This TikTok makes a point that deserves more oxygen: While TERFs engage in transphobic rhetoric and indeed act out of bigotry by equating trans women with men, they can at least reasonably argue that their primary goal is defending cis women from the threat of SA and other violence by men. The point of disagreement…
Category: Other essays
Language and Miscommunication
Consider this dialogue, not uncommon on today’s social media: A: “Cis is a slur!” B: “It is NOT, you’re such a transphobe.” A: “What? I don’t fear trans people.” While there is a high likelihood that person A in this conversation has unfairly negative beliefs about transgender people, there are also several points in this…
Just a suggestion…
How do you say “suggest”? Think about it for a second. Say it slowly if you want. For best results, say each syllable carefully. Because my brain hurts now. Here’s a Tiktok: My initial reaction was that it’s /sʌ’dʒɛst/, that is, “suh-JEST”, without a hard /g/. Apparently some people are adamant that it’s /sʌg’dʒɛst/, with…
Spock and Chicken
Here’s a TikTok video: It reminded me of this story from my youth. When I was in middle school, the local t-shirt shop was offering a sale. I went there and found a Spock t-shirt that appeared to be my size, so I bought it. I brought it home, tried it on, and discovered it…
The truth about transgender transition and youth
Here is accurate information for you to share with people as needed. Caveat: I am not a medical professional. This is based on my personal research, including talking to other transgender people. I personally have only undergone social transition, as an adult. There are four basic types of transition: Social, and three medical stages. A…
Michigan’s Hate Crime Amendment: Truth vs FoxNews
FoxNews headline: “Michigan House passes bill that could make using wrong pronouns a felony, fineable up to $10,000” Reality: HB 4474, which has passed and is on its way to the Senate, amends existing Hate Crime legislation. Here are the first two subsections of the current “Ethnic Intimidation” law (750.147b): (1) A person is guilty…
What is a Woman?
Matt Walsh wants to know. We are currently embroiled in a cultural war. Part of this focuses on a frankly disingenuous battle over the meaning of words. So I’ll talk about sandwiches. And porn. And dogs. And… Well, English has a lot of words, so this may take a while. You know what, I’ll talk…
It’s Not “About the Children”
One claim I see often from the anti-trans bigot crowd (ABCs) is that they don’t like being forced to accept beliefs they don’t agree with. They claim to believe that you can’t “change your gender”, i.e., that you can’t be anything other than what the hospital decided by looking at your genitals. They claim to…
On the Fear of Transness
This morning, I was reading Twitter and clicked through a link to John Pavlovitz’s swag shop. I got distracted, though, when I saw that two of the dropdown options were “Women’s” and “Men’s/Unisex”. Given that Pavlovitz has been a reliable LGBTQIA (including the trans part) ally, those options were a reminder of what the current…
Transgender status, Christianity, and Students
Once in a while, I see a social media comment that gives me pause, a moment of reflection that helps me understand “the other side”. In this case, in response to a call to eradicate “transgenderism”, I saw this from Twitter user NiocoleeO: “Imagine this. A teacher speaks to your child about Jesus. Your child…