On Campus, Rethinking Biology 101

New York Slimes ^ | 3.7.2004 | Fred A. Bernstein

[summer]

Re my post #20 - None of this seems weird at all to you? I must living in a cave if I am the only one who finds all this rather bizarre: 10th graders deciding they are "trans" and by the time they enter college, cutting off their breasts but still keeping their uterus, etc. What is going on here?

[MegaSilver]

Re my post #20 - None of this seems weird at all to you? I must living in a cave if I am the only one who finds all this rather bizarre: 10th graders deciding they are "trans" and by the time they enter college, cutting off their breasts but still keeping their uterus, etc. What is going on here?

C'mon. Considering the craze of homosexual behavior, it was only a matter of time.

[jocon307]

"Laurie? That's purely female, not androgynous."

Laurie can be a nickname for Lawrence, remember the fellow who starts out in love with Jo (there's another one!) but in the end marries Amy in "Little Women"?

[secret garden]

I confess I never read that book. I started it but couldn't get beyond the first chapter(and I can stay awake reading Jane Austen!). Larry is the only nickname I've ever heard for Lawrence.

[NYCVirago]

At Smith, the women's college in Northampton, Mass., students voted last year to eliminate female pronouns from the student constitution at the request of transgender students. "She" and "her" were replaced with the phrase "the student." Laurie Fenlason, a college spokeswoman, said that "the vote was undertaken by the students as a gesture of good will toward a handful of fellow students."

Isn't the whole deal with going to a women's college to be around women, not men who want to be women, or women who want to be men? What am I missing here? Men are not welcome, but he/shes are?

[radiohead]

I am the only one who finds all this rather bizarre: 10th graders deciding they are "trans"

Nope. I understand how biology, chemistry, and anatomy can get messed up and how one might have valid reasons for thinking one is a member of the oppposite sex.

What I don't understand is how there are so many of these people that all of a sudden all of the lesbian/gay identifiers on campus, now have to include transgender (and on my campus, bisexual). There simply can't be that damn many people w/screwed up gender identification issues.

The thought that this kid had this all figured out (ha) in 10th grade is appalling. Where were the parents? Figured out from what, from whom? Who's putting this crap into their minds? How many regular kids would even know where to begin to question whether they were not just gay (one issue), but a transexual??? What the heck are they teaching in sex ed these days?

For the few people who are born w/some real genetic problem, I wish them well and hope the surgery helps them out. For the rest, I think this has to be the ultimate in self-absorbtion and ego-centrism. Look at me, aren't I special? Change your whole world to accomodate me. Jeez.

[jocon307]

I found it confusing too when I first read the book. Both of them, Jo & Laurie, LOL, I guess it's an old fashioned thing. I know Valerie can be a man's name as well as a woman's, but I think today that's more a Brit thing.

And just today I was thinking how odd is it that there is no feminine version of Richard, at least not that I know of. It's such a common name you think there'd be one.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Isn't the whole deal with going to a women's college to be around women, not men who want to be women, or women who want to be men? What am I missing here? Men are not welcome, but he/shes are?

Frankly, it reminds me of that really old sitcom with Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari -- Bosom Buddies.

[aruanan]

Laurie? That's purely female, not androgynous.

Depends on where you're from. Laurie is to Lawrence what Timmy is to Timothy.

[kaylar]

Richarda and Richenda were popular names for women about six centuries ago.

[secret garden]

There's always Ricki, like in the old Steely Dan song.

[jocon307]

Ricki, that's the one!

[Don W]

Laurie? That's purely female, not androgynous.

You are quite mistaken. I went to school with a guy named Laurie, and one of my dad's buddies also bore that moniker.

[summer]

For the few people who are born w/some real genetic problem, I wish them well and hope the surgery helps them out. For the rest, I think this has to be the ultimate in self-absorbtion and ego-centrism.

That's how I feel about it, too. Thanks for your post.

[secret garden]

How long ago was that?

[Don W]

School finished about 25 yrs ago, and dad's buddy passed on about 5 yrs ago.