a chemical imbalance, it is one that occurs during fetal development. Essentially in such cases the brain of the male fetus follows a female developmental path. It isn't a chemical imbalance in the present which can be corrected through some kind of chemical re balancing, like clinical depression.

If the self is created by the brain, then the self in that case is female.

Given that science has found ways to make the body match that self, and hasn;t yet managed to find a way to make the developed brain match that body, we can either consign such people to a linguistic no man's land (;p) or accept the new designation as valid.

I think science has done great things for people who are born in what they feel is the wrong body, but they're not going to be able to do anything about the Y chromosome, either to add it, or to take it away.

[fingers]

She gets all worked up about the term "Trans" yet on the HL show (on Now) she says that she's doing it for all transgender people, more Lauren lies!

[CaudleHalbard]

It was only in 2002 that, in the UK, transgenderism ceased to be classified as a mental illness. In France, as recently as 2009.

[Livia]

She isn't a woman, she's a transsexual. I would refer to her as 'she' because that's what she's chosen. However no amount of surgery is going to get rid of the Y chromosome. And no, I don't find her hilarious, I find her annoying, self-involved and tedious.

[Kizzy]

It's a strange one, I guess unless you have been in that position psychologically you can't begin to imagine how being called several different gender terms makes you feel.

[joeysteele]

I am no fan of her anyway but I don't even find her interesting never mind hilarious.

[erinp5]

Seriously there is wiser eating grass.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BSh5EFECEAE0Is3.jpg

[reece(:]

Originally Posted by erinp5

Seriously there is wiser eating grass.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BSh5EFECEAE0Is3.jpg

[erinp5]

Originally Posted by reece(:

here is the rest of that pic.Dont think she knows much about tanning
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BSh8PDcCAAA1mFe.jpg

[CaudleHalbard]

I still don't wholly buy the "I was born in the wrong body" thing.... and until as recently as 2002 nor did the British medical establishment: it was regarded as a mental health issue.

However, Lauren did pay for her own surgery, so she was not a drain on the NHS. The same can't be said for other transsexuals I've met. I understand these operations can cost the taxpayer in the region of Ł10-15k.

[cfromhx02]

Originally Posted by CaudleHalbard

I still don't wholly buy the "I was born in the wrong body" thing.... and until as recently as 2002 nor did the British medical establishment: it was regarded as a mental health issue.

However, Lauren did pay for her own surgery, so she was not a drain on the NHS. The same can't be said for other transsexuals I've met. I understand these operations can cost the taxpayer in the region of Ł10-15k.

Trangender people's brains are the gender they think they are.Unless you want all transgender's to have brain surgery then how do you expect them to be happy unless you change the body ? The body is created wrongly round the different gendered brain which has been proven in studies umpteen times.It only takes stress on the father's side to b*gger up one of the chromosomes so a transgendered person grows up with the brain of one gender trapped inside the body of someone with the other gender's body so they haven't got the chromosomes they should have because of it being messed up on the father's side which can just be by stress.Is it any wonder Lauren behaves awkwardly,because she's nervous about all the ignorance about what makes transgender people around her, and is it any wonder she gets angry sometimes ?

It is now accepted by many that gay people can't help the way they were born and that they are born with a gay brain by many who didn't accept it before.How many years will it take till transgender people which are much different than being gay are given the same courtesy and accepted that they can't help how they were born too.

How long till many in the general public accept they have the brains of the gender they think they are and how long till someone can be judged on whether they are funny or nor as a person and not having to have it linked to whether they are transgender or not ?

[CaudleHalbard]

Originally Posted by cfromhx02

Trangender people's brains are the gender they think they are.

It is a question of whether it is a mental health issue. Until 11 years ago (only 3 years ago in France), it was treated as just that. I am not aware of any startling new scientific discoveries that have altered the position.

Treating it as something that can be "cured" by radical surgery and a lifetime's supply of hormone pills is dubious, to say the least and raises suspicion of pandering to the PC brigade.

I am not taking up an entrenched position... I remain on the fence but a bit sceptical. I am quite happy if people want to make themselves into faux-women or, more rarely, faux-men at their own expense as Lauren has done.

But I'm not convinced taxpayers' money should be used in this way for people who are physically completely healthy and who may, in fact, develop health issues as a result of gender reassignment. I have spoken to a number of transsexuals and such problems are real, not theoretical.

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by CaudleHalbard

I still don't wholly buy the "I was born in the wrong body" thing.... and until as recently as 2002 nor did the British medical establishment: it was regarded as a mental health issue.

However, Lauren did pay for her own surgery, so she was not a drain on the NHS. The same can't be said for other transsexuals I've met. I understand these operations can cost the taxpayer in the region of Ł10-15k.

yeah...no. I don't see somebody getting the treatment or surgery they need to live healthy happy lives is a drain on the NHS. I see that as the NHS doing its job.

Not to mention that what may well be a drain on the NHS is when it has to pick up the pieces after someone's been and had their op done elsewhere and it's all gone horribly wrong.

[erinp5]

No words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_92CUHSPYkE

Youtube video

[MrWong]

Originally Posted by erinp5

No words
http://www.youtube.com/

Amazing.

[Patricia4]

She is so funny and that song.

[Cherie]

Lauren will probably win it. At least she is doing something even if it is just changing her clothes, it is more than 90% are doing. Have Bruce and Vicky left?

[billy123]

More tragic than hilarious.
Since her appearances on bots and her appeals and petitions to get into CBB she vanished from facebook and twitter for over a year and now she doesnt seem to be the same at all.
I have no idea what happened but she just isnt the same.
Theres something really tragic about her she seems so unhappy.

[Pincho Paxton]

The Lauren Song Was funny!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=_92CUHSPYkE

Now take a look at this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd-ueLAgIQU

Now all somebody has to do is overdub the Lauren song over the Ostrich movie.

[MachoPoodle]

I'm a bit skeptic about the whole transgender thing, and being born in the wrong body etc. However, on a personal level, I have no problem with transgender people and I worry more about them making a potentially harmful, drastic decision (surgery) that will cause them personal grief later in life than I do what it might cost taxpayers. Regardless of my views though, I don't think I have a right to decide something so important for someone else, not to mention it's probably best not to generalize too much since each individual's life, experience and reasons probably differs quite a bit.

[DanaC]

The American Psychiatric Association only removed homosexuality from it's guidelines in the early 1970s.


Incidentally, I also have spoken to quite a few transgender people about the psychiatric aspects of their treatment and a few other matters. I was part of a working group that looked into the local health trust's provisions for transgender patients.

The move away from considering it a purely psychiatric condition has been fought for for a very long time. And, funnily enough, the most ardent advocates for keeping that designation were the psychiatrists whose living consisted primarily of 'treating' transgender patients.

I use 'treating' in that way, because I heard some pretty disturbing testimonies about power trips from those who had absolute power over their patients ability to progress their treatment to a final conclusion.

For example: did you know that as an NHS patient seeking gender reassignment, you not only had to show that you had lived as your target gender for two years, but also that you had to be in employment? (though that may have been peculiar to our health trust).

Why?