RESPONSE TO TRANSGENDER QUEEN

Scientists have finally arrived at the point where they realize that what we are physically and mentally depends on our genetic make up. We are born with limited ability to modify what we are. Most accepted that we could not change most of our physical traits. If we were born five feet tall that was it no matter how badly we wanted to be six feet tall. On the other hand, most people seemed to consider their mental state, as it relates to behavior as being completely malleable, especially in our children; they declared newborn behavior to be a “blank slate”. This was an obvious unexplainable duality; a dichotomy between our physical and mental being. With time, it became obvious that our behavior, like our physical being, is provably genetic. Still, many refuse to accept the idea that we are born the way we are even in the face of irrefutable evidence. For example, males are, on average, taller and are stronger than females. In addition, men act differently than women act. In spite of the duality, the fact that men are both physically and behaviorally different from women speaks to harmony in nature. All of this relates to genetic determinism, which should be obvious and easily understood. It is innate.

However, there is a problem. All biological systems have variability and human beings are no different. There is a saying in biology that outliers are not acceptable. Natural selection tends to create a force that moves or channels us, or other living creatures, toward equilibrium of almost all parameters: height, weight, intelligence, and behavior of all kinds. We term this equilibrium, whatever it is, as “normal” including, inherent gregariousness, which led to social structure, which led a more and more refined culture, which is as it is in different cultures.

However, evolution has created a situation where our culture is in conflict with the bestial nature of our biology. Empathy, sympathy, shame, and pride have modified pure survival. Many of us are not willing to allow a baby to die even if there is no mother to care for it until it can care for its self. Treat low intelligence, crippling deformities, and disease as physical or mental barriers to survival. Treat them as violations of the established survival equilibrium between life and death. Survival of the fittest tells us to step back and let them die while our humanizations says that would be in violation of our most cherished sense which is the sense of self preservation, projected from the individual to the species.

Reporters filled the news media with a story of a transgender teenage, who was elected Home Coming Queen in Texas high school; it was unusual, a “dog bites man story” that appeals to amateur reporters. The result of the wide coverage was that both the bestial nature and empathy/sympathy nature of people came to the surface in social media. The bestial response was as might be expected; this “male person” chooses to be different and because of “his” bad choice deserves what he gets; it is not us it is “him”.

I found it interesting the critics expressed their bestiality as intense hate for this young person in foul but simplistic monosyllabic language while the empathetic people expressed their understanding in engaging terms in ways that are more articulate. To satisfy my curiosity, I visited “biker” and racecar sites, various religious sites, and both liberal and conservative political sites—there is a pattern. Nevertheless, I find real hope for Texas society in the fact that her teenage classmates, the people who know her best, elected her Queen. As one tweet said, “Go girl”.

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