To the people finding this thread from Yahoo News: yes, we know it’s a fake sexuality created to make trans people look bad. It is also a joke, albeit one that is at trans people’s expense. And I recognise can be a very hard pill to swallow - “the idea that laughing at trans people is suddenly okay???” Trust me, I’ve been there.
Back when I was questioning my gender, I used to fucking hate those 'attack helicopter' jokes about non-binary people, because I always thought that the kind of people using them were complete assholes who hated folks like us for simply being ourselves. In reality, there are very few people who truly are like that. And almost anyone can tell the difference between a joke and someone’s actual views. Offensive humour does’t necessarily mean that you hate the groups in question. However, what does make someone hate an entire group is when that group produces such a disproportionate reaction to a harmless piece of humour about them. Like the poor guy who had to take down the Tiktok video because trans folks and their allies made threats on his mother’s life? If he didn’t hate trans people before, he’s probably going to hate them now.
And yes, I know you’ve probably been taught to believe that making fun of marginalised groups is never acceptable, so I can understand why you might still get defensive about this. In a way, I admire that. You are at least trying to do good. Anyway, I don’t expect you to understand immediately why policing people’s humour is not the way to go, but try to at least think about it. I for one have found it very hard to leave that mindset, even after I recognised it as toxic.
But, I hear you say, “humour should be punching up.” Well, let us entertain that notion, shall we? Because not everyone sees trans people as the vulnerable group that you see them as. To others, the rights that you are demanding on trans people’s behalf would give that group a disproportionate amount of power over people that surround them (if that hasn’t happened already), and they can and do abuse this power. I know you struggle to believe that trans people have any power at all, but for many people, the sign that they’ve gone too far is this:
The fact that trans people (and their cis allies) insist - nay, demand - that any given person must be open to the possibility of dating a trans person who they wouldn’t be attracted to, and that many, many people with power and influence support this notion.
This is one of many reasons why folks like these see their offensive humor as punching up against the people imposing rules upon them, rather than punching down against vulnerable people. Yes, there are still problems. I admit that it’s easier to make fun of trans people than cis allies, and that 99.9% of posts on this forum aren’t sympathetic to trans people in the slightest. But the more that people like you write them off as cruel-hearted bigots, the more you are going to fuel their resentment. So think very carefully about how you approach these topics in future. The other side may not always be right, but there is always another side when you’re dealing with other people.
The logic is simple: don’t treat people like assholes and they won’t have to act like one.
late!
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