Telling LGBTQ People What to Do
One part of what the #IStandWithJKRowling hashtag means
Transphobia comes in many forms, but there’s a common approach: People who aren’t trans presuming to decide how trans people should live their lives and speak about ourselves. This is also a common approach of homophobia and biphobia.
Since the behavior sounds so obviously coercive and rude when it’s phrased this way, one typical move that transphobes make to muddy the waters is to claim that there is no such thing as being trans. Bodies exist (look! touch!); concepts don’t (poof!); you can no longer speak about the concepts we just agreed aren’t real; and now, presto change-o, you aren’t that kind of person anymore. Trans people are wholly conceptual, and I waved my hand and the concept of “trans” went away! Say good morning to your new life, real person with a real body and no fake concepts, you whom my words have just de-transed!
A Brief Remark on Labels
For humans — and for objects too—labels are at once too divisive and too mergey. Who are you excluding? Who are you including? Any word you use to describe yourself distinguishes you from a large chunk of humanity (though you may have some commonalities with those people) while herding others under your umbrella (though you may have some differences…
