Truscum misconceptions
- “Truscum think nonbinaries don’t real!
Well first off it bears mentioning that “truscum” is not a giant monolithic hivemind where everyone who falls under the category believes the same thing about every topic. I know of a couple of truscum bloggers who think there isn’t sufficient medical evidence to support nonbinary gender. (Although, the thing about people who believe in things that are scientifically supported is they’re generally very willing to append their opinions based on new evidence.) But it seems the majority (including myself) acknowledges the existence of, and is entirely cool with, nonbinary people as long as they also experience dysphoria.
I think it is completely possible for people’s dysphoria levels to fluctuate so that it may be severe on some days, and barely noticeable on others. I also think that it could be possible for someone to experience dysphoria surrounding certain sex characteristics and not others, or alternately, for someone to feel that their sex characteristics “should” be some combination of male or female, or absent altogether. There are, in fact, nonbinary truscum who could probably explain that better than me. But as long as someone does experience sex dysphoria in some form, then that would fit the truscum definition and I would respect that entirely.- Trans people have an innate sense of gender and that is what causes them to “identify” one way or the other, not dysphoria!
Nnnnooooot really no. I do not think anyone has an “innate sense of gender.” There is no magical compass deep inside our souls that mysteriously points between MALE or FEMALE. We do not have mysterious unquantifiable ~*~*GENDERY FEELS~*~ that we can only know through some deep mystical KNOWLEDGE. And honestly I do not know why anyone would want this to be true, because it would be really goddamn confusing.
Years back when I was first figuring out that the reason I had been miserably uncomfortable to the point of being suicidal might be because I was trans, I had no idea how to figure out whether it was the case or not. And I was terrified that I might be mistaken. Because transitioning is kind of a big deal, and the idea that I could go through all of that physical, mental, emotional, social and financial difficulty, and then at the end I might STILL be miserable, if I was wrong and it didn’t fix the source of the problem? That was horrifying. And it seemed like no one really talked about dysphoria, what it was, what it felt like, or anything.
So what did I have to go off of? Well, there was what I later was able to identify as dysphoria, but I didn’t know how to tell if that was just depression, or bad self-image, or what, because no one seemed to talk about that. There was my personal history of preferring masculine aesthetics, interests, hobbies - but how sexist would that be, to imply that preferring Power Rangers action figures as a kid or enjoying video games and guns or any other stereotypical gendered interest would make someone trans? Basing gender on gender roles is sexist and incorrect. So there was just this magical mystery ~*~GENDER FEELS*~* and “YOU’LL JUST KNOW” and that is absolutely no help at all.
Because you cannot go and jump into the minds of all of the men in the world and then go and jump into the minds of all the woman and based on comparison determine “yes, men have THIS innate measurable variety of FEELY FEELS in common, and women have THAT other variety of FEELY FEELS.” That just isn’t a thing. So when I was young and trying to figure everything out, all of this was absolutely useless and the only thing that was any help at all was to examine whether or not I had dysphoria and whether that would be alleviated by transitioning. And it is.- Truscum think people have to have a mental illness/something must be WRONG with them in order to be trans!
Okay, this is partly a matter of mistaken terminology. Truscum do not think that being trans is a “mental illness”. Truscum think that being trans is a medical condition. And this is because the fact that it is a medical condition means that it has medical treatment to alleviate the symptoms, and a medical origin, something in the brain that causes dysphoria, rather than believing that it is a CHOICE.
I also think that people are mistaking “having something wrong with you” as having a moral aspect to it. Dysphoria is not a “normal” state of being. It’s not fun, it’s not pleasant, I would like to get rid of it so that I can live a happy, comfortable life. Therefore it is “something wrong” in the same way any other medical condition or ailment is “something wrong”. I get migraines, so I take painkillers to alleviate the pain, nausea, and light sensitivity, so it doesn’t get in the way of daily life. I have depression, so I take antidepressants to make up for out-of-balance neurotransmitters, alleviate the low energy/motivation and depressive feelings, so they don’t get in the way of daily life. I’m trans, so I take testosterone, bind, etc. to alleviate the dysphoria around incorrect sex characteristics, so it doesn’t get in the way of daily life. All of these things are “something wrong” in that they WOULD get in the way of daily life if I didn’t take care of them. But there is not “something wrong with me” for having them, I am not defective or worth less as a person.
Being insulted or offended by the fact that something is a medical condition is really what’s pretty ableist in this situation.- Dysphoria is the same thing as hating yourself!
This is going back to what I mentioned earlier: dysphoria, what it is, what it feels like, and the many ways it can manifest itself, is not a thing that is talked about nearly often enough. It is a large, complicated topic, and this post is already getting longer than I intended, so I’m not going to go into all of the ways that people might experience dysphoria. However, what it is not the same as is self-hatred, poor body image, or low self-esteem. Dysphoria is not even necessarily hating your body, although that can certainly be a result of severe dysphoria. And this is why you cannot get rid of dysphoria by “loving yourself more” or “becoming more comfortable with yourself.”
How it appears to work is because of the innate “map” of the body that exists in the brain - for the same reason you can tell where your hands are relative to your face in a dark room or with your eyes closed, and for the same reason that someone with an amputated arm might get a phantom itch on their missing hand. This is the theory that makes the most sense to me. The brain of someone with sex dysphoria expects certain physical sex characterstics to be there - and then is distressed by the fact that they are not. It’s a mismatch.
I’m not going to deny that social dysphoria exists, either. It is definitely a thing, and a frustrating, awkward, painful experience. But it is not all there is. If someone experiences social dysphoria but not any physical dysphoria, then they should really examine why this would be the case. Trans people are not trans because of society. A society that eliminated all gender roles or expectations would not alleviate the dysphoria surrounding actual physical body parts. I am equally uncomfortable being entirely alone in a room with myself; if I were on a desert island nowhere near civilization or any other human I would still feel the need to transition.I sort of hate that any of this needs to be said. All of the “anti-truscum” “genderspecial” arguments and misconceptions are identical to the arguments and misconceptions that ignorant or transphobic people have always had, but repackaged in an “I am entirely 100% comfortable with every primary and secondary sex characteristic of my body but everyone has to make room for me because MY GENDER IS ROBOT/OUTER SPACE/MYTHOLOGICAL BEING/RABBIT and if you question anything then YOU’RE A PIECE OF SHIT WHO DESERVES YOUR DYSPHORIA TO BE TRIGGERED” giant pile of terribleness and it’s disgusting.
I don’t expect this rant to accomplish much. People who have never bothered to read any truscum arguments or talk to any truscum bloggers or think any critical thoughts are going to continue to make this site and the truscum tag a giant pain in the ass. But at least there is no excuse for ignorance if the information is there.
(Source: vvarhound)
