Depends what you do on Windows. As someone who never really got into gaming and who loved programming it was the obvious choice.

Windows singularly fails in some of the most basic operations you could want from an OS. It makes me so angry the way it takes so long to copy a bunch of files, for example. Or if it won't delete some files because one 'is still in use' but it won't tell me which one or which program is using it! Why? Its infuriating.

Linux has none of these issues. And with a enough time, native ports of some of the games I used to play became available. I would never go back to Windows now.

It's not your phone. That's what Google wants you to believe. Enjoy your spy-phone :)

Get Graphene OS on it and I'll be interested

Preordainment or not, I believe you've fulfilled that role beautifully. Thank you for taking the time to respond to me.

All good points. Thank you for your answers. I will hold on to this exchange. And I already know it will help inform how I move forwards. I hope you understand from this that not all those who ask questions or who carry doubts are against the trans community. All the best.

Thank you for your heartfelt response. I can see how broad sweeping rules against trans people would cause great pain, but similarly I see that broadsweeping rules in support of trans people in terms of access to female-only spaces and the right to compete in any and all sports in one's preferred gender category at any point during transition would lead to issues for others.

I can see how the reality in any given case is far more complex and likely it would need to determined on a case-by-case basis if a trans woman offender should be placed in a women's prison, for example, or if a trans woman athlete is sufficiently feminised to be a fair competitor for the women's category. But there it is again... The unwanted interrogation.

The search for 'femininity' or 'masculinity' in the blood, in the cells, in the bone, in the mind. Is there any fair process here? Do we need one? Do we do away with all of them and put cis women at risk?

Another life history experience that I didn't know about or include on the list.

You assume I would spout these opinions in a place of work? Well yeah, I wouldn't want to be around someone who did that. To me there's a clear line between having an opinion and sharing an opinion that runs the risk of hurting someone else. I'm sharing here only because that's the point of this discussion.

But you're saying that you think I'm out of line for pointing out an objective difference between women and trans women? A difference that you say trans women wish doesn't exist but which does? A wish that you say I should respect by pretending that difference doesn't exist?

Let me make clear. I would never air these thoughts in the company of someone who I had the faintest suspicion would get upset. If you don't care for this discussion, feel free to tell me to "fuck off". I'm genuinely confused by what's going on and would like to discover if there's a learning opportunity here.

And so you should! If I knew someone would want to be known as a "man" or "woman", then I would use those terms. However, responding appropriately to that wish might not mean that I'd be blind to the fact the subject is a trans wo/man. There's simply unlikely to be any reason to point that out.

Similarly, I'm happy with being a "man". I don't really care if others regard me as a "cis man", but I might ask that term is dropped if it's used directly about or to me. I don't and never will recognise the term.

I'll happily use the appropriate pronouns, etc, but as mentioned before, I cannot regard trans women as belonging to the same category as what I am calling here "biological women" because they haven't grown up and lived as women. I mentioned before about female reproduction and reproductive health. It cannot be understated how huge this can be for many women. Periods, period products, period pains, impacts on histamine sensitivies, getting pregnant, ecotopic prenancies, miscarriages, endometriosis, an "incompetant" cervix, still birth, premature birth, full term birth, breast feeding... The list goes on. For sure, these things don't wholly define what it is to be a woman, but it sure as hell helps shape the bodies and minds of the only group of people who make all of us. To forget or ignore that is disrespectful to women, in my opinion.

It doesn't matter how much a trans woman claims to want to be a part of this group, or how upset she gets at the likes of me for saying otherwise, but she will never be a part of that group. I would never say that the particular journey or struggles of a trans woman are less significant, but they are fundamentally different and for that reason it puts them in a similar, but different group.

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate your efforts to share your perspective. However, from my perspective you've reinforced my point. These definitions look at the situation as an instantaneous snapshot, i.e. as the person is now, and not where they were or their life history. A person's life history is, I believe, a much greater indicator of the kind of person they are than a reductionist breakdown of their biochemical makeup.

Also, I reject the term "cis" on the basis that the words "woman" and "man" have already been defined. These are pefectly valid and were for centuries. The invocation of the modifier "cis" today is a passive acknowledgement of logical fallacy of the phrase that 'a trans wo/man is a wo/man". A woman is a woman and a trans woman is a trans woman. Any other perspective is either disrespectful or overreach.

There are a lot of good points here, but one that I feel often gets overlooked at times like this is in the history of a person's experience.

Completely sidestepping the debate, let's assume a trans woman is a woman. What we're acknowledging here is that this person lived some of her life as a boy or man. This would include the various biases of that.

A (biological) woman would have lived with a single set of biases and challenges. In addition to the huge experiences around child birth, female reproductive health is seriously under provided for. I've met many women with ongoing health issues related to it that appear to be sidelined or completely ignored by medical science.

Trans women clearly have their own challenges, but their societal biases would be different as would their possible health issues.

This leads to me believe that we might view a person outwardly as being a woman, but being a biological woman or a trans woman leads to different sets of life experiences that would likely have significant influences on a person's worldview, modes of communication, hobbies, interests etc.

I'd say that a trans woman is a "woman" now, but in not having lived as a girl or young woman that she is a trans woman. In the same way that a (biological) woman is not and never will be a trans woman.

This hits like a false dichotomy.

There are lots of things I "hate" that take nothing from me. Love Island for example. I don't watch it, never have, but occasionally catch an advert for it or shows like it. At which point my blood boils and I usually have to hit the mute button while I mock the 2.3 seconds of the voice I just heard out loud until the ceremony has concluded. I immediately forget the whole event once my program comes on.

Doesn't mean I'm trying to hold some special power over Love Island (except for the mute button). Also doesn't mean I don't acknowledge the seriousness of the discussion around feminism. Just means that some men want to 'hate' the things they don't care for. Not wanting to join a debate doesn't mean you don't care for the topic just might mean you'd rather put your energy elsewhere.