system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Transgenders only enforce gender stereotypes.

I try not to be bigoted, and I'd really like to open my mind to this, especially as my cousin begins his HRT. I'm a strong liberal, but I believe the concept of transgender individuals is tied strongly to the concept of gender roles. Why bother changing your gender, or identifying as a different one, if they are equal? Dysphoria is a real issue, but that's purely psychological. If someone truly believed man = woman, then why would they feel the need to be one or the other. Men can wear make up, nail polish, dresses, suits, high heels, and be nurturing. Women can do the same. When I was little, they called me a tomboy. I prefer video games and basketball to shopping. I don't doubt I'm a woman, because I've seen myself in the mirror. Gender isn't real, sex is. You were born male or female (or the medical anomaly of intersex), and it doesn't change a thing, and neither will changing what's in your pants.
With that said, I know this is a touchy subject, and I genuinely don't mean to offend, only to educate myself.


EDIT: I'd say my view has been successfully changed, though I'm still interested in learning more about the non-cis thought processes and what it's like being trans in today's society.
gpt
Gender identity =/= gender roles. 

**Gender roles** are OBVIOUSLY cultural and changeable, we know for a fact about historical male clothing styles that are feminine by modern standards, there is nothing inherently masculine or feminine about calling yourself "Andrea", (masculine name in Italy, feminine in most of Europe), and there are stereotypical emotions, skills, or behaviors that changed gender associations over time. 

**Gender identity** is based on a neurological basis, with your brain attempting to map your body, and most of the time matching your biological sex. When it's not, people tend to signal that to the outside world from a young age, by changing gender roled first. 

There are transwomen gamers, tomboys, transwomen lesbians, and the reverse applies for transmen. If these appear rare, that might be because: 

1. You would be hard-pressed to recognize one: a trans woman who happens to be short-haired, flat-chested, into masculine hobbies, and into women, might appear to be your average bro, whether or not they decided to go through sex-reassignment surgery.

2. If they want to go through with it, they might be expected to signal being transgender by their doctor, by their family, and surroundings. If by all appearances you are a long-haired woman in makeup a dress who suddenly declares that actually he is an effeminate gay man in makeup and a dress, and would feel more comfortable with some dangly bits, the required screenings as well as your social acceptance, would be a lot harder, with more accusations of frivolity. 

For better or worse, traditional gender roles signal our identity to the rest of the world. For a long time this meant signaling our assigned sex. Recently, we have started understanding gender dysphoria, so it's used to signal gender identity regardless of assigned sex. Maybe on a long term we would be better off with no gender roles at all, but for now, they are a fact of life.