Kim Petras was born in 1992. Nicole Maines (b. 1997), Hunter Schafer (b. 1998), Georgie Stone (b. 2000) and Ariel Nicolson (b. 2001) all seem to be leading very successful lives as trans women. And they all started medical transition at early ages.
Whether or not the youngsters you have named are "leading very successful lives as trans women" depends on how one defines living, success and women. Since you and I disagree very strongly about the meaning of the word women, and about fundamental issues such as the nature of mammalian sex, I wouldn't be surpised if we also have very different views about what makes a life successful and what "living as a woman" means.
But it's telling that the five persons you present as exemplars of early-transitioned males who are now "leading very successful lives as trans women" all happen to be leading lives that don't exactly exemplify the diversity, authenticity and "being true to your inner self" that trans activists are always banging on about.
On the contrary, these five persons all appear to be living in cookie-cutter similar ways epitimozed by shiny surface glitz and gloss that's all about shallow superficiality, artificiality and performativity
All five are either entertainers or models whose lives seem to revolve around their looks. And all of them have looks and are cultivating "brand images" of a very narrow kind meant to appeal to the so-called "male gaze."
Kim Petras in particular is a pop singer who has gone to great lengths to project the pornified public image of a dolled-up, bootylicious, blonde bombshell glamorpuss sex symbol who is always hot to trot and who is so ineluctably alluring that men the world over are falling at KP's feet coz they find KP and KP's so-called "coconuts" utterly irresitstable.
Like many women, I'm not enthalled by the way KP's song "Coconuts" and the video for it depict women's breasts as objects for men to ogle and play with, and as props for porn shoots.
In fact, I find KP's take on breasts to be vulgar, crass and insulting to those of us who are female. I think the way KP and many other male trans-identified persons look upon and depict breasts is especially cruel to all the female people whose breasts have made us targets for male sexual harassment and assault, and who've been snickered at, discriminated against, perved on and called cows (and worse) for using our breasts to feed our children.
I also see a direct connection between the pornified way that people like Kim Petras portray breasts and the fact that a great many teenage girls like Chloe Cole are so unhappy about having breasts today that they are rushing to get theirs cut off.
Transphobia Verbosa loves to wax flatulent with irrelevant “pornified” subtexts in its own writings, I mean yawnblatherings, on this forum.
Whether or not the youngsters you have named are "leading very successful lives as trans women" depends on how one defines living, success and women. Since you and I disagree very strongly about the meaning of the word women, and about fundamental issues such as the nature of mammalian sex, I wouldn't be surpised if we also have very different views about what makes a life successful and what "living as a woman" means.
But it's telling that the five persons you present as exemplars of early-transitioned males who are now "leading very successful lives as trans women" all happen to be leading lives that don't exactly exemplify the diversity, authenticity and "being true to your inner self" that trans activists are always banging on about.
On the contrary, these five persons all appear to be living in cookie-cutter similar ways epitimozed by shiny surface glitz and gloss that's all about shallow superficiality, artificiality and performativity
All five are either entertainers or models whose lives seem to revolve around their looks. And all of them have looks and are cultivating "brand images" of a very narrow kind meant to appeal to the so-called "male gaze."
Kim Petras in particular is a pop singer who has gone to great lengths to project the pornified public image of a dolled-up, bootylicious, blonde bombshell glamorpuss sex symbol who is always hot to trot and who is so ineluctably alluring that men the world over are falling at KP's feet coz they find KP and KP's so-called "coconuts" utterly irresitstable.
Like many women, I'm not enthalled by the way KP's song "Coconuts" and the video for it depict women's breasts as objects for men to ogle and play with, and as props for porn shoots.
In fact, I find KP's take on breasts to be vulgar, crass and insulting to those of us who are female. I think the way KP and many other male trans-identified persons look upon and depict breasts is especially cruel to all the female people whose breasts have made us targets for male sexual harassment and assault, and who've been snickered at, discriminated against, perved on and called cows (and worse) for using our breasts to feed our children.
I also see a direct connection between the pornified way that people like Kim Petras portray breasts and the fact that a great many teenage girls like Chloe Cole are so unhappy about having breasts today that they are rushing to get theirs cut off.
You are switching the subject. It does not matter whether you or I think their lives are successful. The question is whether those early transitioners are satisfied with the choices they made. They think their lives have been successful, and that's all that matters. I cannot imagine any of them thinking they shouldn'd have started medical transition at early ages.
As for your comment that they are all living "similar ways epitimozed by shiny surface glitz and gloss that's all about shallow superficiality, artificiality and performativity" that really shows how superficial you are. If you think they are cultivating "brand images" of a very narrow kind meant to appeal to the so-called "male gaze," then you don't know their target audiences. Many men watched "Supergirl" because they thought Dreamer was pretty? And how many people cared whether MacKenzie was pretty when they watched "Neighbours"?
You might wonder why Geogie Stone is featured on this video on "International Women's Day."
Ther life experiences are not typical of young trans people just like the experiences of Melissa Benoist, Zendaya or Olivia Junkeer are not typical of young cis women. I mentioned them because young trans people in the "regular" desk jobs are not known to the public. And why should they? If you pass as the gender you identify with, and you are blending into the society, why would you want to out yourself to become the target of hate? That does not mean those people regret they started transitioning early. On the contrary, their life must be so much easier because other people don't make fun of their physical appearance.
"Ther [sic] life experiences are not typical of young trans people just like the experiences of Melissa Benoist, Zendaya or Olivia Junkeer are not typical of young cis women." Exactly -- you have to compare like to like, not celebrity trans women to ordinary cis women. I'm not personally that into Kim Petras's music or performances (and don't know much about the others mentioned here), but she's successful in what she does, seems happy in her life (as much as we can tell for any celebrity...), and plenty of her cis counterparts have acts that are at least as sexualized.
Additionally, the successful and well-known trans people I mentioned were mainly engineers and scientists. Trans people who transitioned young and recently would very rarely have the accomplishments to be well-known in those fields at their current ages, and probably wouldn't really become well-known anyway. Lynn Conway (with Carver Mead) published Introduction to VLSI Systems, her best-known work, at 40, and hardly anyone outside of related engineering fields would have heard of her. Joan Roughgarden published Evolution's Rainbow at 58, after a lifetime of research and after her relatively late transition at 52.
I do know some trans engineers and scientists who are in their 30s now and transitioned in their early-to-mid 20s, but their names wouldn't mean anything to anyone here, not that I'd out them anyway.
I'm not a fan of some of this but one thing stuck out regarding Ben Barres and what he said before he died:
I lived life on my terms: I wanted to switch genders, and I did. I wanted to be a scientist, and I was. I wanted to study glia, and I did that too. I stood up for what I believed in and I like to think I made an impact, or at least opened the door for the impact to occur. I have zero regrets and I’m ready to die. I’ve truly had a great life.
I don't think he would have changed a thing.
Also he was 63 when he died.
Having said that, I did have the same thought as you (had his life been cut short via hormone use).
The parents were told false statistics about their child committing suicide. The actual phrase would be "Better to have a trans son than a dead daughter."
When faced with that kind of pressure, what parent doesn't go along with the "experts"?