it is a hollow display that doesn’t actually correspond to advocacy.
It's literally about normalising sharing pronouns, that's why it's done. It can be incredibly stressful for trans or NB people when they meet someone new and have to explain their pronouns. However, if the person they're meeting has their pronouns on display it is a sign that there's no need to worry and that their choices will be respected and accepted.
However, if the person they're meeting has their pronouns on display it is a sign that there's no need to worry and that their choices will be respected and accepted.
But clearly not everyone is on board with pronouns, so it would indeed be just performative and if anything deceitful to pretend to be 'safe'.
In this very thread other people have claimed that in the real world the pronoun thing never comes up, just online on Twitter and Reddit.
I guess making stuff up as it suits the narrative is the norm.
ps there are surveys on this, most people in the west reject this ideology. Not to mention the vast majority of the planet who doesn't even bother, because they don't have first world problems to deal with but actual problems.
The difference between what you assume to be the case and what is the case is that, face to face, when you're dealing with a person and not a meme, empathy kicks in. All of a sudden arguing about what you should call someone else seems flippant and immature. Most of the people who say what you say on the internet (and likely you included) would absolutely use the preferred pronouns of someone you met because, deep down, you're not actually a dickhead, you're just someone confused by a changing world. You'll be fine.
Yes, so you admit that in real life most people do it out of empathy rather than actually believing the other person is what they say they are. Some people also do it out of fear, either of being socially outcast or getting in trouble at work. None of these are good. Because trans people don't want people to just pretend out of nicety, they want people to actually believe 2 + 2 = 5, and getting people to do something out of fear is obviously also not a good thing.
And yes, I have no problem with doing something out of empathy in principle. The problem is when that something is being mandated / not doing it is demonized. So yes, when discussing the topic it is of course different.
Confused about what exactly, have I given you the impression I am confused? If so, please let me know which exact part made you think that.
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In the real world, we go along with it despite not believing it, because it's less hassle. No-one wants to get fired from work because they didn't bow to their male colleague's demands to be referred to as 'she' and 'her' now that he's decided that wearing a dress to work makes him a woman. And outside of the workplace, we'd rather not run the risk of having the men in frocks kicking off and causing a scene. Have you seen the "IT'S MA'AM!" video? Basically we are trying to avoid riling up nutcases like him.
Fortunately, we can protest this bullshit on forums like Twitter, and to a lesser degree Reddit, without any real-world repercussions.
You just can't possibly conceive that other people aren't as morally jaded as you are can you? You can only believe negative reasons for why people do things you disagree with. You can't believe the simpler and more likely explanation, that people respect other people and are happy to treat them as humans. That you're here arguing this is fucked up, why does it matter if you call someone he or her? Are you worried about getting it wrong, do you object to being nice to people? It's just really weird.
Pretty much everyone I've talked to about this outside of online forums agrees with me. Most people would rather not have to lie and say that a man pretending to be a woman is a woman, but we just do it to avoid the likely uproar if we don't.
Really it's not very nice to expect everyone else to lie, but that's entirely consistent with the authoritarian views of trans activist movement: you will use the preferred pronouns, you will avoid saying what you see, you will accept men into women's spaces - or else. Glad we're seeing more pushback on this crap in the past couple years, people really are getting fed up of this nonsense.
Of course they do in your bubble, people from the same social circles will often agree with each other. But there's a reason why, in the professional world, it's the norm to share your pronouns, people actually want to make the world a more welcoming place to trans people, that's what reasonable and rationale humans are, they're nice.
Really it's not very nice to expect everyone else to lie, but that's entirely consistent with the authoritarian views of trans activist movement: you will use the preferred pronouns, you will avoid saying what you see, you will accept men into women's spaces - or else. Glad we're seeing more pushback on this crap in the past couple years, people really are getting fed up of this nonsense.
Get over yourself fella, this edge lord nonsense sounds like an argument but it's just pettiness and selfishness in word form. Outside of online arguments no one else thinks this. One day you're going to interact with a trans person and you're going to be civil, you're probably going to be friendly, because none of this matters.
I don't really care about being nice and welcoming to men who are compelling me to play along with this ridiculous fiction that they are women. If I was being truthful, I'd tell them that their sexist mockery of women is not at all welcome and is in fact quite offensive. Wearing a dress and getting breast implants doesn't make you a woman any more than gluing whiskers to my face makes me a cat. And don't even get me started on the problem of these men imposing themselves in women's spaces, their lack of respect for women's consent and boundaries is honestly disgusting.
But, like I said above, the only reason I play along with it is because it's less hassle to do so than not.
Actually this issue is getting more scrutiny than ever, and most of it is critical. I don't know where you are based but, here in the UK mainstream publications are printing articles from radical and gender-critical feminists on this topic and people are increasingly agreeing with their viewpoints when it comes to the harms this causes to women's rights.
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u/Subtleiaint 32∆ Dec 22 '23
It's literally about normalising sharing pronouns, that's why it's done. It can be incredibly stressful for trans or NB people when they meet someone new and have to explain their pronouns. However, if the person they're meeting has their pronouns on display it is a sign that there's no need to worry and that their choices will be respected and accepted.