i don't think Disney is interested at all in any social agendas, anyway

besides the stabs at fundie Muslims in the Aladdin opening song

i've yet to see a Disney film about the dangers of drug abuse, tackling homosexuality or, say, corporate greed

For the person who asked, male hormones would just make me more aggressive.

Do you think institutions which primarily serve very young children (elementary schools, for example) should be allowed to fire employees for being transgender?

I think this is a misunderstanding of what transgender is. This is on part with saying you should be able to fire someone who was born with a high metabolism, or an increased risk of male pattern baldness.

Transgender is a result of opposing hormonal releases at birth: one for the body, and one for the brain. Its not something changeable, its a very real piece of who you are. On what basis is this a reason to fire someone, and more importantly - what sort of society would we be for making decisions on something people have no control over.

Its not what the country is about, or stands for and any institution that is born of the State needs to uphold the ideals of the State regardless of what the situation is.

On what basis? Do you think they're a danger to children?

You said it all Big3.

I think the implication is that to a lot of people, the connotation brought up with "transgender" is overtly sexual in nature. The problem with this is that it's inaccurate. As adults, parents are aware of the sexual nature of things which are going on in the world, whereas children are not. But with this comes their need to explain things to their children.

Instead of giving an acceptable, "That's a man," in the case of a female to male transgender gentleman, or vice versa, they look past common sense. At the same time, if there happened to be an especially masculine woman, the parents tend to have no problem simply correcting their child's incorrect use of pronouns in reference to the person.

A big problem is, naturally, acceptance. That's obvious. But honestly, if it was more accepted, a parent wouldn't feel uncomfortable - or, incorrectly feel "obligated" to explain sexuality of something that isn't any more sexual than any other person you come across walking down the street.

The important thing is accepting transgender persons as the gender they identify with.

But, with that logic, Disney could easily have portrayed trans characters in the past. I mean, how often have you seen female characters voiced by men in cartoons, and vice versa? It's just never called to attention that they were physically born the opposite gender.

Right, not to mention it would have to be shoe-horned in to almost every plot for a child. it would have almost nothing to do with the story line unless it was about someones discovery of them being a transgendered person, and that isn't usually the topic for childrens movies.

I read that gender dysmorphic children relate to mermaids because of their indeterminate genitalia.

Could you elaborate on that more because I don't understand how that could be. Not the mermaid piece, but the genitalia piece.

But they're still signs of gender, mermen have short hair and carry a trident, while mermaids wear a pair of seashells or coconuts or have very long flowing hair covering their coconuts so you know they are female.

Exactly how many Merfolk would you say you associate with and know personally?

It's definitely wrong to fire someone based on them being simply transgendered. If I had a kid I'd have no qualms of them having a transgender nursery or primary school teacher. I don't see why should they be treated differently.

I'm not really sure. I'm not gender dysmorphic. I guess it might be because the children think that the only thing separating them from being the gender they feel they are is their genitalia. It is in a way. Anyone can cut or grow out their hair or pick up a trident or some coconut shells.

This article mentions Disney's The Little Mermaid in particular:

The association with transgender little girls and an obsession with mermaids has been talked about so much it's become a bit of a cliche but there are definitely a lot of children that identify with them.

huh? i'm sure mermaids have fish vagina

and mermen have fish penis

I think kids should be taught about respecting diversity in general. Maybe Disney films aren't the place for it, but the classroom sure is.

No arguments there.

The classroom? Why the classroom?

Maybe parents can't be trusted to do it at home these days?

These days? When were they more tolerant, 1953?

My question about the classroom stems from this:

1. Teachers are already overburdened, over regulated, and held to a stringent curriculum in states where standardized testing exists.

2. What kid listens to their teacher? Moreover, what biggot kid listens to his teacher?

3. What is the purpose of the teacher and is this really what they should be doing?

Realistically no but idealistically I think basic empathy studies would be a good addition to any formative curriculum.

...right. I think it would be good if the teachers also taught them some ****ing manners and what to do with a napkin at a formal dinner, but if we can get these miniature scumbags to read, its a god damn miracle.

In the interim, I don't think Teachers can teach them life experience.

If they come up with an interesting story about it, then sure. They shouldn't have to or anything, of course.

Bingo.

I don't want to tell you who you are or challenge you in a way that offends you, so let me know if I do. But isn't it your body parts that make you what gender you are?
You have boy parts, which make you a male. But in your mind, you feel like a female, and so you're changing yourself physically to wholly become a female?
Again, I don't want to offend you, and I'll have you know that I'm fully supportive of the transgendered community whether or not I understand how they feel.

Could you please define diversity? And would this "respect" be for all moral, religious, and cultural traditions?

Sex is between the legs, gender is between the ears bb

I hear you sugar, I had this same argument with a transgendered person on a political forum I used to belong to. I think what Above is advocating for is proven by our (you and I) experiences.

I assumed sex and gender were the same thing because for the vast amount of the populace they are the same, and it never really comes up as to how they're different.

I think ideally, the words "male" and "female" would refer strictly to genitals and to no other qualities. I wonder if transgendered people would feel more "correct" in their bodies if there weren't any defined male/female stereotypes?

Sex is your genitalia, gender is your identity. You can be female and still have male genitals.

Of course. There already are classes like this. Religious Studies is a compulsory subject in English high school. As much as I am for transgender rights and I am very outspoken about such things, I don't want to put 'my kind' (for lack of a better phrase) 'on top'. We're all equal.

Sorta. For me, it's all discomfort with my sex organs, but it factors in with my relationships with both sexes. Whether I want to admit it or not, my sex affects how both sexes see me.

Should society strive to make characteristics of personality, thinking, and taste irrelevant (eliminate the stereotypes of gender, and free everyone to behave and dress as they please)? Or should we rather maintain the differences, but celebrate them equally?

I mean I consider myself pretty libertarian and what not, but making transvestite themed movies directly aimed at children just seems effed-up to me. I mean kids have enough confusion growing up, does introducing the fact that they can change their gender that early offer any kind of support? I don't think so. Let them learn their bodies and then make a decision.

I will be honest, I went through a long phase that I wanted to be a girl. I was jealous of the power of having a vagina. No power on earth can ever upstage the vagina, it has been influencing men to do stupid **** since the beginning of time. But, after learning that being a sexy young man with some money can have the same effect on the women I was jealous of, that feeling drifted.

Lesson being, if transgender procedures had been pushed towards me at say, 15-17 years old, I may have done it... But now, there's no chance in hell.

Being a woman just means you're just a piece of meat waiting to get porked by a guy like me.

Wait for it...

Well, I don't think people should have their personality, thinking, taste etc made irrelevant. That's a little too much like the concept of Newspeak for my liking. However, they should be challenged, and people should see gender roles for what they are.

Nah, I think you misunderstand what I mean when I refer to irrelevancy. I mean it strictly in the sense of how we define ourselves.

In regards to gender roles, yeah, I agree. We shouldn't base our whole lives around them.

I guess that's the part that confuses me but is gender only what you feel because transgendered people say that's what they feel? Like I can understand feeling like you want to be a girl. But I can't understand saying you are a girl if you clearly have male parts. I guess my question is, why is gender different from sex? Well from looking it up, gender apparently has more to do with behaviour. So according to the definitions I found, you aren't a girl but you want to do girl things so you want the body parts to match the girl things you do.

So I guess if gender roles didn't exist, none of us would feel like boys or girls. We would be defined only by our body parts as male or female. So it wouldn't matter?

But if a girl feels like a boy and then behaves as a girl anyway, doesn't that make him a girl? Since gender depends on the roles given and the behaviour associated with it?

I'm literally just going by definitions and stuff here. I'm just confused as to why anyone should have to feel like anything. Is it because as a boy, you didn't want to act like a girl, and you instead would feel more comfortable to completely feel and physically be a girl?

Nooooooo.

I'm pretty sure I'd be repeating myself if I explained but whatever. What's the harm in explaining another seven million times? Gender is as inborn as a bird's sense of flight. It's not about fitting girly stereotypes at all. Just like a cisgendered (a person happy with their assigned gender at birth) male has an inborn sense of being male. My very female identity is encoded in my head; it just doesn't match the outside... That's the source of my discomfort.

You can't know unless you've been there.

Well you didn't explain the answer to my question so that might be why you're repeating yourself. But it's fine, I don't care anymore.

It's nothing personal. I've just had to explain it to every person I meet because so few people have had experience with transgenderism. Makes me feel like a topic of debate first and a human being second.

great way to end a discussion, honey