Hi Robert,

" A lot of trans women, however, are not claiming to be female."

I have conversed with close to ten male->female trans people in medium, and each of them wanted to be seen as female. I wish more would see themselves as just "themselves", but I sense that they feel pain unless they think of themselves as female. I don't want them to feel pain; but I still want to see them as what they are IMO: males who feel better if they see themselves as females.

"They distinguish between their sex and their gender"

I think that is an unnecessary distinction. It forces me to pick a "gender" for what's in my head. I don't want to put a label on myself like that. I have male reproductive biology - period. What's in my head is my business. I won't declare that it is this or that gender. Why do THEY want to? - because they have a compulsion.

"If people want to view trans women as mentally deranged weirdos"

I don't think that at all. They are humans. I sympathize with their predicament. If claiming to be a woman alleviates their anxiety, I want them to do so. I will still, however, see them as people who have a peculiar condition - but people who deserve a happy life just as all of us do.