Transgenderism should not be considered a mental illness.

I think it’ll be interesting. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are some questions I must raise for my argument. Can transgender people’s thoughts, emotions, or behavior really be classified as “abnormal”? They strive to adhere to the characteristics of a certain gender that they feel most comfortable with, so isn’t it only natural for them to do so? Also, take notice again on the definition of *consider* I have provided for this debate. ". .. deem to be; regard as. .. " What that implies is that this debate is in the context of how society perceives transgender people, whether or not they meet the conditions for the provided definition of a mental illness. What constitutes abnormalness? Transgender people are practically only abnormal in the context of knowing their biological status. Depending on how much a transgender individual adheres to the characteristics of a certain gender, society would likely deem them as normal if they were not given this information, hence why some transgenders would arguably be normal. Furthermore, it is important to understand how the rest of society perceives whether transgender people should be considered abnormal or not since the standard of normalcy is generally derived from how society perceives things in the first place. The standard of normalcy can be known as how much individuals conform to their gender roles (i. e. what they wear, what they look like, how they behave etc. ) in the context of this debate. Therefore, the burden of proof is on pro to present evidence that transgenders can conform to gender roles and characteristics to the extent that society would perceive them as normal, so I will now give a scenario for my argument. --------------------------------------- Imagine that you just met the two people in the photo below: Now assume that you had to ask yourself this question: Is the person on the left a. .. A. Male or B. Female This person has long hair, is wearing clothes that females tend to wear, and their facial features are feminine. Therefore, why would one not classify this person as B. female? It's virtually a fact that the person on the left has feminine characteristics and the person on the right has masculine characteristics. I would have picked B. , if I had not actually been aware of the correct answer. The correct answer is actually A. because this photo is in fact, of a transgender woman who is actually a male and a transgender man who is actually female. If you watch the video on Youtube, you’ll see that even their voices sound feminine and masculine to the extent that one would astonishingly perceive them as normal despite both being transgender people. ( about 10 minutes if you're interested. ) As further proof for whether it could actually be plausible to answer the question based on their gender characteristics (masculinity and feminity), here are some comments from the youtube video from people reacting to how conforming the two individuals are to their gender roles: . http://prnt.sc..., . http://prnt.sc..., . http://prnt.sc.... (By the way, I was partially influenced by this youtube video to make this debate in the first place as I think it's an interesting issue. But again, I’m neutral on this position at the moment and transgenderism as a mental illness could just as well be argued superiorly by my opponent and I would have no personal feelings against it if society were to class transgenderism as a mental illness if it was logically proved as so. ) --------------------------------------- This scenario demonstrates two notions: 1. The notion that gender is a socially constructed concept. - The term gender can be defined as “the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex”. This is important for this debate for negating potential claims from my opponent, such as if it would be unrealistic if a person were to claim they are a women despite having been born a male. 2. The notion that the standard for normalcy is derived from how society perceives the gender roles of individuals. -Again, this is an important idea since we are considering whether transgender people’s “thoughts, emotions, or behaviour” can actually be classified as “abnormal”. Of course, there are transgenders who would not easily conform to their gender characteristics and roles. However, the main point presented from the scenario is that transgender people may or may not be perceived as abnormal which is why it would not be a valid argument to say that transgenders are generally abnormal. Hence, why you cannot classify transgenderism as a mental illness since not all transgenders can be perceived as “abnormal” by society. Even if transgender people could be considered abnormal, transgenderism does not inherently cause suffering. -People who feel they do not belong with their biological gender feel more comfortable in assigning themselves a new gender identity. These people do this because they feel they can relate more to the characteristics of a certain gender over the sex they were born with. If anything, transgenderism alleviates the suffering felt from not being the gender they want to be. Potential counterargument: What about the suffering that transgenders might feel from being offended by some people? Doesn’t transgenderism indirectly cause suffering? Transgender people often do feel depression and have suicidal thoughts as a result from being discriminated. However, that is assuming transgenderism as the cause to their own feelings. Arguably, the “cause” of their suffering would be language from others that they would perceive as offensive. Transgenderism in and of itself did not “cause” suffering. In summation, it would be invalid to classify transgenderism as a mental illness as transgender people are not with certainty “abnormal” in the viewpoint of society and nor are they the causation of their own suffering. Sources: . http://www.merriam-webster.com... . https://en.wikipedia.org...