this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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I still don't get how misgendering makes makes one a transphobe. If you look like a woman I'll call you a woman but I do it not because I have to but because I generally try and be polite. However when we start policing language and demanding to be called this and that is when I sign out. It has nothing to do with not liking trans people. Atleast not in my case.
Misgendering someone is transphobic in exactly the same way that calling them the n-word is racist. It means you are prejudiced against that person for what makes them different — in this case it just sounds like you believe trans people don’t exist or are mentally ill members of their birth gender.
So yes, it means you are transphobic and you should self-reflect on improving that.
What? Pronouns are not slurs in and of themselves, like the n-word is. They are perfectly fine to use and inoffensive in something like 97% of human interactions. The n-word is not.
How do they suddenly change to something as horrible as the n-word when you use the wrong one with someone you've never met before who outwardly presents as the pronoun you use, but internally has decided they are a different one?
There's a big problem where people use the term "misgendering" as equivalent to "intentional misgendering". One can be an honest mistake, the other is bigotry.
The n-word is not a slur “in and of itself” either; people can use it in non-pejorative situations… just as pronouns. The problem is the words being used to rob people of their dignity by invoking their minority status against them.
So yes, in that context, pronouns can be slurs against trans people.
No one is railing against “unintentional misgendering,” which happens to everyone. Though if you aren’t sure, non-gendered pronouns are a perfectly suitable alternative.
Are you okay? I'm pretty sure trans people exist. That's the weirdest accusation I've heard for a while. What are they holograms then?
No, as I said, your argument is that they aren’t really the gender that they say they are, but whatever gender you say they are. That’s claiming they aren’t actually trans, which is denying the existence of trans people… which is transphobic.
I don't agree with that.
It's not their gender I have issues with. You can claim to be anything you want and I'm fine by that. It's only when people start demanding special treatment when I stop being nice.
In my native language there is no even he/she pronoun. The word is "hän" and it's gender neutral. You can be male, female, FTM, MTF, non-binary or what ever and you're still called "hän". That is what inclusivity looks like. Progress is caring less about ones race and gender - not more.
It doesn’t matter if you agree with it or not; the definition of transphobia does not depend on your agreement. Simply that you act transphobic, which you do. (And respecting other people as long as they’re nice to you is a really crappy way to act. People deserve respect for who they are even if they won’t gratify your ego.)
Luckily for queer people, progress can actually be made by caring about your sexuality and gender. Imagine if what you said was actually true, what an awful dystopia we’d be living in!
Ask the groups of conservatives arguing that trans people are either just a trend, a cult of pedophiles trying to groom your kids, a cult trying to destroy young girls wombs or perform life changing surgery on children, or any of a number of other accusations that say that trans people don't exist, including the two they mentioned. These are the kinds of "anti-LGBT arguments" that they claim are being censored.