The academic mission of testing controversial opinions
Kathleen got my attention.
So I had to read the explainer to see if it’s all that bad. It’s all that bad and worse. It doesn’t read like grown-up university policy writing at all, it reads like homework.
How it’s filed:
Home > Equality, Diversity and Inclusion > Student EDI Learning Resources > Learn More > Trans and/or non-binary > What is Transphobia?
The definition:
Transphobia is the hatred, fear, disbelief, or mistrust of trans and gender non-conforming people.
Key word there – disbelief. If we don’t believe every single thing a self-declared trans person tells us about xirself, we are transphobic.
That’s telling, because it’s not generally part of the definition of misogyny or sexism or racism or homophobia or contempt for the working class. Belief doesn’t generally come into it, because it’s all a matter of “you are a woman / a person of color / not straight / a worker and therefore you are beneath me and deserving of persecution.” In this context trans is radically different, because it’s not about “beneath me,” it’s about truth. We’re required to believe, and if we can’t we are branded as “transphobic” and thus beneath everyone and deserving of persecution.
To the explaining part:
Trans and non-binary people have always existed within all societies and there are documented instances from at least 4500 years ago.
Nonsense. People have messed around with gender in various ways probably forever, but being what is called “trans” or “non-binary” is a new invention.
In recent years, however, there has been a resurgence of transphobia in the mainstream and social media, which has fuelled increased transphobic hate incidents in society…This increased transphobia been particularly severe for trans women, who have been the target of high-profile, celebrity campaigns that deny the trans experience and deliberately suggest trans women pose a threat to cis women by distorting statistics of male violence to imply it is a characteristic of trans women.
Nobody “denies the trans experience.” That’s fatuous. We don’t know what goes on in other people’s heads, and that’s the end of it. What we deny (or question or doubt or analyze) is the claim that people can be literally the other sex because that’s what they feel like in their heads. I, for one, don’t believe that feelings in the head can change one’s body to the other sex. I can’t believe it. I can mouth the words (but I refuse to), but I can’t actually believe it. That’s not denying anyone’s experience, it’s being aware that there’s a material world outside people’s heads and that thoughts aren’t magic.
And we don’t “deliberately suggest” that trans women pose a threat to women, we say very clearly that we can’t know which trans women will be violent toward us and which won’t. We don’t “distort statistics of male violence to imply it is a characteristic of trans women,” we say very clearly that male violence is male violence and we can’t tell in advance which males will indulge in it.
There’s more, but you get the idea.
They’re doing it again.
First they stick “transgender” in with “same-sex attraction” in order to pretend it’s all on the same continuum.
Then they couple “transgender” with “gender nonconformity “ in order to pretend they’re the same thing.
If I don’t believe a man who has a “female gender identity” is a woman (or female,) then I believe they’re gender-nonconforming. It’s either/or.
The direct analogue for this in say, race, would be if a person told you they were black and that if you did not believe them, that makes you a racist. Which is not a thing that happens. Yet again, TRAs want to carve out a special rule for themselves.
It’s the subtle art of conflation.
If a bloke with male genitalia and male birth assignment wants to dress as a woman and use women’s restrooms, then a good way is for him to open with a bluff aimed at those who would run a mile before standing up for whatever principles they might call their own.
So it gets hooked onto religious belief, freedom of thought, the first, second or whatever amendment, freedom of artistic expression…. Just about anything will do. Animal rights, even. The conflating hooker might get himself a female Afghan hound and loudly maintain that said hound’s Islamic beliefs will not allow her into the mens’ dunny under any circumstances.
That should get the determined conflating hooker into the womens’ rest room. After that, his male anatomical features can be employed to take control of it. Lots of fun and have a nice day.
It is however true that race is a fuzzy and contested category, and that there can be disagreements over who is what and if it matters and all that. See for instance the “one drop” rule.
Omar, for those of us who might be confused, please explain whether or not you meant the rugby player when you said ‘hooker’.
Omar, never mind. I just re-read it again, and this time realise you were referring to the idea of trans being ‘hooked’ onto other beliefs. Third time lucky? Or am I just tired?
I have disbelief about many things, maybe this “phobia” or whatever disorder it is will make it into the DSM 6. Then again it may just be a symptom of my dementophobia, that usually covers the spectrum. :P
@Omar #3
male birth assignment
Really?
tigger @#6:
In my school days, which came to an end a few years back, Rugby Union was compulsory winter sport unless you were good enough at tennis to make the grade team in the inter-school competition. So I was always for some reason assigned the position of hooker, or else second-rower, and spent a good part of my youth having my ears rubbed off in those bloody scrums. A scrum would always be called by the ref the moment play got interesting.
As a result, I have acquired a lifelong aversion to Rugby Union, and cannot stand the sight of any game of it, even on TV. If I was Dictator of Australia, it would be banned outright, coast to coast. If I was Dictator of the World, it would be banned globally: even as far as Mars and beyond, and with draconian penalties for any infringements. I could go on.
That said, I like watching a game of Rugby League, or better still, Aussie Rules, live or on the TV. At school, they let us play ONE game of Rules; In four years. It was the one and only game of football I have ever enjoyed as a player. That syllabus requirement being filled, it was back to the bloody scrums.
So any interpretation of ‘hooker’ other than Rugby bloody Union will do. Hope this helps.
Colin @#8:
?
(I believe all medical courses these days include information to assist practitioners identify which of the 2 possible biological sexes a newborn belongs to. Further details on request. ;-)
Well they’ve got me on the “distrust” thing… I don’t fully trust anyone who believes their own lies about themselves and expects me to do likewise.