Today's anti-trans activism is about so much more than transgender people [View all]

Today's anti-trans activism is about so much more than transgender people
The extreme anti-trans activism we see today is about much more than gender diversity. The transphobia is driven by a deep and irrational fear of the unknown, a fear political extremists are exploiting in order to gain power.
Jack Molay
August 12, 2024

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It may look as if the "debate" continues to be about "facts", given that anti-trans activists often refer to "science" when dismissing transgender identities. But the truth is that this has nothing to do with science or facts. This is all about feelings, and particularly about the fear of the unknown. They are not debating in order to learn. They are debating in order to win. They seek control.

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The fear of loss of social standing

It has been said that Hitler did not win in Germany because the middle class had become poor. He won because they feared that they would become poor and lose their social status. We see the same today, especially among those who are wired for caution and conservatism: They no longer trust the system, and their fear of chaos and poverty drives them into the arms of fascist charlatans.

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Trans people are seen as threatening the building block of the traditionalist narrative, the nuclear family. The mom plus pop plus 2.1 kids and a dog narrative requires a firm and unquestionable divide between the two "biological sexes".

Moreover, both right wing transphobes (fascists and religious fanatics) and left wing transphobes ("gender critical" TERFs) believe men are violent by nature. This violence requires a social structure that protect weak women from strong men, and the only ones who can give that protection are strong men. This is completely bizarre, I know, but this is how they think, and this is why it becomes hard to get real gender equality. Strong men are there to protect their property (women and children) against other violent men, and men who do not want to live up this stereotype cannot be real men. And if they want to be women, they must be mad.

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When I write this it seems like the Harris/Waltz campaign in the US is based on a strategy where the message is that it is the compassionate defenders of the weak who are the "normal" ones and the haters who are the "weird" ones. After all, being hopeful and glad is a natural human trait, so why not embrace it?

The right wing reactionaries seem to sense the trap. Over at Fox News they are spending a lot of time presenting compassionate men as feminized weaklings. Even female politicians who smile, laugh and hug are seen as dangerous. But this only confirms that they are misogynists who have lost their ability to love, and that the only thing that drives them is hate, fear and the need to dominate. And that is "weird".
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