For 99% of issues, the trans/cis distinction doesn’t matter and we are the same. Where it matters is on issues of healthcare. That’s pretty much it.(*) This is the only area I don’t want to be treated the same, because it’s the only consistent difference between trans women and cis women.
My lived experience is not fundamentally different from other women. We’ve experienced most of the same things. The biggest difference is that for the first two years of transitioning, I was treated like garbage by strangers because I didn’t look feminine enough to be considered a woman. But even then, a bunch of cis women experience that too!
All these laws and all this discrimination, it’s all because too many people are ignorant on the science of sexual diversity, refusing to admit that neither sex nor gender is binary because it wasn’t what they learned growing up. Now that ignorance has fueled misinformation to run rampant, E.g. the Cass review, the public and politicians still assert their false information and bigotry – even when every major medical association states over and over that trans people – and trans healthcare – is scientifically valid, and even when new reports come out that disprove the misinformation in the Cass review.
Trans people are facing legislative genocide in the US right now and it’s getting worse every day. I am terrified. If anyone doesn’t believe me about how bad it is for trans people right now, look at Erin Reed’s reporting on substack.
If the UK doesn’t get their shit together, trans people may very well face the same horrors there too.
(I’m not going to argue inclusion in sports here because that topic is nuanced and complex, but generally trans girls/boys/men/women should be included in sports that align with their gender identity.)
Right, so those are two typical TERF (trans-exclusionary radical/reactionary “feminst”) talking points. Edit: I am not insinuating that you are a terf in any way or that you aren’t presenting your viewpoint in good faith.
Cisgender people don’t experience gender dysphoria.
Neither do most trans people once they are treated for it, by having access to health care. I don’t think it’s a big deal that fundamentally separates cis and trans women, especially to the point of excluding one group or the other from spaces, events, or with laws.
Cis people didn’t grow up socialized as being seen as the opposite gender.
While it’s true that cis people didn’t grow up socialized as their opposite gender, neither did a lot of trans people in the last 20 years, because they had supportive parents and access to gender-affirming health care from a young age. I say this because socialization and upbringing is not a constant among trans people, and if it’s not a constant, it shouldn’t be used as justification for laws against all trans people.
But even if we ignore them and focus on trans people starting transition after age 18, it still doesn’t justify any of the discrimination these laws are doing. It doesn’t justify exclusion. Trans people aren’t any less valid because they started transitioning – or were forced to delay transitioning until – after age 18. And it most certainly does not mean that trans women aren’t women. Gender identity is innate and rooted in science and biology. Being trans is not a choice.
I am a woman who is trans.
Trans women are women. Cis women are women.
I am not a cis woman.
For 99% of issues, the trans/cis distinction doesn’t matter and we are the same. Where it matters is on issues of healthcare. That’s pretty much it.(*) This is the only area I don’t want to be treated the same, because it’s the only consistent difference between trans women and cis women.
My lived experience is not fundamentally different from other women. We’ve experienced most of the same things. The biggest difference is that for the first two years of transitioning, I was treated like garbage by strangers because I didn’t look feminine enough to be considered a woman. But even then, a bunch of cis women experience that too!
All these laws and all this discrimination, it’s all because too many people are ignorant on the science of sexual diversity, refusing to admit that neither sex nor gender is binary because it wasn’t what they learned growing up. Now that ignorance has fueled misinformation to run rampant, E.g. the Cass review, the public and politicians still assert their false information and bigotry – even when every major medical association states over and over that trans people – and trans healthcare – is scientifically valid, and even when new reports come out that disprove the misinformation in the Cass review.
Trans people are facing legislative genocide in the US right now and it’s getting worse every day. I am terrified. If anyone doesn’t believe me about how bad it is for trans people right now, look at Erin Reed’s reporting on substack.
If the UK doesn’t get their shit together, trans people may very well face the same horrors there too.
I don’t think that you have the same lived experience as a biological woman.
Biological women don’t have the experience of gender dysphoria and all the stuff that comes with it.
Biological women also don’t have the experience to grow up being treated as a boy/man.
I think those two are very different living experiences as they also have a huge impact on the person having to go through them.
Right, so those are two typical TERF (trans-exclusionary radical/reactionary “feminst”) talking points. Edit: I am not insinuating that you are a terf in any way or that you aren’t presenting your viewpoint in good faith.
Neither do most trans people once they are treated for it, by having access to health care. I don’t think it’s a big deal that fundamentally separates cis and trans women, especially to the point of excluding one group or the other from spaces, events, or with laws.
While it’s true that cis people didn’t grow up socialized as their opposite gender, neither did a lot of trans people in the last 20 years, because they had supportive parents and access to gender-affirming health care from a young age. I say this because socialization and upbringing is not a constant among trans people, and if it’s not a constant, it shouldn’t be used as justification for laws against all trans people.
But even if we ignore them and focus on trans people starting transition after age 18, it still doesn’t justify any of the discrimination these laws are doing. It doesn’t justify exclusion. Trans people aren’t any less valid because they started transitioning – or were forced to delay transitioning until – after age 18. And it most certainly does not mean that trans women aren’t women. Gender identity is innate and rooted in science and biology. Being trans is not a choice.