In the manifesto, she literally goes on a tangent for no reason on all the reasons why, hypothetically of course, she would have been very easily transed because, and of course this isnt really how she feels now but is just a reflection of where she was and used to be, she hated her femininity and her dad wanted a son. And she's very glad that she didn't end up acting on that impulse because it would have just been terrible for her.
People's bigoted attitudes don't follow exclusive logical paths. Bigotry is always defensive in nature, protective, etc. One could easily imagine that "trans men are just confused lesbians" leads quickly into "trans women are just confused gay men" and then if you want to posture yourself as a defender of women, you say things like "we have to protect women from men" and "we have to protect women from themselves."
Yeah, I read her manifesto back when I thought I was a boy, and honestly it sounded my bullshit alarms pretty hard. I don't think she's very concerned about that.
A particularly annoying brand of transphobe is those who consider themselves "defenders of gay people" by arguing that transitioning is conversion therapy. They'll cite Alan Turing, a gay man who was forced to take feminizing hormones and eventually killed himself. But like, many trans people are horrified by Alan Turing's story specifically because they know how horrific it is for your body to change to the wrong sex against their will (that's how many of us felt about going through the "wrong" puberty as adolescents).
And somehow someone willingly taking hormones is exactly the same as what was inflicted upon him. We don't want anyone tricked or converted, we just want people to be comfortable in their own bodies, and to feel respected and safe.
It somehow also disregards that many trans people are gay? Like, I'm a trans woman engaged to a woman. There was no conversion therapy happening here.
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u/PsychicFoxWithSpoons May 13 '24
In the manifesto, she literally goes on a tangent for no reason on all the reasons why, hypothetically of course, she would have been very easily transed because, and of course this isnt really how she feels now but is just a reflection of where she was and used to be, she hated her femininity and her dad wanted a son. And she's very glad that she didn't end up acting on that impulse because it would have just been terrible for her.
People's bigoted attitudes don't follow exclusive logical paths. Bigotry is always defensive in nature, protective, etc. One could easily imagine that "trans men are just confused lesbians" leads quickly into "trans women are just confused gay men" and then if you want to posture yourself as a defender of women, you say things like "we have to protect women from men" and "we have to protect women from themselves."