There's no such thing as being transphobic
Spoiler: it's because there's no such thing as a trans person
Many of us have been pushed into endless defenses against accusations of “transphobia.” I understand the inclination to push back: it’s a label that has kept many of us out of public discourse, has seen many fired, ostracized, vilified, and threatened in the scariest of ways.
JK Rowling is a prime example, labelled “transphobic” by liberal media and the woke masses, and subjected to endless death and rape threats on account of her defenses of women’s existence and need for (certain) sex-segregated spaces.
I have had a similar experience, (with lesser intensity and in lesser numbers, of course — I am much lesser known than Rowling), beginning back in 2017, after I testified against Bill C-16, Canada’s gender identity legislation. It became scary for me to go out in public, and I began avoiding certain neighbourhoods and establishments in Vancouver, and generally felt on edge if out alone. As I continued to speak out publicly, images of my face were plastered around my hometown, as if I weren’t already recognizable enough, labelling me a “transphobe.”
Every event I spoke at in Vancouver (as well as in other places across North America) was subject to death threats, leading either to cancellations or a massive police presence and private security team. Venue staff were afraid, volunteers were afraid, I was afraid, those who attended my events were afraid. Even the police seemed afraid, at times.
Being labelled a transphobe is scary. It signals to progressives not just that you are bad, but that you are dangerous: on par with Nazis and white supremacists who wish to eradicate certain members of the population. In many cases, these labels are exagerrated, unwarranted, or simply lies, but the point remains that the term “transphobe” tells those who don’t know any better that an individual is hateful to the point they wish to harm or destroy others.
Therefore, it makes sense to push back — to say, “No, I’m not a transphobe, I simply believe women’s rights need protection;” “No, I’m not a transphobe, I simply believe individuals cannot change sex.” “I don’t hate trans people, I just want to ensure vulnerable women and girls are not predated on by bad actors.”
The problem is that, within these pushbacks, there is accomodation of the idea that a transphobe is a thing that exists in the first place.
It doesn’t.
There are a couple of reasons for this:
1) There is no such thing as a trans person.
Bear with me on this one. I realize there are people who identify as transgender and that there are people who attempt to “transition” to appear more like the opposite sex. But there is not actually a person who is neither male nor female. Everyone is either male or female. Even people with intersex conditions are generally clearly male or female, but just with some variation of intersex condition. But seeing as you cannot either change sex or exist somewhere in the middle — neither male nor female but something else — there is no such thing as being “transgender.”
A diagnosis of “gender dysphoria” doesn’t cut it either. You are still just a male or female who wishes they were another sex, has body dysmorphia, doesn’t relate to the gender stereotypes attached to your sex, or has some other mental illness that has led you to believe you are the “wrong sex,” have the “wrong body,” or have a brain that somehow doesn’t “match” your body.
As an adult, you have the right to get cosmetic surgeries and wear the clothes you prefer (perhaps not always in professional settings, but in your home and around town, provided you aren’t engaging in indecent exposure). You can change your name and adopt mannerisms stereotypically associated with the opposite sex. But you cannot actually change sex, you cannot force anyone else to believe you are the opposite sex, and you cannot become some non-sex somewhere in the middle.
You are not trans — you are a human being with feelings, desires, a personality, and maybe a mental illness.
2) “Transphobia” has most-commonly been associated with the label “TERF,” meaning “trans-exclusionary radical feminist.” Ironically, because right wing men believe they are the first to discover that men are claiming to be women and taking over women’s sports or prancing around in women’s change rooms with their dicks out, the “TERF” label exists because radical feminists were the first to catch on to the nonsense of transgenderism and call it out. The “exclusionary” part is not in fact in reference to “trans people” being excluded from anything, but rather in reference to the fact that women don’t want men in their sex-segrated spaces (washrooms, transition houses, shelters, change rooms, etc.). If anything, the women labelled “TERFs” are manphobic. They don’t care if women who don’t conform to gender stereotypes are in women’s changerooms or competing with other females in sport.
Indeed, feminists have always fought for women to be freed from limiting gender stereotypes.
The concern has always been about men claiming to be women, and now about kids being given puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries that alter their bodies for life and render them sterile, on account of a so-called “trans identity.”
There are people who feel uncomfortable seeing men wearing their cross-dressing fetishes out in public, which in my opinion is fair. There are men who are angered by other men pretending they are women in order to attempt to sleep with them, which also seems reasonable (I mean, don’t lie about having a dick if you are trying to have sex with heterosexual men…). There are people who feel weirded out when they encounter someone who seems ambiguous or confusing, in terms of their sex (this also seems reasonable, provided the response to these people isn’t abusive). There are people who are homophobic. There are people who understand biological reality and don’t wish to play along with the nonsense idea that a man can be a woman if he says so. There are people who think transing kids is wrong, which is it. There are people who think male inmates should be kept out of women’s prisons, which of course they should be. And so on and so forth.
None of these people are “transphobic.”
~~~
The easiest way to combat transgender ideology is to simply not go along with it. Don’t play along with the notion that one must use “preferred pronouns.” (Sexed pronouns are not a matter of preference, they are not an opinion or a judgement, they are a matter of grammar.) Don’t play along with the idea that it is possible to be “born in the wrong body.” (You are born with a sexed body, and unfortunately you don’t get a say in that.) Don’t play along with the idea that it is somehow special or original to not relate to every single stereotype associated with "masculinity” or “femininity.” (No one does. We are have our own personalities and preferences, and while femininity is more commonly associated with females and masculinity with males, how we feel about those sterotypes does not dictate our sex. If it did, we would be changing sex all the time and we would all be “trans.”)
“Trans” is not a real, valid category with a coherent definition, which means that “transphobia” is also not a real, valid, or coherent concept. I realize some make the argument that being “polite” about such things is a better means to bring people over to “our side” or open people up to listening to our concerns, but I actually think it just creates an incredibly confusing conversation. It also opens us up to debates around things like “trans rights” (not a valid concept) or which kids are “really trans,” and therefore would benefit from being medicalized as “trans kids” (no child should be and there is no such thing as a “trans kid”).
I fail to see why lying is polite or useful when talking about things like legislation and policy. It certainly isn’t polite or useful when dealing with kids whose brains are not fully developed and are at risk of having their bodies destroyed for life on account of said lies.
You might like to think of yourself as a “live and let live” kind of person. You might think there are more important issues than transgenderism. You might think, “Why not just let some people identify however they like.” But we are talking about something much bigger: the truth. And reality. We are also talking about women’s rights and the safety and wellbeing of kids.
But if anything, truth and reality are hills worth dying on.
Trans activists are manipulating reality and impeding our ability to speak the truth via language. Don’t play along.
I agree. Unless I'm making a point I don't say 'trans person', man, woman, etc (and absolutely not 'trans child') because to say that is to accept that the concept (gender identity, differently-sexed different bits of the same person) is a real thing. People identify as, or say they are, 'trans', but since no one is trans in the sense that they have a brain of one sex in a cranium of another sex, and everyone is trans in the sense that we don't identify with all sex stereotypes, it's not just a meaningless word but a downright misleading one.
Just because I don't share the belief, though, doesn't mean I'm phobic. I'm also an atheist, but that doesn't automatically mean I'm an islamophobe or an anti-semite. I just don't believe in the principles of the belief system, and similarly I don't agree with gender ideologues about how the world is. We can accept that a Christian *is* a Christian in the sense that they believe they are, but we don't have to believe they actually are an ensouled creation beloved of the Abrahamic deity, whose soul is destined to spend eternity in heaven or hell after they die.
there is no such thing as transition. you can redraw the map but it doesn't change the land.