Transsexualism is a fascinating phenomenon to me - a glimpse of things
to come, I believe. At present, most people categorized as transsexuals have
been at some point diagnosed as suffering from a condition called "gender
dysphoria". I went through a period myself where I wrestled with such feelings
and felt certain I was a female "soul" in a male body. Eventually, however, I
ended up realizing that I really can and do enjoy being a man - that unlike some
who went through the same struggle, my gender dysphoria was an acute condition
rather than a lifelong agony.
I went through it to the point of making an attempt to castrate myself,
that is how profound the feelings were in my teenage years. I tried everything
from stealing my sister's birth control pills to ingesting mass quantities of
dong quai due to rumors of it containing estrogen-like components. I dressed as
a woman and loved it.
I'm still not entirely sure when I realized that I'm actually happy with
being a man and that I don't "need" to be a woman, but it happened. Many people
to suffer from gender dysphoria never experience that - their condition is real,
they are suffering, and they should be able to undergo gender reassignment
without being stigmatized or in any way persecuted.
However... there is no reason someone should have to be classified as
having a "disorder" in order for them to have a legitimate gender reassignment.
There is a disorder, it's not that I think it should be ignored or reclassified
or any such thing. It's that now we have the ability to alter our physiologies
to an extreme degree, and I believe we should be free to do so at will, and for
no other reason than simply wanting to.
Of course, it's already like this if you have the money to pay for it.
It's nowhere near impossible to find a surgeon willing to alter you in any way
you wish if you're willing and able to pay them enough. So that's fine. The
problem is that there is still a stigma attached to such actions, and in some
cases certain alterations would be considered illegal or signs of some sort of
"disorder" or another.
I don't think we should be that way. If we are able to make changes to
our bodies (both in a medical and a financial sense), it is my contention that
we should have the unrestricted, unconditional freedom to do so. If I wanted to
replace my right forearm into, sayyyy, an iPod(TM), I should have that right.
Naturally not -all- the barriers to this sort of activity are social
dilemas. There are limits to what we can do to ourselves, we must keep those in
mind. For instance, we can't replace our natural arms with synthetic arms and
expect life with the synthetic arm to be just as easy as with the natural one.
Our technology is good and is getting better by the minute, but it's not nearly
-that- good yet.
I repeat - "_Yet_". When artificial limbs have reached the point where
they are as functional (or nearly as functional) as the real thing, then we can
get down to some serious bodymod business. I must admit that if it were
possible to do so now - if my quality of life would be at least the same - I
wouldn't hesitate to replace my arms and legs with synthetic ones. Or any other
part of my body, for that matter. And I might not choose to have them look even
remotely human.
Imagine a world where in addition to rearranging your furniture every so
often, you could also change your gender once in awhile "just for something
different". Or one where you could alter what you require in a living
environment so that you can live underwater or high up in the forest canopy.
We are getting there. It's closer than most of us would guess, though
it's farther than any of us would wish to wait.
Which brings me to my final thought, a notion I've toyed with for
several years, now. Would anyone be interested in starting a "transhumanist
colony"? The intention is to live in an area where body modification is an
express right and accomodated as much as possible, and where people are
encouraged to push themselves "beyond human". I think we have that potential, I
think we are on the cutting edge of being able to transform ourselves into
something other than human. The first step is getting into the mindset that we
even want to do such a thing, then that we -can- do such a thing, then that we
_must_ do such a thing. Such a transformation is inevitible if we don't
self-destruct first. Why not help it along? I'm a bit shy on intricate
technical details, but I have plenty of semi-precise ideas that would make for a
great launching point. What do you think? :-?
Just curious... :-)
--
L8r,
Uncle Clover
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The true mark of a civilized society is that its
citizens know how to hate each other peacefully.
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