Chinpudding, if appearance, behaviour and plumbing are all disqualified from defining gender, what on earth qualifies?

Choosing to get pregnant and bear a child is an exclusively female behaviour, being nine months pregnant is an exclusively feminine appearance, and no one, I think, will argue about ovaries and vaginas being connected to femininity in some way. Beatie was not even taking hormones; so other than facial hair (not unheard of in women) and a mastectomy (also not rare) the only thing that makes Beatie a "man" was that he says he is.

If him saying he is a man makes him one, why should he need to go through all the surgery and hormones? Could I be a man by simply declaring that I was one?

I am not hating or being intolerant of anyone. Across the board, I am in favour of children having two loving parents, and it looks like the kid does. That is good enough for me. I certainly would not presume to tell Crookedcubed he or she (sorry, I can't tell which from the posts) hates other transsexuals. That way lies madness.

Freki