greenber@timeinc.UUCP (Ross M. Greenberg) (08/18/85)
In article <2644@sun.uucp> sunny@sun.uucp (Ms. Sunny Kirsten) writes: > >So, Jym, what could possibly give us all better observations of which factors >in humans are dependent on hormones, and which are not, than the observations >of humans who have experienced both male and female hormones? > (PART ONE) Like wow!!! So all I have to do to have my opinion made completely valid as fact is start taking some female hormones? Then I'll be able to represent ALL men and ALL women. Like, fantastic. Wow, and if somebody tells me that they are still only my own experiences, I can just quote the above. Quick, Doc, gimme them birth control pills! I wanna know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Just like Sunny. Or maybe there is a whole lot more to being either a male or a female than whether one has the right hormones or genitilia for that definition. Nope, guess not, 'cause Sunny claims that she can do it. I mean, let's take her word for what it is like to be a well-adjusted male, or a well-adjusted female. She knows all, for she takes hormone pills/shots! (PART TWO) Sunny, assuming that you're still reading, even though you claim you won't be posting, know that this is not an attack against you as a trans-sexual. The fact that you decided to change your sex is absolutely irrelevant to my feelings regarding the above. I do not try to represent anyone other than myself, and find that a mystifying experience in itself. You are trying to represent yourself. But what as: not as Sunny, not as a male, not as a female, and not even as a trans-sexual. You instead are representing yourself as someone who can, due to a few drugs (and perhaps some therapy), now make valid judgements regarding the entire class I described. And I feel that is hogwash (was that rude enough? No, probably not!)! I would be interested in finding out what hormonal differences do. I would enjoy reading about something that I feel I'll never experience. And I bet there are ways that you could have expressed yourself adequately without ticking me (and perhaps others) off. You could have said: "Well, I'm a trans-sexual. My experience shows that the change from male to female hormones, for myself, were as follows....." instead of: "Well, I'm a trans-sexual, having decided that being a male was wrong not just for me, but for the human race itself. Now, what I say can not be questioned, even my opinions, because now I'm well-adjusted, not one of those icky males. And if anyone questions my opinions (which are really facts, and only I can judge that!), I'll just do one of two things: hide in a hole and complain that you're all attacking me, or just attribute it to you people being aggresive males." To me, at least, you come off more like the second case, than as the first. Now, I've tried telling you this in private mail, and you seem to attribute it to my woman hating, or my inate male aggression. I tend to think that I might be a better adjusted male than you were, and that I can judge better than you whether I hate women. I don't feel that you can represent me, for you haven't the data. You can only represent yourself. How would you feel if I took a platform as a trans-sexual without ever actually becoming one. Perhaps you'd feel that my representing that, if accepted by the general public, would somehow be a false accusation of what you, yourself, are? And that's how I feel when a trans-sexual tries to represent herself: as a male to the public. Look, you were not a well-adjusted male, or at least you opted not to be male. THIS IS UNUSUAL! So you are, as far as I am concerned, in a category all to yourself. And a category I am trying to learn to deal with. I personally do not know how to accept you, except as a trans-sexual, and I have little experience with that. Like a foreigner in another country, you represent trans-sexualism to the net (or at least this small segment of it). And like the loud, obnoxious Americans that do the wrong thing, you are taken as a representative of your "country". And like the loud Americans, many other travelers will have to make repair for what you have done. It took a good net.friend to make me realize that some of my articles make me come off looking like a jerk. It took a note a lot better written than this one, and considerable prodding for me to see what she was talking about, and I agree. Some of my postings do make me seem like a jerk. So I intend to do something about it. Please take this advice, for whatever you feel it is worth, that some of your representations make you come off sounding like a, well, jerk. And this note, which you may or may not consider as coming from a net.friend, is intended to make you see that there certainly are two ways of writing things: as I did at the top of the letter (which was intended to inflame you), and as I did at the bottom of the letter, which is intended to make you better understand how I, for one, feel when seeing some of your postings. If you examine the two parts of this letter, I would hope that you see that they say the same thing, albeit in different ways. Perhaps you can show the sensitivity to the people that you yourself demand it from, and think a little more before you post. I promise that I will. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------ Ross M. Greenberg @ Time Inc, New York --------->{vax135 | ihnp4}!timeinc!greenber<--------- I highly doubt that Time Inc. would make me their spokesperson. ---