Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Are they though?
… the part that gets me is how much disputed stuff just slides by as obvious, assumed knowledge and common perspective, things that “everyone” supposedly thinks.
And all the stuff we’re supposed to let slide, in the interests of Not Being Seen to be Siding With Fascists on Anything:
Whatever your views are about the metaphysics of sex and gender, or about trans persons in sports or prisons, or about what kinds of medical care trans youth should have—topics which are difficult and about which it’s not unreasonable to have various views….
But nobody is supposed to voice these views, or question the genderist staus quo, so as not to be giving aid and comfort to the enemy, or agreeing with them that the sky is indeed blue. But if none of these questions were askable under non-Trump conditions because of the “vulnerable, marginalized” plight of the LGB T “community”, then silence and compliance is the only permitted response, however “not unreasonable” it is to have “various views.” Consequently, we’re still stuck in “NO DEBATE!”
The part that interests me here is the “suffering of trans persons” bit.
How much are they suffering, really? Do we know it’s a huge amount? Do we know they’re all in psychic agony all the time?
Given The Never-ending Story of medicalized Gender Journeys, I wouldn’t doubt that there is suffering, but much of it is likely self-inflicted by surrendering oneself to the Gender-Industrial Complex. The continual need for the next procedure, the failure to reach an impossible destination, the disappointment in discovering that “gender-affirming care” does not solve all of the problems and co-morbidities that it had no hope of addressing, any failure to pass despite extreme body modification, distress at predictable pushback against trans demands, and yes, likely some amount of actual prejudice and bigotry. So suffering galore is quite plausible. Anti-trans pogroms and trans genocide? No.
Look at the degree to which the trans “community” marginalizes, or rather isolates, itself. The promotion of suicidal ideation and paranoia amongst its own members. Gender ghouls promoting going “no contact” with families, or being enticed to join an online “rainbow family”. The demonization of talk therapy that might lead to desistance. The denial of desistance. The fast-tracking of youth into the gender abattoir. The lack of follow-up or after-care (though how can you have any after-care if there is no “after”‘ just a lifetime of procedures and “treatments”?). The threat of abandonment and vilification if one chooses detransition. These aren’t the machinations of a cisheternormative society; this is all the work of the “community” that supposedly loves you.
And outside of the “celebrity trans” bubble there’s probably a lot less support and sympathy for trans identified people who are suffering from mental illnesses that transitioning will never solve. (Even some of those inside the bubble aren’t doing so shit-hot. I don’t think Ellen Page is a happy person. Trans “euphoria” isn’t sustainable. She’s less likely to ever be happy again if she regrets what she’s put herself through.) These people are going to be even less prepared for the disappointment arising from the expectations and promises that transitioning fails to deliver. I’ve seen a number of trans identified males who look like they have other issues, who would never pass in a million years. I don’t imagine their lives are easy or happy, but that would still be the case if they hadn’t fallen into the trans rabbit hole. So suffering abounds, but the responsibility for the vast majority of it cannot be laid at society’s feet. Transgenderism itself is a disappointment pump, and we’re not the ones priming it.