Do you agree with Caitlyn (Bruce) Jenner that transitioning to another gender is now the " new normal"?

Can you provide a source? The reason for asking is that the answer depends upon the context.

Only is you have gender dysphoria to begin with, which is a very small percentage of the population:

“As much as 1 out of 30,000 adult males seek sexual reassignment surgery (sex change).
At least 1 out of 100,000 adult females seek sexual reassignment surgery (sex change).”

Source

I can’t see it myself, I’m way too comfortable in my own skin. But I guess if you think you need to switch, I’m not going to judge anyone.

It’s not transitioning to her true gender identity that is the “new normal”; it is the psychological freedom to deal with oneself and not ignore one’s core truth that is the new normal.

It is the ability to deal with one’s truth whether it is non-hetero-normative, gender identity, alternatively-abled, or somewhere on the autism spectrum.

It is very liberating. Everyone is weird in their own special way; the new normal celebrates our individuality.

@Adirondackwannabe It is understandable that you you can’t see it. The vast majority of us can’t either. There is a documentary of Chaz Bono (child of Cher and Sonny Bono) who is going through a sex change. Chaz’s mother feels the same way as you do. Her attempt to relate to the situation was self-described by saying this: link to a clip. I found it insightful.

@Pied_Pfeffer Thanks that was interesting. I got it when Cher talked about looking down and seeing herself in a different body.

No, of course it’s not “normal”, whatever that is.
A very small minority choose that way & for them, it is perfectly normal.

All she meant was that the general public is more accepting of those who transition these days. “The new normal” is an English idiom, and that’s what it means: people don’t see it as “weird” anymore, it’s now just a thing that some people do. So in that sense, she’s more or less correct. There are still people who freak out about it, of course, but they are more and more of a minority every day.

Other things that have become “the new normal” in the past: wearing white after Labor Day, being a working woman, interracial marriage, being (openly) gay, online dating. Saying something is the new normal doesn’t mean everyone does it. It just means that its critics no longer dominate the social conversation.

@ucme, @zenvelo really nailed the response on this GQ, as did @SavoirFaire.

Source

<Gasps> I do declare…

If that is the new normal, how would you describe the old normal. Abnormal?

The new normal: To have a addadicktome or a penisectomy. Let me get back to you on that…

Here is a clip of Jon Stewart talking about how the current focus on Caitlyn may be accepted, but it is completely off-target from what is most important.

What is normal? Obviously the majority of people are not transitioning from one gender to another. However, more people who have gender dysphoria are feeling able to a. make that transition and b. come out publicly and let the world know. So I think what she’s trying to say is that some people need to take this step is no longer something that needs to be kept in the closet and as a society, we’re becoming more accepting of what is ‘normal’. I hope she’s right. I think she’s incredibly brave and a great role model for anyone who is in her situation.

@josie The simple answer is: “no longer normal.” And since all this means is that another form of bigotry is starting to go to the wayside, there’s really nothing to lament here. Bigotry should be abnormal.

@kritiper But again, she’s not talking about statistical normalcy. She’s talking about what’s considered a big deal and what’s considered just another thing that some people do. Compare the example I gave of online dating: it’s not statistically normal (that is, it’s not what most people do), but very few people still look askance at someone who gives it a whirl.

@SavoirFaire But the question doesn’t specify. The term “normalcy” could and should apply to everybody if not specifically specified. And so “normalcy” maybe isn’t the best term to be used here…
And just how the heck could it be normal when it must cost so much that only the rich can afford the operations???
Also, there aren’t any local “Male-Parts-R-Us” or Female-Parts-R-Us” stores on every corner so it can’t be all that normal, no matter what the specifics are.

@kritiper You miss the point of what she said. It’s not about having re-assignment surgery. What is the “new normal” is that people don’t have to be closeted for whatever they truly are.

@zenvelo Okay, I copy now. But I do think it’s a little early to say all concepts are acceptable as “new normal” since all persons cannot possibly be on that wavelength yet. It shouldn’t be labeled “new normal” until we all get past it being the new vague.

@kritiper The question doesn’t need to clarify because the word “normalcy” doesn’t originate with the question. The phrase “the new normal” came directly from Jenner herself, so it is her statement that we go to for clarity. As for the term, “normal” has always had two meanings: a descriptive meaning and a normative meaning. The descriptive meaning is statistical (something is normal in this sense when it is more common than not). The normative meaning is evaluative (something is normal in this sense when it is not regarded as shocking or distressing). And as I explained above, “the new normal” is an English idiom that uses the term normatively rather than statistically. As such, all protestations to the effect of “but it doesn’t happen a lot” have misinterpreted what Jenner is actually claiming.

As to the objection that it is too early to say that this is “the new normal” because not everybody is on board with it, I think you have too high of a standard for normalcy (in both the statistical and the evaluative sense). Normalcy does not require universality (whether it be universal adoption or universal acceptance). Not everyone is on board with interracial marriage, for example, but it seems patently absurd to suggest that society at large does not regard the practice as normal in the evaluative sense. Indeed, if we are holding out for universal adoption or acceptance, then nothing could be considered normal in the evaluative sense—which contradicts the data we started with (i.e., that society treats some practices as normal and other practices as abnormal).

I think @zenvelo has got it right. It’s because transgendered people now have greater freedom, both socially and in medical terms, that it appears to be more commonplace. @marinelife quoted figures and I think these figures will change over the coming decades as society becomes more tolerant and fewer transgendered people feel the need to keep their desires secret for their whole lives, never pursuing the transition that they really need. The number of people who have gender dysphoria is probably a lot more than 1 in 30,000 and one day when there are no barriers to transition, we’ll see it plateau somewhere.

@SavoirFaire Looks like the meaning is in the eye of the beholder or, in this case, the mind of the answerer since the questioner didn’t specify the exact definition. “Normalcy” to me means what is considered “normal” by people in general, not just certain factions of people.

@kritiper But again, it wasn’t @chyna‘s job to specify the exact definition because she is asking about something someone else said. So you go to the source and find out how they meant it (which it turns out is quite obvious in context). Most words in English have more than one meaning, and it is always incumbent upon the listener to either figure out which one is meant or to ask prior to making a judgment.

This should be simple stuff that any competent speaker of a natural language understands, but I’ve learned from experience that it is not.