Every human has a unique identity at birth. That never changes. Having surgery or hormone treatment or transplants of all organs – except one – cannot alter identity. (I am not sure which identity would survive in the case of a successful brain transplant which, fortunately, is not yet possible). Each of us remains the same birth identity all our lives. Sometimes it strikes me as quite silly when I have to identify myself at an airport or when buying something. As if the piece of plastic (driving license) determines who I am. In the social context, identity is how you are recognised within human society. We need to distinguish between birth identity and social identity.
Social self-identification is just wishful thinking which has no relevance for the surrounding world. I do get irritated by the antics of the self-identity freaks (and most of them are somewhat freakish) who imagine that they can impose their own imagined social identity on to the surrounding world. I am amazed at the inanity of those trying to choose the gender pronouns that others should use about them. When biological males pretend to be female so as to compete against females in some physical activity, I find it obscene. When communities, and even schools, are stupid enough to accept biological males identifying as some imaginary gender known as “non-binary” so as to prey on children, then they are engaging in criminal behaviour. A biological male in drag is just a male pretending to be female. That skill may be part of that male’s identity but he remains male. Hormonal and surgical treatment may succeed in which case gender may change from one to another. But it does not create a third gender.
To change the birth identity of any living things is not possible. In fact that identity is inviolate and inaccessible in this world. The social identity of any living thing is not determined by what that entity wishes – or in fact what any entity wishes – but by what that entity actually is in the world and how it is perceived by what is around it in the world. For humans, identity is what you are in the world. It is how you behave and how the world perceives you. Your gender is what it is, not what you wish it to be. The pronouns the world uses about you depend upon how you are perceived. If you are perceived as male then you will be a “he”. If you are perceived as a female then the world will refer to you as “she”. If your gender is unclear (and there are only 2 genders) then the world may refer to you as either. You can call yourself whatever you like but I will refer to you as I perceive you to be. I really do not care what pronouns anybody wishes to be called. That pronoun is a judgement to be made externally.
Of course every human has a self-image. That image is not any identity. Moreover a self-image is rarely the image perceived by the surrounding world. What is perceived is determined by how an entity is and behaves in the surrounding world. You cannot demand how others should perceive you to be. You are only being stupid if you try to legislate/coerce how others should perceive you. Of course a person can change their perceived identity but that involves changing how they are and how they behave. That is achieved by changing the perception not by assertion. Of course a transgender-person can change how they are perceived by the world. But how they are perceived is not determined merely by how they would like to be perceived. There has to be physical change and behavioural change and the perception has to change. Only then can a perceived identity change. There has to be substance behind the form.
Tags: birth identity, identity, social identity
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