how neurodiversity interacts with transphobia 
So I haven't seen this discussed anywhere, but I think it's an important thing to talk about: how neurodiversity often ends up being a conduit for transphobic sentiments.
For a while now, I've had a hypothesis about the interaction between these two things, and that hypothesis seems to be confirmed in pretty much every case I've looked at:
I think that a lot of neurodiverse people are some form of agender without realizing it, that they genuinely do not understand the experience of (affirmative) gender identity, and that this is a major conduit for transphobic sentiments to propagate.
Usually it goes something like this:
- "Why would anyone care about gender that much? That just seems like a social construct"
- Reads some transphobic thinkpiece about how trans folks "do it for the attention" and are "faking it" and how it's an "epidemic"
- This seems to match with their perception of gender identity (particularly deviating from AGAB) as being something that's "made up" and not really important
- "Ah so clearly trans people are just faking it and they have an agenda, that's why it doesn't make any sense"
- Proceeds to perpetuate talking points from the transphobic sources which they feel "enlightened" them on the matter
I'm... not sure what to do about this. In the cases I've looked at, the apparently-agender folks perpetuating these sentiments never seemed to do it out of *malice*, but rather out of confusion.
Essentially, they were victims of a cisnormative society just as much as other trans folks are, but they didn't realize it, and they ended up causing harm to other trans folks in the process.
That harm has been done, that it was out of ignorance doesn't change that. At the same time, this feels like a preventable problem? But I also can't ask of trans folks to "be patient" with people spouting transphobic sentiments.
So yeah, no idea what to do with this observation now :/ But hopefully pointing it out will at least be a step towards a solution.
how neurodiversity interacts with transphobia 
, counters written in second person
@joepie91
* remember that trans creatures face ridicule, emotional harm, physical violence, and death globally on a worldwide basis—and you are contributing to this—and reconsider how much somecreature must want something in order to persist in the face of that and how likely they are to be, in your terms, merely ““faking””
re: how neurodiversity interacts with transphobia , counters written in second person
@StroomAfwaarts @moonbolt Heh, unfortunately it's much more mundane, I'm using it here to refer to "Assigned Gender At Birth", ie. a placeholder for whatever gender was assigned to you at birth
re: how neurodiversity interacts with transphobia
@joepie91
I think you may be on to something
The experience of gender identity is somewhat alien to me, this has helped shape my gender abolitionist views
My gender is not at all important to me personally, but I try to be supportive of people (and of their expression of gender) regardless of how they relate to gender identity, as long as this relation/expression is not clearly harmful (e.g. toxic masculinity, terfism, etc)
how neurodiversity interacts with transphobia
, counters written in second person
@joepie91
* everycreature is not like you
* you do not have to understand creatures to respect them, and you must respect creatures even if you do not understand them
* creatures have the right to alter their experiences to suit them
* in particular, creatures have the rights to declare their own names and pronouns, and you must respect them
* insisting creatures are ““faking it”” exacerbates impostor syndrome; never do that; you must instead accept self-declarations at face value
* and besides, that assumes a real|fake binary that doesn't exist
* medicalisation harms creatures by preventing them from receiving care or even being taken seriously
* the same bigoted arguments and the same progressive fight can equally apply to you as a neurodivergent creature; even this very list could be presented to a bigot with minimal changes to argue for your rights