Best of 2021: Trans Conversation
The Pointless, Dishonest Alliance of the Transphobic
On one hand, if the gender critical feminists win, there will be social
changes much more radical than the longest and wildest trans rights
wishlist. On the other hand, if the reactionary Right wins, they will
turn the clock back so far for women that trans people would be the
least of any feminist’s worry. In
other words, gender critical feminists and the reactionary Right are
essentially willing to enter a de-facto alliance with their worst
enemies, the people who would destroy everything they hold dear, just to
oppose 0.3% of the population!
Dave Chappelle and Free Speech: A Trans Woman’s View
Anyway, what I found most important about this
episode is that, once again, some people are out to pit free speech and
trans people against each other. It really feels like last
year’s Harper’s Free Speech letter drama is being replayed all over
again. It appears that, the people behind the cause of ‘cancel culture’
are finding trans people to be good fuel for their cause.
The Key to Winning Trans Rights
Today, I want to talk about an ugly truth: there is a trans moral panic out there.
People are scared that trans people and trans issues are going to upset
the order of society. It’s like how there was a major moral panic
around gay marriage back when I was in college, which saw the majority
of US states, as well as other Western countries like Australia, moving
swiftly to ban gay marriage.
So how do we deal with the trans moral panic? I think it’s important to look at what causes moral panics.
Pronouns and Free Speech: A Trans Woman’s View
Free speech means that you are free to articulate any idea, in the free
market of ideas. If you have read my other writing, you would know that I
am a big defender of free speech. The way we take a stand for free
speech is to be unafraid to voice our own beliefs, and hence take a
meaningful stance, in the debate of ideas, even if unpopular. Deliberately
refusing to use a trans person’s preferred pronouns is not this,
however, because pronouns are not a debate of ideas, and no meaningful stance is actually being taken here.