I’m not quite sure why so many people have a hard time accepting the fact that there’s a difference between what gender/race/culture/planet someone identifies with, and which of those their physical features would indicate they’re supposed to identify with. Society has defined certain characteristics of “human” we’ve also defined certain characteristics of a biological male and woman. I can see that distinction being important in the context of science, but not socially.
Andrew Sullivan posts a video of a discussion on Fox where the commentators are discussing the “pregnant man” and how convoluted he must be to consider himself anything other than a woman, since only women get pregnant. “If a man wants to get a gut, he does it the old fashioned way: beer and nachos.”
Society says: you’re a republican, you’re supposed to do x. You’re a democrat, you’re supposed to think y. You’re biologically considered “male” and therefore must identify with z. You’re white, so don’t wear that. You’re black, so don’t speak like that. Never lose your identity.
Maybe being part of a social group is comforting for some, but I don’t think it’s completely unfair to say that our identity is completely and totally up to us. Our instincts, our urges, our beliefs, thoughts, intentions, background all make up our identity. They exist together with each other to create one complete and unique identity. We can change what we’re given, even biologically to match what we identify with, but it’s not a necessity.
Similarly, there are wolves that look like humans. It’s because biologically, they are humans. They’re the ones who were abandoned in the wild and identified with the only living thing they could attempt to identify with. They’re part of the pack. They walk on all fours. They howl. They don’t wear clothes. They’re not very sensitive to cold temperatures. But they still have all the biological characteristics of a “human,” and all of these elements co-exist successfully.
It’s a simple fact that we are really complex beings.