Hello Steve QJ et.al. I’ve wandered over from Medium and at the risk of making a controversial first impression - isn’t this assumed now? I don’t even know anymore. Yesterday’s controversial is today’s championed and tomorrow’s who knows? For my part, I wish to ask an honest question of the assembled collective wisdom re: trans activism…
Hello Steve QJ et.al. I’ve wandered over from Medium and at the risk of making a controversial first impression - isn’t this assumed now? I don’t even know anymore. Yesterday’s controversial is today’s championed and tomorrow’s who knows? For my part, I wish to ask an honest question of the assembled collective wisdom re: trans activism. My question is this “Does it not seem to you that radical trans activism seems like it was devised by true misogynists to undermine feminism?” Like a trolling got rolling and ended up morphing into, well, into something else. This is something that occurs to me as I’ve tried to make sense of it all.
“Does it not seem to you that radical trans activism seems like it was devised by true misogynists to undermine feminism?"
Hi Brian! Welcome! Hmm, I don't know about this. I tend not to ascribe conscious motivation to social movements. There is undeniably a great deal of misogyny to be found in trans activist/ally circles. But was trans activism *devised* for this purpose? Are males undergoing gender reassignment surgery, and facing significant amounts of abuse and discrimination, because they want to undermine feminism? Do females who transition share this aim?
I think gender dysphoria is a real condition, I think "trans identity" has become a trendy form of rebellion for teenagers, many (most?) of whom don't actually have gender dysphoria, and I think "queer theory, which is a kind of postmodernism for sexuality and sexual identity, is a dangerous, regressive ideology which stands to do great harm to women and children.
I think to do justice to this debate we need to find a way to tease these elements apart. I believe that people with gender dysphoria are suffering and need help and support. I believe this support shouldn't come at the expense of women's rights and safety. I believe the safeguards and boundaries we've built up to protect women and children should be modified with extraordinary caution, if at all.
People like Jared are ideologues. There's no actually thought happening there. Just mindless repetition of nonsensical, emotionally manipulative talking points in the hopes that the person he's speaking to is too timid or too unfamiliar with the topic to push back. But honestly, I don't think he even understands how misogynistic and creepy he is. I think he genuinely believes he's fighting the good fight. Probably because he was brainwashed by somebody when *he* was too unfamiliar or timid to push back.
Thanks for the response. I didn’t mean to actually suggest the entire trans movement is illegitimate or based on nothing more than this. My views on the matter are probably best captured in the work of Debra Soh. The End of Gender. I worked in youth mental health for 30 years and agree 100% that gender is dysphoria is real. For the same reason I know the contagion factor is huge and does not reflect true dysphoria. My target is much smaller; the sharp end of the stick only. One example, an activist in Toronto - sorry I offer no links - who pursued a complaint through the Ontario Human Rights Commission based on a body waxing salon’s refusal to wax the individuals male genitalia because she was in fact a woman - via self identification. The staff at the salon held beliefs that included it being forbidden to handle genitals other than their husbands. What is acheived by this other than deliberately gaming the legal system seeking precedent and notoriety?
I look forward to hanging out, reading and sharing when I have something worth offering.
Hello Steve QJ et.al. I’ve wandered over from Medium and at the risk of making a controversial first impression - isn’t this assumed now? I don’t even know anymore. Yesterday’s controversial is today’s championed and tomorrow’s who knows? For my part, I wish to ask an honest question of the assembled collective wisdom re: trans activism. My question is this “Does it not seem to you that radical trans activism seems like it was devised by true misogynists to undermine feminism?” Like a trolling got rolling and ended up morphing into, well, into something else. This is something that occurs to me as I’ve tried to make sense of it all.
Thoughts?
“Does it not seem to you that radical trans activism seems like it was devised by true misogynists to undermine feminism?"
Hi Brian! Welcome! Hmm, I don't know about this. I tend not to ascribe conscious motivation to social movements. There is undeniably a great deal of misogyny to be found in trans activist/ally circles. But was trans activism *devised* for this purpose? Are males undergoing gender reassignment surgery, and facing significant amounts of abuse and discrimination, because they want to undermine feminism? Do females who transition share this aim?
I think gender dysphoria is a real condition, I think "trans identity" has become a trendy form of rebellion for teenagers, many (most?) of whom don't actually have gender dysphoria, and I think "queer theory, which is a kind of postmodernism for sexuality and sexual identity, is a dangerous, regressive ideology which stands to do great harm to women and children.
Here's a video on the dangers of queer theory: https://youtu.be/Cb3-tlyuhVo
I think to do justice to this debate we need to find a way to tease these elements apart. I believe that people with gender dysphoria are suffering and need help and support. I believe this support shouldn't come at the expense of women's rights and safety. I believe the safeguards and boundaries we've built up to protect women and children should be modified with extraordinary caution, if at all.
People like Jared are ideologues. There's no actually thought happening there. Just mindless repetition of nonsensical, emotionally manipulative talking points in the hopes that the person he's speaking to is too timid or too unfamiliar with the topic to push back. But honestly, I don't think he even understands how misogynistic and creepy he is. I think he genuinely believes he's fighting the good fight. Probably because he was brainwashed by somebody when *he* was too unfamiliar or timid to push back.
Thanks for the response. I didn’t mean to actually suggest the entire trans movement is illegitimate or based on nothing more than this. My views on the matter are probably best captured in the work of Debra Soh. The End of Gender. I worked in youth mental health for 30 years and agree 100% that gender is dysphoria is real. For the same reason I know the contagion factor is huge and does not reflect true dysphoria. My target is much smaller; the sharp end of the stick only. One example, an activist in Toronto - sorry I offer no links - who pursued a complaint through the Ontario Human Rights Commission based on a body waxing salon’s refusal to wax the individuals male genitalia because she was in fact a woman - via self identification. The staff at the salon held beliefs that included it being forbidden to handle genitals other than their husbands. What is acheived by this other than deliberately gaming the legal system seeking precedent and notoriety?
I look forward to hanging out, reading and sharing when I have something worth offering.
I believe you're thinking of Jessica "Wax My Lady Balls" Yaniv: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Yaniv
That’s the gal. I had the wrong province. Thanks for the link.
You're welcome.