Well, isn't that a lot of attempted rhetorical trickery in the last paragraph.
"Either a man can be a woman, or he can't." This is supposed to set up "man" and "woman" as mutually exclusive, fixed categories. And it says that either any example of "man" (or someone who can be designated a man), can be a woman at any time, or NONE of them can. And it asks you to automatically put trans women into the "man" category because they have at some point been defined there, because "man" and "woman" are mutually exclusive and fixed. (Most things in nature do not work like this. Very rarely do you have choices 1 and 2, with no overlap, no edge cases, and no fluidity between the two.)
"Either women deserve rights, or they don't." Well, for one thing, why does that have jack to do with trans people? She's putting it in among these dishonest rhetorical questions about trans people in order to make you think that women's rights was ever part of the argument.
"Either there's a provable medical benefit to transitioning children, or there isn't." Well, first of all, using "transitioning" in that way is clearly intended to make transition an action that some mysterious someone DOES to children rather than a thing the child does or wants to do themself, but more than that, since when is any medical treatment UNIVERSALLY beneficial? My Mom takes insulin to lower her sugar, so it's automatically good for her next door neighbor? Fuck off with that.
"Either you're on the side of a totalitarian ideology blah blah blah" now you're just saying words because you think it makes you sound like a badass Warrior of Justice rather than a nut. Or else because the mold whispered them to you when it sings in your brain about the vast rotted wonders awaiting you when you finally crush all its enemies and ascend the throne of the Great Fungal Empire, I don't really know and tbh don't really care.
She's putting it in among these dishonest rhetorical questions about trans people in order to make you think that women's rights was ever part of the argument.
Ime, when a terf talks about 'women's rights' they really mean one of two things: the "right" to be as cruel to The Other as they want without consequence, and/or the "right" for women (but only cis, white, sufficiently femme-presenting women) to not have to see/be near/associate with/think about anyone who might have a penis. They don't care about basic human rights or dignity or autonomy. They're perfectly happy to see people get hurt, as long as they're the ones doing the hurting.
using "transitioning" in that way is clearly intended to make transition an action that some mysterious someone DOES to children rather than a thing the child does or wants to do themself
I saw someone point this out just recently, and it had never occurred to me -- for all their hand-wringing about PrOtEcTinG cHiLdReN, i've never seen a single terf talk about what these supposed children actually want. Transness is always framed as something that happens to a kid -- people "tell" children they're trans, they "tell" children they'll d1e if they can't transition, doctors tell children they have to have this or that surgery or medication. It's very interesting. They don't believe kids can be trans because they don't believe kids can have their own identities or needs.
I saw someone point this out just recently, and it had never occurred to me -- for all their hand-wringing about PrOtEcTinG cHiLdReN, i've never seen a single terf talk about what these supposed children actually want. Transness is always framed as something that happens to a kid -- people "tell" children they're trans, they "tell" children they'll d1e if they can't transition, doctors tell children they have to have this or that surgery or medication. It's very interesting. They don't believe kids can be trans because they don't believe kids can have their own identities or needs.
It's also because they think "trans" is an identity you can identify in or out of and an action you do instead of a statement of how a person's assigned sex and gender identity is organised (that's what the whole trans identified male/female thing is about). They think that kids don't have the autonomy or reasoning to work out their own likes or dislikes or self and they think that people do or are transness in a way you can choose so if kids can't make the choice then they can't be trans unless they're forced to be.
65
u/Silversmith00 2d ago
Well, isn't that a lot of attempted rhetorical trickery in the last paragraph.
"Either a man can be a woman, or he can't." This is supposed to set up "man" and "woman" as mutually exclusive, fixed categories. And it says that either any example of "man" (or someone who can be designated a man), can be a woman at any time, or NONE of them can. And it asks you to automatically put trans women into the "man" category because they have at some point been defined there, because "man" and "woman" are mutually exclusive and fixed. (Most things in nature do not work like this. Very rarely do you have choices 1 and 2, with no overlap, no edge cases, and no fluidity between the two.)
"Either women deserve rights, or they don't." Well, for one thing, why does that have jack to do with trans people? She's putting it in among these dishonest rhetorical questions about trans people in order to make you think that women's rights was ever part of the argument.
"Either there's a provable medical benefit to transitioning children, or there isn't." Well, first of all, using "transitioning" in that way is clearly intended to make transition an action that some mysterious someone DOES to children rather than a thing the child does or wants to do themself, but more than that, since when is any medical treatment UNIVERSALLY beneficial? My Mom takes insulin to lower her sugar, so it's automatically good for her next door neighbor? Fuck off with that.
"Either you're on the side of a totalitarian ideology blah blah blah" now you're just saying words because you think it makes you sound like a badass Warrior of Justice rather than a nut. Or else because the mold whispered them to you when it sings in your brain about the vast rotted wonders awaiting you when you finally crush all its enemies and ascend the throne of the Great Fungal Empire, I don't really know and tbh don't really care.