(10-06-2012, 09:01 AM)Demon Lord Etna Wrote: Wow, maybe I read that wrong, but it seems like exactly the opposite of anything I expected to see here. The body is a geneticly programmed vessel we use to get around and express our individuality. The brain (the mind) is who we are. So how can the brain be wrong?
It isn't. Neither is the body. What is wrong is the perception that one or the other is. Genetically programmed but not deterministic. Brain and body both. Lots of flexibility for the species to evolve and adapt. The "pain" comes from small minds trying to shrink your mind to match theirs.
Lenneth posted a link to an article on the gender spectrum several days ago which really does a nice job of discussing this (if you're too lazy to check history for the link, don't waste your time typing a request for someone else to find it for you). For as long as there have been people, there has been a diversity of both body and mind. The majority rules (diversity promotes survival a lot less than diversity endangers survival) and so if you aren't in one of the common populations then you are viewed as "wrong". There truly is and always has been a very complex mix of gender stuff in the human animal and it is struggling against reality to think there are Adam and Eve ideals for us. Most people just aren't able to break their training and accept that there is no right and wrong for gender/dress/sexuality. It's why very young children have no problem with these concepts. They know what they feel and they don't understand anything wrong about it until some older smaller mind tells them they aren't allowed to feel that way. I prefer to use the no harm rule. It isn't a popular way to evaluate these things, particularly in religious societies. Religions usually have a very large harm component. And they have shaped societies for a very long time.