Literal Garbage

Corey shares his hot take on that old tucute/transmed thing and neopronouns

I doubt anybody is debating this anymore but..forward march and here we go! (Members of the agency Bakugou!) but for real, here's the offensive line:

You can't be trans without dysphoria

You can't be trans without dysphoria 

You can't be trans without dysphoria 

You can't be trans without dysphoria 

Alright, are you effectively pissed with me? Good. Now, allow me to explain.

Here's the tea ☕️ 

When you say you don't need dysphoria to be trans, you're saying that you're completely comfortable with your assigned gender at birth. You're saying you feel no discomfort regarding any aspect of being that gender.

The thing is, if you're completely comfortable with your birth gender and everything associated with it, you're not trans.

Not everyone experiences the ridiculously painful can't-get-out-of-bed-in-the-morning dysphoria, I get that. My dysphoria isn't even that bad. It can be, at times. But it's mostly just an inconvenience. An "oh shit, where'd my penis go?" Or "damn, I forgot I had these lumps of fat attached to my chest, what's up with that anyway?"

It's not always a debilitating thing. 

Everyone experiences dysphoria differently and to different degrees, and there are several types of dysphoria. You don't have to experience all forms of dysphoria. But there's, of course, dysphoria connected to your physical appearance (aka, body dysphoria); dysphoria concerning pronouns, how people view/refer to you, and clothing (social dysphoria); dysphoria concerning your own emotions/thoughts/interests (example: thinking an interest of yours is too masculine/feminine or that feeling a certain way is too masc/fem, this is called mind dysphoria).

If you consider yourself a dysphoria-free transgender individual, I'd love to hear from you! I'd like to hear some differing ideals and learn more about the other side of this debate. 

I would consider myself a transmedicalist. This does NOT mean that I view anyone as 'invalid,' or that I won't use your proper pronouns or say you're 'not a real boy/girl/enby' just because you say you don't have dysphoria. It doesn't mean I'll EVER use ANYONE'S incorrect pronouns. It doesn't mean I don't respect you as a tucute. It doesn't mean I don't respect non-binary people or view them as valid (because I 100% support enbies, no cap). I just think you've failed to consider the full scope of what dysphoria is. Feel free to correct me, but here's what I think: if you're transgender, you're experiencing one or more types of dysphoria. Wanting a different name and/or to use different pronouns, is social dysphoria. Feeling that any part of your body doesn't match your gender identity, is body dysphoria. Wishing you wouldn't have a certain emotion because it's too masc/fem, is mind dysphoria. If you're completely comfortable with your birth sex and name, government-assigned pronouns, clothes and everything else associated with your birth gender, then what makes you think you're another gender? There's nothing there to indicate you're not cisgender. If you're 100% comfortable with every single aspect of your birth gender, then what makes you think you're trans?

Dysphoria is a part of being trans. You might be trans male but feel good about having breasts, and that's fine! You might be trans female and not mind having a penis, and that's fine! You might be non-binary and be totally comfortable with your body, and that's fine! I'm not saying that you have to experience each facet of dysphoria to be trans, but it's worth considering that there are three different types and, just because there's one you don't experience, it doesn't mean you're not experiencing others. Of course, as a trans person, you're experiencing social dysphoria, because you want others to refer to you as the correct gender and pronouns, right?

Now, I promised I'd give my opinion on neopronouns. And here it is: I don't give a shit. If you say you wanna be called xe/xim/xir, that's cool. It/its? Okay. Neopronouns aren't something I fully understand, but I don't mind it. Do what feels right for you, and I'll respect your wishes regardless. If you use neopronouns, I'll try my damndest to use them for you. If that's what makes you feel right, I'll use them for you. I don't have to understand your feelings to respect them.

And as for using it/its, I can't help but ask. Is this our way of bamboozling the transphobes? Is it like when we took back the word queer from the homophobes? Because transphobes have always referred to trans people as 'it' as a derogatory term, but I've noticed a lot of people lately listing this as a pronoun they want people to use for them, like in their bios and stuff it'll say 'he/they/its' or something like that. I've just been curious about if it actually helps you feel comfortable, if you're someone who uses it/its pronouns. Or if it's like, one of those things we're doing out of spite? Idk. I'm probably sounding very insensitive, I apologize.

So, if you're offended in any way by what I've shared today, please comment! Get a healthy discourse going! But it was not my intention to be rude to anyone. 👉👈