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Comment by caeril | Hacker News Reader

> I'm often confused as to why this topic comes up on HN

Take a look around, I think you'll find transmen comprise a much larger proportion of this community (and tech communities in general) than the general population.

There's also a lot of desire on HN to comment on political topics while pretending not to comment on political topics. Things like gender identity, women in tech, genetic differences, etc are all wonderful smokescreens to allow us to post politically but maintain a solid veneer of simply having an intellectual discussion on a topic of general interest.

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> maintain a solid veneer of simply having an intellectual discussion on a topic of general interest

Some of us have an academic interest in biology, genetics, neuroscience, psychology, etc. while still aligning with the overall origin of this site as a place to discuss the latest in news as relates to technology startups.

It is unfortunate that this politically charged topic is so misunderstood and that ignorance of the basic science behind it is so prevalent, but here we are.

> Things like gender identity, women in tech, genetic differences, etc are all wonderful smokescreens to allow us to post politically but maintain a solid veneer of simply having an intellectual discussion on a topic of general interest.

Especially when it comes to these topics, I imagine it's very easy for people who aren't affected by these issues to "debate" them *because* they aren't the ones directly affected by it.

>maintain a solid veneer of simply having an intellectual discussion on a topic of general interest.

That's a good point.

My guess is that practically everyone knows what side they are on as things get more sporty. The rest is just weaving arguments for the fun of it.

> The rest is just weaving arguments for the fun of it.

Interesting discussion is the HN way!

Some enterprising scientists may have some cutting edge insights reviewing HN comments on technology topics, no reason to suspect otherwise for social sciences.

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