This thread is moving too fast for me to organize my thoughts.
A few comments on a couple of baboon's posts...
But - I'm not sure I agree with the conclusion that trans people are necessarily part of the vanguard of destroying patriarchy. Is it not completely dependent upon how the trans person in question views their transition? If a person is transitioning from being a man to being a woman because of being uncomfortable with the societal restrictions associated with Being a Man, then while I support a person's right to transition absolutely, I don't see that this should be confused with an act to destroy patriarchy. Surely it rather just confirms that men should be like *this* and women should be like *this*, adapting to society rather than changing it? While I am 100% behind someone's choice to transition (any other position would seem very hypocritical, as we all change to various extents according to societal edicts), then this doesn't entail that transitioning should necessarily be seen as a revolutionary act in a societal context.
You're right, it isn't. It's primarily about resolving personal issues. But it's not really about conforming to normative notions of what it is to be a man or a woman. Okay, there are conservative people within the trans community who believe that men are naturally "this" and women are naturally "that", but these views are no more prevalent than in society in general. Far less prevalent in fact, since the trans community as a whole is massively gender diverse, there is a definite gender freedom, as you'd expect from a community that has thought very seriously about gender for a long time.
Request for info - one thing I have no idea about is to what extent most trans people expect to 'pass' for their chosen gender (let's say talking about people in the West in this case), and to what extent is it important (both pragmatically and conceptually) to trans people that they do pass?
Hmm, "expect" to pass... You either do or you don't, at any given time. There are trans people who pass all the time, whether they want to or not. And others who almost never do. And if (when) you don't, you tend to find out pretty quickly. Passing certainly has practical value, in that you're recognized by default as what you are, and you're not hassled for what you're not. So trans people will often make an effort to pass, even when they don't really want to. It's a problematic issue.
Re sexuality and choice - I think it's very important not to conduct the debate on terms dictated by conservatives, whereby what is 'natural' or inherent' is the only thing worthy of being protected from discrimination and violence.
Sexuality is pretty clearly a combination of a whole plethora of influences (in my view childhood experience is critical, but that's a huge discussion), and one's sexual identity and choices, whether one identifies as 'gay', 'straight', 'bisexual' or any other of a rainbow of possibilities, are worthy of protection whether they are natural/inherent or not.
Also, to maintain that sexuality is 'inherent' in some way is to suggest that heterosexuality is inherently much more widely adhered to than any kind of sexuality, rather than this situation stemming from millennia of social control over people's sexualities.
I agree with most of that; and I'm not particularly keen on "born this way" narratives, with all their "we can't help it" connotations.
All the same, I'd probably tend towards the view that basic sexuality (i.e. straight, gay, bi) may be innate for most people, or so embedded that it makes no difference. But how we act on that, how it manifests itself is certainly determined by culture. There's no way, for instance, that a (certain type of) heterosexual man's desire for a woman in sexy lingerie could in any way be regarded as innate. This is a learnt response.