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[–]lefterfield 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

What you want to ask yourself: Does your discomfort with gender lead you to want to hurt people who accept it? Do you view them as committing some kind of offense?

Because while homophobes and racists may feel discomfort being around people who have the characteristics they dislike, that's not the only kind of discomfort humans are capable of feeling. Sometimes we (especially if we're women) feel uneasy being around violent, dangerous men. Sometimes we feel discomfort at being asked to say things that aren't true. Watch, if you can, psychological experiment videos of peer pressure - the subject of the experiment is asked easy questions (what color is this line), and the research assistants give incorrect answers. The first couple times the subject gives the right answer. But after several rounds of this, they start to doubt themselves. Eventually, most people go along with the group and start giving the wrong answers, too. You can see the discomfort in their eyes, their body language, their speech. That's quite obviously not "phobia" against anyone, but it's still a form of unease. They know something is wrong.

Same as we're experiencing with people who screech TWAW or claim that gender is real, it's important. You might go along with it to adapt to the group, but you know it's a lie. It's cognitive dissonance.

[–]Skipdip[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Ok yes I think you are right. I’ve tried to “go over to the other side” because my now ex gf (has some bpd) was playing around with being trans. I came out strongly gc once I had my own revelations about internalized homophobia and misogyny. She wasn’t having it and kept saying “I have no problem with women, I’m just not one”. Which I had a problem with... as the more masculine one of the pair to begin with. It was like “then what does that make me?”.

Anyway I tried to see their point that GC is hateful and wrong... well, no matter how much I tried to “embrace trans identities”, it just didn’t feel right at a core level. And it didn’t feel right calling her (or anyone else) “they”.