Some of you may have read Jesse Singal’s article about transgender people in The Atlantic. Singal presents a narrative where female to male transgender people are confused and misled. Since some gender variant people find peace with their assigned gender, the story implies, others could too.
If you are trans, I am sure some transphobes will show it to you, your friends or your family. The misgendering in The Atlantic’s promo tweet (above) gives them all they need.
“Liberals” who try to undermine the legitimacy of transgender identities can actually do more harm than binary conservatives. Singal makes use of the fact that there is a spectrum of gender identities to imply that the ones who truly need help transitioning, may not be who they think they are.
Anti-trans “liberals” like Singal will often argue that since life is complex, messy and fluid (which is true), means that trans kids cannot be trusted when they tell you who they are (which is not true).
If a young person continuously and persistently – and over a long period of time – tells you that they are a girl, a boy or some shade of non-binary, you’d better believe them.
I am also taking the liberty of republishing a twitter thread written by Booker Mendes. It gives you the main arguments for why the narrative presented by Singal is so dangerous.
See also trans philosopher and activist Julia Serano’s twitter thread about Jesse Singal’s history of anti-trans activism.
Beltainefaerie's Flights of Fancy 