(29-04-2015, 03:57 AM)flamesabers Wrote: [ -> ]Bryony,
I have a very mixed opinion towards your stance. I suspect my personal behavioral code agrees with yours more than differs. However, I also very much believe in people's freedom to do whatever they want with their life so long as they're not infringing on the freedoms of others.
Do you not also believe in taking responsibility for the consequences of your actions?
Action 1: deliberately withholding your sexuality from someone you desire in order to get them to fall in love with you marry you.
Consequence 1: the loving wife feels betrayed when she finds out that she married "someone else" and her marriage has been a lie.
Action 2: producing children with said wife. The natural instinct of a parent is to protect, nurture and defend to the death a child - particularly someone with the instincts of a women. Leaving the mother and child to fend for themselves even if guilt money is paid still leaves them far short of their natural expectation.
Consequence 2: the child has no father role model, and is less likely to develop a stable relationship in later life, more likely to become involved in drugs, underachieve etc. (More likely, not definitely)
Action 3: indulging in extra-marital relationships with men.
Consequence 3: a definite possibility of passing on STDs, perhaps AIDs.
Do you think these counts as "not infringing on the freedoms of others" and is therefore perfectly OK? If so it's Venus and Mars folks.
Quote:I'm intrigued by your comparison of GD with anorexics. I agree with you about the dangers of anorexics furthering their self-destructive behavior. However, what if the anorexic goes into denial that she has a problem to appease her spouse and family? She tries to maintain a facade of being healthy and normal, but this only drives her maladaptive tendencies further and further as she believes she is truly alone and nobody can help her or even understand her? Promoting anorexia is dangerous no doubt; but so is being in denial about it as well, just as can be with GD.
I think this is very much a strawman fallacy, because the analogy is nothing like what I am referring to. Of course, he should accept that he has gender dysphoria, but the solution, as Fire & Ice suggests later, is to get help, not write off his marriage, his two kids and a stable job.
"I am currently married but will be filling for divorce if decided to go this route."
Jesus!
Quote:Is leaving one's spouse on a whim or unexpectedly a bad decision? Yes, I would say so. However, I couldn't say how much better or worse it is to live a lie to keep up the pretenses and to not offend the wife's feelings.
These
aren't the only choices. We can discuss more sensible options if you like, though I suspect you are using extreme examples for Socratic debate.
Quote:I'm sincerely curious here, would you have the same perspective if the situation was reversed? Would you condemn the wife for getting married without disclosing her gender dysphoria?
Yes, of course I would. I'm sure I've said so before.
Quote:I don't put women on a pedestal. I think individuals should be judged by their character, not by their gender. Women can be abusive, egocentric and toxic just like men can be. I don't think a man leaving his wife is misogyny, anymore than a woman leaving her husband is misandry.
That was, I admit, a bit of hyperbole, but I think it is fair to say that women are more likely to throw their men out for unfaithfulness, particularly if they have kids than the classic (nowadays) "I'm not getting enough out of this marriage"
Yes, absolutely individuals should be judged by their character, not by their gender. However, the poisonous nature of testosterone and limitations of the orgasm that it produces are such that IMO and for a given upbringing and culture, men are more tempted to be unfaithful, lying b*stards than women.
(Off-topic for this thread, but I want to write something elsewhere regarding thoughts that I've had about the very different nature of male/female libido w.r.t. climax, and the reason, therefore, that the stereotypical male behaves as he does.)
By the way, its nice that you and I can disagree with each other without insulting one another. Refreshing!
B.