Even though humans possess a great deal of choice, we delude ourselves to believe in immutables in order to protect ourselves from that which we don’t want to accept. Humans do not fear black and white, they fear the shades of grey.
What would be the implications if gender presentation and identity could be a choice for an individual? Would it really be that different from choosing to convert from Catholicism to Islam? From omnivore to vegetarian? Of course, the social conservatives would flip out with diatribes about sin and the conscious choices that lead to it. However, I also think the left side of the spectrum would lose it as well. Their narrative is that gender identity is fixed from birth and thus should be protected from the whims of the majority as having characteristics that are uncontrollable for the individual. Would the standards of care have to change if gender identity was not fixed from birth? Should they change? Continue reading Choice→
I think there is a great difference between being a constant liar and a strategic liar. The constant liar is easy to pick up on. They recklessly tell many more falsehoods than truth, sometimes avoiding truth altogether, and the stories quickly fail the smell test. Eventually the inconsistencies catch up with them and they are no longer trusted by anyone. What purpose does this serve the liar? Does it make them feel better about themselves to build such a network of lies when no one subscribes to their story? From the exaggerator that inflates achievements and experiences to the professional that fakes credentials, constantly lying leads to an inescapable fate of not being able to win over anyone. Many psychopaths fall into this category, but I will argue that they are not using their talents to the degree that they could. They are stupid psychopaths. The truly successful psychopaths realize that lying is an art and, if used correctly – like a spice to enhance a meal – , can hold great power.
Now, I am not saying that the successful psychopath cannot tell any lies. In fact, I do believe it is possible to tell more lies than reality in one’s quest to charm and manipulate a target. The trick is to remain strategic in the telling of lies. I take the following approaches in my use of lying to get the outcome I want from a person that I am talking to. By and large, I am very successful. Continue reading Lies→
What is it about the incongruence of sex and gender that disturbs so many? Most religions and societies believe in some form of the golden rule: ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’. In this context, we would want to let others be comfortable in their skin – even if there is that incongruence – just as we expect others to let us be comfortable in our skin. The non-religious arguments against transgender people can be the same as those used against psychopaths. Many of the arguments boil down to the question of potential. Just as transgenderists could use their shapeshifting abilities for nefarious ends, so could the psychopaths. Both groups are demonized for unjust reasons in the absence of immoral actions by individuals belonging to either. Continue reading Golden Rule→
I asked several of my trusted acquaintances the following question: ‘How does one know whether they possess a conscience’? The reaction I got was mostly that of a deer in someone’s headlights. Does not everyone possess a conscience?
When we are little, we are taught all people possess good and that conscience is a process that we should obey at all times. You can think of earlier cartoons, such as Tom and Jerry, where conscience is portrayed as a battle between two beings: angel and devil. For the psychopath, there is no angel nor demon, there is only the psychopath herself and the tangibles she wants. This is key to understanding and dismissing a popular misconception of psychopaths. It is not that conscience is one-sided for the psychopath, often believed to be composed solely of the ‘devil’ in the aforementioned cartoon illustration, it is that conscience literally does not exist or exists in such a diminished capacity as to not register. Most psychopaths do not do ‘bad’ things simply for the sake of being bad. They do those things because it was considered appropriate for getting the item that they wanted. Likewise, and a point that many do not wish to acknowledge, a psychopath may do ‘good’. Once again, the good act is not done for the sake of goodness, but because the act was determined to be the easiest or most acceptable route to getting the wanted result. Continue reading Conscience→
I realized that I was different than most people by late adolescence when relatives of mine began to die. Where my mother and other family members would be shedding tears over my grandmother’s death, I felt nothing. The only emotion I distinctly recall was being highly annoyed that I was woken so suddenly from my sleep late at night to be told that she was dying. Couldn’t that have waited until morning? It isn’t like I could save her life.
I remember more emotion from the funeral procession than the actual funeral. I was able to exhibit some aggressive driving by blocking others from crossing into the automobile procession than would normally be allowed. It was satisfying to cut some punk off that was trying to butt in and I remember smiling about my driving even during the funeral. I was the only happy, or at least non-distraught, face in the entire building. Others were sobbing and sobbing and distraught and so on. God was it annoying. Why on earth would people be wasting so much energy over someone’s death? I just don’t understand it. Continue reading Funeral→
Humans have created two accepted structures of being that they wish to correlate perfectly with the two dominant sexes. People tend to be wary of the butch female or the effeminate male. The notion that certain manners of dress, of speaking, of walking, of relating are so intrinsically tied to biological sex has been engrained in us from the day blue cigars were laid out for your arrival as a male. That physical/behavioral paradigm has been cemented since the day you put on your first dress. That notion is bullshit.
Being free of the fixation of what is considered moral and what is considered immoral have allowed me to realize that there is absolutely no reason why anyone can’t present whatever gendered characteristics they wish, regardless of their biological sex. In the end, we are all just trying to be comfortable in our own skin. Being transgender, I am mostly comfortable in the body I’ve constructed. Being psychopathic, I am comfortable behind the masks I present. Together, I am a constant shapeshifter. Continue reading Shapeshifting→
The title of this site and blog is a double entendre. Psychogender is an archaic term that describes one’s perception of their own gender. This psychogender may be different than the one traditionally determined by one’s anatomical sex. I am transgender, although the subtleties of what this actually means will become apparent over the coming months. Psychogender is also an amalgamation of two words: psychopath and transgender. Yes, dear reader, I am also a psychopath. Continue reading Psychogendered – An Introduction→
