Dear Ms. "5 Feet of Fury"

Fuck You

How dare you attack someone else's success to justify your own lack of it.  The arrogance, and ignorance of your attack on Montreal's Jillian Pageis appalling, and the lies and distortion in your piece are beyond excuse.

Okay, you don't like the idea that someone might be a transsexual - and *gasp* have the spine to do something about it.  That doesn't give you the right to attack those who do; and it certainly doesn't have anything to do with your own lack of employability outside of Ezra Levant's inner circle at Sun Media.

Let's take some of Ms. Shaidle's lies apart, shall we?

Alas, the editor of the Montreal Gazette is apparently unfamiliar with the tragic story of Los Angeles Times sports journalist Mike Penner, who was encouraged to live out his transsexual fantasies within the pages of the newspaper, and continue writing post-op as “Christine.”

Factual error number one.  Mike/Christine Penner never had surgery.  She was in the middle of what the WPATH Standards of Care refer to as "Real Life Experience" when she detransitioned and returned to life as Mike.

Factual error number two is that Mike Penner continued to write as Mike after detransitioning for a period of time before taking his life.

Was it a case of transition 'regrets'?  The only person that can answer that question now is dead.  Being transsexual is no easy path, and not everyone who is transsexual is equipped to deal with the social, economic and emotional challenges that transition brings with it.  Perhaps Mike just realized that there was more to his/her story than just being Christine and backed away from transition to sort out some of those other issues - we'll never know.

For Ms. Shaidle to point to this case as a reason to declare transsexual narratives invalid merely demonstrates that she has never read the WPATH Standards of Care, nor even the Wikipedia articles on transsexuality - much less any of the academic literature on the subject.

We do not encourage anorexics to write newspaper columns chronicling their weight loss, or bulimics telling readers about their trips to the bathroom.
We do not encourage people who think they are Napoleon to write newspaper columns about their imaginary battles, and to refer to themselves as “transhistorical.”

There's a big difference.  People who think they are Napoleon are suffering from delusions; anorexics and bulimics are suffering from eating disorders.  Contrary to Ms. Shaidle's opinions, we do write about the struggles that such people face - and sometimes they are autobiographical in form.

There's yet another factual error in Ms. Shaidle's argument.  She is implying that a transsexual is suffering from a delusion.   Unfortunately for Ms. Shaidle, her argument runs smack into the wording of the differential diagnosis section of the DSM IV TR on Gender Identity Disorder:

Insistence by a person with Gender Identity Disorder that he or she is of the other sex is not considered a delusion, because what is invariably meant is that the person feels like a member of the other sex rather than truly believes that he or she is a member of the other sex.

No, transsexuals are not delusional ... and somehow, I think I'll take the opinion of the professionals that write the DSM based on clinical evidence over the opinion of one extremist blogger who doesn't appear to have even bothered to do the smallest bit of research to back up her opinions on subject that is generally little understood by most.

And yet here we have the Montreal Gazette, diminishing itself by embracing faddish, fatal delusions.
I would object less except for the fact that this individual is a lousy writer.
He  won’t or can’t address a single one of my arguments.

First of all, if you had actually met Ms. Page, you wouldn't be so ignorant as to use male pronouns in referring to her.  Second, so far your arguments aren't exactly compelling in the first place - they are mostly based on your own bitterness and inability to understand someone who has walked a complex personal path in life.

But more importantly, his shallow, affected “voice” is so artificially breezy and “gay” that it is obvious to any professional writer that he is using this column to convince himself that he’s happy.

You don't know Ms. Page at all, do you?  More to the point, you probably don't know anyone who has transitioned well enough for them to let you into their inner narrative.  Let me give you a hint - transsexuals who need to transition are often very happy - almost euphoric - after they have reached a place where they can live their lives naturally.  If her column sounds like she's ridiculously happy, it could well be because she is after a long, difficult struggle to be real.

PS: men who think they’re “really” women are not among “the most courageous people on the planet.”
There are millions of soldiers, nurses, and children with cancer who are truly courageous, to name just a few.
Trannies are pretty much at the bottom of any “courage” measurement system, somewhere below wedding planner and used car salesman.
You are narcissistic, spoiled, overindulged, psychologically disturbed individuals who could only become “heroes” in a decadent, doomed society like ours.

 Hmmm...so much for arguments that derive their conclusions from providing evidence.  Paul McHugh's opinion piece is a work of ignorance in its own right - one that I intend to dissect in more detail in another post.

Ironically, if transsexuals really were "narcissistic, spoiled, overindulged, psychologically disturbed individuals", the professionals we deal with would almost never approve us for surgery or even hormones based on the Standards of Care.

No, Ms. Shaidle, I submit to you that you have neither made your case or presented any compelling evidence that there is a problem with transsexuals in our society.  I dare say there is a far greater problem to be addressed in dealing with people like you who insist upon judging others harshly without bothering to inform yourself about the realities of the situation.