I am not asking this to be transphobic or anything but I had this debate with myself at 2 o’clock in the morning and every time I remember it I can’t focus.
On one hand, it is what they want. Let’s assume it causes no harm to them or any unforeseen circumstances.
On another hand, it would erase their identity as trans people. At the extreme you could consider it a genocide, since turning them into what they want would mean there is no more trans people and their unique identity is erased.
I think yes, you doing it would be unethical as you cannot get the consent of all the people you’d be affecting. Making the option available would certainly ease suffering but your blanket statement “that’s what they want” assumes something that certainly isn’t true for every single trans person.
I mean, doing anything to anybody without either their knowledge or permission is about as unethical as it gets.
Out of curiosity, would you feel the same if the question was, “If I could snap my fingers and cure everybody on earth who has a terminal illness, would it be unethical to do so?”
Like, you would be modifying their body without their consent. On the other hand, you’re literally curing people with terminal illnesses. Seems churlish of them to complain.
The difference would be the phrasing and specifics. “Magically switch trans people to the assigned sex at birth that they desire to be?” Works for some. “Magically make trans people’s bodies align with their specific and nuanced gender identity” is less of an issue. The problem you run into with the first is some are not interested in surgeries or are non binary so a full surprise sex swap would not be what some trans people want.
I still think consent is important though, even if the way the magic works is basically “they get what they want”. As much as it is hard to imagine, there are also trans people who do not want to transition at all due to having family or friends who would cut them off (I think that’s a pretty awful and tragic situation to be in, but imagine the trans woman who magically changes to the shock and anger of her deeply religious family or SO, who then ostracize or reject her, or even react violently). You aren’t likely to be murdered for recovering from cancer, but in some places magically shifting assigned sex might come with some pretty awful, bigoted strings attached
Do individuals that have transitioned from a gender other than the one they were born into really identify as “trans” or is that what society has classifed them as? I think ideally they would all be accepted and viewed as their preferred gender without the trans qualifier attached to them.
The cool thing is that I, a trans woman, am already a woman! Gender is a whole complicated thing, and I think maybe you have a simplistic idea of what it means to be trans. it isn’t “I wish i was a girl” so much as it is “my body/my mind/the way society treats me (some, all, or none of these) is wrong” so, from that perspective. it’d be pretty invasive to force change onto people without their consent-it’s their body, after all!
I think offering physical changes individually to trans people would be the most ethical approach. Everyone is different, and everyone wants different things. TMI but I, as an example, have no interest in bottom surgery, but am happily on hormones.
It’s important to remember that this is just one person’s opinion, too. Take it with some salt, and feel free to ask any follow-up questions if you’re interested in my perspective
First of all, I really wanted to hear opinions of trans people. What are the reasons why someone would choose not to have bottom surgery? I expect some people simply can’t afford it or find it too much of a hassle.
Surgery is terrifying! If you have no or mild dysphonia then the idea of someone removing part of you or otherwise changing it is quite disturbing even if the end result is appealing. And that’s if the end result is appealing - it isn’t for everyone. Gender isn’t necessarily tied to what’s in your pants at all.
Well, my hypothetical scenario implies an instantaneous 100% change with a 100% functionality, at zero cost, specifically for that reason.
I’m sure, if offered, many people would accept the change.
Many trans people also just don’t have any dysphoria regarding their genitals.
Are you magically doing something to them without their consent? Then it’s bad
Are you magically doing something to them with their enthusiastic consent? Then it’s great.
But for me, if you had some tool to turn me in to a cis woman, I’d say no. It would disconnect me from my community, in order to let me fit in better with the societal norms that taught me to hate myself for being trans in the first place. Fuck that.
It would disconnect me from my community
That is one of my conundrums. If all trans people get turned into cis people, the community would cease to exist altogether.
Destruction of a community, especially globally, would be genocide. By trying to make a group of people happy with who they are, one ends up committing one of the greatest atrocities against them imaginable.
A community is just a social construct. If all members are alive and happy and choose to leave, no one was harmed.
It’s all about consent.
The lack of permission issue is muddy because you specify that it’s what they “want”, which implies some kind of magical hypothetical permission happened somehow. I won’t address it.
A concern I haven’t seen raised is the people who live in cultures where transgender issues or even just being a particular gender could be life-threatening. I would be worried about the people “outed” unexpectedly. Some trans people might decide to forego transitioning due to other concerns in their lives weighing higher, and I would want them to be able to weigh in on that.
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