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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   9682 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 4, 2026

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when it seems easy to ignore

Not the OP, but five or six years ago, I was on the side of supporting transition and never criticizing it. After that, I became interested in the issue because of several factors that came together.

  • An FTM person in my family desisted while she was a teenager. At the time, I was supporting her, if not encouraging her, but then she fell out with her queer friend group and later moved to a different school. After that, her suicidal ideation and desire to be a man seemingly disappeared completely. Partly, I credit her parents, who refused to let her visit a gender clinic, which otherwise might have put her on an irreversible path. She now has a long-term cis male partner. This episode shattered my conviction that being trans is based solely on an internal, innate, hardwired feeling of gender.
  • The school hid the fact that this person had socially transitioned for a full year. I put myself in her parents' position, and I think it would be unacceptable to me if someone else decided that I couldn’t help - or rather, that I wasn’t allowed to help - my child.
  • Speaking of the feeling of gender, neither I nor anyone I have talked to about it has that feeling, so naturally, I can’t relate.
  • The episode with my family member was interesting because mentioning it was taboo in trans-friendly circles. I never felt animosity toward trans people, yet by the standards of the leftist community, bringing up desistance or detransition is itself transphobic. So there was no way for me to square my real-life experience with the community consensus. I researched the topic myself and found that there are other liberal opinions on it, some of which reflect my real-life experience much more closely than unquestioningly accepting the idea of a gender journey.

So, if the school or state is silently aiding a child in transitioning - and, for the sake of a thought experiment, let’s say it’s my child - does that really look like an issue I can ignore? I don’t think the people who push this policy in schools are ignoring me; they are putting me in a position where I have to take some sort of stance.

yet by the standards of the leftist community, bringing up desistance or detransition is itself transphobic

Not all of us. The sentiment is sadly common, but I wouldn't call it a consensus, there's very much an alternative, more positive viewpoint floating around - e.g. the whole "Cis+" concept.

It may not apply to literally everyone in the community - people differ and hold different views - but effectively, there is an atmosphere of fear around being ostracized for questioning anything. Many people share my views in private (which are much more liberal than FtttG, for example), but are afraid to dissent, because if they do, they cease to be a good person in the eyes of their peers and colleagues.

Many people share my views in private (which are much more liberal than FtttG, for example)

Are you saying people are more liberal than me, or your views are more liberal than mine?

I personally know many people that share my views, that I think are more liberal than yours

Hmm. Opinions about trans issues in particular?

Yes! It's your hobby-horse, as you put it yourself, so I think it's pretty much your only set of opinions that I can coherently judge

Well, that's one thing. What I'm saying is that there's no consensus on equating personal detransition with questioning the overall construct. There are trans spaces where even "I thought that I was trans but I'm not" is viewed with suspicion, but equally, there are many where it's viewed as a perfectly valid thing to say, so long as it doesn't entail doubting other people.

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