Current Events > What's so hard about understanding Trans people?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Theres a million things that happen during pregnancy/birth/early childhood.

Why is it so difficult to get that someone might be born with a brain of the opposite gender?

Like we understand birth defects, twins being different, autism, Downs syndrome, etc.

Someone born in the wrong body, they dont feel normal until they transition into correct gender. Not that difficult to understand.

Also, actually talk to trans people, they arent faking it lol

This anti-trans shit got me banging my head against the wall

They're not interested in understanding because the generic blonde lady on the TV told them to hate them.

My line of thinking is that there are tons of mental and physical health issues that are "weird" and somebody being trans isn't really that difficult to understand knowing the brain is complex and does all kinds of weird things to people.

I don't understand because I have no frame of reference. I don't feel male with a male body, so somebody saying they feel male in a female body just doesn't click in my brain. Closest I can maybe come to understanding is if it's like right before you get sick and your whole body just feels off.

I think they're just an easy target unfortunately. It infuriates me to see the lies being pushed right now. I'm a gay white male and they'll be coming for me next.

JoCrazy posted...

Like we understand birth defects, twins being different, autism, Downs syndrome, etc.

Sweet summer child...
They don't understand that, their understanding is "they are different, thereby we hate them".

And then you ask a conservative where a trans man is supposed to go to the bathroom and they short circuit.

Starrky posted...

They're not interested in understanding because the generic blonde lady on the TV told them to hate them.

This. They probably also dont have anyone trans in their family. I think with gay/lebians there was a lot more of them. Either as family members or as celebrities which helped speed up their acceptance.

I don't think understanding has much to do with it. You don't have to understand a person to say "Hey I don't want to hurt you." The level of hate these people have... It's not something I have the capacity to understand.

I dont understand why trans people get hated either. The majority of them are not hurting anyone. They deserve to be treated like the normal human beings that they are.

ATfire567 posted...

I dont understand why trans people get hated either. The majority of them are not hurting anyone. They deserve to be treated like the normal human beings that they are.

Because to some people, wanting to be treated like everybody else is considered wanting special treatment.

They dont NEED to understand, they just need RESPECT.

This is another human being, so respect they shouldnt be treated like shit even if you dont understand them.

Its not that hard.

I just realized it was only like a couple years ago they started having trans people in movies/tv being played by real life trans people. The majority of time it was a cisgender or whatever that group called playing them like Jeffrey Tambor in that tv show.

JoCrazy posted...

Theres a million things that happen during pregnancy/birth/early childhood.

Why is it so difficult to get that someone might be born with a brain of the opposite gender?

Like we understand birth defects, twins being different, autism, Downs syndrome, etc.

Someone born in the wrong body, they dont feel normal until they transition into correct gender. Not that difficult to understand.

Also, actually talk to trans people, they arent faking it lol

This anti-trans shit got me banging my head against the wall

Not sure it's helpful to compare being trans to 'birth defects', and I think there's a bit more going on than simply 'born in the wrong body'.

But then I don't really 'understand' being trans either. I don't think you have to. You just have to believe that people deserve respect, privacy, and healthcare.

ai123 posted...

Not sure it's helpful to compare being trans to 'birth defects', and I think there's a bit more going on than simply 'born in the wrong body'.

But then I don't really 'understand' being trans either. I don't think you have to. You just have to believe that people deserve respect, privacy, and healthcare.

Im not comparing them to birth defects, Im saying people understand a million things can happen during pregnancy.

Some people straight up have no curiosity about or internal capability of understanding anything other than themselves. Those people are easy to catch up in -phobic rhetoric or propaganda, because they view anyone not like them as weird/different to begin with and it is easy to turn that fear of the weird into violence.

While I won't pretend to fully understand what trans people go through internally/mentally, what I do know is that it isn't really my place to understand all that. It is my place to ensure they are treated the same as any other human being, with dignity and respect, entitled to the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of (their own) happiness.

gator71 posted...

I think they're just an easy target unfortunately. It infuriates me to see the lies being pushed right now. I'm a gay white male and they'll be coming for me next.

This.

There's a lot to say about how a straight person can be anything between a contributor to society, or a terrorist, but when it comes to minority groups, there's more fixation on just believing there's just one predisposed extreme. If there's one bad example of a trans or homosexual, or colored person, the other part of society will take that inch for a 1000 miles.

Human society hasn't outgrown making blanket statements and having insecurities over minority emergence.

I think of it as somewhat akin to handedness. If you lived in a society where left-handedness "did not exist" ("It's biology! We write with our right hand!"), around 10% of the population might go through life thinking they were just "off" or just didn't fit in somehow.

Now imagine they were to learn that there were other people in the world who used their left hand for tasks. It might be like a light bulb turning on - "Ah-ha! That's why I've always felt different!"

Now, there probably would be people, likely angsty teenagers, who felt that they didn't fit in and decided to "try out" being left-handed even though they weren't. And some people might just be ornery and want the attention or whatever.

But none of those things would take away from the fact that left-handedness was real and valid.

Also imagine you were born without a left hand for some reason. That wouldn't change the fact that your brain was wired to be left-handed. You would have to adapt to using your right hand, but it would never be fully "right" (no pun intended). You would just be missing the body part that allowed you to be who you truly are.

It's not a perfect analogy (no analogy ever is), but there was a time not so long ago when being left-handed was considered "wrong."

I find that bringing up the existence of intersex persons usually makes people show their true colors.

If the reaction is akin to "I haven't thought of that" - they are likely innocently ignorant and redeemable.

If the reaction amounts to "they don't count!" - there's no point in continuing to engage discussion.

hmnut7 posted...

They dont NEED to understand, they just need RESPECT.

This is another human being, so respect they shouldnt be treated like shit even if you dont understand them.

Its not that hard.

This
I'm never going to actually understand trans people and that's fine. Im never going to understand most people. They're not hurting anything and I can mind my own fucking business while I treat them like anyone else

Fear what they dont understand. Fear of accepting who people are as individuals.

This is the time old tale of fear. Not too long ago, maybe still happening today you will find people beaten for the way they look.

This fear denies seeing folks as people and enables the fear to commit inhumane acts. Blind to religion and social standards of acceptance. This too enables answers given for further understanding to be unacceptable and unforgivable in some parts of the world

I worked with one until she got laid off. Real nice person. I dont pretend to know everything about it. But I have nothing against it either.

Theyre 1% of the population. Most people will never even encounter one in their lifetimes, so in large, out of sight, out of mind. Nobody who doesnt hate them really cares enough to defend them, and thus they are an easy target for the current bogeyman.

Sariana21 posted...

I think of it as somewhat akin to handedness. If you lived in a society where left-handedness "did not exist" ("It's biology! We write with our right hand!"), around 10% of the population might go through life thinking they were just "off" or just didn't fit in somehow.

Now imagine they were to learn that there were other people in the world who used their left hand for tasks. It might be like a light bulb turning on - "Ah-ha! That's why I've always felt different!"

Now, there probably would be people, likely angsty teenagers, who felt that they didn't fit in and decided to "try out" being left-handed even though they weren't. And some people might just be ornery and want the attention or whatever.

But none of those things would take away from the fact that left-handedness was real and valid.

Also imagine you were born without a left hand for some reason. That wouldn't change the fact that your brain was wired to be left-handed. You would have to adapt to using your right hand, but it would never be fully "right" (no pun intended). You would just be missing the body part that allowed you to be who you truly are.

It's not a perfect analogy (no analogy ever is), but there was a time not so long ago when being left-handed was considered "wrong."

I remember a very elderly relative (no longer with us) was left handed, and she told me about how she was made to wear a boxing glove at school to force her to write with her right hand.

She ended up being able to use both, so maybe that's an actual case of 'what doesn't kill you . . .' for once.

(Note: her experience is in no way applicable to that of trans people).

loafy013 posted...

I don't understand because I have no frame of reference. I don't feel male with a male body, so somebody saying they feel male in a female body just doesn't click in my brain.

This. I don't know what it means to feel female - I just accept that some people do regardless of their sexual phenotype, and this is adequate reason to call them women. I'm not even sure I know what it means to feel male (I am and have never felt any reason to question this), because I have no frame of reference for that outside of how I've been treated my entire life. If my kindergarten told me "boys go to the left, girls go to the right" and nobody ever told me what those words meant, I'd have instinctively joined the group of kids who look like me. But if they told me "you're a boy if you feel like a boy," then I'd just be confused.

I think that there is an aspect of transphobia that amounts to thinking "I can't reconcile this with my own experience, therefore I don't accept it as valid." To be clear, that is a serious character flaw in this day and age, where it's impossible to be ignorant of transgender issues. Trans-exclusionists who think that way contradict expert consensus and would invalidate the identities of millions and deprive them of dignity, health, and sometimes their lives, all because they think it's more important to protect their own mental safe spaces.

RasterGraphic posted...

I find that bringing up the existence of intersex persons usually makes people show their true colors.

Eh... I've seen multiple TERFs who acknowledge and even support intersex persons but are hardline trans-exclusionary otherwise.

KaZooo posted...

This.

There's a lot to say about how a straight person can be anything between a contributor to society, or a terrorist, but when it comes to minority groups, there's more fixation on just believing there's just one predisposed extreme. If there's one bad example of a trans or homosexual, or colored person, the other part of society will take that inch for a 1000 miles.

Human society hasn't outgrown making blanket statements and having insecurities over minority emergence.

Yeah, stating that the LGBTQ+ community are likely groomers is another flavor of:
- Black people fitting the criminal profile.
- Immigrants causing economical woes.

Accepting others is arguably just as much if not more, dependant on if a person can directly admit themselves to be well, flawed.

Heck, we just have to look at how arguments against the LGBTQ+ clash with how many detractors live their lives. Keep in mind that I don't see people in said community unnatural, gross or too much for kids to comprehend and such.

But my "favorite" arguments:
- Just that being unnatural, bad. Good thing the detractors go further than the Amish community in rejecting all aspects of modern society and oh, wait...

- People find the LGBTQ+ to be gross, but hasn't gross out moments and other crude things been favored? Things made with the intent to be gross? I mean anyone who grew up on The Ren & Stimpy Show or Rocko's Modern Life shouldn't even be phased by say a same sex couple kissing/hugging.

- Now you expect a Helen Lovejoy type to be vocally against the LGBTQ+ community because we need to think about the children.

But then even people who lament how PG movies were awesome when they were kids for not being hand holding and that kids can handle more than given credit for. Except gays, trans and so on.

That somehow is excessive compared to a PG movie where the title character drops an F Bomb and tries to marry a teenager (Beetlejuice) or say one where a boy drinks what he thinks is apple juice, but is really ahem, granny's peach tea (Little Monsters).

Or just people who think the LGBTQ+ community are where the groomers hangout. Yet people allegedly against groomers voted for the guy who joked about doin... I mean dating his daughter. Can't imagine why I keep making that slip up when stating such.

Long story short, the people who treat heteronormativity, can't even fake a "straight" reason for their stance.

I legitimately do not understand why it's an issue for anyone.

Voidgolem posted...

I legitimately do not understand why it's an issue for anyone.

Because it was made into one by the right.

The vast majority will live their lives without ever competing in an elite level sport against a trans person, or knowingly finding one using the same bathroom as them.

But now these are issues they are encouraged to think about all the time.