I don't really have a problem with the comments. As I've said many times before, silencing the misinformed and the prejudiced does not suddenly make them informed or accepting. They just keep talking somewhere else. Better to let them talk outside their bubble, where they can interact (however badly) with people who disagree with them.
So there is a lot of confusion and vitriol. Of course there is. This is an article about a physically female man who feels like he is a man, and is taking steps to live more comfortably as the gender he chooses to associate with. That's really fucking confusing for people. Fucking confusing for me. And when things get confusing, people get scared. And fear leads to anger, and anger leads to the dark side, and the dark side posts misinformed or hurtful comments on Cracked.com. Or some such thing. I fell asleep before Luke got to Endor.
Cracked is a website owned by a company. They have the right to do whatever they want with their property, and can limit any and all conversation on their website without violating freedom of speech. But, I mean, I really don't think they should? I have a moral objection, not a rights objection. I'm morally opposed to all forms of censorship on any level.
As far as why Cracked hasn't shut off comments to this article yet. I presumed from their memo on it that they were just going to limit comments to content that has previously produced a great deal of personal threats of harm to the authors. And by the way, I can totally understand them being pissed that some of us are in there going like "come to our site." Shit son, if I was employed by Demand Media, and tasked with banning users, I'd expect an actual requirement of my job to be banning every single person who tried to redirect traffic to another site.
As far as the actual content of the article, there is a host of disorders associated with the totally not a disorder classification of transsexual. Not all people that choose to associate as a different gender from their birth gender have any of these disorders. And not all people content with associating with their birth gender are free of these disorders. Regardless, modern psychology as a whole focuses on the desired outcome of the patient in all of these disorders, stating (and I think rightfully so) that allowing the patient the ability to choose their own outcome is healthier than attempting to convince them to associate with their birth gender. Again, and I cannot express this firmly enough, transsexualism in and of itself is not recognized as a disorder. It is a social construct, and quite often contains disorders in itself, but is not itself a disorder. I'll admit that the percentage of transsexuals with disorders like gender dysphoria is much higher than, say trauma patients with PTSD. But no matter how high the percentage, it does not make transsexualism itself a disorder.
The rest of the elements he posts are just limits created by the existence of the category he is in, and have nothing to do with intentional discrimination or prejudice, although again, it may contain elements of them. I would be more than happy to date a trans-man, but if I was not willing, I cannot just be declared to be prejudiced because of this. Others that refuse may actually be prejudiced, but the simple act of not finding someone attractive as a mate is not an example of prejudice. Unless if you insist on declaring the actual act of finding someone attractive or not attractive a form of prejudice. Which I will grant you, but at that point, you are splitting hairs to an order finer than any one could actually operate under.
Testosterone changes you. The actual goal of a hormone is to trigger organs to regulate physiology and behavior. That is what they do. I can change any idea you might have about you somehow existing as a ghost in the shell, if only you will allow me to insert some chemicals into you.
Of course trans-men are invisible. NCTE estimates that between ¼ and 1% of the population is transsexual. So no doi they are underserved. That is only going to change with time and communication. The latter of which is of course what he is attempting to do. So carry on.
But don't turn off the comments.