asbestosman wrote: Fine with me, but I think the point here isn't so much how I identify such a person, but rather how the church identifies said person.
Well, yeah, that's the point. But you were the one who brought up your sexual preferences.
Completely arbitrary? No. Somewhat arbitrary? Yes. Unfounded? You merely mean it's scientifically unfounded given the evidence of ambiguous cases.
Let me make myself clear: all I want is an official declaration outlining criteria for determining one's gender. Or a paragraph in the CHI, perhaps. That's all. If the Church published something saying "if there is a penis at least X inches long, it's a boy and the rest are girls", I would not bring it up. I would consider such a position laughable, yes, because there are men born without a penis; much like I consider the idea of celestial polygyny laughable because men outnumber women.
I am able to deal with the fact that various religions issue claims that defy reality. But I find it even more problematic when there is inconsistency found in these claims.
That's all fine and dandy, but it has nothing to do with the majority of people. Indeed, I would like to know if the majority of people with GID, also have ambiguous gender.
If by ambiguous gender you mean things like AIS or congenital adrenal hyperplasia, then their condition cannot be classified as a specific Gender Identity disorder because one of the diagnostic criteria is that there is no physical intersex condition. But, just as I have said, they can be dignosed with GID Not Otherwise Specified, when other GID criteria are met, such as gender dysphoria.
As an aside, I find it odd that gender is now often treated not only as part of one's physical makeup, but also one's sexual preference. As such I have been wondering whether I might really be a lesbian trapped in a man's body. Maybe I'll add cross-dressing to the lesbian in a man's body just for kicks. ;o)
You bring up an interesting point. Actually, this is often the case. GID in males is often accompanied by transvestic fetishism. Sometimes heterosexual or bi males will exhibit just transvestic fetishism alone, without cross-gender orientation; sometimes they have both. Transvestic fetishism only occurs in males. I suppose it's because some of the choices in clothing, make-up and hairstyles are currently only acceptable by society as a whole to be worn by women, if that makes any sense. It's much more acceptable for women to look androgynous in terms of hair/clothes than it is for men. Could also be because men tend to be more aroused by visual stimuli, but that's just a hypothesis. The reality is that there are no females diagnosed with transvestic fetishism.
Transvestic fetishism might also answer the question why there are allegedly more men seeking surgery than women (although the ratio is currently being equalized, last I heard). The numbers cited in the DSM on page 535 are 1 per 30,000 males and 1 per 100,000 adult females.
So who you are attracted to matters very much in diagnosing sexual and gender identity disorders; it is used as a specifier in diagnosing GID, as well.
Let me emphasize the fact that transvestic fetishism and GID are two different things.