Trans communal dogfights
Its an absolute truism that you put five trans people in a room you will end up with ten different opinions. An acquaintance of mine recently stated they were approached by multiple different trans organisations, many of whom refused to work together due to internal politics. This is the nature of the trans community due to the pluralistic nature of who trans people are and the divergent nature of the intersectional needs each person has. There is not one way to resolve trans rights to everyone’s liking, and as such the messy politics of trans liberation often create the people’s front of gender and the gender people’s front. To be involved in any form of trans activism is to have positions on all the relevant trans issues, and if you do not have a position multiple people will tell you want position you need to take so you fit within whatever politics they see. It is impossible to escape, and makes being involved with trans activism fraught with emotional landmines.
I raise this because as gender critical feminism digs its claws into laws and rights it has sough to drive wedges into the trans community. Those who label themselves transsexual are pitted against trans folk who do not or cannot medicalise their bodies, making the small section of medicalised trans people fierce defenders of their own rights at the expense of everyone else’s. This hiving off has caused long term damage to trans…
