About that capacity to persevere

That letter from Museum London [Ontario] merits close attention.

That second paragraph. The Ontario Human Rights Commission says “the words people use to describe themselves and others are very important.”

Are they though? Especially the ones they use to describe themselves? People have a tendency to think more about themselves than others, to flatter themselves more than others, to puff up their descriptions of themselves more than others. People have a tendency to think they matter more than others. Maybe all this huffing and puffing about idennniny and the words people use to go on and on and on about themselves is not a new form of Justice or Empowerment or Incloosion but just more of the same old vanity and self-absorption we’re so accustomed to in humans. Maybe we really don’t need more of it, but rather less.

At any rate, even if you agree that we should all care deeply about how other people label themselves, there remains a difference between truth and lies. “Misgendering” someone in the sense of not lying about what sex they are is not a form of illegitimate or wicked “discrimination.” Women absolutely need to know which people are men and which are not, and we need to be free to warn other women about men who are disguising themselves as women, whether for the purpose of attacking them or stealing their athletic prizes. Museum London is way out of line ordering women to pretend some men are women, and punishing them if they refuse.

10 Responses to “About that capacity to persevere”