#who for whatever reason couldn't/didn't transition medically and didn't pass

[ajmakoko]

Because of a beef of 2 possible psyops happening on TikTok that blew up in the last day or so.

Where one creator was anti-Democrat and explaining why they voted 3rd party. Then was told that they hurt trans ppl if they didn't vote for Kamala because Trump will hurt transppl more including with medicaid cuts. The first creator said they didn't care because to them Kamala still supports genocide in Gaza so they couldn't vote for her but they understood why other trans ppl might due to their medical needs.

Then another creator (that truscum overwhelmingly supports) got mad about this and said that they weren't really trans, they look cis so they aren't affected by trans legislation, that ciswomen aren't harmed by anti-trans laws, that transitioning should be equated with medical transition partially for medical treatment reasons and partially for reasons relating to how society sees them. They also emphasized AGAB a lot, even though this info wasn't disclosed or particularly relevant (they assumed AGAB) and then went on a rant about specifically AFAB people who are nonbinary (some TERFy rhetoric tbh). When called out for this, they and their defenders say that the 2nd creator is a black transwoman, the most in danger of all trans ppl from Trump's policies, so no one is allowed to disagree with her. And to go back to the voting topic, ig they don't see the inherent fascism in demanding someone vote how you demand - that that takes away the point of a vote in the first place.

This has caused an explosion of transmedicalism debate. It's still ongoing. Unfortunately, the transmedicalism side has significantly more creators making videos and talking about it. Like really really unfortunately. And the takes are so bad - tbh I didn't expect the regression I'm seeing in education, civil rights, food safety, science, history, etc, to also affect trans education/discourse online but it really has.

For the record, I am genderfluid, do not support transmedicalism, understand gender affirming care can look like many things, hang with homeless trans ppl and trans ppl from many different backgrounds, voted for Kamala. I strongly believe in civil rights and making sure everyone gets the right to vote how they want. I think it was obvious Trump was and is horrifyingly bad. I have had a hard time being chill with people who didn't vote out of apathy (not protest) or who voted for Trump, but truly I tend to blame the Democrats for not earning those voters, and even if they had gotten everything 3rd party vote, they wouldn't have won most likely. Attacking 3rd parties does nothing politically for Dems.

The solution is not then to police votes, but to earn them. Like do your jobs, Dems.

But instead they policed the first creator's trans status and tried to argue with them via appeal to authority for some reason (arguably emotional abuse), and invalidating and gatekeeping them. Like with really transphobic stuff, too. Ig the 2nd creator is an established trans creator (I've never heard of her but I do more in the drag scenes than whatever this creator is involved in), and have been accused of transmedicalism in the past. This creator I guess also has a LONG history of saying TERFy, self hating trans things (according to critics, idk, its just what I read) and has been in controversies for years about hateful things she said about NonBinary folx (I have since learned).

And so maybe at least 1 creator is a psyop meant to make trans ppl want to die. I certainly felt extremely extremely shitty after reading that discourse, when previously I was happy with who I am and my gender as described (and I am doing better now that I've regulated some). Particularly upsetting was the alienating transmedicalism trying to gaslight me that, for instance, homeless trans people who cannot access doctors are somehow advantaged. Brandon Teena was somehow advantaged being AFAB when he was murdered, because he wasn't on hormones so technically he could have passed as a woman if he wanted to or needed to. Really seemed to help him a lot, all that privilege (/s). And if he were still alive, would he be forced to vote how random people tell him who claim they are more disadvantaged than him, even though there's no real way to compare? I mean, that he was murdered kinda shows he was less advantaged than the annoying content creators making money off our suffering demanding we vote in a particular way.

Fuck this timeline.

Why am I seeing a rise in transmedicalism and truscum bullshit? I thought we were past this.

[infiniteglitterfall]

You're putting us in quite a bind there.

You're right that nonbinary ISN'T a gender, it's an umbrella term for any gender beyond the two binary genders.

It's not really fair to essentially say, "nonbinary isn't a gender, but I'm not cool with any names for any other genders."

You might as well just say, "I don't believe any of the people who say they're not male or female. There are only two genders, and everyone has one and only one of them."

It's always kind of surprising to me when binary trans people have that position, or a similar one. Because it's not actually all that different from cis people saying they don't believe any trans people; that there are only two genders, and everyone has one and only one, and it's the one that they were assigned at birth.

It's also surprising to me when trans people say, "of course, if a person looks like a girl and wants to be called they/them, I would be skeptical." I see people say that a lot, tbh.

And like... if someone looked like a girl and asked to be called he/him, would you be skeptical? Or would you assume that he was trans, couldn't transition yet (or was early in transition), and was just doing what he could?

I always wonder how many binary trans people see that kind of thing, and are scared off from coming out until they have the money and safety to medically transition.

(Not to mention what happens to the people who can't take hormones for medical reasons. Or who don't think they'll ever fully pass, for whatever reasons.)

Like... why is it okay for any of us to say, "I'll respect what you have to say about your gender and your needs and experiences, but only on certain conditions?" Do we not hear enough of that from cis people?

FWIW, the term transgender was coined in 1992, by longtime nonbinary trans activist Les Feinberg, as an umbrella term for everyone who "transgresses gender norms."

It was intended to include binary trans people, all kinds of nonbinary people, and gender nonconforming people, because we all get the same shit from society and would be a lot better off if we banded together against it. Most trans activist organizations use a similar definition, even now.

(Shout-out to, for example, the TGI Justice Project that Miss Major used to be in charge of, for "transgender, gender variant, and intersex people" affected by the prison-industrial complex.)

For most of the 90s, the dichotomy wasn't "binary vs nonbinary" or "trans vs nonbinary, " because we didn't have that language yet. It was "transgender vs transsexual."

Transgender slowly became the term for all of us, partly because it includes binary people who transition, and partly because "transsexual" sounds very medical and othered. And it's good that it became the most inclusive term. But it also really bugs me that people use it in a way that excludes the people who invented it and most needed it.

It's weird that it's become the new "transsexual" for some people, because the line that it draws is so useless. I vividly remember the struggle with "I'm a transsexual, because I'm transitioning, but I'm transitioning to be able to pass as 'either' gender, and I prefer to present as gender nonconforming in a way I can only do by transitioning, but when other people use the word they're assuming that it means people like me aren't transitioning, but there's no language for someone who is...."

I have a question, what do you think of non binary people?

my stance on nonbinary is still shifty and idk where i quite stand. i don’t think nonbinary is a gender, but i do think it’s a valid label? i guess i don’t care if a person has dysphoria and nonbinary just happens to make them more comfortable… hell, i was like that for awhile. of course, if a person looks like a girl, and says “call me they/them”, i would still be skeptical. basically trans people can be nonbinary but you’re not trans because you are nonbinary. eh i guess i see nb as more like those weird classifications they have for sexuality (like butch lesbian and twink gay) except this one is for gender,,, idk man hope that makes sense,,

also nb is the only nb label i’m cool with though.