facethereckoning
Reveal|Discern|Decide
The Pregnant Man
Apr 7th
Classic example of the power of media to distort the truth while still fitting it in somewhere. I don’t mean for this to be mean-spirited but it’s going to come across that way considering the fact I cannot under any circumstance or without violation of my personal beliefs take the societal label of “him” and truly shift my thinking and perspective of Thomas to be anything but a woman who feels the need to be a man, look like a man, and have a baby like a woman. There’s just some fundamental issues that physiologically I cannot see being resolved here… that occur naturally.
Thomas, as she is called is a transgender male. Transgender male is simply a more complex way of describing a woman who feels that she is a man and therefore does what it takes to alter the female complexities of her physiological body to resemble the male gender and testosterone treatments.
If you watched the video clip the narrator starts out by listing various unbelievable happenstances that are impossible… and then says one of them is true: A man is pregnant.
That is a LIE. Men do not get pregnant. Let the definition war begin and once it starts take a few steps back and realize the stupidity of the argument.
The clip then very shortly but with a courteous segment describes Thomas as having been born a female by the name of Tracy. Tracy would feel something wasn’t right, and that she should have been a boy. If you watched the vid you’ll note that the surgical aspects of her transition to the appearance of a man are obvious.
Thomas very much claims manhood throughout the vid, the narrator/reporter is very cautious to speak the same language… until Thomas discusses the fact that she kept her reproductive organs entertaining the thought of having children someday.
My skepticism is made up in these thoughts:
A. I’ve never known a man that wanted to himself “birth” children. I’ve heard this in jest, and I can see weird moments where a man in his bravado would boastly (and stupidly) proclaim his desire to birth a child just to prove he could handle the otherwise communicated by numerous women excruciating pain which proves that women are tougher than men…
B. I’m not sure I could ever have the presence of mind to think or feel like a woman and know it. I don’t think women could know it either outside of perceived roles and sociological relationships. Men and women can assume each other’s relational/social roles but a man or woman this does not define.
C. Tracy aka Thomas has female reproductive organs. Supposing we allow this to be ambiguous in determining gender… are we that willing to throw out chromosomal classification of XX or XY and list them as ambiguous also? Do we combine genders into neither male nor female?
Believe it or not, I’m sure there are a good number of those who would love to see point C become a reality.
In our evolutionary process are we going back to the one-celled organism by doing the next best thing of going into a genderless asexual society where both combinations of male/male or male/female, female/female? Will this eliminate the patriarchal (what some may deem barbaric and outdated by evolution) society where men are the leaders of their family? People are forever their own individual with no social/authority structure such as the definitive roles of father and mother but each person is dictated by self. This idea sounds great at the age of 17-23, but I have to admit that even though I thought I was relatively conservative at that age I now realize how much more conservative I may end up considering the changes this world has to offer that are much different and more extreme than my own liberal aspects might support.
Maybe I like structure. I like the fact that my dad is the head of his house. I like the fact that my mom still on many occasions tells him what to do. It’s neat to watch them go back and forth and submit to each other on different levels of decision making because in the end it’s always my father’s choice whether or not his word is final, or whether my mom’s word is final… it’s weird how it works out but somehow it still has something to do with him. There’s an intrinsic value to the family structure and how we feed off each other as a family each defined by our sexes that makes for a very respectful, unique relationship that we can find even in nature. I understand there are those that have been hurt by this structure and my heart truly does go out to them. My only wish is that they instead of indiscriminately demolishing the structure that hurt them, be the redeeming factor in that they CAN make it work. I also understand that because of that hurt, these people may be of the position that male head of household and the highly contributing/supportive wife is a structure that is faulty. Yes, but with its many faults there is the ability to remember love and forgiveness, discipline and restoration.
We’ve seen it with elephants for crying out loud. Father/mother structure is important. Men and women are the salt and pepper, mashed potatoes and gravy, the most potent duo, the two absolutes if you will, that balance the growth of a child.
Back to the main subject: The Pregnant Man
The media’s willingness to grab attention by calling Thomas the pregnant man is not accurate reporting. It’s sensationalism at its finest. Considering the amount of acceptance a transsexual needs in order fully realize their desire to not be what they are physiologically I think to say that a man is pregnant is an emotionally charged statement meant to subvert the truth, the bottom line, the unadulterated truth behind the simple fact that Thomas is in fact a woman, on testosterone, and surgically altered to have the appearance of a male.
When all is said and done Thomas will never be a man. She may call himself a man, look like a man (thanks Ms. Swan) but unless history is to leave out an important fact (which sensationalist media is prone to do without actually doing it… by labeling the sticking point for what it isn’t) Thomas will never be a truthfully pregnant man, or even considered male or female… but simply a transgender.
At the risk of having written a lengthy entry and saying my next statement:
Why the big deal?
Why Sports?
Mar 28th
NFLPA to fight the long hair rule?
I’ve noticed that my last entry was sports related, but it’s not because I’m trying to some kind of sport’s writer. My knowledge of the game isn’t anywhere near where it should be that I should be successful at that.
Anyways,
NFL players fearing they’ll have to go to the barber or find hairnets won’t have to worry if Titans center Kevin Mawae’s voice is heard. The new president of the NFL Players Association said Thursday he’s against a proposal that would prohibit hair from hanging out of a helmet to the length that it obscures the player’s name on the back of his jersey. NFL owners will consider the proposal at their meetings in Florida next week. “It goes into a cultural issue with the African American population in our league and also with the Polynesian population. The hair is a part of their culture. It’s part of the history and the background. To ask a player to cut it off just because a select few don’t like it, I think there is an issue with that,” Mawae said.
Scenario A: Remember Kevin Greene? He had long hair for awhile as part of a personal vow in regards to the game. He was also a linebacker and didn’t have to worry about being tackled. No one complained about his long hair… does this mean that the NFL looking to ban hanging hair is a stealthy racist endeavor?
Scenario B: Troy Palomalo. Has long hair. He was tackled via someone using his hair. Me personally, I would take that as a sign to cut my hair especially for this game. This may not be Troy’s attitude on the matter, but it would seem that the stereotypical athletic star MUST have everything suited/adjusted/catered to him in order to fit his appearance, playstyle, etc… totally forgetting the bottom line integrity of the game of football complete with all of its risks vs. reward, sacrifice, hard work etc… we’ll get into the negatives of our litigative society in a minute.
Scenario C: Roy Williams tackled somebody by grabbing onto their collar… now we have a collar rule prohibiting that. Why didn’t the NFL look to outlaw collars? I mean really… both a tackle by the collar and a tackle by the hair present some heavy physical risks and in a high intensity moment preceding a tackle can we expect players to calculate what they are going to do when all their is grab is a collar and/or hair? Hair is less likely to be purposeful, but still…
I’m beginning to think that leading into the summer as this issue becomes more pronounced and no one popular passes away, that this topic will be a mainstay on sports wires
From a legal standpoint I think one of the main reasons (if not the main one) that the NFL is even looking into banning long hair is because it’s much easier for an employer to execute a dress code and have a rule established requiring its members/participants appear a certain way so that in the event someone was to suffer a terrible neck wrench that proves to be the conclusion of a promising career where the league minimum is a paltry $285k to $820k per year depending upon longevity… the player can’t come back and sue the NFL for not having put in place protective measures in regards to a player’s health on the field. It doesn’t matter if the contract included the risks and implied liabilities of such an aggressive game as that is a contract between the player and the team and imagine the legal costs of cutting through all of that trying to determine who is liable?
The sad part is that people have the guts to litigate using loopholes and indirect tactics in order to make a pretty penny, and our legal system (especially corporate legal systems) LOVE to squeeze money out of technicalities. John, that’s really far fetched and unrealistic.
Is it?
You need to understand that in a litigative society you don’t need to win your case as much as you need it to simply be in the public forum.
Case in point: McDonald’s
They get sued and blamed for obesity. Did the case win? No, but what does McDonald’s suffer as a result? What do fast food chains end up doing as a result?
0 grams trans-fats! NO MSG ADDED! 40% LESS FAT! NEW FORMULA NOW ONLY 3 CALORIES! 100% PURE VEGETABLE OIL!
McDonald’s starts to market their food while advertising for the Olympics as well. All of a sudden people start to see burgers, cheese, french fries… and an Olympic skater (some of the most strenuous trainers out there) giving a small inspirational quote on being the best they can be and loving it.
“Yes, McDonald’s laid out their health charts and yes the calories from french fries, the Big Mac, and the super-sized fries are numerous, but what did McDonald’s do to encourage their customers not to abuse the service? Yes, I saw SuperSize Me, but what has McD’s done for me? What have they done to take responsibility for my obesity? They should pay!”
So let’s sue McDonald’s for our own personal failures in regards to our health.
Cultural issue with the African-American and Polynesian members of the NFL?
The last recorded comment (at least when I read the article) made a very good point. Long hair is the trend and style, not a cultural issue for the most part especially in regards to uniformity. Uniformity in organized sports isn’t for looks’ sake as much as it part of the philosophy regarding the team nucleus. Uniformity in appearance helps to eliminate the individual mindset and builds a team mindset which builds well you guessed it… a team, and not a group of individual superstars.
Now if this long hair ban gets turned into the Troy Palomalo Rule … which will be a media spin … then yeah I think people are going to cry foul.
Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees does not allow long hair or facial hair. No one cries. People will adapt to a team like the Yankees because of their winning tradition not to mention debonair reputation of having had many of baseball’s greatest legends. On a personal opinion, I think the New York Yankees at least in terms of appearance are a very classy organization and I find it difficult to dislike them for that. It’s sports for crying out loud.
So I’m not sure I buy the racism excuse for why the NFLPA might fight the rule requiring long hair to be tucked into the helmet… but then I’m considered a rich white boy so my opinion on the matter isn’t going to matter. I’m also not an NFL executive so my opinion still won’t matter. We could list other things I’m not that will make my opinion worthless.
I do however see the sense in the NFL putting a rule like that in place so that players can be protected from the freak injuries, and probably for the main reason to protect itself from liability by being accused of not addressing or taking proactive responsibility to establish rules designed to protect players.
From a Christian perspective, what if I had taken the vow of a Nazirite and couldn’t cut my hair for religious reasons? Is the NFL *really targeting me and do I have a legitimate reason to challenge them on the basis of religious discrimination?
No, I can’t… and I don’t think the NFLPA should cite racism in the long-hair ban unless that truly is the motivation behind it. Which I’m sure the legal experts within the NFL can supremely conceal should that be the case.
The Feeling of Age
Mar 3rd
I’m 25. Pretty close to 26.
Today, the Atlanta Falcons released Warrick Dunn their veteran running back who was selected I think #12 in the 1997 draft from Florida State University.
He is small, yet very aggressive and fundamentally probably one of the best non-power backs in recent NFL history. Did I mention he is a good blocker considering how sound his technique is and how low he can get?
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