I know 8 trans people well and many more as acquaintances.
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But, having seen decades of trans lives as an outsider I think it's better to still be yourself in the end. It's healthier. It's safer.
That it is less safe to be a trans kid than a cis kid isn't the fault of trans kids.
Like, we all knew that, right? But it's worth saying anyway I think.
Even if we enter a more repressive world I will still know the same number of trans people.
This is nothing new, and maybe we are painfully turning a corner.
It already exists in little pockets, it works better than the alternatives. It's spreading.
Maybe things are going to get worse before they get better but I believe in and want the future where being trans is boring.
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I mean, fishes change gender as part of their natural life cycle; frogs can as well; many animals are hermaphrodites; some are gynandromorphs; homosexuallity is very common (double-digit percent) in a number of mammals and birds, inclusive of the rearing of chicks. Beyond vertebrates, there’s even more variation. As a biologist, these debates are bizarre, because all that matters is that the population persists over time, and individuals contribute what they want or can to that success. And being nice to each other sure smooths everyday life, increasing chances of success. We are all in it together, here on spaceship Earth.
Diversity in all respects is a strength. It is also a joy. A population of Hegseth clones would be so mind-numbingly tedious that we would welcome its (inevitable) rapid demise.
Imagine a world without railway map nerds. Hideous.
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I can understand the fears that people have for their children. "be yourself" is good advice but being yourself can be dangerous. And that's often not fair. You might tell your teen daughter "you're not leaving the house dressed like that" you know she could be hurt. It's "better parenting" to make it clear why you are making such demands, but there is this practical impulse to keep young people safe.
I've spoken to parents of trans kids filled with fear.
@futurebird I think there is an element of a fear of having to give some of their culture/identity, which gets tough. Patriarchy is deeply embedded in certain cultures and identities, often people want their kids to follow their 'lineage' or worse even be them or better thems. Being trans messes with that, it -can- destroy these notions and expectations of the patriarchal culture, I feel people are worries about giving up that bit of their identity/culture.
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Diversity in all respects is a strength. It is also a joy. A population of Hegseth clones would be so mind-numbingly tedious that we would welcome its (inevitable) rapid demise.
Imagine a world without railway map nerds. Hideous.
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@futurebird I think there is an element of a fear of having to give some of their culture/identity, which gets tough. Patriarchy is deeply embedded in certain cultures and identities, often people want their kids to follow their 'lineage' or worse even be them or better thems. Being trans messes with that, it -can- destroy these notions and expectations of the patriarchal culture, I feel people are worries about giving up that bit of their identity/culture.
@futurebird In the words of Kahlil Gibran: Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. -
@Taco_lad @futurebird the believers in the dominant form of Christianity in the US don’t really do a lot of compassion, for anyone…
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@futurebird I think there is an element of a fear of having to give some of their culture/identity, which gets tough. Patriarchy is deeply embedded in certain cultures and identities, often people want their kids to follow their 'lineage' or worse even be them or better thems. Being trans messes with that, it -can- destroy these notions and expectations of the patriarchal culture, I feel people are worries about giving up that bit of their identity/culture.
Patriarchy lets predators run wild. At this point I think it's basically designed to do that. You hear right wingers making so much noise about protecting children, but let that child be "imperfect" in any way ?
So upset about the exploitation of the innocent, yet no one is innocent enough to be a victim worth listening to.
"she's a disturbed woman with a long criminal history"
Said the press secratary about one of the Epstein file accusers.
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Patriarchy lets predators run wild. At this point I think it's basically designed to do that. You hear right wingers making so much noise about protecting children, but let that child be "imperfect" in any way ?
So upset about the exploitation of the innocent, yet no one is innocent enough to be a victim worth listening to.
"she's a disturbed woman with a long criminal history"
Said the press secratary about one of the Epstein file accusers.
@futurebird It's such a toxic culture
It's very ingrained into the right and their identities I think, but also still elsewhere. I've seen enough 'lefties' who feel a lot about their kid following their parents footsteps, but also fear of straying from 'their path' will lead to unhappiness and being afraid for their children. Patriarchy is all they know, and the unknown scares them (helped along by misinformation).
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It already exists in little pockets, it works better than the alternatives. It's spreading.
Maybe things are going to get worse before they get better but I believe in and want the future where being trans is boring.
@futurebird yeah...
I would love so much to be boring and normal
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@Taco_lad @futurebird right? As a Christian apostate, they should really hope that their religion’s source material is all wrong because they’re not following it and the listed consequences are pretty dire.
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+3. But I would not give up being trans for all the tea in China.
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I mean, fishes change gender as part of their natural life cycle; frogs can as well; many animals are hermaphrodites; some are gynandromorphs; homosexuallity is very common (double-digit percent) in a number of mammals and birds, inclusive of the rearing of chicks. Beyond vertebrates, there’s even more variation. As a biologist, these debates are bizarre, because all that matters is that the population persists over time, and individuals contribute what they want or can to that success. And being nice to each other sure smooths everyday life, increasing chances of success. We are all in it together, here on spaceship Earth.
@albertcardona @futurebird bigots are all "but biology!" and I'm like yeah, exactly, biology! If you get past what they teach five year olds, it shows us that humans are all the same basic model with a few tweaks in one direction or the other, and lots of overlapping variation.
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I sometimes want to just explain to the bigots, this could all be very normal if you'd stop huffing bigoted media and get to know someone who was trans. It's just like ... a hormone imbalance that can be treated. It's like being mad at people for having red hair. If only you knew how boring this could be, how normal. How easy to forget that they are trans.
And I could just forget, if it weren't for the bigotry and the threats to their safety.
@futurebird People used to be mad at other people for having naturally red hair.
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I can understand the fears that people have for their children. "be yourself" is good advice but being yourself can be dangerous. And that's often not fair. You might tell your teen daughter "you're not leaving the house dressed like that" you know she could be hurt. It's "better parenting" to make it clear why you are making such demands, but there is this practical impulse to keep young people safe.
I've spoken to parents of trans kids filled with fear.
@futurebird I believe that the attack on trans people is an attack on "be yourself", because people who are desperately trying to fit themselves to a norm are more easily led
and I think one thing we all can do is create spaces where people can just be normal as themselves
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I know 8 trans people well and many more as acquaintances. The 8 people I know well range from being an old childhood friend, to coworkers, to students, to neighbors.
I'm mostly aware that they are trans at all due to the increase in anti-trans laws and blatant transphobia in the US. Were it not for that I might not know or even care. But I worry about them.
In each case the fact that they are trans is one of the less interesting things I know about them.
@futurebird Thanks for being an ally.
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I know 8 trans people well and many more as acquaintances. The 8 people I know well range from being an old childhood friend, to coworkers, to students, to neighbors.
I'm mostly aware that they are trans at all due to the increase in anti-trans laws and blatant transphobia in the US. Were it not for that I might not know or even care. But I worry about them.
In each case the fact that they are trans is one of the less interesting things I know about them.
@futurebird Thanks for writing this
️I might add: I'm raising four children. There certainly are things that I worry about on their behalf: Will they have food to eat and air to breathe? Will they get to enjoy living in a functioning society? Will they be able to sustain themselves? And so on.
Trans people (and LGBTQ folks more broadly) don't appear on my list of concerns. At all.
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I know 8 trans people well and many more as acquaintances. The 8 people I know well range from being an old childhood friend, to coworkers, to students, to neighbors.
I'm mostly aware that they are trans at all due to the increase in anti-trans laws and blatant transphobia in the US. Were it not for that I might not know or even care. But I worry about them.
In each case the fact that they are trans is one of the less interesting things I know about them.
I sometimes wonder how my neighbours see us. My partner and I are a trans couple. We definitely got some looks when we first moved in, but a few people have gone out of their way to introduce themselves now.
I think our garden has disarmed them a bit and now they seem more interested in the fact that I used to be a landscape designer than our genders. It feels really weird to know you are constantly being observed as an "other" though, when we are literally just ourselves. Trying to hide as someone you aren't is an exhausting way to live and I don't want any young person to have to go through decades of that like we did.
My parents made being trans really difficult. I didn't come out until well after my mom died and my dad made it so difficult that I really don't feel like I got to finally be myself until he passed as well. I see so many parents making it hard for their kids every day without even realizing it.
My former hairdresser told me her child had told her they were non-binary three times, but she said they would have to wait to figure it out until he was older. I'm not prepared to have a hard discussion with someone holding a pair of scissors, but every time you ignore or dismiss what your kids tell you is a hammer that will pound their hopes and lives into the ground and leave them feeling hopeless and confused.
It's not the loud and dangerous transphobia that is the most violent. It's the quiet, nearly unspoken sanding away of another person's existence because they don't meet a parent's expectations and I don't think enough people realize that.
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I sometimes wonder how my neighbours see us. My partner and I are a trans couple. We definitely got some looks when we first moved in, but a few people have gone out of their way to introduce themselves now.
I think our garden has disarmed them a bit and now they seem more interested in the fact that I used to be a landscape designer than our genders. It feels really weird to know you are constantly being observed as an "other" though, when we are literally just ourselves. Trying to hide as someone you aren't is an exhausting way to live and I don't want any young person to have to go through decades of that like we did.
My parents made being trans really difficult. I didn't come out until well after my mom died and my dad made it so difficult that I really don't feel like I got to finally be myself until he passed as well. I see so many parents making it hard for their kids every day without even realizing it.
My former hairdresser told me her child had told her they were non-binary three times, but she said they would have to wait to figure it out until he was older. I'm not prepared to have a hard discussion with someone holding a pair of scissors, but every time you ignore or dismiss what your kids tell you is a hammer that will pound their hopes and lives into the ground and leave them feeling hopeless and confused.
It's not the loud and dangerous transphobia that is the most violent. It's the quiet, nearly unspoken sanding away of another person's existence because they don't meet a parent's expectations and I don't think enough people realize that.
And I think people lash out at us, because that's not something most parents want to address in any way - that they could slowly be killing their child with dismissal. That is the deeply internalized face of transphobia and so it's easier to try to turn us into terrifying monsters.
