Just posted this in Miscellany, but seems appropriate here.
I didn’t read all of this article about the potpourri of laws coming out of Florida, but this bit struck me:
A case in point: 11-year-old Cooper Solomon and his mother, Jennifer, a nurse. Cooper, who attends a Miami elementary school, was born male and identifies as male but his gender expression is female, which means “he’s a boy who likes girl things,” Solomon told me. He wears dresses. He is “happy, healthy and successful in school,” she says.
He also feels welcomed, she notes. The day she read the class a book called “Jacob’s New Dress,” hands shot up in the air and one classmate shouted, “That’s like Cooper.” No biggie — “It was normalized,” Solomon says.
So Cooper likes wearing dresses? Good for him! And his classmates are accepting of it? Even better! No one should be subject to bullying just because they prefer to wear unconventional clothes.
But why not tell the kids “Cooper’s a boy. And it’s ok for boys to wear dresses. Dresses aren’t ‘girl things’, they’re ‘people things’. Just like dolls and toy cars and pink and blue.”?
Also, what is this cartoon supposed to mean? You don’t know that you’re really female until you try the dress? So maybe the little girl really is female, after all; if only she would put on the dress, she would get a gender euphoria orgasm, just like her father.
Doesn’t this go against the whole trans dogma of “you just know”? And it really smacks of coaching?
The logic of the comic is mind-numbingly bad. The dad, representing nasty sceptics of gender theory, apparently never thought to wonder whether he was a man or a woman. All it took was a single suggestion to bring his entire position crashing down. This closely mirrors the self-flattering conceit many religious apologists have regarding atheists: all they have to do is mention how wonderful Jesus is, perhaps throw in a parable and a Pascal’s wager, and the atheist will convert! Somehow, we’ve managed to go our entire lives without even considering the question.
Meanwhile, the unicorn represents all that is wrong with Labelle’s art. Each front leg is drastically different from the other, each back leg is drastically different from the other, those aren’t hooves, the neck is tiny, and above all, look at that fucking face. I like to think the person replying with “The grin on that unicorn!” agrees with me on that last, but is choosing to be subtle.
Seriously though, have you ever tried to get a dress on a transboy? It’s like trying to make the wrong ends of two magnets touch or something. Nightmare.
in which one of the major characters is a man who prefers wearing ‘feminine’ clothing. At no point does he or anyone else suggest that he must actually be ‘she’.
Catwhisperer, my mother would have had that dress on her. The same way she got dresses on me. She ordered me to wear them and I obeyed so she wouldn’t beat me half to death. It’s a lousy way to go, and I almost never wear dresses now; once in a while a skirt if I’m in the mood to feel it swishing against my legs. But pants are much more practical and comfortable.
Just posted this in Miscellany, but seems appropriate here.
I didn’t read all of this article about the potpourri of laws coming out of Florida, but this bit struck me:
So Cooper likes wearing dresses? Good for him! And his classmates are accepting of it? Even better! No one should be subject to bullying just because they prefer to wear unconventional clothes.
But why not tell the kids “Cooper’s a boy. And it’s ok for boys to wear dresses. Dresses aren’t ‘girl things’, they’re ‘people things’. Just like dolls and toy cars and pink and blue.”?
@1, because that would INVALIDATE all the millions of transwomen whose whole claim to being female is wearing dresses, see?
And I STILL snort & laugh every time I see the name “Sophie Labelle” now, ever since you (Ophelia) reminded me of what it means.
Self-flatter in Frrrench.
Also, what is this cartoon supposed to mean? You don’t know that you’re really female until you try the dress? So maybe the little girl really is female, after all; if only she would put on the dress, she would get a gender euphoria orgasm, just like her father.
Doesn’t this go against the whole trans dogma of “you just know”? And it really smacks of coaching?
Clearly “Dad” is a woman, and has always been a woman, but
heshe didn’t know, or more likely was repressing it all these years.GW@5, the guy who draws the cartoon certainly isn’t known for his powers of logic.
That unicorn looks deranged. Are they “smashing the binary” or reinforcing it?
The logic of the comic is mind-numbingly bad. The dad, representing nasty sceptics of gender theory, apparently never thought to wonder whether he was a man or a woman. All it took was a single suggestion to bring his entire position crashing down. This closely mirrors the self-flattering conceit many religious apologists have regarding atheists: all they have to do is mention how wonderful Jesus is, perhaps throw in a parable and a Pascal’s wager, and the atheist will convert! Somehow, we’ve managed to go our entire lives without even considering the question.
Meanwhile, the unicorn represents all that is wrong with Labelle’s art. Each front leg is drastically different from the other, each back leg is drastically different from the other, those aren’t hooves, the neck is tiny, and above all, look at that fucking face. I like to think the person replying with “The grin on that unicorn!” agrees with me on that last, but is choosing to be subtle.
Seriously though, have you ever tried to get a dress on a transboy? It’s like trying to make the wrong ends of two magnets touch or something. Nightmare.
There is a long running webcomic
http://skin-horse.com/
in which one of the major characters is a man who prefers wearing ‘feminine’ clothing. At no point does he or anyone else suggest that he must actually be ‘she’.
Catwhisperer, my mother would have had that dress on her. The same way she got dresses on me. She ordered me to wear them and I obeyed so she wouldn’t beat me half to death. It’s a lousy way to go, and I almost never wear dresses now; once in a while a skirt if I’m in the mood to feel it swishing against my legs. But pants are much more practical and comfortable.