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[–]muomo 13 insightful - 3 fun13 insightful - 2 fun14 insightful - 3 fun -  (3 children)

I actually got in a fight with my boyfriend over this. He brought up the JK Rowling situation and then started the typical TRA spiel about how "transwomen are women" and transwomen should be able to use women's bathrooms and violence against them is just astronomically high. It's just funny to me because the more I challenged him about those stances, the more he began to falter. We started with "transwomen are women" and when I asked how a biological man can become a woman, then it became "transwomen can become 99% woman" and then when I asked what makes a woman a woman...no clear answer. I got really offended because it seems to me he thinks a woman is just what somebody looks like. He even tried to say the issue with transwomen having free reign in women's bathroom was fear mongering and the same arguments have been used to discriminate against illegal immigrants. I had honestly never heard him say something so dumb in my life. I sent him a link to r/GenderCriticalGuys (RIP) and he discredited everything there because he deemed it an echo chamber. Yet he had no problem gulping up a 30 minute video by a transwoman (a man) talking about gender identity, and he sent it to me as if it had any relevance to the conversation we'd been having. I would bet money he didn't even read JK Rowling's essay.

Eventually, I think we just agreed to disagree because he couldn't tell me I was wrong he just said "I guess this is an issue that transwomen and women need to work out between themselves. I can't really offer a knowledgeable opinion as a cis male." It is absolutely hilarious how it seems all TRAs have the exact same weak arguments. But then again, how strong of an argument can you make if you can't even determine the difference between a man and a woman?

[–]Anandamide 12 insightful - 3 fun12 insightful - 2 fun13 insightful - 3 fun -  (2 children)

The difference is that you are willing to look at the evidence and ideas put forth by other people and he is not. Do you remember the debate a while back between Bill Nye and Ken Ham? They were asked "what would make you change your mind?". Bill Nye answered "Evidence" while Ham said "Nothing". An unwillingness to allow ones understanding to adjust to new facts is a tenet of a faith based religion, not a reason based mindset. And your BF saying it's not his fight as a cis male is a cop out of the highest order; these attacks on women aren't happening in a vacuum.

[–]muomo 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Sorry for the late response, I agree completely. I was honestly shocked at that major cop out. He refused to admit I was right, but also couldn't tell me I was wrong. We're broken up now, for more reasons than this disagreement we had, but it definitely didn't help finding out he really has no respect for me as a woman.

[–]Anandamide 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I hope you're doing alright! That's always a tough situation to handle.