14 Ways of Being a Transphobe (and still feel good about yourself)
Harassing transgender kids, stopping trans women from going to the bathroom and calling vulnerable trans women of color sexual perverts doesn’t make you look good, does it? So what can you do about that?
Catherine Butler has published a brilliant tongue in cheek answer to a socialist who finds “trans people a bit yucky” here at Medium.
Inspired by her article I put up some pointers to “gender critical” TERFs, LGB Alliance supporters and other transphobes who think of themselves as liberal and progressive over at tumblr.
This is how you, as a “radical” anti-trans activist, may be able to sleep at night.
1. Stop talking about trans people and start talking about “trans rights activists” and “trans ideology.” Better yet, call being trans “a cult” to make sure no one listens to their arguments, because — believe me — you don’t want people to do that.
2. Do not talk about your most important allies… You know: Conservative media and Tucker Carlson, Trumpist Republicans in states like Texas and Alabama, Hungarian and Polish fascists, British sexist reactionaries, Marjorie Taylor Greene and other racist Karens, misogynistic religious fanatics and so on and so forth. They make people see that you are not as radical and compassionate as you think you are.
3. Use the “free speech” argument as often as you can, unless trans people disagree with you, at which point you should complain about harassment and slander.
4. Indeed, talk about “cancel culture” a lot, even if you think of yourself as a “woke” person. I mean, you love watching kittens on YouTube, don’t you? So how dare they call you insensitive to other peoples’ suffering?!!!
5. Talk about details and extremely rare incidents. If someone, in a debate, insists that we need to see the whole picture, talk about “autogynephilia”. Sure, that theory has been debunked, but a lot of people do not know that.
6. Since trans women are harmless, you have to create an imaginary, but credible, threat. The homophobes of the past used the false “gay men and lesbian women are sexual predators threatening women and kids” narrative with great success. Do the same, even if you are gay yourself.
7. Do not read up on biology, gender theory, intersectionality, and studies of cultural polarization. The less you know about reality, the better.
8. If anyone compares your tactics to the tactics of white supremacists, create a diversion by calling your accuser racist.
9. If you used to be harassed as an outsider as a kid, suppress all the feelings those bullies awoke in you. You are one of them now. Deal with it!
10. Talk about trans men as little as possible. You think they are women, right? And you think of yourself as a feminist? So it does not sound good when you call people you think are women naive, emotional, and easily mislead.
11. Avoid young people. They seem to think that solidarity, tolerance, compassion and inclusion are things that you do, and not something you just talk about. Where did they get that idea?
12. Torturing transgender kids sounds a bit… eh…you know… inconsiderate, to say the least. But you have to double down on this one. You cannot make an omelette without destroying the lives of children. Everyone knows that.
13. Yeah, I know, your identity cannot really be reduced to what you have between your legs. That would be weird, wouldn’t it? But keep in mind that as far as trans women go, this is the truth and nothing but the truth… or at least truthish enough for Fox News.
14. Do not meet trans people. At the moment you see that they are human, you have lost.
</irony>
Illustration: yacobchuk/crossdreamers
Originally published at https://trans-express.lgbt.
