Letters to the Editor
mte
Published Letters: 81 Editor's Choice: 5
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I was raised as a boy
[Read the article: Girls will be boys ... at women's colleges?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I knew something was off, but it took me 27 years and some months to realize I wasn't a boy. It usually takes even longer for both trans women and trans men. (It might have come sooner if the media hadn't equated trans women with "drag queens," 'cause I've never been a "drag queen.")
Anyway, these men would have struggled with their identity for years beforehand, but few would have discovered their identity before starting college, and both those who had discovered it, and those who hadn't, need a safe space to transition. Not the boot.
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Bribery?
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The thing about bribery is that it is robbery. An official is using his/her powers to extort favors (which may be money, or sex, or something else) from civilians. POWER is just as corrupting if they want their plumbing fixed as if they want money or sex.
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Too late, not too early
[Read the article: Girls will be boys ... at women's colleges?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I wish I could have transitioned 16 years ago. Going through the wrong puberty is absolute hell, and every year after that only prolongs the suffering. It also requires more invasive medical procedures (higher hormone doses, and sometimes additional surgery), and it means that many trans people start their life in their 30s or 40s and hurry to catch up.
So no, 18 is not too early.
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Trans man = transgendered man = female to male
[Read the article: Girls will be boys ... at women's colleges?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Actually, English doesn't seem to work that well.
For one thing, gender is somewhat ambiguous: does it refer to mental state, as opposed to physical state (in which case trans+gendered makes a certain amount of sense), or does it refer to culturally-specific roles (in which case trans+gendered can be very misleading)?
There are trans people from every culture; at least 1 in every 250 people. Some cultures allow specific genders for trans people and some don't, however, not all trans people may fit within these other genders. In the west, there are some very masculine trans men, and some very feminine ones, and the same applies for trans women. I'm not very feminine. I know many men who are more feminine than I.
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To GreeneyedKzin
[Read the article: Girls will be boys ... at women's colleges?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That's about right.
The usual plan from the Standards of Care is to spend at least 3 months discussing this with a therapist, usually coming out to the family, possibly experimenting with dress and presentation, etc. before starting hormones. Then at least 12 months living full-time and 12 months on hormones (usually simultaneously) before SRS. The 15++ months should give time for second thoughts.
Most trans people wait longer due to the costs of surgery. Most trans men (FtMs) do without SRS because it is more expensive and less satisfactory.
A teenager can almost never get letters for hormones, but some do get letters for blockers to slow or interrupt puberty, allowing them to choose at 18 or later.
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(Beats head against keyboard)
[Read the article: Girls will be boys ... at women's colleges?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"I don't see why a woman who wants to be perceived as a man would go to a woman's college."
Because most know that SOMETHING is wrong, but don't know WHAT is wrong.
A few know what is wrong, and a women's college may not be the best place for FtMs to transition,. but might be good for MtFs. Most don't know what is wrong, but need some space to figure out what is wrong.
Many of the people who need space to figure things out won't be trans men. Many will be ordinary women. Why turn people who need that space away? Why drive people who discover they are trans men away?
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Tina Schrier, words have meanings
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"With regard to your comment about feminists "invalidating women's decisions," feminism isn't only about total freedom for the individual person. That is libertarianism, and libertarianism always benefits the powerful and further consolidates their power."
Tell that to Joseph Dejacque:
http://joseph.dejacque.free.fr/ecrits/lettreapjp.htm
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15 months - or more
[Read the article: Girls will be boys ... at women's colleges?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Even when you consider endemic discrimination against, and occasional murder of, transgendered people, trans people who transition are happier and live longer than trans people who don't.
Transitioning works.
Not transitioning doesn't work.
Besides, you would expect that 15 months of screening including 12 of real-life experience would sift out non-trans people. It [i]also[/i] sifts out many trans people who can't afford hair removal, hormones, etc. and are stuck in the wrong gender.
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Senators and CEOs?
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The existence of rulers and robbers depends on the existence of ruled and robbed.
That's not my standard of "success."
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Never got the girly-girl thing
[Read the article: Are urbane tomboys truer feminists?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I always found, and still find, casual, practical, tomboyish clothing more attractive, and more desirable, than feminine clothing. But I grew up as a boy...
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Definitions
[Read the article: Is Briana Waters a terrorist?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The United States government has defined itself as a terrorist organization: "But the USA Patriot Act created a new category of domestic terrorism, which is defined as an offense ... or "to intimidate or coerce a civilian population."" To deter crime is to intimidate or coerce a civilian population (for political and ideological purposes, too).
I haven't been involved with the ELF or ALF but I have been detained by the FBI and by foreign intelligence agencies given false tips by the FBI. As an organization, it isn't above framing people on suspicion of involvement with legal environmental groups - let alone illegal ones.
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"Is anyone claiming that targeting someone's property for arson is a non-violent act?"
[Read the article: Is Briana Waters a terrorist?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes. It is. Since it is not violence, it is non-violent.
Violence is defined by harming the person, not his/her possessions, let alone his/her claims. Shooting someone in self-defense is violence but it is not aggression. Conversely, destroying someone's home is aggression, but it is not violence.
I'm not convinced whether the arson in question was aggression or not, but it was not violence.
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Don't confuse EF! with ELF or vice-versa.
[Read the article: Is Briana Waters a terrorist?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Of course the biotech industry would like to silence critics as well as stop saboteurs. So they, and the FBI, won't mind if you mix the two groups up.
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To Reiterate
[Read the article: Is Briana Waters a terrorist?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]EF! and ELF are not the same thing. At least three letters have confused them.