[linky123456]

I've never understood the motivation behind swapping genders.

Like, gender roles to me are generalizations/stereotypes of what a "man" or "woman" should be. I think gender roles are pretty silly, since no matter what personality trait, mannerism, act, or opinion you assign as gender specific, there exists a pretty significant counterexample. An example is makeup. Most people would assume that putting on makeup is a womanly thing to do, but there are people who are biologically male/identify as male who regularly use makeup.

So, it would be hard to categorize things as male or female without it being some type of not-really-accurate stereotype. Trans people take their outlook on themselves and say "hey, I feel like x, so I want to be considered x," using whatever version of gender roles they happen to think is x-like. To me, this seems like saying something like "I was born Polish. I'm really into math, I love fried rice, and I don't enjoy any Polish culture or food. Since Chinese people are good at math and eat fried rice, I want to identify as Chinese." Even though eating fried rice and scoring well in mathematical exams, while statistically true for Chinese people, isn't a Chinese-specific trait

Basically, I don't get it. I don't want to trivialize transgender people though; I know that their gender identity is very important to them. Although I don't understand it, I still respect their decisions and use whatever pronoun they want me to call them (Even if using "they" in the singular flows horribly in conversation), and believe they should have laws ensuring their rights.