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Comment by kough | Hacker News Reader

> I find the constant desire to have to self identify on every variable is becoming tiresome.

Right? This is super frustrating to me as a current university student. It seems like gender identity is just another way of tribe-association that is particularly popular among the rich and well-educated. It functions in the exact same way as identifying as a supporter of a particular football or baseball team. Deeply frustrating to have to engage with this, especially because honestly it is tiring and hard to think about.

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While I agree with this and hope this is ultimately where we are headed, I think the world has to go through this phase to get to the one where people finally honestly don't care or hold bias

Whenever I see optimism about erasing conflict in our society and the world at large I remind myself that we've been working on peace in the Middle East for the last few thousand years.

When I joined the military you could be asked, and had to answer truthfully if you were gay. Then there was the Clinton, "Don't ask, don't tell" period, and now gay and lesbian service members can serve openly.

I don't think there will be an end to all conflict, but we can and should chip away at discrimination. We should also take time to celebrate the wins, big and small.

In what way do you feel you "have to engage with this"? Moreover, isn't University the perfect place to confront things that are hard to think about?

I'm not sure what you're getting at. Yes, University is the perfect place to confront things that are hard to think about. Discussing gender issues is in vogue right now across the section of society in which I'm a participant -- no one is literally forcing me to engage with this issue, but it's a common enough discussion that I end up having to deal with it more than I'd like to. I'm not suggesting that other people shouldn't have the discussion I'm just giving my own viewpoint on a matter I've spent a lot of time thinking about.

I honestly don't mean anything by it, and I'm genuinely curious about what you mean by, "having to deal with it." It just seems so trivial to me that I'm interested in why someone might consider it a hassle.

There was a man I went to school with that was a woman when I first met him. A guy who lived on my floor used go to Bill, but now everyone calls him William. No 'dealing with' required.

Again, not trying to dismiss your experience or to imply anything, just curious.

Ate you familiar with fraternities and sororities? But you think that he genderqueer folks invented this obsession with gender identity?

> But you think that he genderqueer folks invented this obsession with gender identity?

No, I do not think that genderqueer folks invented this obsession with gender identity. It's very unclear to me how you read that meaning from my original comment.

At least at my school, fraternities and sororities are based on sex- they couldn't care less about your gender.

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