We used to teach people to accept others, and ourselves for who we are - flaws and all. We used to guide people into being comfortable and accepting of themselves - we are always our own harshest critic.
Most people undergo some period of time where they are unsure of their self, their future, their purpose, and perhaps even question their existence and the meaning of it all.
Now we teach people being uncomfortable and uncertain is unacceptable and that it obviously means you are the problem and must change. In doing so, we doom these people to a lifetime of hardship and uncertainty.
Imagine a world where having blue eyes was viewed as bad and had to be surgically and permanently altered to look more brown. Would these people feel any more confident after the operation? Why do celebrities continuously get plastic surgery over and over? They are never comfortable with themselves, and the further they go down the path of altering who they are, the more uncomfortable they become - ignoring whatever actual problems they may be experiencing in favor of cosmetic and superficial changes.
Indeed. I find it highly disturbing that the (very high) suicide rate for trans people has not precariously fallen as the number of people identifying as trans has risen. That doesn't make statistical sense if suppressing your trans nature is worse than embracing it. Something is wrong here. I wonder if perhaps we're classifying multiple conditions as "being transgender" and only some of them psychologically benefit from transitioning. Considering the charged political climate I doubt we're going to see any rigorous research on the topic for decades.
You may want to cite some source when asserting things that are contrary to well understood facts.
For instance, here's a NIH article studying extremely high suicide rates among transgendered people[1]. It cites many, many possible reasons for this, but the facts remain. Your assertion appears to have no supporting evidence.
> In doing so, we doom these people to a lifetime of hardship and uncertainty.
Let's allow them to "doom" themselves to increased happiness and just stop filling their lives with hardship.
> Imagine a world where having blue eyes was viewed as bad and had to be surgically and permanently altered to look more brown. Would these people feel any more confident after the operation?
Probably.
> Why do celebrities continuously get plastic surgery over and over? They are never comfortable with themselves, and the further they go down the path of altering who they are, the more uncomfortable they become
Is this what all your celebrity friends say? My celebrity friend circle mostly disagrees. Let's take a poll of all the celebrities we personally know and try to get some more data on what's going on inside the minds of "celebrities". Even though we already both know so much about the internal experiences of all celebrities.
Most people undergo some period of time where they are unsure of their self, their future, their purpose, and perhaps even question their existence and the meaning of it all.
Now we teach people being uncomfortable and uncertain is unacceptable and that it obviously means you are the problem and must change. In doing so, we doom these people to a lifetime of hardship and uncertainty.
Imagine a world where having blue eyes was viewed as bad and had to be surgically and permanently altered to look more brown. Would these people feel any more confident after the operation? Why do celebrities continuously get plastic surgery over and over? They are never comfortable with themselves, and the further they go down the path of altering who they are, the more uncomfortable they become - ignoring whatever actual problems they may be experiencing in favor of cosmetic and superficial changes.