Wearing the most comfortable sandals ever – more stereotypes about men and women

Trans people online are quick to assure us that being transgender has nothing to do with stereotypes, with clothes or hairstyles.

it is not a case of gender roles causing transition

It’s not about fitting gender stereotypes and transitioning because of that!

Nobody transitions so that they can dress a certain way

So being transgender is not anything to do with stereotypes about clothes and hairstyles, and nobody thinks they are transgender or transition because of hairstyles and clothes.

Except for when putting on a dress and some makeup is a way of diagnosing someone with a “female brain”:

If you feel right, seek out a gender therapist for confirmation

And except when you feel like the most exciting part of transitioning to a woman is all the shoes you can now wear!

the thought of buying all the shoes I always wanted makes me feel through the roof

And except when going clothes shopping is the most exciting part of transition!

shopping for clothes

Or when you’re finally able to get the haircut you want:

Or, if you’re transitioning from female to male, having clothing with pockets and comfortable sandals!

wearing the most comfortable sandals

It is well known that women can’t ever wear clothing with pockets, or comfortable sandals, so it’s good people can undergo medical treatments and surgeries so that they can wear these things. Wait, what?

 

 

 

“Feeling pretty and delicate, that is clearly female behavioral traits, right?”

A recurring theme on this blog is the relationship between transgender identity and gender roles and stereotypes. We have seen over and over and over again that when trans people talk about how they experience being transgender, they rely heavily, if not exclusively, on gender stereotypes. From wanting to wear specific clothes as toddlers to wanting specific hair cuts as teens, to wanting specific fashion choices as an adult, all kids of superficial things are taken as evidence of some innate identity.

However, since most people agree that gender roles are not actually progressive or good, but actually restrictive and bad, there is also a rush to assure people that being transgender does not actually have anything to do with gender roles or stereotypes:

“Gender identity doesn’t know about gender roles”

Except for when these same stereotypes and roles are used as a direct reason for transitioning:

“Feeling pretty and delicate”

But when someone explicitly asks about the connection between stereotypes and transitioning, they are quickly told that the two are never connected:

“Nobody transitions so that they can dress a certain way”

So nobody transitions so that they can dress a certain way, except this person, who wants to wear short shorts and knee-high boots, but cannot because they are for girls:

“I wanna wear knee high boots so bad”

Or this person, who wishes to “rock this or that outfit”.

“I wish I too could try to rock this or that outfit”

Or this person, who upon transitioning from male to female looks forward to never having to wear a tie again:

“I am looking forward to never having to wear a tie again”

Or this person, who is looking forward to buying clothes from any store:

“being able to buy clothes in pretty much any store”

Funny how many examples there are of this thing that supposedly doesn’t happen, isn’t it?

Contradictions in transgender theory part 2: Schrödinger’s socialization

Are there any differences between transwomen and women? Not according to many online trans activists. Trans women are women! they say, and declare that penises can be female and vulvas can be male, as we saw in a previous post.

Feminists have pointed out that even if some people born with penises go on to call themselves women and “live as women”, whatever this means, they still have grown up as men, and received male socialization. This means they are likely more aggressive, more assertive, and more confident. Their male socialization makes women wary of them, because many women have very negative experiences with people who have been socialized male.

Their male socialization also means that they often have had an advantage early in life, because males are socialized to be more confident, take up more room, and to develop their skills in traditionally “male” areas.

This idea is however ridiculed by many trans activists. We see an example here:

“Transwomen internalize female socialization”, this person states. Anyone who identifies as female internalize female socialization, is the claim. The same claim is found in the webcomic “Assigned male” shown below. “Trans women don’t benefit from male socialization” it says, and explains that “as girls, they learn toxic things about femininity too”.

The claim seems to come up a lot:

“trans women internalize female socialization, and thus are women and socialized as such”.

Never mind that many, many trans people don’t realize that they are trans until they are adults. Never mind that socialization does not work that way. Most of the socialization people receive is not in the form of “this is for girls and this is for boys”. It is much more subtle; for example boys get much more attention from teachers, and the teachers are unaware of this fact themselves. Never mind that the same webcomic directly contradicts its previous statement with this panel:

       

“We don’t even talk the same way to children depending on the gender we perceive them to be”, the comic correctly states.

When trans people are talking among themselves it is accepted to admit that you were socialized as the sex you were born as:

“I’m far more assertive than most girls of my personality type”, this commenter says:

And watch what happens when someone comes onto r/asktransgender to ask for clarification regarding difference between male and female brains as it relates to transgenderism. Suddenly commenters are using male and female socialization as an argument for innate, biological gender identity.

“Honestly if you’re mtf you’re raised male til you transition”, is suddenly the truth of the matter now. It seems like there are two conflicting arguments being used here, and the story changes based on what they are trying to accomplish.

So, trans people, which is it? Do transwomen receive female socialization or not? Please chime in.

Contradictions in transgender theory part 1: social constructs and female bodies

Many transgender people like to remind everyone that body parts are not “inherently sexed” and that biological sex is just a social construct. The webcomic called “Assigned male” helpfully reminds us that this is so, by stating that penises and vulvas aren’t really boy’s parts or girl parts.

We see the same sentiment expressed here:

“Sex isn’t defined by biological traits”, we are told.

If there is really no such thing as biological sex, if there are just collections of random body parts, then why do trans people keep saying things like this:

Or this entire post about wanting to have “a female body”:

“Feminine features”:

“A body of the opposite sex”:

Another person talking about a “female body”:

What are these female bodies? What do they look like? What do they have in common? Trans people are welcome to chime in in the comments!