Is being Transgender a choice?

[AgnosticBoy]

I'm of the opinion that gender expression is a result of social conditioning. I know I used the word "choice" in the title, but that's only because people tend to associate behavior that can be changed or conditioned as being a "choice" (borrowing from the debate on born this way vs. choice).

In this thread, I want to focus on being transgender. Based on my above opinion, I also believe that being transgender is also a result of social conditioning (i.e. childhood experiences, what they learn from society, etc). If I'm right then I think that the recent focus on transgenderism in the media, in Hollywood, in schools, could lead some children to become transgender. And there is nothing wrong with that.

I also bring these points up because when some parents complain about their kids learning about transgenderism in school, the reaction is that it won't impact (some say "groom" ) the child into becoming transgender. If my view is correct, I think the pro-trans crowd should acknowledge that it can potentially influence children AND there's nothing wrong with that.

For Debate
1. Is being transgender a result of social conditioning?
2. Edit: Removed. Teaching kids about gender identity can be a separate thread.

[The Barbarian]

[media]Biology was my favorite class at my private Christian high school in Tennessee. It was there that I learned about Punnett squares and how traits get passed down genetically. But I never learned that sex exists on a spectrum. I was taught that boys had XY chromosomes, male genitalia and high testosterone, and that girls had XX chromosomes, female genitalia and relatively low testosterone. I didn’t know that various combinations of chromosomes, hormones, external genitalia and internal reproductive structures existed. It wasn’t until many years after high school that I heard the term “intersex” for the first time. And even then, I didn’t realize that intersex traits could be found among as many as 2% of live births, seemingly making them as common as red hair globally.
...
“During male spermatogenesis, X and Y chromosomes perform their typical recombination in the pseudoautosomal regions,” she said while drawing a diagram of the complicated process on a blank sheet of paper on the table in front of me.

“But during your own development” — the student circled a portion of my father’s Y chromosome — “one gene, the SRY gene, translocated from the Y chromosome to your X chromosome. So, from your karyotype chromosomal testing you’re considered female, but you likely grew up being classified as male, given your external expression.”[/media]
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/intersex ... 566c46cd7e

[AgnosticBoy]

If I'm right then I think that the recent focus on transgenderism in the media, in Hollywood, in schools, could lead some children to become transgender. And there is nothing wrong with that.

I also bring these points up because when some parents complain about their kids learning about transgenderism in school, the reaction is that it won't impact (some say "groom" ) the child into becoming transgender. If my view is correct, I think the pro-trans crowd should acknowledge that it can potentially influence children AND there's nothing wrong with that.

I look at this the same way that gays tried to hide behind the "born this way" viewpoint in order to bolster moral/legal acceptance of their lifestyle. I think we're at a point now where most people would accept that homosexuality is not harmful even if there is no "gay gene". In the same way I believe that at some point, we should be okay with allowing kids to see and read transgender material without hiding from the fact that it can influence them.

Keep in mind, I'm not advocating for teaching very young about transgender ideology, but rather, to allow them to encounter simple level stuff involving transgender, like reading a story that has a transgender kid in it. The alternative to ban any mention of trans examples I think that goes too far if you think even that is grooming. Getting into more details on the transgenderism could be left to left for high school level kids, perhaps even with parental consent. We have to avoid these extremes on both sides!