Sex changes and such

[Poop Master Flex]

Yesterday during Father's day (happy belated Father's day BTW to any dad's out there) I came across a post with Kanye West saying something along the lines of "It's Father's Day, not Single Mother's Day. So......". I saw this on FB and I don't have Twitter so there could have been some heavy editing for all I know but it really doesn't matter as the picture I saw sparked a heavy debate on what constitutes being a mother and father, some say Single Mothers can be father's and some disagreed. Through this discussion it got me thinking about things like changing ones race or changing one's gender and it got me wondering what others felt on the subject as well. With that said my question's for you is:

What constitute's a person's gender or race? If a man gets a sex change does that make him a woman? If Michael Jackson gets the pigment removed from his skin (even if it was a disease) does that still make him African American or is he Caucasian now?

I've been told that my opinion is close minded on this (and maybe so) but overall I think all the surgery in the world can't change who you really are, it simply changes your appearance. Understand I have no issues with a guy getting surgery done to look like a woman or a white guy getting darker pigmentation for his skin to look darker, to each their own in that sense but a the end of the day it doesn't change the fact of who you are, what your race is and what your gender is.

All in all I think the overall biology is what dictates whether a person is male or female and whether a person is African or Asian. I agree that men and women alike can certainly learn traits possessed by other gender's or race's but it still doesn't change the fact they are what the biology suggests. If I start walking on all fours, start barking, start shitting outside, start sleeping in a dog house, start eating dog food and get surgery to look more like a dog does that make me a dog? I certainly don't think so.

Lastly I want to re-iterate that I have no problems with someone changing their appearance to look like a woman or a man, I have no problems with someone changing their appearance to look more like a different race from their own, I don't even having an issue with knowing some guy named Steve and now having to call them "Stephanie" because they decided to get a sex change operation (that's happened twice now actually), I just don't feel that now makes them a woman (or man for that matter), to me it makes them a person that couldn't be comfortable in the skin they were given, therefore they got surgery to alter it, in both cases they certainly seemed happier and it's working for them, that's awesome to see, it bothers me none and it certainly doesn't change the person they once were on the inside but I still don't feel it makes them a woman (or man).

Anyway's that's my take on it, what does everyone else feel on this?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As to what constitutes gender/sexual identity, it's a debate that's been raging for decades. Everyone from doctors to philosophers to holy men debate, argue and outright gripe, but there seems to be no 100% consensus.

On the surface, it's easy to accept the notion that biology is what makes someone male or female. After all, men & women are anatomically designed to be different from one another and those differences are a huge determining factor. At the same time, what does it mean if your body is one thing while your chemical make up suggests you're something else? We've all heard the expression "I feel like a woman born into a man's body" or some variation thereof, and now there's actual science to give it weight. Science has proven that the chemical make up of male & female brains are different and there are many documented cases involving pre-op transgender individuals showing their brain chemistry is the exact opposite of their physical gender.

Does this automatically mean that this "woman" trapped in a "man's body" actually is a woman? Not anatomically, of course, but that's only part of the equation. It also opens up a whole other can of worms in regards to spirituality, religious beliefs, the existence of the soul, the infallibility of God, etc. After all, how can I look at a person and say that he or she is wrong for believing that they're really the opposite gender trapped in the wrong gender's body? The answer is simple: I can't. You can't "know" the mind of any person in the world other than yourself. I'm not saying that the person is automatically right, but how can I possibly prove or disprove otherwise?

It sort of reminds me of the various debate that's started up in the wrestling section every now and then regarding WWE and a "black World Champion." Some say that The Rock doesn't count because he's part Samoan, but I don't think those people are taking into account the fact that there's probably very, very, very few, if any, human beings that are 100% "pure" anything when it comes to racial background. Various people of diverse racial backgrounsds across Europe, Africa & Asia have been interbreeding for tens of thousands of years. I recall reading a while back that Whoopi Goldberg participated in a DNA test for a PBS documentary in the mid 2000s that revealed she's 92% of sub-Saharan African & 8% European in origin. As a result, she's not only "black", but she's "white." She may even have other roots with other ethnicities like Jewish or Asian ancestry mixed in with all of it. But, am I supposed to accept that she isn't "black" just because she's not 100% "pure?" If she's got it in her DNA, identifies with that particular aspect of her heritage and embraces it, who the hell am I to say that she's not black? Same thing with The Rock or anyone of African heritage.

 

[ABMorales787]

Last I checked, you can't change what your chromosomes say. If they say your skin pigmentation is supposed to be black, you're black. If you've got XY chromosomes, you're supposed to be a dude. You pass that on to your children because it's encoded on to your DNA and no amount of cosmetic operations can change that as far as I know. So why the debate about a single mom counting as a "father"? Sure, if you wanna consider her an honorary "father" go right ahead. It's a simple holiday anyway. My family refers to me as an honorary father to my siblings and I don't have kids (I was born a dude and still am if anyone asks) of my own.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

SIngle mothers can't be fathers because they are single mothers, not fathers. You see posts about single mothers because women have to make everything about them. You damn sure dont see posts about single dads on mothers day.

On to the other subject in a somewhat disjontled OP, yes, if you have a "sex change" operation, and identify yourself as the other sex, then you are that sex, for the purposes of identification, anyway. Hence the term "sex change"