Yudkowsky proposes four potential explanatory factors, not mutually exclusive: (1) that modern liberal Society doesn't care about gatekeeping male roles the way its forbearers did, (2) that MtF triggers intuitions in men for the repression of specifically male homosexuality, (3) that FtM transitions are more effective on the merits of passability with extant technology, and (4) that MtF threatens sex-segregation conventions whose purpose is to protect females from males (as of, _e.g._, bathrooms and chess tournaments).
-I agree that to the extent that MtF faces more or different opposition than FtM, all four explanatory factors seem broadly plausible. I probably disagree with Yudkowsky on the relative importance of the four factors, but that disagreement is sufficiently minor and uninteresting that the details are probably better relegated to a footnote.[^four-factors]
+I agree that to the extent that MtF faces more or different opposition than FtM, all four explanatory factors seem broadly plausible. I seem to disagree with Yudkowsky on the relative importance of the four factors, but the details are probably better relegated to a footnote.[^four-factors]
-[^four-factors]: In [footnote 7 to "The Categories Were Made for Man to Make Predictions"](/2018/Feb/the-categories-were-made-for-man-to-make-predictions) (February 2018), I mentioned that "trans men tend to pass better, and because insofar as the intended purpose of many sex-segregated social contexts is to protect females from males, biologically-female trans men aren't perceived as a threat: cis men are assumed to be able to take care of their own interests"—precisely anticipating Yudkowsky's theories #3 and #4.
+[^four-factors]: In [footnote 7 to "The Categories Were Made for Man to Make Predictions"](/2018/Feb/the-categories-were-made-for-man-to-make-predictions) (February 2018), I mentioned that "trans men tend to pass better, and because insofar as the intended purpose of many sex-segregated social contexts is to protect females from males, biologically-female trans men aren't perceived as a threat: cis men are assumed to be able to take care of their own interests"—precisely anticipating Yudkowsky's theories #3 and #4. I hadn't previously considered theories #1 and #2.
- Yudkowsky seems to put much less weight on theory #4 than I do, saying he mentions it "for completeness" and that he finds it "dubious as a complete account, because of how FtM used to produce more outrage back when men were higher-status". I am cautiously skeptical of Yudkowsky's read of history, which would greatly benefit from specific examples.
+ Yudkowsky seems to put much less weight on theory #4 than I do, saying he mentions it "for completeness" and that he finds it "dubious as a complete account, because of how FtM used to produce more outrage back when men were higher-status." I'm cautiously skeptical of Yudkowsky's read of history, which would greatly benefit from specific examples of alleged FtM panic. [Deborah Sampson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Sampson) impersonated a man in order to serve in the American Revolutionary War, and successfully petitioned for back pay after being honorably discharged. Cases like those of the surgeon [James Barry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Barry_(surgeon)), coachman [Charley Parkhurst](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_Parkhurst), or politician [Murray Hall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Hall_(politician)) seem to have been met with more curiosity than disgust upon posthumous discovery.
The occasion of the present post is that Yudkowsky goes on to say:
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