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scotianostra · 3 months

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Charles Darwin, was born on 12th February 1809 in Shrewsbury, England.

Yes he is English, but he attended Edinburgh University and he liked us Scots in general, going by this quote from the man:

“Scotchmen are so civil and attentive, It is enough to make an Englishman ashamed of himself.”

As a medical student in Edinburgh, It was on the shores of the Forth, at Prestonpans and elsewhere, that he carried out some of his early scientific work. Long before he became famous for what he discovered in distant southern seas and lands and then used in development of the Theory of Evolution,

Darwin became an expert in the marine life, especially barnacles, of the Lothian coast. He also learnt how to stuff birds (a skill that would be invaluable when collecting scientific specimens during his southern voyage on the ship Beagle, years later). His teacher was a freed black slave, John Edmonstone, who lived in the same Edinburgh street as Darwin. Edmonstone had told him about the South American rainforest in his native Guiana. It’s fascinating to think that this man, John Edmonstone, whose name is all-but forgotten, taught a key skill to Darwin, taxidermy, one of the most influential figures in science. He also gave young Charles an early taste, in his imagination, of one of the globally important natural habitats whose pleasures he would later experience at first hand. Darwin wrote of him:

“By the way, a negro lived in Edinburgh … and gained his livelihood by stuffing birds, which he did excellently: he gave me lessons for payment, and I used often to sit with him, for he was a very pleasant and intelligent man.”

As well as being complimentary of us Scots, Darwin was also a fan of our capital city, he arrived in Edinburgh in October 1825. He and his brother lodged at 11 Lothian Street. He described his lodgings in a letter to his father:

“We got into our lodgings yesterday evening, which are very comfortable and near the College. Our Landlady, by name Mrs Mackay, is a nice clean old body, and exceedingly civil and attentive. She lives in 11 Lothian Street, Edinburgh and only four flights of steps from the ground floor which is very moderate to some other lodgings that we were nearly taking. The terms are 1£-6s for two very nice and light bedrooms and a nice sitting room; by the way, light bedrooms are very scare articles in Edinburgh, since most of them are little holes in which there is neither air not light.

“We set out and walked all about the town; which we admire excessively; indeed Bridge Street is the most extraordinary thing I ever saw, and when we first looked over the sides we could hardly believe our eyes, when instead of a fine river we saw a stream of people.

“We have just been to church and heard a sermon of only 20 minutes. I expected from Sir Walter Scott’s account a soul-cutting discourse of 2 hours and a half.”

Not all was good though, Darwin had no time for Alexander Monro tertius, who had followed his grandfather and father as professor of anatomy, as he describes in a letter to his sister Caroline:

Monro “made his lectures on human anatomy as dull as he was himself.” “I dislike his lectures so much that I cannot speak with decency about them. He is so dirty in person and actions.”

Some years later Darwin visited Edinburgh again, in 1838, on his way to study the geology of Glen Roy. He spent some time on Salisbury Crags, studying the geology described by Hutton.

#scotland #scottish #history #english #geologist #natura #ist #biologist

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arkipelagic · 1 month

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A British woman’s account on Igorot peoples, c. 1920s

I have been hearing about the cañao from one of the college boys. It seems that a member of a family will dream that an ancestor wants a pig, a cow, or a carabou. In the morning, if the family can afford it, one of these animals is killed. The whole family then begins to beat drums and gongs, so that neighbours may hear and know, and presently all join in the feast. They drink native home-brewed wine and they just drink and dance, lie down and sleep, get up again and dance and drink, until their money gives out. The women do the waiting and take no drink.

When, by chance, I meet a gentleman with a shirt reaching his thighs, gracefully dangling on his finger a piece of string to which is attached a small piece of gory beef with the hair of the sacrificed animal still sticking to the flesh, I know that there has been a cañao somewhere.

… One beautiful moonlight night I begged the interpreter to ask some Benguets to come out in the open and dance. So, to please me, they lit a big bonfire and danced by its light and the light of the moon.

For a long time I watched a group of five old men talking together. By their expressions and gestures they might have been a group of Scotchmen talking theology, old Irishmen fighting politics, or a group of old Japanese telling ancient tales of war. I asked the interpreter what they were speaking about and he replied: “Christian Science!”

The music at these festivals is so exciting that I never hear it without feeling the magnetism of the dance.

Excerpt from “Eastern Windows: An Artist’s Notes of Travel in Japan, Hokkaido, Korea, China and the Philippines” (1928) by Elizabeth Keith, Chapter VI: From Manila to ‘Gee Strings,’ pages 68–69

#philippines #luzon #igorot #indigenous peoples #travelogue #orientalism #x

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dolphin1812 · 1 year

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I don’t have super coherent thoughts about this chapter, but I like the small snapshots Hugo gives us of the lives of specific soldiers. For some examples:

“lt was formed of the 75th regiment of Highlanders. The bagpipe-player in the centre dropped his melancholy eyes, filled with the reflections of the forests and the lakes, in profound inattention, while men were being exterminated around him, and seated on a drum, with his pibroch under his arm, played the Highland airs. These Scotchmen died thinking of Ben Lothian, as did the Greeks recalling Argos. The sword of a cuirassier, which hewed down the bagpipes and the arm which bore it, put an end to the song by killing the singer.”

The bagpipe player continuing to play in the midst of battle is certainly a tragic and Romantic image, but it also allows for the personalization of this whole regiment. The bagpipe player reflects on his home (”forests and lakes,” “Ben Lothian”) in a way that we can imagine all of his companions do as they fight (or perhaps in between battles), giving us a sense of their homesickness and desire to return even as we see all of them die. The fact that even the bagpipe player is killed (and gruesomely) not only highlights the brutality of combat that reaches non-combatants (even if they’re part of the army). It stresses the death of small or intangible things, like cultural comforts or hopes of return. The loss of one bagpipe player doesn’t mean much in the scope of Scotland’s entire cultural heritage. But for the men fighting around him, it’s a symbolic loss as well as a literal one.

“What had become of the cuirassiers? No one could have told. One thing is certain, that on the day after the battle, a cuirassier and his horse were found dead among the woodwork of the scales for vehicles at Mont-Saint-Jean, at the very point where the four roads from Nivelles, Genappe, La Hulpe, and Brussels meet and intersect each other. This horseman had pierced the English lines. One of the men who picked up the body still lives at Mont-Saint-Jean. His name is Dehaze. He was eighteen years old at that time.”

Here, we have the loss of these soldiers’ life stories and the trauma this conflict inflicts on the young. Before this, the cuirassiers were spoken of as a group. Therefore, we can assume that there were many more like this one who managed impressive military feats (piercing the English lines, in this case) that went unnoticed and unrecorded. We know nothing about this cuirassier specifically, but we feel that absence of information, especially given the lists of names earlier and the contrast with the named man who found his body, Dehaze.

Dehaze partially serves as a way to prove this history, as he was present after the battle and found the body. However, Hugo ends the paragraph with his age at the time of the battle: 18 years old. Given that he was old enough to remember this and young enough to still be alive in Hugo’s time, we could have assumed that he was around this age. That being said, including his age underscores the impact of this battle not only on the young men who died there, but on those that survived. 18 is a young age to pick up bodies in that state and to witness the aftermath of that carnage (although really, any age is). Hugo doesn’t specify a psychological consequence of this, but we can imagine, just from knowing that Dehaze remembered this so many years later, that the image lingered.

#les mis letters #lm 2.1.10 #waterloo

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keepthisholykiss · 1 year

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rip queen you would have loved internet roasts of victor hugo

Amy Levy was a ridiculously talented Queer Jewish writer that lived too short a life and suffered from severe mental illnesses that ultimately led to her death. Of note was her reputation from Oscar Wilde he referred to her as one of the most brilliant poets he ever met. She is another subject of my thesis work and in pouring over her letters I have discovered she had beef with Les Mis just as the rest of us have during yee olde Waterloo.

The full quote she was referring to here is from Chapter X: The Plateau of Mont-saint-jean and the entire passage reads:

“The square on the extreme right, the most exposed of all, being in the air, was almost annihilated at the very first shock. lt was formed of the 75th regiment of Highlanders. The bagpipe-player in the centre dropped his melancholy eyes, filled with the reflections of the forests and the lakes, in profound inattention, while men were being exterminated around him, and seated on a drum, with his pibroch under his arm, played the Highland airs. These Scotchmen died thinking of Ben Lothian, as did the Greeks recalling Argos. The sword of a cuirassier, which hewed down the bagpipes and the arm which bore it, put an end to the song by killing the singer.”

Image Description: A photo of writer Amy Levy edited to have on pixel sunglasses, a crown, and flames around her. Word art to the right reads “Amy Levy 1861-1889″ and below this word art is a pull quote that reads ‘I am simply sticking in Les Misérables. I have read about half & it has lately become so inutterably dry that I don’t know what to do. Victor Hugo is at times a little elaborate as when he describes Waterloo & says, ‘Les Ecossars tomberant en pesant de Ben Lomand!’ Excerpt from Amy Levy’s letter to her sister in 1884.’“

#amy levy #lesbian literature #lesbian history #les mis #les miserables #victor hugo #michelle does grad school

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if-you-fan-a-fire · 6 months

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"HUNDREDS ARE OUT OF WORK IN TORONTO," Toronto Star. November 11, 1913. Page 5. ---- Applications Made at One Factory Average 600 a Week. ---- WORST IN TWO YEARS ---- Labor Market in City Is Drugged, Says One of the Big Firms. --- "Blime me mate, I've tramped all over the city and Oi cawn't get a job. I ain't affride of work and if i could git a job for a month of would floy my kite to the Ould Land, where Of could get work. And when Of get back my, what of will tell to those hagents, Oi should think."

The speaker was a well-built Englishman of middle height, who came out here in May last and who is a mechanic. He told of going after Jobs and meeting crowds of his fellow-workers on the same errand. As it was stated a short time ago that there were a great number of men out of work in the city by the secretary of the Employers' Association, The Star called up some of the best known and largest firms in the city to see if their experiences bore out these statements.

The results seem to set at rest any doubt about the fact that the labor market in Toronto is glutted and a serious winter is indicated.

One curious fact is that the big day for applications for employment is Monday, then Tuesday is a big day. and it gradually diminishes towards week end. It seems from this that the workers seeking positions start out at the beginning of the week with hopes raised of getting employment on Monday, Tuesday the hope still remains. Many still are tramping around to the shops on Wednesday, and then it looks as if the search is given up as almost useless, and next Monday hope is again renewed.

600 In One Week. The tragedy and sorrow that this state of affairs reveals, with the high cost of living as at present, makes a combination which will tax the resources of the City of Toronto this winter unless a change for the better takes place.

Take, for instance, the Canada Foundry at Davenport, which is out on the outskirts of the city. There The Star was told that the applications were at least 100 a day on an average, which will make over 600 a week seeking employment. On Monday, a week ago, there were about 200 applicants seeking work on that day alone. The men were a mixture. There were Canadians, Englishmen, Scotchmen, and all races of men. It is a general run of applicants for work. This is only one firm, the same thing is being repeated in all parts of the city. For instance, at the John Inglis Company at the foot of Strachan avenue the same experience is met. The engineering works is as far south as you can get almost in the city, the Canada Foundry is as far north. So that it is hardly likely that the same men who apply for work at John Inglis on Monday will be up at the Canada Foundry at the same time.

At Massey-Harris. A very large number of applicants for situations is the report from the John Inglis Company office. While no record is kept of the applicants, still it is estimated that over 200 applied for situations on Mondays of re- cent date.

"There is an awful large number of men out of work," was the statement. At the Massey-Harris Company figures could not be obtained, as no record is kept of the applicants.

"The labor market is drugged, there is no doubt about that," was the statement made. There are more applications for work than at any time for the last two years, it was announced.

At the Kemp Manufacturing Company it was stated that requests for work were not unusually large because there were just as many last spring. Yes, Monday was a big day for applications for work because it was thought that Monday was the day for setting on new help. "There are a large number of men out of work, all right, and they are a mixed element, men of all nationalities," it was said.

At the Firstbrook Box Company corroboration of the over-stocked labor market was obtained. It was stated that the labor market was overcrowded. There was a large number of applicants for situations, and there were many more than usual at the present time.

More Men Than Women. For the past three weeks at the Ideal Bedding Company's office the average number of applicants has been from 500 to 600 a week. On Monday 105, Tuesday 180, Wednesday 75, and Thursday 60. Such is a glimpse of the unemployment. The Ideal Bedding Company's factory is on Jefferson avenue and employs male as well as female help. The majority is male labor.

Then there is the other side of the question, the female labor. At Simpson's and Eaton's employment offices, the report was that there were good crowds of both males and females to-day looking for employment. At Eaton's it was stated that there was a good crowd on Monday all the time. Asked what a good crowd was, the reply was around 200. "There is not an unusual number of applicants," was the statement made. "We have a good crowd all the time." At Simpson's it was stated there were a good number of applicants, male and female, but there were very few vacancies. The applicants were boys and girls, men and women.

#toronto #unemployed #unemployment #factory workers #out of work #employment office #unemployed workers #john inglis company #canada foundry company #massey-harris company #women workers #english immigration to canada #capitalism in canada #capitalism

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verecunda · 4 months

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It is not strictly true that Scotchmen are mean in money matters, any more than it is to say that they can't see a joke. As regards the latter point, it is my experience that a Scot won't laugh at the average jest that amuses an Englishman, simply because it isn't good enough.

The Haunted Major, Robert Marshall

#books what I'm reading #(or more accurately - just finished reading)#The Haunted Major #Robert Marshall #*Scottish chuckling*

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travellingistanbul · 1 year

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Frankish or European

Pera, contiguous to Galata, and on the heights rising immediately above it, is the Frankish or European, quarter of the city, where the Europeans, Levantines, and a great part of the Greek and Armenian population live, and where all the hotels and the foreign embassies and consulates are situated.

Kassim Pasha is a filthy and insanitary suburb in the immediate vicinity of the dockyard, off which the Turkish fleet lies at anchor throughout the year. The fine marble building standing on a plot of land jutting out into the Golden Horn is the Admiralty. Close by are the graving-docks, slips, building sheds, and workshops, where, until recently, a considerable number of British foremen, mostly Scotchmen, were employed. The large building on the hill, immediately above the dockyard, is the Naval Hospital.

Kassim Pasha

Phanar, now a dirty and poor-looking suburb, lies on the Stambul side, opposite Kassim Pasha, and is chiefly inhabited by Greeks. Its name Phanarion, shortened by the Turks into Phanar or Phener, is a diminutive of javo; (a lantern).

Phanar is the seat of the Patriarch, the head of the Eastern or Greek Church; and here is situated the Greek Cathedral of St. George, in connection with the Patriarch’s residence. Travellers are freely admitted to the different rooms of the Patriarch’s official residence, in one of which visitors are shown a painting representing Sultan Muhammad II., the Conqueror, in his state robes, handing the patriarch Gennadius Scholarius the the river Vorvyses.

The mouth of the latter, called Kara Agatch, is the point where the steamers stop. The valley of the Sweet Waters of Europe is a favourite resort of natives, especially Turks, in spring and early summer, and can be reached by water, or by carriage from Pera. The better class of people, and ladies, always drive there. Travellers desirous of getting a glimpse of Turkish life should visit the spot on a fine Friday afternoon in spring. A good plan is to drive there from Pera and return by water, or vice versa. No Turkish ladies are to be seen there in Ramazan.

#Frankish or European

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bookinghotelbg · 1 year

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Frankish or European

Kassim Pasha

#Frankish or European

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travelcamp · 1 year

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Frankish or European

Kassim Pasha

#Frankish or European

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balkansofia · 1 year

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Frankish or European

Kassim Pasha

#Frankish or European

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scotianostra · 2 years

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Charles Darwin, was born on 12th February 1809 in Shrewsbury, England.

Yes he is English, but he attended Edinburgh University and he liked us Scots in general, going by this quote from the man:

“Scotchmen are so civil and attentive, It is enough to make an Englishman ashamed of himself.”

“We have just been to church and heard a sermon of only 20 minutes. I expected from Sir Walter Scott’s account a soul-cutting discourse of 2 hours and a half.”

Not all was good though, Darwin had no time for Alexander Monro tertius, who had followed his grandfather and father as professor of anatomy, as he describes in a letter to his sister Caroline:

Monro “made his lectures on human anatomy as dull as he was himself.” “I dislike his lectures so much that I cannot speak with decency about them. He is so dirty in person and actions.”

Some years later Darwin visited Edinburgh again, in 1838, on his way to study the geology of Glen Roy. He spent some time on Salisbury Crags, studying the geology described by Hutton.

#Scotland #Edinburgh #university of edinburgh #history

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airmanisr · 3 years

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British Railways (SR) – ‘N15 Maunsell (King Arthurs) Class’ 4-6-0 No.30784 ‘Sir Nerovens’ (SR 784) on turntable at 70A Nine Elms c1950 by Peter Heelas Via Flickr: The LSWR N15 class was a British 2–cylinder 4-6-0 express passenger steam locomotive designed by Robert W. Urie. The class has a complex build history spanning three sub-classes and eight years of construction from 1918 to 1927. The first batch of the class was constructed for the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), where they hauled heavy express trains to the south coast ports and further west to Exeter. After the Lord Nelsons, they were the second biggest 4-6-0 passenger locomotives on the Southern Railway. They could reach speeds of up to 90 mph (145 km/h). Following the grouping of railway companies in 1923, the LSWR became part of the Southern Railway (SR) and its publicity department gave the N15 locomotives names associated with Arthurian legend; the class hence becoming known as King Arthurs. The Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the newly formed company, Richard Maunsell, modified the Urie locomotives in the light of operational experience and increased the class strength to 74 locomotives. Maunsell and his Chief Draughtsman James Clayton incorporated several improvements, notably to the steam circuit and valve gear. The new locomotives were built over several batches at Eastleigh and Glasgow, leading to the nicknames of "Eastleigh Arthurs", "Scotch Arthurs" and Scotchmen in service.[5] The class was subjected to smoke deflection experiments in 1926, becoming the first British class of steam locomotive to be fitted with smoke deflectors. Maunsell’s successor, Oliver Bulleid, attempted to improve performance by altering exhaust arrangements. The locomotives continued operating with British Railways (BR) until the end of 1962. One example, 30777 Sir Lamiel, is preserved as part of the National Collection and can be seen on mainline railtours. N15 Urie/Maunsell (King Arthurs) Class 4-6-0 No.30784 (784) ‘Sir Nerovens’ was built at North British Loco No.23280 in 1925, in 1948 it was allocated to 71A Eastleigh shed where it remained there until it was withdrawn in 1959. Copyright unknown - taken on 71A Eastleigh Shed c1950

#Locomotive

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crossdreamers · 4 years

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What is the difference between sex and gender?

Very often discussions about what it means to be transgender ends up in a quarrel about the difference between sex and gender. Some argue that there is no difference. Others that you cannot understand human beings without distinguishing between the two. Here follows a pretty clear explanation.

Some days ago I got the following anonymous tumblr-question:

Hi! I don’t know if you answer this kind of questions, but my friend just came out as trans to his family and I really want to support him, and I feel like I should start by understanding him and the trans community as a whole better, as well as being more familiar with concepts of gender and sex, etc. So I wanted to ask if you have anything I could start with to begin understanding all of this better ?(literally keywords to google can work or books/articles,anything works!) 💜💜

The map versus the world

I think that much of the confusion found in online discussions about sex and gender is that many people think the map is exactly like the world itself. But when you think about a map of Times Square in New York, as this one...

... it is very easy to see that this 2D rendering is nothing like what Times Square looks like, feels like, sounds like and smells like in the real world.

The map is a very simplified abstraction containing symbols that are there to help us navigate the real Times Square.

The same applies to language, including scientific concepts. The world itself is so insanely complex and “messy” that there is no way simple, human made, words and concepts can capture it all.

The five dimensions of sex and gender

Originally English had one word, one sign, to capture the complexity of what it means to be a man or a woman, namely “sex”. That word was used to capture at least five very different phenomena:

1. BIOLOGICAL SEX

Ultimately biological sex is about gametes: sperm and eggs. In biology males are those who produce sperm and females are those who produce eggs. Sperm meets egg and viola, you have a baby. This is a fact. We would not be here without them.

Hormones decide whether a fetus ends up as a human being producing eggs or sperm, and most often – but not always – this hormone production correlates with relevant chromosomes, XY in males and XX in females.

2. SEXUAL CHARACTERISTICS

Hormones also trigger the development of sexual characteristics. The primary sexual characteristics (genitalia) develop early on. The secondary sexual characteristics (facial hair growth, breasts etc.) appear during puberty.

Most often the development of secondary sexual characteristics follows from the biological sex, but there is a lot of variation and no absolute clear boundaries between the two sexes as regards looks.

3. GENDER EXPRESSIONS

While the development of sexual characteristics is triggered by hormones, the development of gender expressions are (for the most part) not.

Among gender expressions we find clothing (skirts vs. trousers), mannerisms (crossing or not crossing your legs when sitting) and even interests (knitting versus wrestling).

We know that these gender expressions are cultural and not biological for two important reasons: They differ from culture to culture (Roman men wearing togas and Scotchmen wearing kilts) and from individual to individual. Where I live (in Norway) most men are not afraid to cross their legs when seated, and women do love jeans.

4. GENDER ROLES

Gender roles refers to the way cultures divide tasks between the two genders, informally and even legally. 19th century European and North American had no right to vote. The majority of nurses world wide are women, even today.

Few of these gender roles have a firm biological basis, as the political and cultural changes that took place during the previous century has shown us. 19th century women in “the West” were supposed to be emotional, irrational and inferior to men in most ways. They were therefore not fitted to a life of leadership, the men said. They were, on the other hand, considered more nurturing than men, which made them the obvious choice for child rearing.

Since then women have proven themselves capable in all strands of life, and many men are very good at taking care of kids.

5. GENDER IDENTITY

Gender identity is your deep felt sense of being a man or a woman (or neither or both). Most people (non-transgender cis people) never reflect on their gender identity, because no one is challenging it.

Transgender people, on the other hand, as well as some intersex people, are forced to reflect on the difference between biological sex and gender identity, because they strongly, continuously and persistently feel that their sense of being a man or a woman (or some other category) does not match their legally assigned gender.

People may disagree as to what causes this dissonance between biological sex and gender, but there is no denying that the mismatch exists.

The sense of being a gendered being is undeniable

Gender dysphoria is real. The sense of being forced to live as the wrong gender is real. This means that the sense of being a gendered person is real. Gender identity is not the same as sex.

Anti-trans activists will often talk about transgender and intersex people being statistical outliers, saying that they do not in any way represent normalcy. There are actually as many intersex people as there are redheads in the world, but let us, for the sake of argument, say that they are right about this. This still does not change the fact that for many people several of these five variables do not match.

If you have not done so already, you should take a look at the TED Talk of Emily Quinn, an intersex woman with XY chromosomes and “balls”, as she puts it. She looks like a woman, expresses herself as a woman and clearly thinks of herself as a woman. She is real, and through her very existence she provides clear proof of gender identity not being the same as biological sex.

I love the following photo of her, because it makes it so clear that she is using feminine gender expressions to express her real gender, XY chromosomes be damned.

Intersex or transgender

One important difference between intersex people like Emily Quinn and transgender people is that it is relatively easy to track down the biological roots of an intersex condition, being those chromosome variation (XO, XXX, XXY, XYY) or hormonal variation during the development of the fetus.

The transgender gender mismatch might also have roots in genes and hormonal variation (most medical experts seem to think so), but most often it becomes visible as an intense conviction of being “another” gender.

This has led some anti-trans activists to dismiss feelings in general as not being “real”. I remember discussing all of this with one such person, who desperately demanded a clear and unambiguous definition of what it means to be a man and woman, and it had to be based in visible biology. My attempts at telling him that emotions are real too had no effect.

But they are. Emotions are as real as genitals and chromosomes, and if someone continuously and persistently tell us that they are a man or a woman – in spite of all the harassment and social exclusion – you’d better believe there is something real causing that experience.

Mental illness

At this point in gender discussions I have often noticed that those who want to harm transgender people reach for the “mental illness” card. Sure, the feelings might be “real”, they say, but trans people are wrong.

The map tells these people that Times Square is square. There is no room for circles. So trans people are delusional or perverted. Because science!

The consensus in medical circles is that this is not the case. Trans people are not mentally ill. They are as well equipped to navigate the complexities of life as cis people. They are more likely to be stressed out and depressed, for sure, but that is because they find themselves invalidated and harassed on a regular basis, not because they are mentally ill.

The American psychiatric manual, the DSM-5, and the international health manual, the ICD-11 are both very clear: Being trans is not a mental illness.

It is not all about gender expression

Some lesbian trans-exclusionary “radical feminists” (TERFs) try to use their own life experience to explain away the gender variance of trans people.

Queer culture is full of people who identify as their assigned gender, they argue, but who nevertheless violate the norms of gender stereotypes. There are gay men with feminine gender expressions and lesbian, masculine, butch women.

The argument is that trans people are basically cis people who mistake the desire to express masculinity and femininity through clothes, mannerism and musical taste for a different gender identity. When people who used to think of themselves as masculine lesbian women come out as transgender men, they are simply dismissed as deluded women by the TERFs.

They have clearly no idea of how gender dysphoria affects a transgender person’s life. The suffering can be tremendous. You do not think about transitioning on a whim.

And here’s the thing: There is as much variation as regards masculine and feminine expressions and interests among trans people as there is among cis people.

For sure, great many trans women make use of feminine gender expressions to celebrate their womanhood and get affirmation from those around them. But in this they are no different than cis women, which the flourishing fashion and cosmetic industries can attest to.

There are butch trans women, in the same way that there are masculine cis women. There are femme trans men, in the same there are feminine cis men.

In other words: Gender expression does not always parallel gender identity.

A postscript on the term biological sex

Some transgender people do not like to talk about “biological sex.” They argue that a transgender woman is and has always been a “biological woman” even if she has not undergone hormone replacement therapy and/or surgery. It is the cultural assignment of a gender after birth that makes the difference, they say.

I understand the argument. They are not wrong.

But keep in mind that biologists use the words “sex” and “gender”, “male” and “female” differently than we do in everyday speech. To use the map metaphor: Similar symbols can refer to different things.

We need to be able to compare biological sex with experienced gender. It is the only way you can make sense of gender dysphoria and the way many trans people feel alienated from their own bodies. This is why I have used the term “biological sex” throughout this article.

Conclusion

The gender mismatch of transgender people is as real as the sex/gender match of cis people. The very existence of transgender people proves that sex is not the same as gender.

Photo: Alexandr Screaghin

See also this Scientific American article on sex and gender, and my own article: “Sorry, gender cannot be reduced to biological sex.”

#gender #transgender #trans #lgbt #lgbtqa #transphobia #biological sex #terf #terfs #gender critical

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