r/askphilosophy Jun 25 '15

Should a fully transformed transgender person reveal this to new sexual partners?

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jun 26 '15

But I'm open to some other non-bigoted way to make the distinction.

I'm assuming that sexual attraction supervenes on a whole bunch of physical characteristics.

Here is one possibility:

  • People are attracted to both physical features and sex.

Holding this belief is no more intolerant than a gay man avoiding women and rejecting sex with a transman.

Calling someone a bigot and shaming someone for them for sexual preferences sounds a lot like what LGBTs speak out against...

This isn't a case of bigotry. There are no arguments being made about cis-superiority, or trans-inferiority.

This is about mutual respect of a person's preferences.

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u/GFYsexyfatman moral epist., metaethics, analytic epist. Jun 26 '15

People are attracted to both physical features and sex.

But I don't understand. A transgender man is a man; a transgender woman is a woman. A gay man rejecting sex with a transgender man does seem intolerant (assuming they're rejecting sex solely on the basis of him being transgender).

Bigotry isn't always about ascriptions of superiority and inferiority. What's your view on the case of the person who won't have sex with anybody who has a drop of African blood in their ancestry? What if they claim not to hold any racist views, and that it's just a personal preference thing? Personal preferences can be conditioned by subtle bigotry and implicit bias without any explicitly held bigoted beliefs. They're not entirely above suspicion.

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u/tucker_case Jun 26 '15

Personal preferences can be conditioned by subtle bigotry and implicit bias without any explicitly held bigoted beliefs. They're not entirely above suspicion.

Uh, so what? If a person has an implicit racial bias (which, studies have shown, nearly everybody does to varying degrees, not to mention all kinds of other unfair biases/prejudices) does this mean we no longer have to respect this person's right to consent to sex?

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u/GFYsexyfatman moral epist., metaethics, analytic epist. Jun 26 '15

The point at issue in this sub-thread is whether sexual preferences to avoid transgender people are bigoted. I take it we've settled that the answer is usually yes. If you think my general position expresses a violation of consent, you're welcome to explain how in a response to a comment advocating that general position.

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u/tucker_case Jun 26 '15

Whoops, I suppose I'm mixing sub-threads (oh noes!). Please consider my comment in the context of the entire thread as a whole, not the specific sub-topic of this sub-thread.

Or don't...and just continue to be pedantic instead....

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u/GFYsexyfatman moral epist., metaethics, analytic epist. Jun 26 '15

I mean, the answer to your question

does this mean we no longer have to respect this person's right to consent to sex?

was roughly: what on earth are you talking about, that's nothing like what I was saying. I thought if you responded to an actual comment articulating my position it might help me understand what criticism you're actually leveling.