A lot of transphobic people say things like “Trans people shouldn’t undergo surgeries and hormones to fix what they’re going through!” and what not, but I’ve come to a realization. They’re not saying this out of a genuine desire to help trans people, and I’ve used this “four point method” with every transphobe who says this to catch them using “caring about the well-being of people” as a bad faith op to disguise their pushes for just hating trans people.
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On what basis can you assert that gender dysphoria SHOULD NOT be treated by medical transition?
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By extension, do you know HOW to execute said treatment from a medical professional perspective?
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If no to number 2, circle back to number 1 and question your basis again.
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If yes to number 2, why are you harassing people online about your solutions instead of proposing it to medical communities (which would be infinitely more useful)?
Most transphobes I hit with this are not even able to get past the first question in any rhetorically coherent manner, if at all.
Of course, you act accordingly to how each transphobe answers, but at that point, it’s easy because transphobia isn’t rational. It’s entirely based on emotions and fears.
I emphasize that you’re supposed to use logic to come to a conclusion; not the other way around.
Transphobes just so happen to have already preemptively made a conclusion on trans people on the basis of emotions, but they realize that said conclusion won’t hold up in a genuine case of rhetoric (because of how emotionally charged it is), so they embarrassingly try to attach a logical explanation for their bigotry after the fact of them concluding that being trans is bad, so watch them grasp at straws and argue from incredulity as you ask them these four questions.
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If you passionately believe that you should be allowed to make medical decisions for someone else instead of their doctor, that you know better than the medical community, you better fucking be able to answer the precise medical reasoning behind it.
My worldview on abortions and transitioning is easy: that’s a personal choice between an individual and their doctor. It doesn’t affect the health of anyone but the person getting the procedure so I, but anyone else, should have a say.
I don’t need in-depth medical knowledge to defend that position. If you’re position is that we should go mucking about in other people’s care, you do need to know the medical particulars for why you believe that or I’m going to judge you hard.
There is a difference between making medical decisions for someone else and having a discussion about voluntary medical procedures. For example, I hope we can all agree that giving children who are aspiring athletes steroids, growth hormones, or other PEDs is not something acceptable. I don’t know if this can be done safely or not but just the potential of abusing this system makes it something that should be discouraged.
And the argument that this is between doctor and patient also falls flat because you can almost always find a doctor willing to work with you. Again, there are tons of doctors involved in giving children performance-enhancing drugs. If you look into plastic surgery you find plenty of licensed real doctors who are willing to perform operations that other doctors would consider harmful or even dangerous. So just because a doctor is agreeing with you, doesn’t mean this is a safe procedure.
The topic of transitioning is very difficult. At the end of the day, I agree with you, it doesn’t impact me at all so let others do as they please. Especially, since for many their mental well-being increases significantly and makes up for any impact the procedure had on their physical health. Any personal attacks are entirely unwarranted and unacceptable. But I think it’s still fair to talk about it, even for people without extensive medical knowledge. Just as we talk about breast implants, botox injections, or height surgery. Just because we as a society might discourage them doesn’t mean they should be unavailable and we certainly shouldn’t harass, attack, or even kill anyone who decides to get them.
We as a society have already said that we don’t allow children to make their own decisions, so any trans-related care falls under that banner and is, like any major medical procedure, already incredibly difficult for minors to get approved for. If you feel that we should be legislating beyond the practices of the medical community and the FDC, then yes that will carry a high bar of medical knowledge I’m going to ask you to have, as you are advocating for knowing better than the field of medicine as a whole.
There are still strict medical guidelines that doctors have to follow, even on an individual level. The story I hear over and over again from trans people is “it was a nightmare getting approval for my care and it took years” not “it was super easy”.
My question will always be: why is trans care special? We already have lots of rules around medical care for children. Why does trans care need to be specifically singled out?