Planting Seeds: Reflections on Gender, Language, and a Civilized Conversation
Introduction “What one remarkably civilized online discussion revealed about gender dysphoria, language, and the slow growth of understanding.” I follow an intersex woman on Facebook, Jackie Green , whose short educational videos often tackle questions about sex, gender, and biology. In a recent video she posted, she addressed a familiar accusation often directed at her and transgender people: the claim that they are “mentally ill.” In barely two minutes, Jackie managed to explain something that many public debates about gender still struggle to articulate clearly. Being transgender is not classified as a mental illness. What medicine recognizes is gender dysphoria, the distress that can occur when a person’s body and gender identity do not align. The focus of care is not to erase someone’s identity, but to relieve that distress. Listening to her explanation, coincidentally, was reminiscent of an exchange I had nearly fifteen years ago with Michael Brown, when I attempted to de...