No matter what he wears
No matter how hard he tries.
No matter how hard I try, or what I wear, or what I say, or what surgeries I get, I will never reach an acceptable version of tigerhood by those hateful people’s standards.
No matter how hard I try, or what I wear, or what I say, or what surgeries I get, I will never reach an acceptable version of oaktreehood by those hateful people’s standards.
No matter how hard I try, or what I wear, or what I say, or what surgeries I get, I will never reach an acceptable version of mountainhood by those hateful people’s standards.
No matter how hard I try, or what I wear, or what I say, or what surgeries I get, I will never reach an acceptable version of planethood by those hateful people’s standards.
Sorry, Dylan, that’s just how it works. There are some things we can become via trying hard, and there are other things we can’t. We can become teachers, lawyers, journalists, legislators by trying hard. We can become better people by trying hard. We can’t become other species, or furniture, or celestial bodies by trying hard. Some ontologies are simply closed to us.
…well, some can. Not everyone can. And that’s ok, too. Effort is often required, but not sufficient. I’d love if society broadly would get away from supporting, llet alone encouraging, the self-absorbed worldview that values effort over actual effects of actions.
Closer inspection of his/he/its crotch in the linked full Twitter photo, reveals a distinct bulge, normally characteristic of us human males If she/he/it wants to convince onlookers etc that it/she/he is indeed a woman, I would recommend that she/he/it keep his/her/it’s donger strapped down and compressed as tightly as possible. A leatherworker or saddler may be able to supply him/her/it with the necessary gear. As well, he/she/it might consider wearing a ballerina’s costume, with a flaring black skirt to shade the aforementioned crotch area to the fullest extent possible. Also, bright LED light jewellery and other decoration on her/his/its upper body might draw the attention of viewers in that direction. A miner’s helmet and lamp turned up to full brightness could also be a big aid in this charade.
Hope this helps.
If any woman was dressed and coiffed as I am now (plaid flannel shirt, cargo pants, full head of medium short hair), and no makeup, she would still obviously be a woman.
Yet another heavily-manipulated photographic portrait which bears no resemblance to the alleged subject.
He’s right, of course, about nobody seeing him as a woman. He’s wrong, of course, about that adherence to fact making people hateful.
Well aside from the trans thing, Dylan, who looks so peaceful in photos (and never does in videos), is one of those insufferable spastic assclowns who thinks he’s amusing. I never could stand the type, so maybe that’s just my temperament, but his mocking, ‘party girl’ stereotype only multiplies the repulsion.
Okay, so which seems more likely?
1. Men see the attention and prizes that they get, along with sympathy and adulation, by adopting stereotypical appearances and behavior of the most bimbo-affected women in order to join in the adulation (and cash in Dylan’s case.) Men who are affected easily by social contagion or a fetish for dress as women in order to see themselves as women and get their rocks off expand their private screenings of themselves to very public ones and need everyone they come in contact with must reaffirm their ladyness.
2. They’re (somehow) a real girl, or woman, or whatever way he refers to himself. And no explanation for what this means nor how it actually manifests is given beyond “shut up bigot.”
I only have a passing acquaintance with Occam’s razor, but even though the explanation in number 1 is longer, it seems to have a much lower threshhold of credibility than the one in number 2. Number 1, based in simple application of logic, and experience and understanding of gender in patriarchy would seem to be the likeliest case.
@1 I used to teach university classes for people who wanted to enter my profession. I once had a young woman take one of my classes and fail it not once but twice. It had nothing at all to do with her lack of diligence or motivation – she busted her butt to do the homework and exercises, came to my office hours, and clearly had enthusiasm for the subject. And I honestly don’t think it had to do with a lack of general intelligence either. She was just somehow incapable of mastering the material. (Now that I write this, all these years later, I’m wondering if she had some kind of undiagnosed learning disability, but we were less on the lookout for those kinds of things, and probably less willing and able to help, back in those days.)
guest, I had a student like that once, minus the effort. She wanted to go into my field, I suspect, because everyone told her it was easy (insulting to me much?). In fact, Environmental Science is quite challenging and requires a lot of effort…not to mention tolerance for sun, snakes, mosquitos, and ants. She failed my class twice, but somehow convinced herself it was me, not her.
So effort is required. Also, the ability to understand the field.
This is where I was so crafty, by saying “we.” We as a species can. Not all individuals can, but humans in general can. Some of us will fail but the attempt won’t have been an absurdity like trying very hard to become a banana.
(Now I’m tempted to add something snide about how it might be an absurdity for Dylan to try very hard to become anything requiring intelligence, but I’ll refrain.)
Crafty indeed! I’m in the middle of dealing with some not-unrelated student complaints (minor and unfounded, les5 anyone be worried), so admittedly rather primed to read something you weren’t actually saying. I’ll blame English’s notoriously ambiguous pronouns XD
Men can get all the surgeries, apply the makeup, dress the part but they can never quite get there if the person you are trying to convince is sober, observant, and disinclined to give you the benefit of the doubt. Do a good job and a casual observer may grace your presence with a pronoun implying female status.
Personally, I just don’t care. I select the pronouns I use very carefully, after a tenth of a second of observation. I use what seems most appropriate. Longer hair, dress, and a general feminine air gets you a feminine pronoun. A masculine presentation male pronouns. And no, I’m not going to start a conversation and ask. As I said, I really don’t care. The interaction is measured in seconds so I am not invested, nor will I ever be.
OTOH, if your a friend, colleague, or business associate, particularly if your easy to like, I might be more concerned with what you want. Maybe not. I once worked with a guy for two years and never knew his name. Always wore a distinctive pair of boots. I, and more than half the people around me, called him “Boots”.
I have no idea if he liked being called “Boots”. It stuck and he answered to the term. In a better world we would all be more sensitive. I don’t live in that world.
Bottom line here is that appearances matter. If you come across as female you get addressed as female. Dylan Mulvaney, based upon the photo, would pass as female. He is, assuming he doesn’t whip his dick out and wave it around, unlikely to get much resistance going to a women’s bathroom. Particularly if he does his business in a stall.
Is he a woman? No. Does he, or she if I’m feeling charitable, have rights? Well yes. I will back his right to live as he likes, to be treated fairly in all matters of employment, pay, housing, public transportation and accommodation.
Everyone gets the basic package. And, barring a very convincing presentation, you have no inherent right to same sex spaces. What you can get away with under the RADAR is your business. On the other hand, while I might use pronouns more to your liking and feel more or less comfortable around my female relatives, or not, you simply have no control. Even if it hurts your feelings and crushes your spirit. Sometimes life is like that. Boots sucks it up and makes the best out of it. Everyone is walking wounded. Your pain is not special.
Given present technology it seems unlikely that trans men will ever reach full womanhood. Just not going to happen. If we are friends I may make some effort to accommodate their preferences but I am under no obligation to do so. No amount of misplaced legalism, argument or pretzel logic is going to change that.