Guest post: How the Mysteries are dealt with
Originally a comment by Mike Haubrich on You’re never too young.
“With this gender fluid identity, within a day, you can easily experience three, four, or five different gender expressions … and that can end with people using different names or pronouns,” Laurence says.
Bonsai responds by claiming that “my gender changes from time to time,” and claims that her “identity had been very mixed up in high school.”
“I came out at first [and] thought I was a lesbian. Then, I went to [bisexual] … and then I started to question my identity. Who am I? I can’t explain it … and I’ve totally accepted it at this point,” Bonsai says.
She can’t explain it, but she’s totally accepted it at this point. And that’s precisely how the Mysteries of Catholic teaching are dealt with, too. I think that the biggest favor I gave my oldest daughter was to put her in a Catholic school at a critical age, when she still questioned what she was being taught. When she encountered the Mysteries such as transsubstantiation, the trinity, the virgin birth and all the concepts Catholics are supposed to accept without explanation, she realized how much of religion is based on acceptance without the demand for explanation let alone evidence.
I would love for one of the genderfluid to describe what it actually is to go through three or four gender changes per day, and this one with separate names and pronouns to go along with them. How do they keep track, let alone how do they expect those around them to know which pronoun or name they are going by momentarily? It’s a Mystery (and the word Mystery is always pronounced with a capital M.)
We’re expected to believe that gender identity is a property of our selves that we are born with and is so important that if it doesn’t match our sex, then the poor soul must be accommodated with the mutilation and disfiguration of their body so that they look like the sex that matches their gender ID, while at the same time, some of the blessed are experiencing multiple gender ID’s per DAY.
No one’s really thinking this through, are they?
And, if this is so natural and fantastic, why must teachers hide it from the parents? You would think they would be overjoyed!
A good way to deal with convicted “AMAB” rapists: 1) We can’t put you in the women’s prison because you might be “gender fluid” and then we’d be in a LOT of trouble.
2) Sex is a social construct. Just pretend the “men’s” prison is full of “women” and Bob’ll be your uncle (or aunt).
3) Maybe you shouldn’t have raped anyone???
At least Christian mythology tells a story; gender mythology just shares its pronouns.
This “gender fluidity” strongly reminds me of Multiple Personality Disorder (which is, not coincidentally, making a comeback on TikTok and other popular social media frequented by those 9 years and up.) When you’re in a good mood, you’re Bart, 21 year old dude with a cocky sense of humor. This can change mid-morning to Jessica, shy but friendly Asian teen who likes to please others. If she gets taken advantage of — watch out! Bobby, the 3 year old in a permanent temper tantrum might come out and start raging, throwing things around Or, worse, it’s Jack the psychopath. He’s rare, though. Jackie, his twin sister, usually takes over before he can emerge: she’s the dependable, responsible one.
This process is part reification of normal emotions by turning them into characters, and part dramatic play acting for the fun of it. Understandable at 9; depressing at 19; disturbing at 29.
Sastra, the reification of personification is certainly a helpful way to look at the phenomenon. I was once asked what the difference was between referring to something like Mother Nature by feminine pronouns and referring to a man by same. For real. Like … One’s a personification, and the other’s a person? Like, there’s a difference between fantasy and reality?
Relatedly, I consider it unethical to demand that one person be made to serve another’s fantasy. While I’ve never cared for Kant’s moral philosophy and have often mocked it mercilessly, this Genderist nonsense has kindled some appreciation for one formulation of the Categorical Imperative: Treat others always as ends, never as mere means. The abusive behavior exhibited by the pronoun people reduces every other person to mere means to their pleasure. That as much as anything they do is dehumanizing.
I was thinking about this when I encountered this article saying Demi Lovato is “now using she/her pronouns”, after previously “using they/them”. No, she isn’t using those pronouns in either case, she is demanding or even requiring that other people use them.