For their pain to be recognized as valid
Glosswitch pointed out one perverse aspect of the trans juggernaut.
We know that being trans is highly fashionable, and also energetically encouraged from many directions. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t also attract hostility and persecution, but we do know there are plenty of cheerleaders around. I hadn’t quite noticed the paradox that those cheerleaders also insist that being trans (or at least being dysphoric) is agony, but of course they do and of course it is a paradox. Maybe a lot of the putative agony is manufactured, precisely by the biggest cheerleaders for the trans juggernaut. “You’re awesome and stunning and brave and also very likely to kill yourself – welcome aboard!”
I’ve been assuming the shouts about agony and suicide were meant for the gender skeptics, and hadn’t really thought about how it might affect people who think of themselves as trans. Now that Victoria has mentioned it, it seems both likely and horrifying.
Also self-perpetuating, because more and more people are saying “Wait, slow down, take a deep breath, don’t do anything drastic – puberty is no picnic for anyone, and no one is overjoyed with every single aspect of their sex. The social rules about which sex can do what are stupid, so ignore or reform those, but don’t try to swap your genitalia for the other set.” Because more people are saying that, cheerleaders for the ideology have to push back harder and harder, by amping up the claims that we are The Road to Suicide.
Humans do get themselves into such messes.
I believe that. I remember when I was anorexic. One of the things I always heard from people who were at or slightly above their ideal weight (i.e., not Twiggy) was how fortunate I was. They were ssssooooo fat, and they couldn’t seem to lose a thing! I was beautifully skinny….never mind that the pictures of me at that time scared my husband when he first saw them (after I was a normal weight). It was always “oh, you’re so lucky, I wish I had your problem”.
These were members of the group therapy group I joined (there were no anorexia support groups in OKC at that time, the last one had fallen apart three months before my doctor decided he wanted me to do that, so he found one that was just ‘weight problems’). Did they think that helped? It didn’t. It reinforced. My doctor yanked me out of the group after three sessions.
I can relate.
My wife and I once owned a Fitness Centre. She started losing weight. All the young women were complimenting her on the weight loss, wanting to know her diet and exercise regime.
She told them they didn’t want to know. They insisted.
Cancer.
Oh, Roj. That must have been tough.
It was, but life goes on. We lost a lot of money in the end, but she is still alive and kicking. Although we are no longer married (not because of the cancer) we remain on good terms, visiting each other a few times a year, welcoming each other’s new partners into our homes.
It’s not too far off the Christian insistance that they’re so martyred and oppressed and War On Christmas!! and Soon it’ll be illegal to own a bible!! – Fred Clark at Slacktivist has rightly and repeatedly pointed out what a great fundraising strategy this is.
And self-reinforcing. And self-amplifying.
Dangerous… dangerous. Not only “you can’t really be brave and stunning if you’re not in such agony that you need to transition” but “you can’t be as brave and stunning as [insert absurdly self-aggrandising name] over there if….”