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But trans activists' whole thing is to alter cultural and linguistic norms so that "she/her" or "woman" no longer imply anything factual about people's reproductive organs. We want a world where everyone knows that some "women" have penises rather than vaginas. There is no deceptive intent, as there would be in the Michael Jordan example. Moreover, until the linguistic expectation that a "man" necessarily has a penis becomes as universally quaint as using "gay" to mean happy, which I grant might take some decades yet to filter through from the wokest Blue hubs, I am generally in favour of trans people actively making their transness transparent in any context to which sex is relevant. And frankly, so many trans people are (physically or digitally) bedecked in pins and pride flags that we're a solid chunk of the way there already.
Well, my main reason isn't so much a positive argument as the root preference-utilitarian claim that it is generally morally good to treat people the way they wish to be treated, and that any exceptions to this require a proactive case for why normal rules of courtesy should be suspended. Going along with trans people's preferences constitutes being nice to them; misgendering them constitutes being mean to them. I believe in being nice to people unless there are overwhelming reasons not to, and I've never seen a conservative make a convincing case as to why trans people, as a bloc, should constitute such an exception. (They occasionally make cogent utilitarian arguments about specific situations; I can respect the opposition's view re: the convicted-rapist problem, for example. But that would only justify making exceptions to the general refer-to-trans-people-as-their-preferred-gender rule in those highly specific contexts; it is not an argument for ignoring them all the time.)
Well, suppose for the sake of argument that pro trans people got their way and "woman" and "man" get redefined. And suppose further that a couple of new words come out, let's say "X24" and "X25" which mean basically what man and woman previously meant. And the new words become so commonplace that you might hear a Christian Pastor say something like "This X24 and X25 will make a great husband and wife" Or you might see a sign at nightclub: "Free admission to X25s!!" In your view, would trans activists be okay with this situation?
Ok, so if a worker is having a conversation in the office and refers to "Bruce Jenner" and uses the word "he" to refer to this person, can we agree that it would not be "nice" -- and in fact it would be "mean" -- to criticize, shame, discipline or otherwise sanction this worker. Because it's better to treat the worker the way he wishes to be treated and Bruce Jenner (or whatever you want to call him) is not in the room to be offended?
Well, not as such, but neither would many old-school feminists. I suppose an unstated background assumption of my worldview, here, is that generally speaking it is bad to treat human beings differently due to their biological sex except in contexts where genitalia are directly relevant, eg sex itself. In this trans activist's optimal scenario, therefore, the widespread adoption of trans-style definitions of "man" and "woman" should be part and parcel of (indeed, it should be a footnote to!) a gradual shift into of a properly non-sexist, indeed a properly sex-blind society, a culture where, by default, nobody cares what you've got in your pants any more than they care about the shape of your earlobes. (With any luck, this shift will be expedited by a Singularity that makes old-school physical bodies themselves optional, but we'll see.)
Accordingly, I would regard a widespread adoption of 'X24' and 'X25' as unfortunate because it would constitute a backslide in that respect, not so much because of how it would reflect on trans issues in particular. Outside of a dating context, "this person has a vagina" should not be a fact on the forefront of anyone's mind any more than "this person is Asian" or "this person is left-handed"; it is deeply unpleasant that our culture trains people to mentally divide human beings into Vagina-Havers and Penis-Havers as the two foremost boxes, with anything else as parallel subcategories. Introducing new euphemisms for Penis-Havers and Vagina-Havers would reopen that Pandora's-box and risk reintroducing all those petty, demeaning sex-based biases to people's default way of perceiving the world around them.
Broadly, yes; I'm rather big on free speech. By the same token, of course, if there are people in that office who disagree with the worker on how it is appropriate to refer to Jenner, I do think they retain a right to criticize him however they like. But certainly I don't think the worker should get disciplined for it, whether by the employer or by the state.
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Not any ruder than you calling someone an asshole if they call you it first.
Or in otherwords the order of meanness matters. If we assume that misgendering is rude then the person being rude first can then indeed be shamed in return.
You shouldn't punch someone, but if they punch you (or someone else) you can punch them back.
Thats only if we are granting that misgendering is rude of course as per the hypothetical.
But no if someone is mean (however that presents) it is entirely fine to be mean back. They have forfeited the protection of courtesy themselves.
Thats why framing something as a courtesy issue is a powerful tool.
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