02 May 2008

General Comments

This post for general comments that don't fit on any particular blog post already in existence. Such as things people want to tell me, or random hijacks...

16 comments:

Anne C. said...

I would imagine it would be impossible to hijack a general comment thread. And isn't the hijacking part of the experience? ;)

Unknown said...

Did your golden dragon lay an egg?

MWT said...

Heheh ... I'd prefer if people tried to stay on topic over here. Hijacking is for Nathan's blog. ;)

Actually the gold dragon did father that egg (which was laid by the white). I haven't decided whether I want to keep it yet, which is why it's not up with the others. If I abandon, I want to send it off healthy though, so it's there to at least collect views. ;)

Nathan said...

Hey, I resemble that remark.

Ouch!

Random Michelle K said...

FYI, today (7 May 2008) All Things Considered is going to have a segment on gender identity in children.

Thought you might find it interesting.

MWT said...

Heh, I'm too busy panicking about the multitudes of logistical nightmares that I'm having, just before this stupid wedding. (Weddings are so overrated, I swear. There is nothing wrong with a nice courthouse judge!) Will it be available for a listen somewhere at a time of my own choosing?

Random Michelle K said...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90247842

Here's a link to the story! They're going to have another segment on gender identity tomorrow.

Today's segment was fascinating though. Two six year old boys who self-identify as girls. One set of parents went to a mental health professional who has forced the boy to act like a boy. The other sent went to a mental health professional who said that if Jonah thought he/she was a girl, then he/she should be allowed to dress and act as he/she pleases and they even found a school that would accept him/her.

Fascinating.

Random Michelle K said...

Also, I'm assuming the wedding is not yours?

:)

MWT said...

It's my sister's. To take place in Hawaii. I believe I mentioned that I was going to Hawaii a while ago... it turns out that almost the entire time I'm there will be packed with family-related commitments, and very little time will be open for just plain exploring the damn island. *sigh*

And yes, most people with gender dysphoria are aware of their condition around when they first become aware of gender. Which is around age 4 or so. Unfortunately, most parents don't react in a terribly productive way to a child telling them that there's some mistake and they're really the opposite of what everyone says... It's slowly changing, but as with homosexuality, it takes a lot of uphill educatin' of the masses.

Random Michelle K said...

The history of homosexuality and psychiatry came up several times in the story, primarily mentioned by the Dr who said that Jonah should be allowed to act in a way to make Jonah comfortable.

What was interesting was that the mother of the other child sounded terribly conflicted, but was doing what the mental health professional told her was best for her child.

It's very strange, to me--someone who has grown up believing that people are the way they are--that parents should be forced to make their child miserable, simply because that child doesn't fit into society's mold.

Stupid society.

MWT said...

Heh. There are quite a lot of horror stories out there. One of the more famous ones involved a pair of male twins, where one of them got reassigned as female due to a horribly botched circumcision. Despite lots and lots of efforts from shrinks and family, including stuff that bears a strong resemblance to torture, they couldn't get him to grow up as a girl.

The problem runs deeper than just societal roles and views. Gender is a fundamental aspect of identity that is hardwired into the brain during development. There are physiological differences between male and female brains that nurture just isn't going to change. At some point I'll get back into attempting to explain the whole thing, one tiny bit at a time.

Random Michelle K said...

I remember that story, although I can't remember the name of the guy, only vague details.

I can see why you'd think the second doctor was horrible.

THere was another bit the next day, about parents who were allowing their son to be placed on drugs to suppress puberty, so he could decide when he turned 18 what he truly wanted to do.

Anonymous said...

hey,

I am assuming this is nerwen from brap. how are you? i found your website doing some general searches on google for brap and anything related. do you have any ties or know any whereabouts of current brap happenings? ie forums etc.

since sc2 is coming out this year or so, i was hoping brap can make a comeback

MWT said...

Hiya Tess,

Long time no hear. :) Aside from my own brother, I still talk to Ewok and Esquared occasionally. Ewok still talks to some other ones - I think there's a small group that play WoW together. If there's a forum, I don't know where it is - all I know is the one KatyD made (http://b5.boards2go.com/boards/board.cgi?&user=KatyD), but it's pretty dead. Wobi and I still trade comments on it occasionally. Last I heard from Muon (a few months back), Lipton was trying out some gamer community-building which included Starcraft stuff, but I lost the link to it.

I'm more looking forward to D3 myself. :)

Anonymous said...

...please where can I buy a unicorn?

MWT said...

Err. If you're a spammer, I guess your cleverness completely eludes me... this time. o.O