natina
05-07-2015, 04:28 AM
Smith’s Transgender Delusion
The women’s college unwittingly undermines the 'transgender moment.'
For the better part of a year, Smith College has been telegraphing that it would soon accept transgender student applications. On Monday, the women’s college flung open the curtain on its new admissions policy. (http://www.smith.edu/studygroup/faq.php) And whether it realizes it or not, Smith has inadvertently done a great deal of damage to the idea of transgenderism. Indeed, Smith’s new official transgender policy suggests that, at least in some cases, the “trans” idea is merely make-believe.
Smith begins by insisting that it is still a women’s college and arguing that its new admissions standards do not change this character, but merely reaffirms the mission “in light of society’s evolving understanding of female identity.” The school then goes on to issue three separate directives about transgender persons:
(1) The college says that beginning this year, “Applicants who were assigned male at birth but identify as women are eligible for admission.” This suggests that Smith takes the idea of trans identity seriously—which is to say, that a man with male chromosomes and male physiology who says he is a woman is, in fact, a woman. If you take this position as a matter of principle, it means that one’s gender identity is an immutable, though internal, truth. This truth isn’t based on science or DNA, but one’s belief. Under this worldview, a person truly is whatever sex they say they are. Which is fair enough.
(2) Smith doubles down on this idea of the reality of transgenderism by saying that it will not accept trans females—that is, women who say they are men: “Smith does not accept applications from men. Those assigned female at birth but who now identify as male are not eligible for admission.”
https://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/smith-s-transgender-delusion_939935.html
The women’s college unwittingly undermines the 'transgender moment.'
For the better part of a year, Smith College has been telegraphing that it would soon accept transgender student applications. On Monday, the women’s college flung open the curtain on its new admissions policy. (http://www.smith.edu/studygroup/faq.php) And whether it realizes it or not, Smith has inadvertently done a great deal of damage to the idea of transgenderism. Indeed, Smith’s new official transgender policy suggests that, at least in some cases, the “trans” idea is merely make-believe.
Smith begins by insisting that it is still a women’s college and arguing that its new admissions standards do not change this character, but merely reaffirms the mission “in light of society’s evolving understanding of female identity.” The school then goes on to issue three separate directives about transgender persons:
(1) The college says that beginning this year, “Applicants who were assigned male at birth but identify as women are eligible for admission.” This suggests that Smith takes the idea of trans identity seriously—which is to say, that a man with male chromosomes and male physiology who says he is a woman is, in fact, a woman. If you take this position as a matter of principle, it means that one’s gender identity is an immutable, though internal, truth. This truth isn’t based on science or DNA, but one’s belief. Under this worldview, a person truly is whatever sex they say they are. Which is fair enough.
(2) Smith doubles down on this idea of the reality of transgenderism by saying that it will not accept trans females—that is, women who say they are men: “Smith does not accept applications from men. Those assigned female at birth but who now identify as male are not eligible for admission.”
https://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/smith-s-transgender-delusion_939935.html