Well that's an interesting thing to learn. Apparently there are decent numbers of people that think being queer or trans is a political position. As in they genuinely believe that not only are these things people's choices, but that they're making those choices specifically to undermine specific political platforms. Specifically that they are effectively pretending to be queer or trans out of some political motivation
I… don't even know where to start
@calcifer well, i have yet to see any data supporting or opposing the idea that trans-ness or queer-ness is or is not a personal decision.
if it is a personal decision, then it could be a political statement.
i think the general orthodoxy is that it's not a decision, that it's innate, but there are other personal decisions surrounding it (actions, mostly) that are choices.
i mean, all of the closeted gay priests are choosing *not* to make the political statement of coming out...
@sneak @calcifer Closeted priests stay in the closet because they would be castigated within their peer group if they came out. It is the path of least resistance.
Trans people who “come out” are frequently castigated — losing friends, family — and are frequently subject to violence. Doing so is a path featuring nothing BUT resistance.
Virtually no cis person would sign up for that just to make a political point.
@sneak @calcifer Even living in a deep-blue political place like I do (where there are pressures to adhere to a regional ideological heterodoxy), nobody is castigated simply for being cis.
The path of least resistance for a cis person, even here, is to be cis.
I don’t know much about being trans, as I have never lived that life, but I am sure of one thing: This is not something that people fake. It is 100% sincere.
@jeff @calcifer i didn't suggest anyone was faking. i said that i don't have data to indicate whether or not this is a conscious choice. your anecdotes (as well as my own) suggest that due to the difficulty of the process, it likely is not - but that is not proof.
correspondingly, the "being {gay, trans, etc} is a political statement" theory is not debunked.
@sneak @calcifer Meanwhile, as those not directly impacted by all this are free to bandy about the philosophical nature of what is and isn’t knowable, real-life actual trans people are being subjected to criminalization and are increasingly framed as dangerous pariahs in large part because of assumptions about their sincerity and honesty.
Frankly, I don’t give a shit about falsifiability. It’s a pants-on-head idiotic argument created to justify bigotry.
@sneak @calcifer There is a a HUGE difference between seeking the truth (i.e. in a research setting) and airing wild-ass speculation in public in ways that just so happen to validate the prejudices of an increasingly dangerous and empowered group of bigots seeking reasons to marginalize trans people.
That’s not seeking knowledge, it’s providing kindling to a match.
@sneak @calcifer Without peering into peoples’ minds it’s impossible to know anyone’s motives with 100% absolute certainty.
Like you said, there’s no proof. It’s an unfalsifiable claim akin to Russell's Teapot.
Oddly enough, for the very same reason, it can’t be proven that cis/straight people aren’t the way WE are for political reasons.
Funny how those pushing this offensive notion seem perfectly willing to take people like themselves at face value, isn’t it?