STEPHEN IRA BEATTY, a junior at Sarah Lawrence College, uploaded a video last March on We Happy Trans, a site that shares “positive perspectives” on being transgender
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Anyway, the framing of this article is really condescending. Perhaps I'm an aberration, but the first time I heard LGBTQIA was ten years ago. That's hardly the newfangled, conceived by Tumblr and totes like putting together a Pinterest board you guys!!1! idea of sexuality and gender identity that this article writer seems to have.
Also, the assertion that queer folks "appropriated" a slur that's been used against us is annoying me for reasons that I can't put my finger on. It's not technically incorrect, but...still.
Also, the assertion that queer folks "appropriated" a slur that's been used against us is annoying me for reasons that I can't put my finger on. It's not technically incorrect, but...still.
I prefer the term "reclaiming."
I mean, it's a bit much to insist that people respect someone's insults of them. IMHO the people it describes have more of a claim to it than its originators, and deserve more of a say in what it should mean and how it should be used, and if they can manage to turn it around, more power to them. At least, that's my quick analysis; I can't think of any example where I think they shouldn't have that power if they can swing it.
Of course, people as a community end up having their own say in what words mean---I remember McDonald's trying to get "McJob" redefined in some dictionary as "an engaging career with excellent advancement opportunities" or similar, and the general public went "yeah, right" at them and went with its own opinion of the quality of McDonald's employment
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lol but those crazy cyber kids with their newfangled ideas about gender that they 'cull from wikipedia' though!
idk
i guess if you were someone who had no idea that the term "cisgender" existed i'd rather you read this article than something blatantly transphobic? but yeah getting condescension vibes all over the place.
also (most, probably) non cis people exist outside of liberal arts colleges and it would be cool if the author mentioned that, like, at all
also (most, probably) non cis people exist outside of liberal arts colleges and it would be cool if the author mentioned that, like, at all
ALSO THIS, ugh. Their treatment of queerness as a consequence of academia was really grating. Granted, yeah: while this article is leaps and bounds better than something that misgenders everyone and is really trans*/queerphobic and shitty, I think that we can also have an article that addresses these issues without treating them like the trendy passing fancy of youth. That, to me, is just as harmful, only in different ways, because it still delegitimizes people's identities.
yes of course how was i supposed to know i was queer without gender studies class? i would have just wandered forever in the woodlands of my ignorance, not knowing why i liked ladies but hated being called one. thank god for judith butler.
yeah this article is pretty much ammunition for the 'it's a phase'/'you'll grow out of it' argument.
Also, the assertion that queer folks "appropriated" a slur that's been used against us is annoying me for reasons that I can't put my finger on. It's not technically incorrect, but...still.
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I prefer the term "reclaiming."
I mean, it's a bit much to insist that people respect someone's insults of them. IMHO the people it describes have more of a claim to it than its originators, and deserve more of a say in what it should mean and how it should be used, and if they can manage to turn it around, more power to them. At least, that's my quick analysis; I can't think of any example where I think they shouldn't have that power if they can swing it.
Of course, people as a community end up having their own say in what words mean---I remember McDonald's trying to get "McJob" redefined in some dictionary as "an engaging career with excellent advancement opportunities" or similar, and the general public went "yeah, right" at them and went with its own opinion of the quality of McDonald's employment ( ... )
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idk
i guess if you were someone who had no idea that the term "cisgender" existed i'd rather you read this article than something blatantly transphobic? but yeah getting condescension vibes all over the place.
also (most, probably) non cis people exist outside of liberal arts colleges and it would be cool if the author mentioned that, like, at all
Reply
ALSO THIS, ugh. Their treatment of queerness as a consequence of academia was really grating.
Granted, yeah: while this article is leaps and bounds better than something that misgenders everyone and is really trans*/queerphobic and shitty, I think that we can also have an article that addresses these issues without treating them like the trendy passing fancy of youth. That, to me, is just as harmful, only in different ways, because it still delegitimizes people's identities.
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yeah this article is pretty much ammunition for the 'it's a phase'/'you'll grow out of it' argument.
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