I suppose that's fair (though I disagree with it) -- I wasn't being critical of those who are transgendered in any way. I am also speaking from the lens of my own experience, which may clearly differ from those of others. I don't choose for my views to be narrow-minded, and am in fact very open to people of all sorts, I just can't relate, and attempted to proffer justification as to why I couldn't.

I of course wouldn't want to personally be in a situation where I were beaten bloody, nor would I want to be oppressed or invite harm upon myself just to experience the other side of things. Again, I don't discount the plight of the author; I am just thankful that I don't have to live through those experiences myself, and am not personally aware of anyone who has.

Does this narrow my world view? Perhaps. But just as I can't personally relate to the plight of the Jews in Nazi Germany, that doesn't mean that I would choose to be hunted / murdered / massacred for the sake of being able to. I acknowledge that what happened there was "Very Bad", and am also able to scope my understanding as to know that nobody that wasn't there will likely fully understand the hell they went through.

Thanks for the explanation of the downvote. I obviously disagree with it as I didn't intend any malice in my post (and was in fact just stating my opinion), but c'est la vie.