I think for a lot of people, what it reveals is that they haven't thought it through and that mantras like "trans women are women" and accusations of transphobia aren't actual arguments, they're just designed to stop thinking and discussion. I think that's why we need to get more comfortable asking people "What do you mean by that?" when they say stuff like that. Also, "transphobia" should not shut anything down when misogyny and homophobia could just as easily be lobbed at trans ideologues and if they're positing that trans people's needs are MORE important than other peoples', then they need to at least be honest about that. Then they need to be asked how oppression hierarchies help oppressed people.
This is why they continually tell themselves and their allies not to read anything by a gender critical author - they know that screaming "no debate" means they don't have a leg to stand on.
I run into this all the time with my own family. It’s either “no debate,” or “I don’t know enough to have an opinion because I haven’t looked into this, but also I’m not interested and/or this upsets me, so I don’t want to talk about it.” In the meantime, I’m anxious to talk about it with ANYONE who will engage in the conversation. Happy to have a civil debate. Interested in hearing all other opinions. Why is the trans/ally side so incredibly blind to this? As I ask myself several times a day, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? And how the hell do we stop it?
Unfortunately, this is very common even in normal (non trans related) interactions. Most of the time humans just want to be right. Hardly anyone delves into a conversation to parse the complexities of a subject to learn or come to an understanding. It’s as if broaching a subject with anyone constitutes a challenge and the prospect of being proved incorrect is a humiliation or a failure instead of a learning opportunity. It makes me tired. I love to discuss anything, just for the entertainment value and it makes me sad that people don’t want to make the effort to learn anything; just want the straight line between a and b even if that doesn’t get to the heart of the subject. Since the trans topic is so fraught with drama and emotion (bc that helps to put people off; it’s on purpose), people are even less available to look for reasonable understanding.
I think for a lot of people, what it reveals is that they haven't thought it through and that mantras like "trans women are women" and accusations of transphobia aren't actual arguments, they're just designed to stop thinking and discussion. I think that's why we need to get more comfortable asking people "What do you mean by that?" when they say stuff like that. Also, "transphobia" should not shut anything down when misogyny and homophobia could just as easily be lobbed at trans ideologues and if they're positing that trans people's needs are MORE important than other peoples', then they need to at least be honest about that. Then they need to be asked how oppression hierarchies help oppressed people.
This is why they continually tell themselves and their allies not to read anything by a gender critical author - they know that screaming "no debate" means they don't have a leg to stand on.
I run into this all the time with my own family. It’s either “no debate,” or “I don’t know enough to have an opinion because I haven’t looked into this, but also I’m not interested and/or this upsets me, so I don’t want to talk about it.” In the meantime, I’m anxious to talk about it with ANYONE who will engage in the conversation. Happy to have a civil debate. Interested in hearing all other opinions. Why is the trans/ally side so incredibly blind to this? As I ask myself several times a day, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? And how the hell do we stop it?
Unfortunately, this is very common even in normal (non trans related) interactions. Most of the time humans just want to be right. Hardly anyone delves into a conversation to parse the complexities of a subject to learn or come to an understanding. It’s as if broaching a subject with anyone constitutes a challenge and the prospect of being proved incorrect is a humiliation or a failure instead of a learning opportunity. It makes me tired. I love to discuss anything, just for the entertainment value and it makes me sad that people don’t want to make the effort to learn anything; just want the straight line between a and b even if that doesn’t get to the heart of the subject. Since the trans topic is so fraught with drama and emotion (bc that helps to put people off; it’s on purpose), people are even less available to look for reasonable understanding.