# I Don't Get and Am Sick of Trans-Stuff

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [August 12, 2016, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519 "2016-08-12T02:10:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 29

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**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/562 "2016-09-09T02:41:23Z")

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> [@Peremensoe](#):
>
> Just a few posts up, dude.

Well if “same category” to you means “things that straight white people can’t call other people” then yes, i guess you have a point.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/563 "2016-09-09T04:11:54Z")

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> [@Slash1972](#):
>
> Well if “same category” to you means “things that straight white people can’t call other people” then yes, i guess you have a point.

The point that you are missing in this tiny corner of the discussion, is that labeled groups frequently take insults and turn them to either self-deprecating or humorous references to themselves. Yankee was originally an insult hurled by Brits against American colonists that the folks of New York and New England chose to use in self-identification to remove the sting. It happens all the time. So blacks (in North America, particularly, where it has been a slur for generations), have the opportunity to use “nigger” in ways that whites are not; homosexuals have the opportunity to use terms like “queer” and “faggot” in ways that straight people are not.

That is a reality of language in social dynamics. It has been around probably as long as societies have used language. It is generally recognized as “reclamation” in these discussions and the [Wikipedia article on the topic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reappropriation) cites instances from seventeenth century Britain and Europe.

So, yes, white straights do not have the privilege of hurling epithets at people who are not white or not straight that the targets of those slurs are permitted to use and if you fail to recognize that, you do not know enough about language or culture to be a serious participant in these discussions.

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**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/564 "2016-09-09T04:13:46Z")

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A significant number of people in the LGBTQIA community identify as “queer” - that’s one use of the Q in LGBTQIA (sometimes people say it means “questioning”, and sometimes you see LGBTQQIA…).

Writing "There are no times that a straight person can call a gay person “queer” " indicates a high level of unfamiliarity with LGBTQIA issues in America in the 2010’s. In the same vein as claiming “ladyboy” isn’t offensive because the OED and Websters don’t list it as such (they don’t list it at all, AFAIK).

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**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/565 "2016-09-09T04:20:09Z")

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I have a friend who identifies as queer. She is heavily involved in activism. If you ask her what her opinion is as a queer activist, she will be delighted that you are speaking her language.

No, it is nothing like calling a black person a nigger.

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**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/566 "2016-09-09T07:05:33Z")

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> [@Una\_Persson](#):
>
> A significant number of people in the LGBTQIA community identify as “queer” - that’s one use of the Q in LGBTQIA (sometimes people say it means “questioning”, and sometimes you see LGBTQQIA…).
> 
> Writing "There are no times that a straight person can call a gay person “queer” " indicates a high level of unfamiliarity with LGBTQIA issues in America in the 2010’s. In the same vein as claiming “ladyboy” isn’t offensive because the OED and Websters don’t list it as such (they don’t list it at all, AFAIK).

Not to mention that at this point it’s incredibly common to just forget the monstrous unwieldy Oroborean endlessly self-augmenting acronym and just say “the queer community” nowadays. (The problem with the acronym, of course, is that you don’t want to leave anyone out so “LGBT+” feels bad, but nobody really wants to type LGBTQQIAAA+whatever else. A lumping term was desperately needed, even if these groups don’t always get along and their issues are often orthogonal)

Like, whether “queer” is offensive is 99% context. If you’re saying “what are you, some sorta queer or somethin’?” that’s offensive, “fucking queer!” same. But most casual uses of the word in a descriptive sense are completely unremarkable and inoffensive. The word has been more or less entirely reclaimed.

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**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/567 "2016-09-09T07:14:32Z")

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Faggot is still off limits though. It’s, at best, used in jest between gay people and their close friends. Faggot (and “tranny”) is (are) much closer to “nigger” than queer is. “Transgenders” and “gays” (as opposed to “trans(gender) people” and “gay people”) are… not wrong but it makes people brace themselves in case you’re about to say something awful, because it’s language associated with people at best ignorant of and at worst actively hostile to queer issues. Almost like negro I guess? Drawing strict parallels to slurs for other groups is never going to be a perfect mapping, but I think what I’ve listed is fairly close.

I don’t know where “ladyboy” would fall, I’d say it’s probably far more offensive than “transgenders”, but maybe a little less than “tranny”. (Except when used in the descriptive context w.r.t. the actual ladyboy subculture of Thailand)

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**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/568 "2016-09-09T07:31:28Z")

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> [@Jragon](#):
>
> {…} (Except when used in the descriptive context w.r.t. the actual ladyboy subculture of Thailand)

If you’re not talking about the actual subculture of Thailand, or using the (a) word to describe yourself, or someone that uses the (a) word to describe themselves, I’m prolly gonna read the intent as intentionally insulting . . . and I doubt I’m alone in this.

CMC fnord!

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**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/569 "2016-09-09T09:52:17Z")

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> [@Slash1972](#):
>
> I’m more interested in you providing posts that I made that lead people to believe I’m a bigot. So, why don’t you get on that, or retract your hateful statement.

You call me a cheap whore then expect me to spend my precious time reading more of your vomit? You’ve got some nerve to call me hateful. Nope, not going to fulfill any request of yours until you apologize for the insult.

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**Author:** ![toocrazy2yoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@toocrazy2yoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toocrazy2yoo)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/570 "2016-09-09T11:44:36Z")

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> [@Telemark](#):
>
> You’re not based on reality enough to be wrong. You’re just different.

Nice dodge…That the reality frightens you or rewards you doesn’t deny the reality, it just isn’t one to be acknowledged for some.

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**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/571 "2016-09-09T12:11:35Z")

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> [@toocrazy2yoo](#):
>
> Meanwhile, the good ladies of Feminism, Inc., who quite literally invented all this laugh their azzes off while the men argue with and eviscerate each other, while the ladies build the Matriarchy and plot further decline for men, Black and White and Hispanic alike and more goodies for themselves.
> 
> Anyone notice the SJW/liberal wings of journalism, Huff-Post, NOW, Planned Parenthood and the rest of the alphabet soup of Feminsm, Inc is a White-Lady’s Wonderland? It’s quite an offensive against men if you examine it. All upper-class, college “educated” WHITE women. Oh, there’s the occasional Asian lady, but very, very few POC and no men, except of course, the token gay/transgender (feminists hate the gay men and transgendered, but they’ll use them, as they will use the races against White men).
> 
> I did commercial telecom in Washington from 1983-2009, installed and serviced phones in all those PAC offices and while everyone else in Washington was integrating, Feminism, Inc. never did and never has to this day. Wonder when Black and Hispanic women wake up to it?
> 
> And I wonder when men of all stripes take a look at reality and understand the Patriarchy is toast, we are now ruled by a tyrannical Matriarchy known collectively as Feminism. It’s the truth. And the end of Hillary’s every speech: “Educational, employment opportunity and Social Justice, especially for WOMEN!!!”. This thread is a small yet obvious example of the stuff Feminism, Inc. developed as strategy and just LOOK how the men are at each others’ throats while Feminism steals the last morsels and begrudge the men any tiny scrap.
> 
> Tell me where I’m wrong.

You’re wrong everywhere. In every post on this Board. And probably in every aspect of your “life.”

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**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/572 "2016-09-09T12:48:37Z")

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> [@toocrazy2yoo](#):
>
> Nice dodge…That the reality frightens you or rewards you doesn’t deny the reality, it just isn’t one to be acknowledged for some.

Tell us about the reality of the Jews, and the reality of the homosexual agenda, and the reality of miscegenation, and Obama’s birth certificate, and the lizard people, and chemtrails, and 9/11, and Sandy Hook, and the Holocaust, and any other realities that we’re not aware of, please.

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**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/573 "2016-09-09T12:50:59Z")

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> [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](#):
>
> The media has latched onto trans as the latest cause celebre and they are falling all over themselves in order to give exposure to trans-people and trans issues. And I am sick of it. Sick to the teeth. Sick to fucking death of it.

Then turn of the TV/computer/smartphone/facebook feed. Is your hand broken? Are you helpless?

> [@](#):
>
> Trans-people were born with a brain and a body that don’t match. Fine. Cool, do what you need to do to be happy. But leave me the fuck out of it.
> 
> I don’t care!

Obviously you DO care otherwise you would not be expending so many posts on the issue.

> [@](#):
>
> And yes I have been persecuted - though obviously not killed - and beaten for it. I’ve suffered the societal consequences for it.

If this happens to you on a regular basis you need to take a strong look at yourself. You _could_ be a member of a wrongly-oppressed minority, though nothing you have posted indicates that you are. Or maybe you’re a supremely irritating person that generates a violent response among some people (which people you should probably not hang out with).

> [@](#):
>
> If you are trans, sucks to be you and I truly hope you can get it adjusted but leave me the fuck out of it.

This is what I don’t get - did a group of assholes who happen to be transgender kick down your front door, tie you to a chair, and force you to listen to speeches and watch media items on the issue? No? Then how exactly are you involved in all this? I don’t see that you are.

> [@](#):
>
> For fuck’s sake you’ve won. You’ve got federal legislative support, recognition and protection - at least in North America. You’ve got a pretty good segment of society behind you. What more do you want?

I don’t know what the transgender community wants but I wouldn’t be upset if you shut the fuck up about how you don’t care about something.

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**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/574 "2016-09-09T13:14:18Z")

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> [@toocrazy2yoo](#):
>
> Nice dodge…That the reality frightens you or rewards you doesn’t deny the reality, it just isn’t one to be acknowledged for some.

Peace on earth. Wish you were here.

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**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/575 "2016-09-09T13:21:15Z")

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> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> If this happens to you on a regular basis you need to take a strong look at yourself. You _could_ be a member of a wrongly-oppressed minority, though nothing you have posted indicates that you are. Or maybe you’re a supremely irritating person that generates a violent response among some people (which people you should probably not hang out with).

I laughed.

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**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/576 "2016-09-09T13:27:40Z")

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> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> Then turn of the TV/computer/smartphone/facebook feed. Is your hand broken? Are you helpless?

Oh, I see you didn’t get the memo from our quarterly meetings. As of June 2016, all of us Western European, North American, and Anglosphere Social Justice Warriors, Regressive Leftists, Virtue Signal Specialists, White Knights, and/or Feminazis are empowered and encouraged to use the Ludovico technique on all protesting cishet white males in order to ensure compliance with the new regime.

E: Y’know, I’ll throw the “I don’t like the word ‘cis’” people a bone and say that cishet is an abbreviation that should probably stop being used because it’s way to easily to read as, or intentionally **use** as “cishit”.

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**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/577 "2016-09-09T13:57:17Z")

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Er… Ludovico technique? WTH?

_::: start riffling through backlog of memos :::_

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**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/578 "2016-09-09T15:13:04Z")

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> [@tomndebb](#):
>
> So, yes, white straights do not have the privilege of hurling epithets at people who are not white or not straight that the targets of those slurs are permitted to use and if you fail to recognize that, you do not know enough about language or culture to be a serious participant in these discussions.

I’m not sure what you are trying to teach me or whatever, because I agree with you with regard to this paragraph.

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**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/579 "2016-09-09T15:15:24Z")

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> [@Una\_Persson](#):
>
> A significant number of people in the LGBTQIA community identify as “queer” - that’s one use of the Q in LGBTQIA (sometimes people say it means “questioning”, and sometimes you see LGBTQQIA…).
> 
> Writing "There are no times that a straight person can call a gay person “queer” " indicates a high level of unfamiliarity with LGBTQIA issues in America in the 2010’s. In the same vein as claiming “ladyboy” isn’t offensive because the OED and Websters don’t list it as such (they don’t list it at all, AFAIK).

I readily admit that I have a high level of unfamiliarity with LGBTQIA issues in America in the 2010s.

Doesn’t mean I’m going to start calling people “queer activist”

Sue me.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/580 "2016-09-09T15:20:56Z")

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> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> You call me a cheap whore then expect me to spend my precious time reading more of your vomit? You’ve got some nerve to call me hateful. Nope, not going to fulfill any request of yours until you apologize for the insult.

Well, first here is what I wrote - “I read on the Internet one time that you sucked dick on a corner for $5. I’m not riffling through 15 years of Internet posts to find it though”

So, in your view, if I say I read something on the Internet, that means that a) I said it, and b) I believe it to be true? Seems like a weird standard to have, but whatever.

I apologize for the insult.

so now, get to finding posts that prove I’m a bigot or YOU apologize for that insult.

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**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-and-am-sick-of-trans-stuff/762519/581 "2016-09-09T16:58:32Z")

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> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> Er… Ludovico technique? WTH?
> 
> _::: start riffling through backlog of memos :::_

I plead the fifth.

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