This day and age people are encouraged to perceive whatever they believe as being true, to be reality. The article I found covered a man in Denmark who was seeking to legally change his age from 69, to 49. Removing 20 years from his actual age. I assume most people would read this and immediately see this as preposterous. “Of course someone can’t change their age, that doesn’t even make sense”. But if stop and consider for a second what people used to consider impossible not too long ago, changing ones gender, we now see as quite common today. The man from the articles name is Emile Ratelband, and his reasons for wanting to alter his age are not far from attracting sympathy. Emile claims he feels discriminated against and that his age affects his ability to find employment and affects his success on Tinder. Emile states, “When I’m 69, I am limited. If I’m 49, then I can buy a new house, drive a different car. I can take up more work… When I’m on Tinder and it says I’m 69, I don’t get an answer. When I’m 49, with the face I have, I will be in a luxurious position.”
Stepping past the Tinder issue right now, the claims of age discrimination in employment and financial accessibility are quite understandable. It is in most Western constitutions that someone cannot be discriminated against based on their age, it definitely is the Danish constitution, and yet it still happens. As Emile argues, we do live in a time where people can change their names and genders, so why not age? If gender is totally based around the idea of how one perceives themselves and how one feels and best identifies as, it would makes sense, arguing from the same logic that if an older person feels younger than they really are, as Emile does, then they should be allowed to determine that for themselves their age.
Our society today is built around moralistic ideological deism. This refers to the cultural acceptance of the behaviors associated with individuals doing whatever feels right in a society. If it feels right, it is right. If it feels good, physically, emotionally, or mentally then it is also morally good and acceptable. In order for this to be applicable however, a society would also have to experience a shift towards individualism within its morals, as to say as long as your choices and actions do not affect anyone else negatively, they are considered morally acceptable. To justify my view that our society has shifted in that direction- In 1935 the percent of men who saw premarital sex as alright was 11% and women 10%. In 2016 only 26 percent of adults, men and women, saw premarital sex as morally wrong. Support for gay and lesbian relations and acceptance of homosexual behavior increased by 23% in 16 years equaling 63% in 2017. The moral acceptance of divorce has raised to 73% and and smoking marijuana is the highest its ever been at 65%.
These factors are evidence that the attitudes of Americans suggests a shift towards whatever feels right to an individual is right. Peoples choices to change their gender and how they identify is directly correlated with societies now predominate views of individualistic morality. Though people may believe they are a different gender than how they were assigned at birth, I am not claiming that it is wrong to do so, or decide they are non-binary, it is totally seen as an individuals choice and thus morally acceptable. This logic and way of thinking can thus be applied to Emile and his desire to change his age. If age is just a human construct no different than gender, based upon past human interpretations of what counts as time, i.e. years, months, days, then it should be allowed to be up to the person. If they feel 30 then they should be allowed to identify as 30, if they feel 49- it is an individualistic choice that doesn’t affect the well being of others — then they can identify as 49. The point I am making however is that even if someone believes they are non-binary, transgender, or a different age that does not necessarily make it true. Even if at this point the entire world were to believe that a persons gender or sexuality is totally dependent upon their personal feelings, and that if they determine they are any form of LGBTQI or non-binary that it is true, no matter what anyone believes, that does not equate to reality. People believing something is true, would only make it true within our perceived metanarrative. As far as actual reality is concerned however, believing something is one way, does not affect its reality, and therefor believing something to be true, does not make it a reality.
