[GRH]

Originally Posted by john90640

1. If I had a magic button that you could press that would make you wake up tomorrow as a girl, with everyone else understanding you and relating to you as a girl, irrevocably but painlessly, would you press it?

2. Alternatively, if I had a magic button that you could press that would make you wake up tomorrow still as a guy, but without any of the gender issues you've been having, not questioning your gender, and able to live happily as a guy with zero dysphoria, would you press it?

3. If I had both of those buttons, which one would you rather press, all other things being equal?

This is a difficult conundrum, because it doesn't present the real world options faced by trans. I have certain religio-spiritual views about God and the order of the universe to where I don't believe that "I was born in the wrong body." I just don't believe that God makes mistakes. So perhaps I am supposed to learn something from being transgendered? Maybe there is a purpose to the dysphoria? Would the presence of choices that essentially negate all the difficulty of being transgendered somehow nullify the purpose and point of my life?

Assuming the absence of any negative social ramifications, and assuming that I could retain my current marriage and family life-- I suppose that I would opt for "female" with no regrets. To wipe away any and all vestiges of the male aspect of myself would not disappoint me.

4. If I had a test that could tell you if you were a guy or a girl, which answer would you be hoping for as you took it? Which way would you try to skew your answers, if you did (consciously or not) try to skew them in either direction?

A simple look at the genitals is all I need. Does this question somehow relate to the first "magic button" question? BTW, I am very skeptical of any "test"-- regardless of how well designed it might be.

5. If you washed up on a desert island, by yourself, but with any amount of both male and female clothing, with no hope of rescue but otherwise everything that you needed for a relatively healthy and happy life, would you choose to present as male? female? neither? a mix of the two? one way some of the time, the other way the rest? If for some bizarre reason a lifetime supply of hormones washed up with you as well, do you think you'd take them? What if you washed up with the button from the first thought experiment - in a situation where you were by yourself, would you press it?

Probably a mix, with the operative factor being which clothes were the cleanest. I also would probably not opt to wear short-short mini-skirts if it were a sunny day and I was liable to get sun-burned-- but that has zero to do with gender orientation, and instead is rooted in pragmatism.

I will say that for me, "presentation" is often based in whether or not I have anyone to "present" to. Gender is a societal construct, so in the absence of any society to determine the legitimacy of one's gender-- would it matter?

6. Let's say I had a test that asked about all of the things, very thorough, and at the end it would tell you, with 100% accuracy, whether or not you were trans. So you take it, and it tells you, "Well, you've got some mild gender confusion, but you're definitely not trans, and you shouldn't transition." How would that make you feel?

I don't need a test to tell me this.

7. On the other hand, what if the test told you "Yup, you're definitely trans all right, and you should probably start planning your transition." - how would you feel about that?

See above.