Gender dysphoria and transition

I told you that Cassius suffers from gender dysphoria, and wants to transition to life as a woman. When Cassius told me this in our long phone call, he said, "I don't know what you think about these things," and I said I hadn't thought about them much.

But in fact I had already thought about them some, and these days I am thinking about them more. Since these are general philosophical topics rather than strictly personal ones, I'm posting them over on the Patio. I start with this post here, and then proceed with the next few posts after that.