- Nov 27, 2009
- 5,792
- 712
- 118
- Country
- The Dreamlands
- Gender
- Lose 1d20 sanity points.
It is a long video, so I can understand that, I can try, I didn't bother at the time since I was working, but I am pretty bad at communicating in general so I can't promise it will have much coherence since I tend to be horribly long winded and meandering and that was the main point of using someone else's words, it's also relevant to mention this is more based on what she's saying than my actual opinions and while it has nothing to do with the super straight movement as the video is a year old by now.
Anyways part of the video is criticizing the notion of "passing" which is a word used to describe if a trans person looks like the gender they identify as, by which I mean the idea of looking like a man or a woman, mostly exists to judge binary trans people's looks and it's an idea perpetuated by both cis people arguing of what looks like whatever and trans people trying to make sure they look like what they want to look, and poses the question if trans people genuinely want to look exactly like a stereotypical version of the gender they identify as or if perhaps they do it for other outside factors, like for example how she felt obligated to exaggerate her femininity to her doctor to make sure she would get the diagnosis she wanted and how she had to tell him she wanted absolutely everything needed to transition (Hormone Replacement Therapy, Gender Reassignment Surgery, Voice Training or Voice Surgery, etc), and without actually thinking if she truly wanted every single one of those things she just said so, because it was the only way to get the diagnosis and since there was no other option and she was sure she was a woman she just didn't think about it and since some of the procedures are kinda scary mainly the one you're probably guessing and the one where they literally cut your throat she's now doubtful she wants all of them and she didn't get a chance to think it over since she was pressured to agree with all of them, it's also important to mention that she was already an adult when she started transitioning and she still had to deal with that, specifically because of this idea of passing.
Basically she's saying people are being pressured to pass more than it's necessary and that can be harmful and very unhealthy as it creates a very big obsession with looks within the trans community, this isn't mentioned in the video but it's probably why eating disorders are very common among trans people, she also mentions how standards have changed over time and how when she was younger she convincingly passed to people, they didn't question that she was a woman even with the husky voice and lacking make-up skills but as time passed despite her improving on that regard and becoming more visibly feminine she actually became more obviously trans, since the now huge awareness of trans people has changed the standards of what it means to look feminine and since people are looking for it now due to the voice and her facial bone structure people identify her as a transwoman more easily, this is relevant because of two things, one of the reasons trans people care so much about this notion of passing is safety, if you convincingly look like your gender your less likely to be harassed for being trans, and the other is that this weird obsession with trans-ness actually has negative consequences on cis-women as some that tend to be more tomboy-ish or butch are actually getting denied access to bathrooms in countries where it's restricted under the assumption that they are transwomen and therefore illegal for them to enter.
She mentions a lot more other things, after all the video is 50 minutes long, but I think those are probably the most important points she touches, she also doesn't really offer a solution, she just states that the notion of passing is bad and harmful socially but also scientifically useful and she also still wants to pass despite that, so basically she doesn't know what to do, it's more or less just offering the perspective of a trans person in this discussion that comes up actually very often.
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