A 69-year-old man asks to be declared 49, claiming age is as fluid as gender
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Source: The Washington Post
In the quixotic battle against old age, some people use skin care and spin class.
Thats not enough for Emile Ratelband, a 69-year-old who feels like hes in his 40s. The Dutch pensioner is asking a court in his hometown of Arnhem, southeast of Amsterdam, to change his birth certificate so that it says he took his first breath on March 11, 1969, rather than on March 11, 1949. The judges heard his case on Monday and promised they would render a verdict in the next several weeks.
Ratelband sees his request as no different from a petition to change his name or the gender he was assigned at birth and isnt bothered that this comparison might offend transgender people, whose medical needs have been recognized by the American Medical Association. It comes down to free will, he maintains.
Because nowadays, in Europe and in the United States, we are free people, he said in an interview with The Washington Post. We can make our own decisions if we want to change our name, or if we want to change our gender. So I want to change my age. My feeling about my body and about my mind is that Im about 40 or 45.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/nation/2018/11/08/year-old-man-asks-be-declared-claiming-age-is-fluid-gender/?__twitter_impression=true&noredirect=on
exboyfil
(17,862 posts)to reaching 35 years of decent income. Working additional years will not improve my Social Security check much. Can I declare that I am 70 and retire? How about my 51 year old wife. Can she be 65 to qualify for Medicare?
JDC
(10,127 posts)So he can go to bars? Life does have some absolutes.
*typo
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)cstanleytech
(26,290 posts)the Marvel Universe.
zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)Age is something other people think about you, not what you think about yourself.
What he is really arguing is our tendency to use age for arbitrary purposes. This isn't the first time this has been argued in court, just a different argument. Voting age, drinking age, drivers license, retirement age, medicare, SS benefits, the list goes on and on and have often been challenged in court for the arbitrary nature of it.
But a cute approach I'll give 'em that.
Maeve
(42,282 posts)It can be changed (but for identification purposes, needs to be documented). Your gender is both physical and societal--genetalia is not always binary and there is other evidence that supports a more fluid definition than I care to go into at this time.
But age is purely objective. You can claim to be any age you want, but the historical record begs to differ.
appalachiablue
(41,131 posts)He's being discriminated against on dating sites. Thinks he can date younger, work longer, if not 69. Lol.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/08/dutch-man-69-starts-legal-fight-to-identify-as-20-years-younger
Ratelbandwho is a media personality and motivational speaker in the Netherlandsis hoping the younger version of himself will also have better luck in other areas of life, not just online dating. When I'm 69, I am limited, he explained. 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, Ratelband told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. When I'm 49, with the face I have, I will be in a luxurious position.
Ratelband is confident his body can live up to his new age if the judge decides to make him younger. He and told De Telegraaf he has the physique of a 45-year-old, describing himself as a young god.
He admitted potential dates might be skeptical of his age when they saw him in the flesh, but is confident he can smooth-talk his way out of any awkwardness. Maybe they say, You have weak muscles for 49 years. And then I say, But not that one, you know.'
Nowhere are you so discriminated against as with your age, he suggested.
'Young God' https://www.newsweek.com/69-year-old-young-god-sues-lower-age-20-years-we-can-change-genderwhy-cant-i-1206922
TexasBushwhacker
(20,185 posts)Looks like hell for "49". I date men I meet online. They lie about their age as much as women do.
tymorial
(3,433 posts)He said having his age lowered would help him get dates on tinder.
Yeah...
ToxMarz
(2,166 posts)tymorial
(3,433 posts)FreepFryer
(7,077 posts)klook
(12,154 posts)Suddenly you're only 1/4 as old!
I have to say, after looking at this idiot's picture, he doesn't look a day over 71. Certainly not 49!
Obviously a publicity stunt to drum up business for his crappy self-help enterprise.
rzemanfl
(29,557 posts)IronLionZion
(45,433 posts)you can't change when you were born
Cold War Spook
(1,279 posts)Like the US, they are raising the age you can get it. Let him be 40 and he will probably be dead before collecting. Of course if he can do it then anyone can
Oneironaut
(5,493 posts)Its no different than writing stories about people marrying lamps, with the subtext that its loosely related to gay marriage. Im tired of writers who think that theyre being sneaky and cute with this garbage.
BlueStater
(7,596 posts)malthaussen
(17,193 posts)Basically, the State should only withhold rights if there is an overriding social need fulfilled thereby. In the case of gender identity, it is hard to see any such overriding need. But many privileges are age-linked, so there could be advantage secured to the individual by claiming an age other than chronological. It could be argued that there is an overriding social need to prohibit this.
-- Mal
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)Not important news of national interest. Please post your article in the General Discussions Forum or the Weird News Group