Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Sometimes the best advice...

I'm not sure when Chuck Klosterman went from being a fairly benign pop culture pundit to New York Time's resident "Ethicist," but the advice he gives a married man (he identifies as a man in the letter) who is considering transition is problematic, to say the least:
"Is your psychological damage from gender dysphoria greater than the psychological damage that its restoration will inflict upon the lives of any (or all) of your children? If the answer is yes, proceed. If the answer is no, don’t do it. Your sadness is tragic, but at least it’s confined to yourself. This advice might seem reactionary, but it’s not a position on whether transitioning is ethical in and of itself. There’s no inherent ethical problem with that decision. It’s about the possibility of improving one life at a greater cost to three others who might lack the intellectual and emotional maturity to comprehend what’s really happening."
I think Klosterman doesn't really understand what it means to be trans (and I say this as a fellow cis person). Chuck Klosterman has a record of failing when it comes to gender, from his (albeit tongue-in-cheek) musings on female music fans in his first book, Fargo Rock City, to last year's misguided attempt to explain the appeal of singer-songwriter Merrill Garbus,, so this really doesn't surprise me all that much. Although it is disappointing. Zack Ford from ThinkProgress put it more succinctly:
"Klosterman applies ethical implications to coming out as trans where there are none, merely because societal acceptance of the trans community continues to lag behind the gay community and other groups. What is unethical is when people condemn a trans person for simply identifying as they are. What is unethical is forcing people to live decades in secret shame while they deny their true identities. What is unethtical is blaming trans individuals for their own sadness and the pain they might cause others by choosing to finally be authentic."

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