The fluid nature of gender norms

One of the fault lines in the "Culture War" concerns the issue of transgender rights. It's one that affects me personally, albeit indirectly. One of my mother's brothers transitioned to be my new aunt a few years ago, and one of my high school girlfriends has a spouse who is now transgender.

I can understand how it can make people uncomfortable. Most people, I think, just want things to be the same as when they were young. Douglas Adams identified this principle as it related to technology; I think it applies to social conventions as well. Since my own perceptions are shaped by how *I* grew up, I try not to get too wrapped up in how other people behave. After all, if we go back a century before I was born, we can find practices that seem very strange.

For example, this is Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1884, before he was "breeched." [Source] My first thought was, "He's dressed like a girl!" But that perception is a product in how I was raised.

Perhaps a better understanding is "young boys and girls were not dressed differently." I'm not sure why they did things that way, but it might have had to do with the intricacies of changing diapers back then.

In any case, it's a reminder that our perceptions of normal gender behavior are highly ephemeral, and often based entirely on the way *we* were raised.