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Why is the idea of ‘gender’ provoking backlash the world over? | Judith Butler
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2025
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As tempting as it is to just think something along the lines of "everyone is just hateful and dumb" I think it's entirely possible that there is some fundamental issue with our messaging. Focus on the things you can control.
The problem is the messaging from the alt-right. Trans people aren't pressuring kids to transition, or forcing people to have sex with them. And black freedom fighters weren't rapists. And German Jews weren't responsible for the financial disaster in post-WWI Germany.
Fascists aren't leading a charge against real trans people. They're making a rage-bait strawman and then stomping it to the ground. This mania falls apart when people actually interact with real trans people, instead of taking the talking points given by reactionary figureheads and the Republicans they promote. The only change to messaging would be to be more visible.
Considering these freaks have been killing us for centuries I'm going to disagree. I think the ability to not easily be silenced, to share stories globally that won't simply be erased by "taking care of" someone is what's actually pissing them off.
You know, I agree with you, but we're already on the same team. Keep in mind though, we aren't trying to change the minds of the few powerful and evil motherfuckers who want us all dead. It can't be done. We want the average person to side with us, and the average person builds logical arguments around their emotions, not the other way around.
The average person is not a murderous freak and being made out to be one simply because they aren't on board with something they don't understand will absolutely harbor negative sentiment. They aren't going to be discerning and they are going to take this to be about them. And like I said, then the logical arguments get built around that negative sentiment. Then they start voting, and so on.
I'm not saying calm down, because you shouldn't. But red-hot messaging does not help. Turn the temperature down and you'll see more people agreeing with you who, importantly, didn't already agree with you BEFORE they read your message.
I feel like we already did that, that whenever there was push back we had stepped back and turned down the fire. That people presented logical and reasonable information, whenever possible. I think the problem is by turning down the fire then we allowed rich conservatives to control the narrative. Then we allowed them to say that "we can fix the economy (that we broke) but you have to abandon your morals and these people here that you honestly don't care about". That was good enough there were a bunch of people that really said "that's fucked up but get gas under $2 again" and they voted for them.
I'm saying it now we need to drag those people. Shame them because gas never got below $2. I don't need them to understand , what I need is for them to say they is that, they're not a doctor, therapist, social worker, etc. so they have no valid opinions or facts. They're not Lgbt+ they're sure as hell not trans or a trans parent, they signed on with hate and they made everything worse for everyone. And we can't make them forget it, if they could learn from positive messaging it would have already worked. If logic worked then they'd have already realized that in the last 3 decades every fucking time there's been a large amount of Republicans in control everything generally gets worse if you're an average mother fucker. And part of it is these fucking tax breaks that keep getting approved. The other part is voting in general which is why they've done everything in their power to make it impossible in some places.
I don't need them to agree with me , I need them to agree to mind their own business and keep that torture shit in their own cult.
I think this is definitely part of it, but there's a key point that you're both missing: Conservatives need someone to hate.
In the past it was gay people, abortion, that sort of thing. But gay rights are now very much supported by a majority of people, and abortion is either illegal federally in the US, or well supported in places it's legal (which was also true of the US). So, they needed a new scapegoat to whip up furore against and, unfortunately, we happen to be it. I think especially because we're so much more visible these days, that it's easy to point to us as a problem. Back in the 90s, when we were much more hidden, most people wouldn't have cared. But these days, most people have met (or at least seen) a trans person. The unfamiliar can be uncomfortable for people, and some choose not to address that, letting themselves be easily taken advantage of. As various conservative parties across the world have seen this to be an effective method of sowing division, they've adopted these policies for themselves.
Yeah they do which is why the whole ideology needs to be destroyed.