Today's Battles.

Well, a few of the many over the last week.

First Cab off the rank, the Calgary Herald, where a state-funded school run by a Catholic diocese decided that they couldn't possibly have a transsexual teacher, as they were "insufficiently Catholic". Odd, since the guy is Lutheran, and that never caused a problem. Odder, in that the school isn't a private Catholic school, the local diocese just subcontracts to run it, so they're not allowed to discriminate based on religious dogma. Odder still, that they don't actually know what the Vatican says on the subject.

Staying in Canada, and in Toronto they're holding the III World Congress on Hypospadias and Disorders of Sex Development. With interactive surgical demonstrations on how to help Intersexed children. Or all too often, "help" them so that they are no bother to society.

When medics use the best possible techniques for determining “real” sex, they get it wrong 1 time in 10.

The average is 1 time in 3.

When they do get it wrong, the patient is diagnosed as mentally ill for stubbornly insisting that the sex they were surgically re-assigned to is incorrect.

There are several competing priorities: the first is to not upset society by having a child look different. This can lead to the child being persecuted when young. The second is to not upset the parents, who may reject and maltreat a child who looks different. The third is to end up with a child whose body is functional.

In order to reliably achieve the third aim, there must be a period of 3-7 years wait until the child can tell us what sex they are. Some children are bigendered, able to function in either gender role. Most are not, and so if you arbitrarily assign a sex at random, you end up with a bad result slightly less than 50% of the time. About 1 in 3.

However, without immediate surgery, the child may suffer rejection and abuse from the parents and society at large.

The obvious therapy is to change societal attitudes and provide therapy for the parents rather than surgically mutilate infants. This however has been deemed too hard, or would take too long. It’s easier to just castrate the kids, and after all, most turn out OK. The rest you can just label insane, and disregard them.

Doctors have seen far too many abused and rejected children, and wish to prevent that. They’re not monsters, they’re trying to do what they think is best… except that they have visceral revulsion of children who look different too, so are not objective.

On to the thriving metropolis of Kalamazoo, and an ordnance passed by the city council that would prevent overt discrimination against gays and trans people.

Aaron Davis: There are already laws in effect against discrimination so this new ordinance is something special. People need to understand this new ordinance. This new ordinance means that if a man that thinks he is a woman, he could just put on a dress and go in the girls’ restroom because he feels that way at that time. I say no. Because I have children, they don’t need to be exposed to that if we are at some public venue. So no again to special rights.

*SIGH*. My comment:

I can't understand Mr Davis' attitude. He must know that such laws are already in force in 13 states, covering 38% of the US population. And that such events as he describes don't occur. They haven't done, not once, in the 33 years since the first laws of this kind were passed.

Is it wilful blindness? Inability to understand the most simple concepts? Frightening gullibility? Or is he just pandering to bigots? In any event, it casts doubt on his suitability for any public office, even third assistant dogcatcher, let alone any position of responsibility in government.

Fortunately, the other commissioners have two brain-cells that fire consecutively. Unfortunately, the Big Lie is a political technique used by the unscrupulous that works more often than not. We'll see.

Finally on to the Washington Post, and a book review: The Tiny Differences in the Littlest Brains By Emily Bazelon : a review of PINK BRAIN, BLUE BRAIN - How Small Differences Grow Into Troublesome Gaps -- and What We Can Do About It By Lise Elio.

My comment:

The problem with philosophical and ideological theories is that they have practical consequences.

For example, it is common practice to castrate boys born with genitalia that is not deemed sufficiently masculine by the doctors and parents. Intersexed children with anomalous genitalia are usually surgically assigned a mostly female body as "it's easier to make a hole than a pole". In the 1 in 3 cases where the assignment is incorrect, and doesn't match the congenital neuroanatomy the child is classified as "mentally ill" with "gender identity disorder not otherwise specified", and surgery to correct the mistake refused on that basis.

I then went on to quote Prof Ecker on the subject, as well as The Story of 'R'. Most people don't know about this stuff you see, and see it as a harmless philosophical debate, with little application to reality.

I know different. Sometimes I wish I didn't.