The intent is there if you know the consequences. Whether or not those consequences matter to you is another matter.
Look at it this way, is it true the person feels something that makes him believe he is a woman? It’s the interpretation of the feelings that are in question. But how do we define what a woman actually feels that makes her a woman?
Feelings are real though. Defining them, for the moment at least, is subjective.
I laid out the situation. He is racially black from an African nation, say Nigeria. He was raised Swedish from a cultural perspective. Is he Swedish or is he Nigerian? If an ethnic Swede tells him he isn’t Swedish, he is black according to his DNA, is that the right thing to do?
And therein lies the problem with all this - the determination is not made and has never been made nor should it ever be strictly on feelings. What makes a woman a woman is far more a function of biology than of feelings.
I might feel like I’m the quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles - my feeling doesn’t change the fact that I ain’t.
Real? Sure. Dispositive? No. We didn’t grind our way through the Enlightenment to replace reason, logic, and truth in the 21st century with the voodoo of feelings as the arbiter of truth.
He’s Swedish - Swedishism isn’t a category determined by ethnicity. Now, if he lived in Nigeria and never set foot in Sweden but claimed be was Swedish - no, he wouldn’t be Swedish because he satisfies none of the commonly understood criteria for being Swedish.
But is a transsexual asking you to acknowledge his biology, or his feelings when it comes to gender identity?
But if I play along, it doesn’t make it real either.
We did that already in the 19th century when romanticism replaced the enlightenment.
But if someone insists he isn’t Swedish, beyond citizenship, that he can’t really know what it is like to be Swedish, because he is black, is that right?
Best not to mistake the limits of your imagination for the limits of the universe.
Assuming you’re referring to scientists who study phenomena related to human gender (ie, the scientific community in question), you couldn’t be more wrong. Crack open any relevant textbook written in the last 20 years if you don’t believe me.
You might want to rethink that “Heh.” Here’s a hint. You referring to someone by a particular pronoun doesn’t make that person become something you think they are not, so what is the cost to you for having manners?
Correct. So why would you waste your time playing along?
No, we didn’t.
Nope, because he otherwise satisfies commonly understood criteria of being Swedish. There’s no rational reason his race would be a component of the category of Swedishness. Being Swedish has more to do with cultural exposure and experience as opposed to biological traits.