Gender Identity Confusion

[Plantasm]

Last night on Taboo, they showed a guy who was convinced his leg was a foreign object that shouldn't be attached to his body. He was normal and no sick pervert; it was just a nagging feeling that had plagued him since childhood. He took drastic steps to rid himself of the leg.

The human mind is a mysterious thing. We're also learning that a human being can be born with extreme gender identity confusion. In extreme cases, that person will cut off his own tackle or commit suicide. Today, we live in a much more caring and accepting society where we can process the data that shows us these disorders aren't rooted in perversion or a desire to flout one's creator. Sometimes I wonder how ancient cultures with taboos against homosexuality and gender blurring, not just the Israelites but any ancient culture, dealt with members of the society tortured by these feelings. Were some equipped with the capacity to hold divine laws at bay while the tribe attempted to understand the circumtances of the individual? Or did tribes pounce upon the perceived violator? If not, I'm having a hard time understanding how in the absence of neurological and behavioral data they could respond humanely. To what degree were ancient religious cultures bound by these laws?

[Seasanctuary]

Hrm, examples of ancient people tolerating harmless diversity. Only the opposite response springs to mind, but I too would be interested in more positive examples.

[Steve007]

Last night on Taboo, they showed a guy who was convinced his leg was a foreign object that shouldn't be attached to his body. He was normal and no sick pervert; it was just a nagging feeling that had plagued him since childhood. He took drastic steps to rid himself of the leg.

Are you sure he was normal? When someone goes as far as taking drastic steps to rid himself of the leg, I tend to think that person isn't normal. That's a sick thing to do.

[One Bad Pig]

How is this guy being dealt with? If he's being treated consistently with gender identity confusion, people will be lobbying for insurance coverage of the surgical procedure to amputate his leg and anything he needs to make the successful adjustment to a single-leg lifestyle.

[Sparko]

is monopodism a life style choice or genetic?

Or does he just want to be a pirate?

[Seasanctuary]

I really feel that I should have been born a rich man and would like assistance adopting a silver spoon lifestyle.

[Sparko]

I really feel that I should have been born a rich man and would like assistance adopting a silver spoon lifestyle.

Perhaps they have some silver spoon transplant procedure?

[Plantasm]

Are you sure he was normal? When someone goes as far as taking drastic steps to rid himself of the leg, I tend to think that person isn't normal. That's a sick thing to do.

He was diagnosed by many professionals as being of average intelligence and sound mind. His desire to remove his leg (which he did by freezing it in dry ice) had no perverse sexual root. Doctors were aware of amputee fetishism, so they made sure to eliminate that as a possibility. He was a normal kid from a normal family.

Many gender confused and homosexual kids are normal. Some are even raised in Christian and Muslim households.

[Mountain Man]

Doesn't the fact that he froze his leg off prove in and of itself that there was something wrong with him?

And for what it's worth the Bible never condemns homosexual preference, only those who act on it.

[Sparko]

He was diagnosed by many professionals as being of average intelligence and sound mind. His desire to remove his leg (which he did by freezing it in dry ice) had no perverse sexual root. Doctors were aware of amputee fetishism, so they made sure to eliminate that as a possibility. He was a normal kid from a normal family.

Many gender confused and homosexual kids are normal. Some are even raised in Christian and Muslim households.

thinking your leg doesn't belong as part of your body, is by definition "not normal"

so I don't think saying he is of "sound mind" makes much sense.

[Seasanctuary]

Sounds like something with a very specific neurological cause.

[Sparko]

Sounds like something with a very specific neurological cause.

somebody stole my leg and replaced it with an exact duplicate!

[Plantasm]

Doesn't the fact that he froze his leg off prove in and of itself that there was something wrong with him?

Of course! I meant "excepting that." :)

His diagnosis did not yield any therapy or pill that took his nagging feeling away. Similarly, there's no pill or therapy that will fix a gender confused person, IOW a person who strongly feels he or she was born with the wrong gender. As gender determination is a physiological process that takes place in the womb, it makes perfect sense that that process will screw up like any aspect of
Fetal development. This is my point. I can't think of any reason why that man's disorder is any different than a young person feeling imprisoned in the wrong gender.

And for what it's worth the Bible never condemns homosexual preference, only those who act on it.

How would one condemn homosexual preference? With a religious and legal stigma attached to it, I doubt any ancient Hebrew man would have confessed to liking men or feeling the need to act effeminately.

[Sparko]

so if doctors indulge this guy's disorder and remove his leg, how does that help him? What if next week, he decides his other leg isn't his? Then his arms? What then? amputate all his limbs and call him Matt?

[Plantasm]

thinking your leg doesn't belong as part of your body, is by definition "not normal"

so I don't think saying he is of "sound mind" makes much sense.

Therapists can only diagnose people based on their observations of them. He was a fully functional person and citizen. Only he had a devastating hatred of his lower right leg. His hatred wasn't sexually gratifying such as in the cases of amputee fetishiists. That's why his case is more intriguing than that of a pervert. He didn't just wake up and choose to hate his lower left leg. I don't think homosexual and gender confused children choose to live lives of depression. I think most ancient cultures with a prohibition of homosexuality and gender confusion would not be able to process the info that this is neurologically rooted. Or are there examples of ancient cultures not taking divine law so seriously and actually considering the circumstances of the individual? Was it always a rush to judgment when gender boundaries were blurred?