Wasn't aware of TERF and I'm sorry now to learn about it. Since I've always interpreted the ultimate goal of feminism to be unequivocal gender equality, the very concept of excluding anyone seems contradictory and decidedly anti-feminist. It's a little like being a civil rights activist but excluding the bi-racial.

Yeah, I'll just add that to the list of things that I regret knowing.

I've known black people who would both complain about anti-black racism and refer to Asians as "chinks" practically in the same sentence, women who would bristle about gender stereotypes but still talk shit about Mexicans, and a whole ugly spectrum of hypocritical liberal white guys. Just because someone has a few progressive notions is no guarantee they're not still an asshole.

Never heard the term TERF before (I assume the RF is radical feminist) but I sadly became aware of the status of trans women in the current scope of feminism some time ago. The idea of a feminist or Social Justice Warrior should be unimpeachable, argued against by only the most pungent of basement dwelling scum, but discovering such base level failures as this just takes the wind out of one's sails.

TERF is most definitely a thing. A vile repulsive thing that slithers around sliming up the place. It's so gross and so disgusting I can't even really engage with it.

To quote Dinosaur Comics: "these people are broken and I don't wanna deal with their garbage."

I don't, I really don't. But sometimes I feel like I have to. If some TERF abomination comes slithering into a conversation I feel like I have to push back because I won't have my silence taken as agreement, and also because I'm not trans so they can't get at me they way they get at transwomen. And the suicide rate for trans people being what it is, I can't be having people in a space I'm in making it worse. I'd be fine if they just weren't helping, but to actively make life shittier for people who have a hard road anyway is just foulness.

Oh yeah, I'm with you on that. It's just so fucking tiring, dealing with them. It'd be nice to not have to do that, hence the "I don't wanna deal with their garbage."

I know it's not a solution, but if they'd just stick together with the gamergater trash and spew their hatred between themselves rather than at actual human beings, I'd be fine with that. Echo chambers are obviously not good, especially not ones where oppressed groups are the targets, but it would be fucking nice if they'd just stay in theirs and leave the rest of humanity alone.

She's beautiful, and that voice!

I know I'm going to be maligned for this, but I see the whole transgender thing as weird as hell. I know I'm supposed to be accepting of everything nowadays instead of just tolerant, but when I see someone who was born a guy get cosmetic surgery and hormone treatment and tell me they're now a woman I can't help but react the same way whenever someone comes up to me and talks about religion. Whatever floats your boat and all that. Despite being the resident shitlord I don't believe anyone should be discriminated against, but I just can't roll with it.

Technically they're just born with a dick (or the opposite, for transmen), there's no being born "guy" about it (this is where the "assigned female/male at birth" (afab/amab) comes from). As long as you try to use the correct pronouns, I have no problem with your personal convictions one way or another. Misgendering people on purpose is an asshole move though (I know several who will insist on using the wrong pronoun because "but they were born [this] and not [that] and chromosomes are important!" and ...

sorry. I'll just shut up.

Well, you're totally fine to see it as weird or to 'not roll with it'. As long as you're aware of your squeamishness and don't be a dick about it.

Why can someone only be a dick about it? Huh? HUH?!

Don't be an unspecified genitourinary organ about it.

I had no idea 'genitourinary' was a word. Thank you

We're all here to learn.

double post alert

I imagine being born with a set of physical sexy bits that aren't properly aligned with your mental sexy bits must also be weird as hell.

When people think about being transgender I think they often think about changing their gender, but it's probably more accurate to imagine being the gender you are, but looking so much like the opposite gender that you are treated as one and expected to act like one.

I've thought about that, and I think I could manage mentally/emotionally as a (homosexual) member of the opposite gender.

That's.... like.... really smart. Well said!

I do wonder, if I were faced with the same situation: Would it be "better" to have medical science rework my body to match my brain, or to allow my brain to have the chemicals needed so my desires matched my body?

Edit: Imagine that for a designer drug: An injection or pill that, for the next 24 hours or so, changed your sexual desire to include the gender you're not attracted to sans drug, if not override your usual preference entirely.

doesn't it have less to do with brain chemistry and more to do with brain hard-wiring?
therefore, not something so casually changed.

I believe that's the current science, yes. However, as we don't really have the ability to go in and change brain structure on such a fine level (or even precisely how we'd go about it), I figured the ol' hormonal and dopamine-flavored route would be the next best thing.

I've noticed some pretty interesting results from tequila + weed + opportunity.

Best would be the ability to slot your self-module into whatever meatsuit you downloaded and printed this morning.

Reprogrammable brains sound cool too -- in theory, anyway. In practice, people are all too happy to use the same weak passwords for both online banking and their accounts on sketchy Russian porn sites, or send off their SSN and CC info in response to unsolicited emails from "costomar_serviss@ppaypall.biz". I don't know if I'm ready for a world where people leave access to control over their entire personalities protected only by "password123".