What's your opinion on this analogy

[Devyn]

So, I don't know if anyone will agree with me on this, but this analogy kind of bugs me.

My friend's sister posted this analogy on tumblr (I don't have a tumblr, but my friend does), comparing transgender people to soda. It's been going around on tumblr or something, I really don't know, and my friend pointed it out to me. (For many other reasons, I can't stand her sister, but I'm not getting into it why. She's just crazy and extremist.)

Anyway. Copying what my friend sent me, the analogy is: "Let's just say you have a Coke bottle, but what's in that Coke bottle tastes, smells, looks, and thus quite clearly is Sprite. Why would you insist that what you're dealing with is Coke and can't possibly be anything else?"

My initial response was this: "You know what most people would do if they found Sprite in a Coke bottle? They would dump it out. Guess what happens when you're trans."

Maybe I'm just looking at it negatively, but that's the first thing I thought when I heard that.

Also, I don't wanna be compared to soda.

It's just. I understood the point of the analogy, but I don't think it's accurate.

Just had to post about it. I want to know if I'm the only one that thinks this way. Maybe I'm just bitter.

[hwytoaster]

I think it just sounds stupid and like it comes from a real simple mind that can't think too clearly.

[JohnAlex]

I wouldn't particularly have a problem with that analogy if it was helping people understand.  If she was using it to mock trans people, then I'd have a big problem.
But as long as the analogy is, or has the potential to, help people understand trans people, I guess it's alright.

I mean, it's hard to explain to people what it's like being trans.  people don't always.  and you can try to explain it to them, and they still won't always get it.  but sometimes, you just need the right analogy for them to get it.  And if, for some people, this could be the right analogy for them, then I would like it.


But other than that.  if it's just an analogy given to trans people, who already know what it's like.  Then it is a bit silly, and minimizing the issue,  to use soda.

[Adio]

I took it as coke=physical//sex/etc and sprite=mental/gender/etc.  It's a decent analogy, not perfect.  I don't like being compared to soda either, but it's better than being compared to some other things that I've heard.  I didn't take it negatively at all.  Perhaps you were looking at things from your filter of disliking your friend's sister?

[wheat thins are delicious]

I took it as coke=physical//sex/etc and sprite=mental/gender/etc.  It's a decent analogy, not perfect.  I don't like being compared to soda either, but it's better than being compared to some other things that I've heard.  I didn't take it negatively at all.  Perhaps you were looking at things from your filter of disliking your friend's sister?

That's what I took it to mean.  Why keep insisting it's Coke when the inside clearly shows it's not, ie why keep insisting I'm female because of the outside when I clearly state I'm not.

[Arch]

Seems to me that this person is saying that since I was designated female at birth and everyone saw me as female, I am female, not that everyone else should look at the drink and not focus on the bottle. If that's the case, I do object.

But, frankly, her meaning isn't clear. Who is "you" in this analogy--the trans person, or all of the people who insist that the trans person is really his or her birth sex and that anyone who says otherwise is mentally ill or deluded? If she is trying to be supportive of trans people, she needs to be clearer about who is being addressed. So the analogy doesn't work as it stands. At least it addresses the basic inside/outside dichotomy, but whose perceptions is she addressing?

If she is trying to diss trans people, the analogy is rotten. It's a lousy comparison in that case because what she really means is that we are Coke bottles with Coke in them, but we keep insisting that we're drinking Sprite.

Soft drinks do not have a personal identity or a brain or upbringing or free will or genitals.

"Men are not potatoes." (Okay, I'm stretching the meaning of that passage, but you get my drift.)

[wheat thins are delicious]

If she is trying to diss trans people, the analogy is rotten. It's a lousy comparison in that case because what she really means is that we are Coke bottles with Coke in them, but we keep insisting that we're drinking Sprite.

If she meant that I think she would have said "Let's just say you have a Coke bottle, but what's in that Coke bottle tastes, smells, looks, and thus quite clearly is Coke. Why would you insist that what you're dealing with is Sprite and can't possibly be anything else?"

[Sharky]

I took it negatively. I took it as saying the Sprite was passing itself off as Coke, but it will always be Sprite no matter what.

[anibioman]

i use a similar analogy when im talking to little children, but i use cookie boxes because little kids like cookies and it keeps them focused also i find the boxes are easy to color and cross out names and such to illustrate the transition process.

i dont think its a bad idea to make these analogies its kinda like dont judge a book by its cover.

[JohnAlex]

I took it negatively. I took it as saying the Sprite was passing itself off as Coke, but it will always be Sprite no matter what.

Oohhh, I didn't even see that.  Yeah, I can totally see how it could also mean that.

I think that's the main problem with this analogy, and a lot of analogies in general.  All the analogies really do is express your view on it.
You could compare trans people with soda by saying that their bottles don't match the drink on the inside.  but then someone who is against trans could just manipulate the analogy to mean what they want it to express their views on trans people.  and then it's not really helping change anyone's views.

[hellion]

So, I don't know if anyone will agree with me on this, but this analogy kind of bugs me.

My friend's sister posted this analogy on tumblr (I don't have a tumblr, but my friend does), comparing transgender people to soda. It's been going around on tumblr or something, I really don't know, and my friend pointed it out to me. (For many other reasons, I can't stand her sister, but I'm not getting into it why. She's just crazy and extremist.)

Anyway. Copying what my friend sent me, the analogy is: "Let's just say you have a Coke bottle, but what's in that Coke bottle tastes, smells, looks, and thus quite clearly is Sprite. Why would you insist that what you're dealing with is Coke and can't possibly be anything else?"

My initial response was this: "You know what most people would do if they found Sprite in a Coke bottle? They would dump it out. Guess what happens when you're trans."

Maybe I'm just looking at it negatively, but that's the first thing I thought when I heard that.

Also, I don't wanna be compared to soda.

It's just. I understood the point of the analogy, but I don't think it's accurate.

Just had to post about it. I want to know if I'm the only one that thinks this way. Maybe I'm just bitter.

Hm, to me, it sounds like we're the Sprite in the Coke bottle. Outside might show Coke, but everything else is Sprite = we're really Sprite, just the bottle or label is wrong. Thinking that way, it's ok. Only problem I have with this analogy is that we're people, not something as trivial as bottles of soda. If your bottle of Coke doesn't contain what you want, you can toss it away without giving it a second thought instead of accepting it as Sprite - I wish you don't do that with people.

[Bird]

This analogy is anal.

[justmeinoz]

I'd give her credit for at least trying.

[Nygeel]

Would be better if I was mountain dew...can I be mountain dew but in a tab bottle? That way I'm just odd.

Anyways...the analogy makes sense to me. "Inside" (ex: in your noggin) you're not what people see as your "outside." That the label put on you is not what you truly are no matter how much folks insist it is.

[Natkat]

actually I saw this from a pretty positive point;
putting it into trans perspective I readed it like this;

et's just say you have a Coke bottle,
(lets just say your body is female)

but what's in that Coke bottle tastes, smells, looks, and thus quite clearly is Sprite.
(but everything inside seams everything as a male)

Why would you insist that what you're dealing with is Coke and can't possibly be anything else?
(then why would you keep saying that this is female and cant be anything ells)

if I found a sprite in a coke,
I would be happy,
cause I like sprite better than coke and if I had bought coke it were probebly because they didnt have Sprite.

[Arch]

If she meant that I think she would have said "Let's just say you have a Coke bottle, but what's in that Coke bottle tastes, smells, looks, and thus quite clearly is Coke. Why would you insist that what you're dealing with is Sprite and can't possibly be anything else?"

I think perhaps you missed my implication that she doesn't know how to make a successful analogy (let alone a good one). As you can see, people are taking her analogy in at least two different and mutually exclusive ways. So, in my book, she didn't imply what she meant in the first place. Therefore, perhaps we can say that she should have said X if she meant X, but it would be illogical to insist that she would have said it if she'd meant it. If she had, we wouldn't all be split fifty-fifty on what the f*** she means!!!

[Arch]

Maybe she should have used an opaque bottle that can only be drunk out of by one person, the trans person. And made it a Coke bottle with Coke Zero in it, so (if anyone catches a glimpse of it) it looks the same. And a man in a blue topcoat waving a gun around. And a woman.

[N.Chaos]

I took it negatively. I took it as saying the Sprite was passing itself off as Coke, but it will always be Sprite no matter what.

Agreed. Devyn, I think you might be bitter, but no more than anyone else who's seen a lot of bull->-bleeped-<- in their time.

To me, I think the intention was genuine, but it just seems like another one of those cutesy little attempted explanations that, instead of actually addressing anything, are just intended for people to "aww" over and reblog to gloat over their uber-openmindedness. Especially on tumblr.

[mimpi]

Would rather go with Coke in a Sprite bottle. Prefer the taste and Coke has the better designed bottle.

That said the analogy sucks and is offensive.

[tekla]

I don't like it - people are not products.