www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Feminine and Masculine, East and West

<1%, yeah, I would say that is rare.
The canons forbid them going with women to the baths-you thought this matter had never come up before, didn't you?

So, transgenderism is a disease. Well, that means someone has to be cured of their delusion, not treat it as normal.

Johns Hopkins University Hospital ceased performing gender reassignment surgery after a detailed, multidisciplinary review concluded that transgenderism was indeed a psychological delusion that could not be "cured" by inverting the sexual organs. Such patients are now referred to intensive psychological counseling to deal with the underlying causes of their delusion.

Are their conclusions available in a report?

[quote=IAlmisry][quote=Vox Populi][quote=StuartK]Transgenderism is a [b]psychological delusion[/b] that has nothing to do with sex. Gender is a property of plants and nouns, not mammals.
[/quote]

That is not true. Transgenderism is not a delusion. It is a disease which usually has absolutely nothing to do with psychology, but everything with anatomy and physiology.
And what would you say about true hermaphrodites - not that rare, btw. What gender you will assign to those people? [/quote]
<1%, yeah, I would say that is rare.
[b]The canons forbid them going with women to the baths-you thought this matter had never come up before, didn't you?[/b]

So, transgenderism is a disease. Well, that means someone has to be cured of their delusion, not treat it as normal. [/quote]

It is not rare. 1% roughly are being born with sex ambiguity and in medical terms it is not rare at all http://www.isna.org/faq/frequency - not a bad summary on some of the syndromes involved

What makes you think that? The issue is as old as humanity.
Transgenderism is not a delusion. It is a disease and usually it is not even cured by the gender reassignment operations.
It also differs in it's origins ( chromosomal aberrations, hormonal inefficiencies, inborn problems and many more) and some are easier to correct medically and surgically than others.
Not everyone with a 46th pair of chromosomes expressed as XY is a man, because one's gender is not determined by that pair of chromosomes only.

[quote=StuartK]Johns Hopkins University Hospital ceased performing gender reassignment surgery after a detailed, multidisciplinary review concluded that transgenderism was indeed a psychological delusion that could not be "cured" by inverting the sexual organs. Such patients are now referred to intensive psychological counseling to deal with the underlying causes of their delusion.
[/quote]

JH is not the whole world. The conclusions were on part of ONE surgeon which does not make his own views a conclusion of the whole medical world.
It is not a delusion it is a very wide complex of problems and they differ a lot.
check the link I've provided in my previous post.

there are not "their" conclusions. It is one person and his views.

I actually softened up on the whole trans thing. If we Christians believe certain gender traits are biologically innate to each sex, then what's to stop one part from developing wrong? Male body, female brain... and I think the science backs that up.

I think the "science" is predetermined by assumptions about what constitutes gender identity.

At the very least one who believes that perception of self is an act of the intellect and not of a material organ needs to explain how the judgment that "I'm of the wrong sex" is mediated. Materialists do not have this problem.

As for the role of sex hormones on fetal development - that is still being studied, but it is clear that there are differences between a male brain and a female brain.

yep.

plus, if one remembers also the the soul does not have gender and we won't have and won't need gender in afterlife - the whole rigid stance becomes uncharitable...

It is interesting that in some respects Eastern Christianity has been described as more feminine and the Western one as more masculine. Mainly related to evangelical activity, liturgical life, architecture: the West was (is?) more of an outgoing kind, more easily adapting its liturgical practices to various cultures (for good or bad I might add) whereas the East had (has) more of a tendency of attracting by its beauty of its Liturgy, architecture, etc., more like a beautiful queen.

No, this statement is incorrect.
We were created body and soul, and gender is a permanent part of our identity as human beings. Jesus is still the Son of God: fully God, fully a man, and the the Theotokos is still a woman, even in their glorified state. This is true of all the saints in heaven as well.

If a tradition of Christianity is to be successful, it must resonate with both men and women. If anything, many Roman-rite churches are in trouble in that regard, while Byzantine-rite Christianity may be doing better.

I always found it interesting how the Byzantine liturgy presents God as both male and female.

In the Slavic tongues, "Holy Trinity" is actually feminine (Presvyata Troytsia).

Alex

"Voná bo spaslá nas!"

Yes, indeed, literally "for She (the Holy Trinity) has saved us!"

And the Eastern Church has been described as the "Church of the Most Holy Theotokos."

What would we be without Her?

Alex