A couple of FB rants part 2 - Transphobes arguments are utter crap
Following up on my earlier post, I wanted to talk about why most anti-transgender arguments are either outright lies, unfair comparisons or else subtly require trans people to stop existing (or stop existing in public) for other people's comfort/convenience.
Outright lies
No, children are not being forced/encouraged into taking hormones or having surgery.
No, the NHS has not banned the term 'mother'.
No, no cases of trans people assaulting women in toilets have been reported.
No, cisgender does NOT mean you are completely comfortable living in a sexist misogynist society, it just means not-trans.
No, cisgender does NOT mean you conform to expected gender roles, presentation, stereotypes, it just means not-trans.
Unfair comparisons
If something is ok for a cis woman, it should be ok for a trans woman.
Some trans women care about hair, makeup and clothes, JUST like some cis women. This does not mean they are 'only transitioning for trivial reasons'.
Some trans women do not care about hair, makeup and clothes, JUST like some cis women. This does not mean they are not 'serious about transitioning'.
Some trans women are loud and confrontational - this does not mean that they have 'male socialisation'.
Some trans women are quite and demure - this does not mean they are reinforcing gender stereotypes.
Just like cis women - some trans women are LGB or straight, some trans women are kinky or vanilla, some trans women are sex workers, some trans women are radical or conservative, some are attractive or ugly, some are charming or reserved. Things that are ok for cis women are ok for trans women.
Just like cis women - some trans women are violent, some trans women are abusive, some trans women are criminal - things that are bad when done by cis women are NOT worse when done by trans women.
Same applies to trans men and NB people but the transphobes, including transphobic feminists seems to particularly have their knives out for trans women.
"Have you considered just not being trans?"
You hear variations on this from conservative/religious organisations including the Pope and also from non-trans-inclusive feminist organisaions. Have trans people really thought about the option of not being trans or staying in the closet? Have they consider how confusing/upsetting/inconvenient it is?
Yes, I can pretty much guarantee they have considered it.
We live in a transphobic world that punishes gender non-conformance violently. People transition because despite the pushback, despite the risks of violence, rejection, unemployment, eviction, they still feel living in their right gender is better than staying closeted. The cost to cis people of accepting trans people in their actual gender is so much less than the cost to trans people of transitioning and living honestly.
And as noted above, if a trans person does something wrong, rude, bad, abusive, criminal - it is not better or worse because they are trans.
"You can be trans but just don't do it in these place - toilets, locker rooms, domestic violence services, in public, at work, around children."
Telling trans people they cannot use public toilets without fear of violence means they cannot be out in public. Telling trans people they cannot use DV services INCREASES their already high risk of DV abuse. Telling trans people that they cannot exist is TRANSPHOBIA.