it’s also, of course, deeply philosophically inconsistent for “just concerned”-type transphobes to treat cis bodies and the experience of cis puberty as the “default,” which seems to come up a lot in the general miasma of FUD they try to cast up. it’s pointed out that long-term hormone use and surgeries can cause irreversible changes to the body; this is used as a basis to plead for delaying action, until the trans teenager or even adult is older.
but, of course, choosing inaction is itself a choice; and in the case of some schedules dictated by genetics, it’s an explicit choice for the default. though “just concerned” transphobes leave open the possibility, rhetorically, that these young trans people may want to indeed still transition as adults, they seem surprisingly blithe about the fact that having to go through full cis puberty might make that process psychologically or medically even more difficult; naturally, they are really assuming that their child is not really trans, and this is a phase that will pass.
not only is this a rehash of old homophobic talking points (you’d love heterosexuality if you just gave it a try!), they’re betting a lot on being right. I didn’t have the language as a teenager to articulate my Gender Feelings, which engenders enough regret in itself, but if I had, and if I had discussed them with my parents only to be shot down and forced to go through cis puberty, when I knew there was another alternative, I can’t imagine how angry I would have been with them.
in that this form of transphobia centers so much on vivid descriptions of the perceived medical violation of their children’s bodies (especially their reproductive capacity! I thought we didn’t want to reduce people to their ability to bear children?) also puts me in mind of anti-vaxxers, whose anxieties about needles and chemicals invading the pure, precious bodies of their children that must be defended, a fear of contamination and impurity, cannot be overcome even when the potential risks are small, and the likely benefits enormous. Cass Eris also draws an interesting analogy to her mother hitting the roof when she found out her (adult, in university) daughter was on birth control; even well past the legal age in which we judge young people competent to make decisions about their own medical care, parental anxieties demand that their children’s bodies be under their control, and subject to their approval.
How the fuck is the puberty your body wants to naturally have not the obvious default… what the fuck…
Who did this to your brain?
Reminder we’re talking about heavy duty cancer drugs that cause osteoporosis and reduced IQ, then extensive experimental surgery, and a complete absence of any sexual feelings whatsoever. We’re talking incontinence, dilation, we’re talking limited upper arm movement. That’s what this muppet is arguing for, instead of the “default” of…not doing that to a child
This post is making the rounds amongst the TERFs, so I want to use this as an opportunity to point out some interesting rhetorical tactics being used here.
First, the actual propositions under discussion are being ignored–whatever their merits, positive or negative, rather than address those they’re treated as obviously ridiculous and beneath contempt. This isn’t meant to debunk these claims; it’s meant to shore up the being-right-feeling that our brain relies on to cache complex concepts in aid of reasoning in order to promote in-ground solidarity among transphobes (”Look at how obviously idiotic our opponents are! We’re not like that; we can feel smug about that”) and, secondarily, to give people on the fence about, and who have doubts about the validity of transness as a concept an excuse to ignore the claims actually being discussed, so that they can fall back on a caricature that is easily dismissed, and feel confirmed in their opinion.
It should not be necessary, I hope, to point out that the first response (by “cliteralviolence,” which is an A+ tumblr handle!) makes barely any actual claim. It’s sort of an appeal to nature; but there are plenty of things our bodies “naturally” do which fucking suck, which we identify only as “disease” by the common shared convention that disease is 1) undesirable effects of the body that 2) cause suffering, and we want to be rid of. Genetic disorders, cancer, intersex conditions, (once even homosexuality!) are considered disease even though they’re naturally occurring, and to selectively appeal to nature to condemn something you hate, while ignoring that such appeals are a rough heuristic at best, is intellectual nihilism. The same sort of appeals have been used to oppress women, to justify slavery, and to uphold authoritarianism, so I’m not at all sympathtic! Nature frequently sucks ass, and we can often do better.
And, note, this is without getting into the scientific question of whether there are biological causes or indications of transness; I don’t know the current status of the evidence on that front, and as to my own view, I think it’s irrelevant. But if you are interested in appeals to nature, that is something you ought to be able to address.
Second–and I think this is super interesting as a phenomenon all on its own–when someone brings up the desires, intent, and harms suffered by individual trans people, transphobes switch the category under discussion. If an individual trans person would suffer from going through the wrong puberty, suddenly we move to talking about what is natural and right in general. If we’re talking about 15-17 year olds, who in most jurisdictions are competent to make many kinds of medical decisions for themselves, and who are certainly capable of accurately discussing their internal mental states with the adults around them, and having their desires taken seriously, we move suddenly to talking about literal children!!!. A post which is grounded in a discussion about bodily autonomy in adolescents and the psychological importance of, and difficulty inherent in, separating your identity from your parents and coming to grips with your own needs and wants is ignored, by virtue of pretending that the needs, wants, and concerns of people even in their late teens are identical to those of toddlers, by virtue of both occupying the same general legal category of “minor.” But, of course, the law is merely a corrupt social construct if it does something we don’t like–like sanction gender-affirming care for those same minors, based on the general agreement of domain experts working in the medical field.
Thirdly, and this is a more minor point, the claims about the nature of that care are, of course, lies. Vaginoplasty has been practiced at least since the turn of the 20th century; the first vaginoplasty performed on a trans woman was done in the 50s, about a decade after the first phalloplasty in a trans man. Thus, the most radical forms of transgender surgery are older than the heart or liver transplant, the first coronary bypass, the cochlear implant, and liposuction–none of which are considered by transphobes to be “experimental surgery.” Everything else about trans medical care is extremely well-trodden endocrinology. The only actual side effects which seem to be remotely common from puberty blockers are osteoporosis in trans girls, which can be mitigated with improved calcium intake and physical activity. Surveys on post-surgical satisfaction yield numbers in the 94-100% range, which is better than the post-surgical satisfaction of, e.g., lung transplant patients (75%-92% depending on your measure)!
We can, by analogy, play the same dishonest game with organ transplants: it’s an experimental surgery (younger than vaginoplasty!), it can have debilitating or deadly side effects, it requires taking dangerous immunosuppressing drugs that leave you very vulnerable to common infectious diseases for the rest of your life, and organ transplant patients report lower rates of employment, higher rates of stress and depression, and have on average shorter lifespans. Clearly, no one should have to endure an organ transplant–especially not vulnerable children! What kind of monster would support such a thing? Obviously that’s disingenuous–we’re playing stupid games with language to create FUD, instead of carefully looking at what actual patients report, their reasons for undergoing the procedure, and the consequences for them if they don’t. But then, so are the transphobes. TERFS especially, who want to appear sympathetic to people broadly supportive of alternative sexuality and gender expression, and bodily autonomy, and unlike religious conservatives are unable to appeal directly to their real reason for discomfort (”I find trans people repulsive”), have to play up perceived danger, and to lie about what gender-affirming medical care actually constitutes, in order to try to sway uninformed people to their side.
Finally, a word to the rare transphobe who might read this post for more than cherry-picking out of context phrases to strawman: given the intense terms with which many of you describe trans people–which I have always found puzzling–after all, you want to portray yourself as so caring about trans youth–I think it would be much more productive for you to sit with the discomfort you feel, and to turn it over in your mind, and to consider why your revulsion toward trans people necessitates such dramatic public performance. After all, presumably there are other kinds of people you find viscerally repulsive. Me, I find teens who play music out loud on the subway, people who spit on the sidewalk, drivers who pull out too far when stopped in intersections, and the neighbors who smoke outside my window all viscerally repulsive–but I don’t built my identity, or any kind of public display of ideology, around that repulsion. Trans people are a tiny and already thoroughly despised fraction of the population; if your loathing was going to make people not trans, they would have ceased to exist long ago. Much like the fatphobes who make dramatic performance out of hating obese people, and who fall back to saying they “just don’t want to support unhealthy lifestyles,” I cannot help but suspect it is not really altruism toward the target of your disgust that motivates you. It seems you just want someone to hate; and that’s fine! But don’t pretend there’s a principled moral stance behind it.
