And the idea of transness as a positive good in the world, something to celebrate, gets shot through with arrows from all sides as soon as you take it outdoors They've worn that South Park "STUNNING AND BRAVE" meme into the fucking ground
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And yeah, you know what, it is Even the shittiest nastiest worst person in the world (which Caitlyn Jenner, frankly, isn't, much as I don't particularly like her) would still be "stunning and brave" for transitioning Precisely because of this shitty meme
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Precisely because something that, independent of all the other vices and failings and baggage of the person doing it, IS A FUNDAMENTALLY GOOD AND BEAUTIFUL THING, will without fail be attacked as a perversion, as delusional narcissism, as self-involved psychological brokenness
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Any transition, any coming out of the closet, any act of saying "The box I was born into and expected to occupy is wrong and I'm picking a different one" is an act of liberation, a chain being broken, the world becoming a tiny bit less of the suffocating prison it usually is
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Replying to @arthur_affect
Totally, and I think this is why the strategic decision to frame gender and sexuality as "born this way" has always made me uneasy. It's ultimately an appeal to tolerance - "we can't help this; it's not a choice." Well, what if it was? What, exactly, would be wrong with that?
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Replying to @zsitter
This is why there's an "intracommunity dispute" with so-called "transmeds" being uneasy about the rise of non-binary identity and fluidity in the discourse Understandably, none of this is drawing-room debate, all of this is, as Abi Thorn put it, "high-stakes street philosophy"
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Replying to @arthur_affect @zsitter
But yeah so much of this is responding to power I'm falling back on Lacan a lot recently so yeah I'll name it the "discourse of the hysteric" (loaded as that term is in multiple ways) "I'm in pain, I'm a victim, I'm in danger and I'm scared", all of which is valid and true
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Replying to @arthur_affect @zsitter
That's why it's so infuriating for someone like Jesse Singal to get all snarky about activists "weaponizing suicide" and "contributing to suicide contagion" You fuckers put people in that position, Jesse You wouldn't let them have the damn pills without a REALLY GOOD REASON
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Replying to @arthur_affect @zsitter
The discourse of the hysteric is in organic opposition to the discourse of the master "I'm the doctor here, I'm wearing the white coat, I DECIDE WHO GETS PILLS" And when you have a bully punching you and no way to punch back your tactic is to just scream "Ouch!" loud as you can
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Replying to @arthur_affect @zsitter
"Okay! Fine! You, O Great and Powerful Scientific Establishment, have the right to decide who does and doesn't get pills But has Your Majesty considered the awful pain you are putting innocent people in? Have you seen the scars, smelled the blood, counted the bodies?"
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It's not like it's a lie It's true, the history of transness in a transphobic society is littered with corpses And if giving you the satisfaction of hearing that "Ouch!" is what it takes to make you feel bad and draw back your fist then fine let's paint a lurid portrait of pain
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Replying to @arthur_affect @zsitter
But fuck's sake THIS IS ALSO DAMAGE, THIS IS ALSO HARM To have to perform this shit again and again like a trained animal To put your scars on display to pay the bills To collapse everything about being you into the worst moments of your life
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Replying to @arthur_affect @zsitter
Making "gay" synonymous in the public mind with "AIDS", making "Black" synonymous with slavery and Jim Crow and police shootings, making "immigrant" synonymous with detention centers
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