A transition is a change. Earlier, the thing was one way, and now that thing is another way. For example, yesterday this banana was yellow, but today it is black. It has undergone a transition.
Today we talk of “transition” from being a man to being a woman, or vice-versa. A person who does this we’ll call a M2F “transitioner” or a F2M “transitioner.”
Notice that in talking this way, you’re agreeing, presupposing, or granting, that such changes do occur. Did you mean to do that?
If being a woman or a man is just inhabiting some social role, one ought to be able, in some circumstances, to switch, as it seems that one might change social roles. If being a man or a woman is just a matter of experiencing the world in a certain way, then it seems that one might change from one to the other if one can somehow change one’s perspective.
But what if the change in question is a change of sex – a change from being a female to being a male, or vice-versa? That isn’t possible. For some of us, it’s possible, if we take extreme measures, to fool most other people about which sex we are, but no one really changes teams.
Some people suffering with gender dysphoria have said that they were more or less bumping along and getting by, but what really set their mind on fire was talk of “transition,” that they really could, with medical intervention, stop being a man/women and start being a woman/man. A mere suggestion of “transition” as a real possibility led to an obsession, which led to voluntary mutilation, which led to considerable pain and regret. The spark that started the fine was the tantalizing possibility of “transition.”
But it’s not possible. We need to stop talking as if real sex-change were a thing. We do a huge disservice to some troubled people when we help to prop up the illusion that anyone has ever actually changed sex. Sex “transition” should only be mentioned using those all-important quotation marks; so-called “transition” involves a lot of changes, but does not result in the person being the other sex. Let’s not pretend that any “transitioner” has ever succeeded.
A yellow banana may become a black banana, but it never turns into an apple.
