Crossing the concourse

 

What gives?

I watched part of a recent video by Ray Williams who went from transgender philosopher Rachel to detransitioning and warning people about the evils of the "transgender ideology". These 180 degree about faces make me very skeptical about the original motives for some people's transitions but I am even more perturbed regarding why someone would do what he is doing.

If there are happily transitioned people elsewhere, their lives are not exactly his concern and he should simply be happy for them and for himself for finding his way.

Without a manual

My mother is 88 today. She is in good shape for her age and people instantly take 10 years off when they meet her. At this age their filter is almost all gone and they will speak too loudly and complain about food in restaurants that they can cook far better at home. There is nothing to be done about it now.

Our parents are our foils, our confidants and occasionally suppliers of dubious wisdom. But they love us while doing best despite being bereft of a manual.

She raised a transgender child without even knowing it as I only told her from my hospital bed in my mid 40's. Since then she's done the best she can for someone from her era which is all you could possibly ask for.

Imperfection

The longer we've lived the more holes there are to patch. Yes, we have gained experience but life has also handed us some challenges which have left some damage. As a result the psychology may need a little more nursing.

Judging by the amount of YouTube channels dedicated to trauma and self-help we are hardly alone in the need to deal with issues some of which may have been left to fester for decades. The innocence now gone, we see life for what it is; its obvious and glaring warts no longer rationalized away.

Here we can become despondent if we aren't careful and more friendly with cynicism than is warranted or healthy. So we work that back as best we can by having factored in the imperfections in everything as part of the natural order of things. They are not all fixable.

Having more time to think is both good and bad, so once again, there is that dogged imperfection.

This was Hartford

Victim to urban sprawl and horrible civic planning. Car culture did not help....

Psychology

Human psychology is not all that complicated. We want to love, be loved and we are apt to fall prey to fear. When the latter happens we can be prone to both insecurity and aggression.

If I run every person I have ever known through this set of criteria I can find out where they are. The more secure they are the less fearful and the more loving.

Discovery

Rediscovering my city has been good for both my mental and physical health. I walk much of the morning and find new shops, cafes, little streets I had never walked on before.

This time I was in the Cote de Neiges area and entered a cafe I sometimes go to. A lady who frequents this place greeted me and invited me to sit with her. She has been retired for 12 years now and her name is Angele. We had seen each other before and most recently we had simply settled for exchanging cordial smiles before I went to my usual spot near the window.

The conversation was interesting and she is both calm and vibrant. At 71 she could easily pass for almost 10 years younger and I find out she teaches yoga and walks almost as much as I do. This morning it was sneakers and umbrellas for both of us as it's been a rainy May this far.

We discover people and places with an open mind and heart.

The desert island

I simply love philosophical questions like this one posed by someone who is not in any way gender variant. It is somewhat similar to my proposed reflection regarding clothing suddenly becoming genderless and unisex.

The comment section is similarly fascinating...

Performing

If you watched the video on Judith Butler's theory of performativity you will note that she sees gender more as verb than noun. One performs gender and sends messaging of one's "man-ness" or "woman-ness" I think with the understanding that there are innate forces at play at the biological level for transgender people.

In theory then one could perform gender as an actor on a stage but not have much investment as some people do. Irrespective of any gender variance, it is understood that everyone performs gender whether it is to attract a partner or to be considered for joining a group. For some of them our degree of suitability will be judged based on how acceptable our performance is.

However, if gender were exclusively performance then transgender people would not exist. There would be no dysphoria and no feeling of mismatch and John Money would have been proven correct with the case of David Reimer.

Gender Performativity

Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity....

Free will

Neurologist Robert Sapolsky says that predisposition makes us do things which we can mistake for free will. In other words, it is the genetic and cultural influences whose program we act under while thinking we are choosing with more spontaneity than we actually do.

I am wondering then where the brain's neuroplasticity fits into this formula. If we are able to shake off some facets of childhood rearing was that also part of predetermined variables?

Regardless of how much free will we think we have, I feel that it is the perception that counts more than the reality. If the person feels they are making progress even within a constrained box of criteria they will feel good about themselves regardless of how little wiggle room they really have.