LETTER: Transphobia just another facet of capitalist system

A letter titled “Icon speaks truth” (PDN, Jan. 16) is not the whole truth.

He should know better than to describe transgender women as “males who are confused about their gender identity and think they are women.”

He is confusing sex (biological) and gender identity (cultural and sociological).

In the 1960s, I took classes where these concepts were clearly understood.

For centuries babies with ambiguous genitalia, XXY, or YYX chromosomes were sexually assigned at birth to one sex or another.

Nature is not binary but a continuum.

The writer quoted only part of the report of the Avon Study.

He wrongly implies that higher levels of depression in those who identified as sexual minorities was due to their gender identity or sexual orientation.

Scientific method states that correlation does not mean causation.

The writer left out part of the report which says “As these differences emerge so early, we suspect that a sense of feeling different might affect mental health before children can even articulate that difference. As they progress through adolescence, a range of stressors could be involved, such as discrimination … social isolation … or rejection,” said the study’s author, Madeleine Irish [King’s College, London].

In my experience, men who transition to be women often leave behind debilitating mental illness and become happy, contributing members of the community.

Transphobia is just another facet of the capitalist system trying to divide and conquer us all.

It’s time to put truth before politics.

Lois Danks,

Port Angeles