"You can have a butch transwoman, and she's still a woman even if she acts masculinely and has a Y chromosome."
( Edit: Realized after I posted that I got the quote backwards, but my point is still relevant. What I read the statement above was "Female-to-male transgender is still a woman because of the chromosomes they have". Sorry for the misunderstanding, Coda. OTL Still making my point though. )
( Editing this in: I took the quote specifically, though the message of Coda's post is an entirely different thing. I'm taking this snip kind of as a subject to address, not a response to Coda's post, technically. )
This I have to partly disagree with. While a female-to-male transgender may still be biologically a woman, that does not mean that they are. There are many many ways to take what a person "is", whether just physically, or generally, or as a person. I consider transgendered people the gender that they identify with, rather than the chromosomes they have. As much as this statement is correct in a biological sense, it isn't in a social/emotional/mental sense. That transgendered person is as much a male as any physical male, and they should be treated as such, in my opinion.
To them, gender as a social construct ( as I understand it ) is empowering because they can finally be who they feel the most comfort being, instead of alienated as something they do not identify with. If gender stereotypes didn't exist, this wouldn't be such a huge problem ( though it would still be a problem, just not as extreme, I'd think, since a lot of the social stigma, stereotypes, gender-roles and such would be eliminated and all that's left is the physical issues. ) You can't really say that it isn't a social thing ( though I know Coda wasn't saying it wasn't at all; I'm just pointing this out specifically ).
But elaborating more on the empowerment issue: pronouns in particular ( as I believe pronouns fall under the social part of gender ) are important to many people, if they identify with another gender especially. It is an insult to have that totally ignored just for their biological "parts" so to speak. If it wasn't social at all, then transgendered individuals would be trapped inside themselves until they had the money and the courage to get years of treatment and surgery to change it.
I'm kind of drifting from my actual point though, and that is; saying that a person "is" a specific gender is also really edgy. Some people look at it from a physical perspective; others look at it from a more personal or mental perspective. Some look at it in other different ways.
It's really, when it comes down to it, just up to the individual.
I know what Coda is saying though. Taking into account all the perspectives in the world, this is a very scattered subject. That's the reason why threads like this exist; to get those opinions and to share them and see those perspectives. I know Coda wasn't saying it was a solely biological issue, nor social, and so on. I believe others are aware of this also, but they're allowed to hold their own opinion on it, whether they think in black and white, gray, yellow, blue, polkadot, whatever, lol. Just as I think gender should be social while sex is biological ( And I know there are flaws ), yet I am fully aware others do not think this way.