Z_M_Davis comments on My Way - Less Wrong

31 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 17 April 2009 01:25AM

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Comment author: Z_M_Davis 17 April 2009 11:49:28PM 5 points [-]

true female side [...] true male side

Could you please taboo these?

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 17 April 2009 11:58:29PM 7 points [-]

Okay. I've never seen a male author write a female character with the same depth as Phedre no Delaunay, nor have I seen any male person display a feminine personality with the same sort of depth and internal integrity, nor have I seen any male person convincingly give the appearance of having thought out the nature of feminity to that depth. Likewise and in a mirror for women and men. I sometimes wish that certain women would appreciate that being a man is at least as complicated and hard to grasp and a lifetime's work to integrate, as the corresponding fact of feminity. I am skeptical that either sex can ever really model and predict the other's deep internal life, short of computer-assisted telepathy. These are different brain designs we're talking about here.

Comment author: Z_M_Davis 18 April 2009 02:01:56AM *  14 points [-]

I sometimes wish that certain men would appreciate that not all men are like them--or at least, that not all men want to be like them--that the fact of masculinity is not necessarily something to integrate.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 18 April 2009 04:37:55AM 7 points [-]

Duly appreciated.

Comment author: MugaSofer 07 November 2012 10:33:58AM 3 points [-]

Have you ever read something featuring characters of both genders without knowing in advance the gender of the author?

Comment author: Epiphany 07 November 2012 05:55:15AM *  2 points [-]

I have I have! He identifies as male but ... wow. He knew what I felt in IM. He played me like a symphony. It was incredible. He must have had me all worked out in his head. And he was so sensitive, so very much like a woman...

It may be true that you've never seen this but this comment upset somebody so I hope that in the event that you have the perception that this is not possible, you do realize that you're likely to be working with a biased sample. Do men who identify as male frequently wish to share emotionally intimate thoughts with other men? Do men who are feminine inside and want a male mate do this with males who are straight? Do trans women do this with just everyone? How many trans women have you attempted to get close to? How many others do we allow to see more than a superficial view of us, period?

From the view you have of me, am I displaying a feminine personality with "the same sort of depth and internal integrity"?