The costs of trans visibility
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The costs of trans visibility

Yesterday, Dylan Mulvaney broke her silence: https://www.tiktok.com/@dylanmulvaney/vi....

For context, this is a trans influencer who built a 10 million strong following on TikTok. She took a brand deal with budweiser to post an ad on an instagram, and the anti-trans right went absolutely ballistic, calling for a boycott, condemning the company, and to some perhaps unknowable degree it influenced that Budweiser sales dropped by a 1/4 and

. Dylan speaks more personally about the effect of the hatred on her.

What strikes me about this story is that it is just about visibility. This isn't inclusion in sports or gender-affirming care for minors, it was just that a trans person was visible. This wasn't even visibility in a TV commerical that a poor right-winger is forced to see, it was an ad on her own instagram page. We're all in our own social media algorithm influenced bubbles, but from my vantage point it really has seemed that in the last year or so things have just gotten worse for trans people and the backlash to even minor visibility is growing.

We need to do better.

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30 June 2023 at 04:48 PM
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6827 Replies

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by craig1120 k

(1) The self of a trans person has a masculine and feminine side

(2) Having a masculine and feminine side means having both a male and female gender

(3) Trans identity does not have both male and female gender

Therefore, the trans identity cannot be the same as the self.

Why would a masculine and feminine "side" require a dual gender?

I'm not dual gendered even if I have a feminine "side" (not sure any of my gf would agree)

My identity is literally what it is. Your perception of reality doesn't affect my reality. Even if I were a schizophrenic!


by coordi k

Why would a masculine and feminine "side" require a dual gender?

Masculine and feminine are gendered. Having both means the self is dual gendered. This is universal.

Just because I identify as male doesn’t mean my self is not dual gendered. I haven’t lost my feminine side have I?


In the same way, the trans person doesn’t lose their dual gendered self either. What happens is the trans identity wedges itself in between the conscious self and the dual gendered self.

Why does it do this? I’ve touched on it a bit in this thread but it’s nothing good.

In the trans person, their *conscious self has formed a strong bond with the trans identity, but like I said, the dual gendered self is still there, in the background. We don’t need to affirm and celebrate an identity which is both costly and fraudulent.

*Even though this bond is formed with the conscious self, it happens at the periphery so there is very little conscious awareness of this process (obviously).


i think i'm following...

in your quest to disprove the concept of transgender, you're arguing everyone is dualgender, except transgender people who claim to be monogender, which you argue is an impossibility?

feels like we've lost the plot and words have no meaning

if i am myself, in my mind, do i exist as an identity? if so, is that distinct from my gender identity? can one recognize the duality that was and always has been, reconciling with a singular self? also: what?


by smartDFS k

i think i'm following...

in your quest to disprove the concept of transgender, you're arguing everyone is dualgender, except transgender people who claim to be monogender, which you argue is an impossibility?

feels like we've lost the plot and words have no meaning

if i am myself, in my mind, do i exist as an identity? if so, is that distinct from my gender identity? can one recognize the duality that was and always has been, reconciling with

I’m not trying to disprove the trans identity. It’s real, but it’s not the self.

Both sides agree the trans identity is costly to the trans person, much more costly than the dual gendered self. So then my question remains - why continue to affirm it? My sympathies are with the dual gendered self. The trans identity I see as an enemy as I’ve mentioned.


by craig1120 k

I’m not trying to disprove the trans identity. It’s real, but it’s not the self.

QED

Both sides agree the trans identity is costly to the trans person, much more costly than the dual gendered self. So then my question remains - why continue to affirm it? My sympathies are with the dual gendered self. The trans identity I see as an enemy as I’ve mentioned.

ouroboros


Mass hypnosis. It’s about time to sober up.

/thread


Can we get a judges rating on that thread dunk?


[quote=craig1120]/thread[/quote]

yes please

by smartDFS k

i think your post insinuates we've overshot on the medicalization of mental health disorders, with which i very much disagree

typo, meant "agree"


by smartDFS k

feels like we've lost the plot and words have no meaning


A good summary of most conversations with craig.


Just popped in to see what's going on ITT, and lo and behold, I see you guys have met craig.


by coordi k

I think there is a physiological explanation for why trans people are trans.

There probably isn't a physiological explanation for wanting to genocide a species of dog

What is the physiological explanation? Fact is, there isn’t one. 1,000 years from now you can dig up the bones of a person and know if the person was male or female regardless of how the person “identified.” That proves there is no physiological explanation.

What the F are you talking about genocide of dogs? Are you on drugs?


by coordi k

Born with the brain and nervous system of a man, genitals of a girl

Detransitioners are a fraction of a percent of a fraction of a percent. Any number of outliers could apply

Could you describe the difference between a man brain and a woman brain?


by Bobo Fett k

Who said anything about the entire trans community? The suggestion I'm pushing back against is that every trans person is either mentally ill or succumbing to social contagion. The total number required to disprove that would be...one. And do you think I just happen to know the only two people in the world who have done this?

If it isn't your contention that every trans person is either mentally ill or succumbing to social contagion, just s

I’m saying that a man cannot actually “transition” into a female. Fact is, there are zero examples of this in history.
You don’t need to pry fro details because you already know the answer. You’re just trolling at this point because there is only one answer and by answering that question honestly completely destroys your argument.


by smartDFS k

one differentiator is most "mental health issues" / "mental illnesses" are characterized by (1) harmful effects on the people suffering from them, and/or (2) the "patients" themselves wishing they could rid themselves of the issue (e.g. achieve less anxiety, eat less/more, etc).

unclear to me whether either of those things generally apply to transgender people, except due to the social stigma they suffer, which is why people are going out o

idk - to me it feels like with many people we're treating the symptons and sterilization via hormone therapy and extreme plastic surgery don't seem to be the best way to go about it

it also costs over 6 figures to achieve - that's definitely in the "causing harm" category


by originalgangster k

Could you describe the difference between a man brain and a woman brain?

Besides different chemical components?


by rickroll k

idk - to me it feels like with many people we're treating the symptons and sterilization via hormone therapy and extreme plastic surgery don't seem to be the best way to go about it

it also costs over 6 figures to achieve - that's definitely in the "causing harm" category

going back to the earlier examples of mental health issues

stomach stapling fixes overeating and makes it no longer harmful

medication/counseling can fix anxiety issues so they are no longer harmful


yet oddly those are considered mental health issues despite that they have treatment options which can result in no harm to the patient


by jjjou812 k

Besides different chemical components?

What chemicals? Name them.


by rickroll k

going back to the earlier examples of mental health issues

stomach stapling fixes overeating and makes it no longer harmful

medication/counseling can fix anxiety issues so they are no longer harmful


yet oddly those are considered mental health issues despite that they have treatment options which can result in no harm to the patient

The overweight person does not “identify” as a thinner person and gets the surgery to “affirm” that. He gets the surgery because being that overweight is a threat to his health.
The anxious person does not “identify” as a person who is not suffering from anxiety and takes the medication to “affirms that. He takes the medication to be able to function in the world.


by originalgangster k

The overweight person does not “identify” as a thinner person and gets the surgery to “affirm” that. He gets the surgery because being that overweight is a threat to his health.
The anxious person does not “identify” as a person who is not suffering from anxiety and takes the medication to “affirms that. He takes the medication to be able to function in the world.

then why make the change?


by rickroll k

then why make the change?

To improve health and/or quality of life. However, the obese individual is rooted in reality and knows he’s overweight and will struggle with that for the rest of his life. Same with the anxious individual. They don’t pretend they’re something they are not, then get surgery to demonstrate that. They accept the reality of their situations and make adjustments.

Either way, those changes are choices. Just like the transsexual person makes. A choice.


by rickroll k

then why make the change?

Lifestyle choice like changing hair color, getting tatoos, putting teeth brace for aesthetic reasons, augmenting breasts, shaving legs and so on.

Ofc depending on the exact amount of bodily modifications a person wants to identify better with his own internal sense of what sex he thinks he is, he can become bigger than all of the above (or not).

Still lifestyle choices given no actual illness exists, and no claiming that "i dislike how i am and that means you have to pay for the changes i require" doesn't make it a healthcare issue, unless it is the same for everyone who wants to change anything about his external appearance.

It's fraud. Not healthcare, yet labeled as such


by originalgangster k

What chemicals? Name them.

You are the doctor, you name them


by originalgangster k

What is the physiological explanation? Fact is, there isn’t one. 1,000 years from now you can dig up the bones of a person and know if the person was male or female regardless of how the person “identified.” That proves there is no physiological explanation.

What the F are you talking about genocide of dogs? Are you on drugs?

I like to point out how most people who despise trans people are actually just horrible people themselves. Phresh thinks a reasonable reaction to a handful of bad pitbulls is to wipe out every single pitbull in existence. Typically its evil to want to unalive 20+ million loved family pets but he really really really really really wants that to happen

Just like many of the other posters in this thread who hate trans people have some very unsavory opinions on blacks, women, gays, non-asian immigrants, etc

The point being that most of you are just hateful potentially evil people whos opinions should be completely dismissed as such


by coordi k

You are the doctor, you name them

1. I’m not a doctor.
2. You made the claim. The responsibility is yours to back it up. Otherwise, you’re lying.

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