KEY CONCEPT #1:   START WITH A BLANK SLATE
According to the Old Paradigm, life began with an empty head waiting to be filled.  People once believed  that all infants were born without any innate personality, preferences, tendencies, desires, gifts, weaknesses, behaviors, mannerisms, etc.—they were “blank slates”.  Parents, schools, priests, and society in general proceeded to inscribe the blank slate with all of society’s traditions, beliefs, values, roles and behaviors.


KEY CONCEPT #2:  DEVELOPMENTAL DEVIANCE
Parents, neighbors and teachers had the duty of teaching social orthodoxy to the empty-headed infants.  The process was termed “development”.    If the infant grew up so that gender & gender identity matched biology, then development was “normal”.  

However, sometimes sexual development was flawed.  A minor “gender variance” from normal produced Tomboys and Effeminate Males.  A worse “deviation” was thought to produce gays.  A total screw-up generated a transsexual.

At first developmental deviance was blamed on the teachers:  the parents were too clinging, or maybe they weren't clinging enough.

That approach proved unpopular, so blame shifted to the infant, who was deemed unteachable.  In other words,  the child was mentally ill--ie, insane.  The diagnosis was Gender Identity Disorder.  Since sexual intercourse had something to do with gender, Gender Identity Disorder must have been a "paraphilia", like child molestation and having intercourse with animals.

         ...Psychiatrists decided that not only was a transgender insane, they were criminally deviant.

No objective test ever showed transgenders to have deficient logic, memory, reasoning, or thought processes.  Their other developmental milestones were completely normal.  A minor point.

KEY CONCEPT #3:  NATURE’S CALL
At the same time, biology irrevocably determined gender.  Genital appearance at birth proclaimed nature’s (and god’s) will concerning the child.  If a child developed a gender or gender identity different from their biology, then they were obviously seriously flawed.

No Old Paradigmist has ever tried to explain exactly how an infant’s genitals might define their gender & gender identity, especially in the context of writing on a blank slate.  Did genitals exert some irresistible influence over the parents, neighbors and teachers?     How did the influence penetrate underwear?

Or maybe the genitals wrote on the blank slate directly?  But if the genitals wrote it wrong, and the genitals were the ultimate authority, then....

No wonder Old Paradigmists didn’t try to explain.

KEY CONCEPT #4:  NATURE SILENCED
In spite of society’s best efforts, transsexuals had an obnoxious tendency to modify their biology--called transitioning.  During transitioning genital appearance changed, wrong gonads disappeared, hormones were corrected;  breast development, hair growth, fat distribution, chromosomal expression...  Everything changed so that the post-op transgender’s biology was finally consistent with their innate gender.

Biology determined gender, right?  Problem solved.   Transsexual was no longer transsexual.                      WRONG!    

That male organ irrevocably turned the gender-female into a male.  And it continued to make her male even after it was removed and was sitting in a jar in the corner of some pathologist’s office.

Well....  maybe chromosomes, not dangly organs, irrevocably determined Gender.  Chromosomes weren’t changed during surgery, were they?

Minor point that the obstetrician who determined sex at birth didn’t test chromosomes.  And many people have chromosomes out of synch with their gender.  

COMMON CONCEPT #1:  TRANSSEXUALITY IS A CHOICE
Much of Public Policy regarding transsexuals has been defined by the belief that it’s a choice:  A transsexual is a man who decides to become a woman.  Or bystanders might say:  That transsexual boy is too young to choose to become a girl.   

Nowhere in the above theories was there any mention of choice.  If transsexuality were a mental illness or a developmental defect or a teacher’s sloppy writing on a slate, or poor communication between genital organ and brain....  none of those situations would involve choice.

COMMON CONCEPT #2:  TRANSSEXUALITY IS CONTAGIOUS
Insurance can't cover transsexuality or else EVERY male would become a female.  Transsexuals can't transition at school because it would confuse the other students.  It would interfere with THEIR gender choices; mar the writing on THEIR blank slates.... 

GENDER CONFUSION

The Old Gender Paradigm was inconsistent, irrational and unsupported by data.  But all levels of society cling to it desperately--even today, even in the transgender community itself.    Why?

         ...Perhaps the old paradigms existed only to justify popular prejudice.  The pseudoscience was merely a fragile facade, not to be taken seriously.

Can old paradigm confusion be excised?  It pervades all levels of gender thought and policy.  And old habits die slowly. 


REFORM #1:  TERMINOLOGY
The Old paradigm has thrived in a fog of misleading terminology.  Each word--particularly the word Gender--had many meanings, and the meaning changed from sentence to sentence.   After a reformer begins consistently using correct terminology, the fog evaporates.  The withered remains of the Old are exposed for easy disposal. 

FOR EXAMPLE:

    They claim, Gender is determined by an obstetrician at the moment of birth.   

No, that would be Biologic-sex, not Gender.   An obstetrician inspects genitals to make their determination;  genitals are biology;  biology is SEX, not gender.   BIOLOGY DOES NOT DETERMINE GENDER

           Psychiatrists base their diagnosis of sexual deviance on the logic that....
                    (1)  Gender is determined by genitals at birth
                    (2)  Gender can't be changed
                    (3)  Trying to change gender is insane
                    (4)  Transsexuals need therapy, not accomodation

          Religious leaders justify transgender exclusion because....
                    (1)  Gender is determined by genitals at birth
                    (2)  Birth Gender is God's will
                    (3)  Trying to change gender defies God
                    (4)  People who defy God can't share with  the saints

          Employers explain their pink slip because... 
                    (1)  Gender is determined by genitals at birth
                    (2)  Gender can't be changed
                    (3)  Trying to change gender is irrational & irresponsible
                    (4)  The company doesn't hire irrational & irresponsible people

          Wives choose divorce because...
                    (1)  Gender is determined by genitals at birth
                    (2)  Gender can't be changed
                    (3)  Trying to change gender is sexually perverted
                    (4)  Nobody wants to be married to a pervert

Each house of cards rests on the assumption that Gender is determined by genitals at birth.  If that concept were allowed, then transsexuals would be doomed.  In fact,
                   (1)  Biologic-sex is determined by genitals at birth
                   (2)  Gender is innate, but becomes apparent at age 3 years
                   (3)  BIOLOGY DOES NOT DETERMINE GENDER (which refers to PERSONALITY only)

Each house of cards collapses.  Transsexuality is a BIOLOGIC condition, not a mental disorder or "social construct".  Transsexuality is cured by surgery and hormones--the sooner the better.  No psychiatrists or stereotype reform.  Excommunication, unemployment, and divorce are inhumane if based on a medical condition present at birth, especially if the condition was cured long ago.


Medically and scientifically speaking, the critical assumption that separates the New Paradigm from the Old is whether or not biology determines gender.  Keep THAT question in mind as you read books, listen to sermons, and read the essays on this website.  Once the paradigm shifts in YOUR mind from Old to New, save others from gender confusion by using correct terminology.

Other examples of term confusion:

                   Gender is whatever society decides it is;  it's a social construct.

No, that would be Gender Expression.   Gender & Gender Identity are innate and unchangeable.
            

REFORM #2:  HUMANITY
Transgenders are human.  They don't defy God.  They're not sex criminals.  They enter restrooms to answer the call of nature, not for sexual arousal.  

They're valuable workers and offer unique gifts and insight.   They're excellent caring parents.  They need food and shelter just like everyone else.

America was founded on principles of human dignity and equality for all. 

We hold these Truths to to be self-evident that all [people] are created equal;  that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that  among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

NO ONE is excluded.


Transgenders are children of God.   They're your family & friends.


BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM....
The Old Gender Paradigm has ruled for 150 years--surely long enough to work the bugs out in diagnosis & treatment.  Long enough to define parenting techniques and fix the few mistakes that might slip through....

EXCEPT treatment under the old paradigm has resulted in the highest mortality rate of any mental illness
                    ...The highest dropout rate from school of any social group
                    ...The highest suicide rate of any group
                    ...The highest divorce rate of any condition (80-90%)
                    ...The highest unemployment & homeless rate of any condition


TESTIMONIALS from the EXPERTS about THE OLD PARADIGM :

On one hand the prevailing view of gender continues to be that a person is either a man or a woman and that their internal sense of being male or female is inextricably tied to their anatomy.  This view is reflected by the fact that gender identity disorder is still listed in the most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV.  On the other hand it is becoming increasingly clear that gender identity questioning is occurring more frequently, and current clinical thinking suggests that gender identity issues are not a sign of psychopathology. 

It is important to note that not all transgender people feel that the definition of GID reflects how they feel about their identity.  Likewise, many people do not believe that being transgender is a "mental disorder", and they want GID to be reconsidered, and possibly removed from classification in the DSM, as homosexuality was in 1973.  Until GID is removed from the DSM, being transgender will be seen as a psychiatric condition and not a medical condition.  A GID diagnosis allows for insurance coverage for psychotherapy, but it effectively prevents insurance coverage for gender-related medical care.

Perhaps it’s time for a change....