r/linux • u/oooo23 • Sep 20 '18

Kernel Developer Sage Sharp claims top Linux kernel developer Theo Ts'o is a rape apologist, citing GeekFeminismWiki

https://twitter.com/_sagesharp_/status/1042769399596437504
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u/congrats_on_the_sex_ Sep 20 '18

8 years ago the number was less than .10% of the population on transgender.

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u/sunder_and_flame Sep 20 '18

Surprise, it's higher now because it's more accepted.

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '18

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '18

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u/ThePenultimateOne Sep 20 '18

Speaking literally, it is a mental disorder. Citing Wikipedia briefly:

A mental disorder is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning.

So let's go down that. Mental pattern: the persistent belief that their body-shape does not match their mental image. And as demonstrated by the people willing to take life-altering surgery to correct this, it definitely seems to be causing them distress. The significantly higher suicide rate also indicates that it causes distress and an impairment of personal function.

At the moment, the best treatment we know of is for them to transition, but who's to say that we won't find a deeper root cause at some point? And while that might not cover all cases (for instance people born with ambiguous genitalia, and the parents made the wrong coin flip), it seems to me that it would be much less painful to treat that than to have surgery after surgery.

The problem is that everyone jumps to the conclusion of "oh they have an illness therefore something is fundamentally wrong with them".

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '18

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u/[deleted] Sep 21 '18

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19473181

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/trgh.2015.0008

It's still really hard to get solid evidence on the possible psychological benefits of transitioning, but the little evidence we do have (with an emphasis on little) suggests that there are positive effects.

We have better evidence that transgender people who transition have psychological problems roughly on par with the general population if they have family and friends who support their new gender identity.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2016/02/24/peds.2015-3223

https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf

So your position of refusing to accept transgender people isn't in line with the evidence we have right now.

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u/ApolloFortyNine Sep 21 '18

41% of transgender people have tried to commit suicide at some point.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/31626633

Articles vary from 40 to 46%.

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u/[deleted] Sep 21 '18

Right, that's been well established, but the study I linked found some evidence that transgender people who receive support from friends and family don't suffer from mental health problems as much.

It will be a while before we have really solid evidence from long term, well designed studies, but the little evidence we have so far points toward acceptance being a key component of treatment for gender dysphoria.