Lightknight said:
It's still a binary pair centered around maleness and femaleness. Transgenderism by it's very nature enforces the framework of binary genders. It just establishes that the person's gender is binary of male or female can differ from their sex's binary of male or female.
Transgender is a more encompassing term than you think it is. It applies to people who are trans men and trans women, who fit within binary gender yes, but it also applies to people who don't fit within the gender binary directly too. Agender people who identify as neither gender, gender fluid people whose gender identities changes fairly frequently, androgynous people who identify as both genders, and the like are all included within the "transgender umbrella". Not even all trans men and trans women limit themselves to conforming entirely to the gender binary anyways, there are trans men who still wear women's clothing and visa versa.
Lightknight said:
It's only when you decide to hard-attach sex to gender that you start to get into fluid mechanics and that's counteractive to the point most transgender philosophy is trying to convey. People are just saying "fluid" because it sounds good. But it isn't accurate or a person wouldn't be able to make a case that their body doesn't match their gender. Gender is binary and sex is binary. It just reaffirms binary gender and not fluid gender.
The problem is that you're stating that the concept of gender binary and gender fluidity are mutually exclusive from each other. This is an argument that transsexual essentialist types use a lot, a lot of them are trans too, that you have to fall into the binary and transition, fully, to be trans. This isn't correct though, there are plenty of trans folk who don't transition at all, who still identify as the opposite gender, which means they're still trans. The thing with the binary being an exclusive thing is that sex binary and gender binary are the exact same thing when they're considered to be linked by biology exclusively. If gender identity can mismatch biological sex phenotype the static of a binary flies out the window, the idea of a gender binary requires that biology matches identity. Binary means men are men, women are women, and people are born that way, period. Fluidity of gender means that gender identity and gender rules aren't totally biological, thus not enforced by biology, meaning that people can behave in non-binary ways. Along with that gender identity and gender roles aren't totally set in stone on a biological level, meaning that people cisgender, or transgender, can brake the rules of the binary too. The point of separation is that transgender has an intrinsic self identity that does not match gender to sex, where as cisgender people's identities do.
Lightknight said:
People also confuse total or partial unconformity with gender roles with gender fluidity. "Well, I'm a guy but I like to sew" or whatever. That just assumes the notion that gender roles aren't themselves fluid with time and that our present society doesn't allow for much more lax roles than even the previous generation.
Gender fluidity is a term that applies to the breaking of gender rules, especially if one is breaking them in relation to their birth sex. People who express fluidity in gender role, behavior, and identity get their gender and sexuality challenged. Also people confuse gender fluidity with gender fluid identities, the former is crossing gender boundaries, the latter is having a gender identity that is subject to regular intervals of change. While the roles and rules might be more relaxed now than in previous generations, for cisgender folk not falling into binary line totally gets one's sexuality and gender questioned and teased.
Also just for example sake to show the depth of what transgender means: You can have a man who dresses a woman and performs the roles of a woman, but still identifies as a man, that person is not trans. On the other hand, you can have someone who was born male, dresses as a man and performs the roles of a man, but identifies as a woman, that person is trans, even if they have no intention of transitioning. This is because transgenderism is tied to a person's intrinsic identity, instead of being tied to gender role and presentation. Role and presentation are secondary to the identity, while a trans person can conform, they might not, because they might not even wish to transition.
You're also still ignoring how the dynamic of gender identity and biological sex plays into sexuality. Gay men generally date cisgender men exclusively, Lesbians generally date cisgender women exclusively, bisexuals generally date only cisgender partners of both sexes exclusively, and heterosexuals will generally date only cisgender partners of the opposite sex. There are some who identify as gay, lesbian, bi, and hetero people who are open to having transgender partners, but they're the exception rather than the rule. They're also not pansexual, pansexual people particularly consider physical sex and gender identity to be no barrier for selecting a partner, that's all.
Edit: You know I wasn't going to do this but it bugged me enough to actually do it. Explaining what transgenderism means to a trans person, when the person doing the explanation is cisgender, that's called cisplaining. That is patronizing behavior especially when directed at someone who not only lives the situation, but studies the subject constantly because it's necessary information to the person's life.
