Gender Analysis 06. Bathroom Bills: Dehumanization and Control

[dalebert]

I solidly agree with pretty much everything she says here. Very well put, Zinnia.

[suzifrommd]

She's got some good points, but I think she misses the whole point of why these bills gain traction.

It is NOT about dehumanizing trans people.

There is a fear that single-sex restrooms will be a thing of the past, and like it or not, many cis people feel comfortable using single-sex restrooms.

[Asche]

She's got some good points, but I think she misses the whole point of why these bills gain traction.

It is NOT about dehumanizing trans people.

There is a fear that single-sex restrooms will be a thing of the past, and like it or not, many cis people feel comfortable using single-sex restrooms.

I disagree.

To me, it's clear that for most (cis) people it's about feeling uncomfortable with people who violate what they have grown up believing is one of the core certainties of humanity: that humans come in exactly two immutable varieties: male and female, and that male people look and act "male" and female people look and act "female."  It's the basis of the insistence on color-coding infants.  Society expends an enormous amount of energy to divide humanity into two groups and make them seem and act as dissimilar as possible.

For the politicians and rabble-rousers, it's about finding a group of people they can dehumanize and demonize so the populace will feel threatened and thus easy prey for demagoguery.  Back in the 1950's and 1960's, it was Communists.  Then it was "hippies," which included any young people who didn't look sufficiently conformist.  Then it was Teh Gays that were the primary focus.  Now that people at large are starting to discover that gays and lesbians are human beings, they've got to find another target.

Like us.

Back when I was a child in the South, rabble-rousers would conjure up the spectacle of hordes of bestial dark-skinned hordes violating the purity of (white) Southern womanhood in order to get the (white) population to do what they wanted.  Now it's trans woman who they claim are out to violate the purity of (white Southern) womanhood.

The targets change with the times, the tactics don't; they've been around for millennia.

[Lady Smith]

It called scapegoating and it's one of the human race's more shameful forms of behaviour.  Like Asche says it's been going on for thousands of years and you'd think we would have learned to stop doing it by now.

[iKate]

It's multiple things.

For starters, some people don't recognize us as legitimate and they want to make sure that we know that.

Religion could be related to it but often I think religion is simply used as a means to hate and is not about hate in itself.

Then there is plain old bigotry, aka the "ick" factor.

[Dee Marshall]

Little of this was new to me but I did find myself thinking that this isn't a problem she's ever likely to have. If she hadn't outed herself by discussing the issue in this way there is no chance I would ever clock her and I doubt anyone else would either.

[dalebert]

FWIW, she's practically always been out. She was making videos since before she even realized she was trans and was coming out on YouTube as she realized it.

[Dee Marshall]

So not fair! She could pass before she even began. I'm very happy for her.

[Tessa James]

This is the first time I have seen this woman's videos but I found the reasoned argument and analysis to be convincing.  I also feel we are fortunate that people with so called passing privilege are still willing to identify publicly as transgender and remain in the public arena for the sake of educating others.

Demonizing, scapegoating, blaming the victims, yes, tired old human devices for manipulation and control.  I am starting to be afraid of myself already.   OMG, what might we do next to offend the moral majority??  Cartoons, laughing, singing and dancing come to mind   How scary!