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sounds_sound · 4687 days ago · link · · parent · post: This is how you *dont* write an article about trans issues
I think I get it. I guess the difficult thing for me to wrap my head around (and the most fun to think about) is what the suffix trans even means. I'm sure you've thought about this plenty. It seems a good starting point for me to deal with such a complex set of ideas. Trans: meaning 'across', 'beyond', or 'on the opposite side'. So for something to be trans there needs to be more than one. But Cis: meaning 'on the same side' shares the same logic because one cannot be on the same side of anything without an identified opposite. So following this, I would think that because we use the word transgender it would mean that something was and then was not. And I guess that's where I start to get hung up because if gender is between the ears and not the legs, and if she was always a she, then why use the word transgender at all? Now I've talked myself into thinking that the word trans-gender is maybe oxymoronic. Do I sound like an idiot?
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AnSionnachRua · 4686 days ago · link ·
I imagine many would say the same to you objecting to the use of pronouns in this article.
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AnSionnachRua · 4686 days ago · link ·
Systematic, no; that would imply that it is coherent, methodical and (most importantly) deliberate; I really don't think the article (or most incorrect pronoun usage w/r/t trans) fits this description.
There's a word on the tip of my tongue that describes it perfectly...
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AnSionnachRua · 4686 days ago · link ·
Avoiding discussion of whether or not "the system" can be spoken of, that usage really doesn't work.
"Systematic" implies that the thing itself is employed in a systematic manner, not simply that it is "within a system" (technically, everything could be said to be so). But let us stop. There is no point arguing about the meanings of words when the issue, really, is elsewhere.
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sounds_sound · 4686 days ago · link ·
Thank you for picking up on my more general point that I was getting at before I went to bed last night, and that's about the words we use to describe each other. When I read a post like Trans 101 in all of its objective definiteness and then read this original post which I must say feels pedantic, then I just think what an exhausting exercise it must be. I really salute you Laurelai for your unwavering drive to have transgender persons be treated equally, but at what point do you become a watch dog? And I'm not saying that as a dig on you personally, because I don't know you, but I'm posing it as a serious question. I'm about as majority as one can get. I'm a white american straight educated male. As a transgender person, how do you draw the line between what you represent as a member of something and the individual that your are? What is worth fighting for?
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sounds_sound · 4686 days ago · link ·
P.S. I also think that the greater discussion is elsewhere and that this is a total non issue, but I just really needed to finish that thought because it was stewing all day.