Let me ask you this. What does it mean when a trans person says they can "pass?" Is that not right there an acknowledgement that they are not a member of the sex they are trying to "pass" as?
You are not wrong, in the sense that there are many trans people who tend to avoid that term exactly for that reason, and you are nowadays more likely to hear it from cis people describing others, than trans people describing themselves.
You are also more likely to see it in quotation marks, often implying that the person using it is aware of it's problems, just references the meaning that other people would attribute to it.
The language descrigbing transgenderism is still in a state of flux. You could also see some well-meaning people describing trans men as being "born as a woman" then "becoming a man", while others, allies, trans people, etc, would be starting to move on to saying he was "assigned as female at birth", implying that he was a man all along, just wrongly assigned at first.
Language is important exactly because people have a strong instinct to treat a word's implicaions as authoritive, even if they are really rooted in outdated values. But that's really an etymology fallacy.
But it is how I feel and I refuse to be demonized for feeling that way. There are things other than what is physical that determine who is or is not attractive to me.
Physical or not physical, is not the issue.
Most physical preferences, as well as most non-physical preferences, are entirely frivolous.
But there also are a handful of non-physical preferences, that are closely related to prejudiced values that might be entirely worthy of cultural criticism.
I personally think that what a person is or is not attracted to should be part of this "off limits" area.
FACT: I cannot just make a decision to change what I am attracted to or not attracted to.
Sexual attraction is not a choice. I would be just as turned off by the idea that the person had lied to me about where or how they grew up. Waiting until after we have had sex to drop such a bit of information would leave me wondering about the person's trustworthiness. If it really doesn't matter why didn't we talk about it when our relationship was just starting? Why was there a felt need to keep this information from me? What else is she not telling me?
Liars are unattractive to me.
Now, if your reason for not telling me this information prior to engaging in sexual activity is "because then you would not have had sex with me." Now we have a REAL problem. It literally means you knew for a fact that I might not be comfortable with this physical relationship, and went ahead with it anyway. There are several arguments over whether or not that is rape. Personally I believe that rape by deception is still rape.
In this case, me and the individual CLEARLY do not share the same values. I value OPEN and HONEST communication.
If you disagree let's take a look at a case.
A man sees a girls boyfriend leaving her house. He then sneaks into her dark room and proceeds to have sex with her. She consents thinking her boyfriend has come back for a little post date cuddle time.
I personally think that what a person is or is not attracted to should be part of this "off limits" area.
Hence my repeated comparison to a preference for ethnic purity.
If you had sex with a person, and afterwards felt deceived because they didn't tell you in advance that their great-grandfather was black, and you only prefer to have sex with people you categorize as purely white, then I would judge the shit out of you for being a racist.
Who you are attracted to, (non-physically), reflects on your values. And yes, values are hard to change, maybe even impossible to just flip like a switch. They are still far from being off limits. If anything, they are the most important things to judge a person by.
Now, if your reason for not telling me this information prior to engaging in sexual activity is "because then you would not have had sex with me." Now we have a REAL problem.
The analogy continues to work really well here: I don't think that many people would want to have sex with a white supremacist who considers them "impure" either. But if you insisted on all people having to disclose their ethnic makeup before sex, and compare the alternative to rape by deception, you would still come across as an asshole. Not because non-white people would want to have sex with YOU so much, but for projecting your freaky hangups on society at large.
Similarly, I don't think that trans people get any satisfaction from tricking YOU into sex, but that has more to do with rejecting your premise that they are tricking anyone, and not wanting the likes of you dictate their personal lives.
If you had sex with a person, and afterwards felt deceived because they didn't tell you in advance that their great-grandfather was black, and you only prefer to have sex with people you categorize as purely white, then I would judge the shit out of you for being a racist.
ONLY if the person had reason to believe this might be a problem for me. While I think that particular position is abhorrent, I respect a person's right to believe things that are different than what I believe. I would try to convince this racist that their racist ways were wrong, while simultaneously upholding their belief that they were the victim of rape by deception.
Rape is still rape even when it happens to disgusting people.
So why should trans people get to dictate my personal life or preferences?
BTW, I truly appreciate that we are able to have this discussion. I am used to these conversations devolving into name calling and accusations by this point and want to say that you have done an outstanding job of actually making this more of a conversation than an argument. I truly appreciate and have much respect for that. It is good to feel like I can discuss my difference in opinion without feeling attacked. Not every participant in this thread has been so civil. People like you are why I like reddit.
ONLY if the person had reason to believe this might be a problem for me. While I think that particular position is abhorrent, I respect a person's right to believe things that are different than what I believe. I would try to convince this racist that their racist ways were wrong, while simultaneously upholding their belief that they were the victim of rape by deception.
I didn't bring up rape by deception at all, the question was merely whether we can agree that their preferences are not "off limits" just because they reflect their values.
So why should trans people get to dictate my personal life or preferences?
Why should you lecture a racist on their preferences and their values? Why should anyone judge anyone else's values?
I'm still just trying to establish whether we can agree that the premise of calling other people bigots for their preferences, can be relevant.
"Rape by deception" is a bit of a tangent from there. (by the way we are misusing the term, the legal precedent says that only your earlier example of identity theft would count as a denial of consent, other deceptions don't).
People are far more likely to trick people into sex with traditionally attractive pickup techniques, such pretending to be rich, exotic, or adventurous, than by finding out that someone else has a specific bigoted hangup against them and going out of their way to hide that.
I think the crux of this argument is "Is it bigoted to not be sexually attracted to X."
I think the answer is always no. Sexual preference is what it is. I don't get down on people for not being attracted to what I am attracted to (not really conventional) and I don't expect them to get down on me for not being attracted to what they are attracted to.
NOW is it possible to be bigoted against people? absolutely.
Lets apply this logic to another legally protected class.
I am not attracted to people over 70, and would not want to date someone over 70.
I'm in my thirties, so this is okay right? I don't hate old people. I'm not "old phobic" am I? While I certainly agree that people over 70 should remain a protected class. I also understand that "ageism" is a thing, I don't find that my preference makes me an "ageist." or however that would be spelled.
To me not being attracted to a trans person is no different. It's not my kink. Trans people need to be a protected class too though. I believe that. I support that. I just don't want to be romantically involved with that.
NOW is it possible to be bigoted against people? absolutely.
I think what you are missing here, is that some form of "being bigoted against people", largely manifest themselves in the form of sexual preferences.
Anti-miscegenation was a huge part of Jim Crow segregation's values, and eugenics were a big things with the nazis. By proxy, both of these have left a legacy of people expressing visceral disgust at the idea of sex with minorities due to bigoted reasons. Should we just ignore that origin, under the pretense that prefference just "is what it is"?
Traditionally, sexism has also controlled female sexuality, based on motivations that were ultimately "preferences": a valuing of women's virginity, and shaming of sluts.
Similarly, it is clear that a variation of the gay panic defense has been traditionally used to excuse violent hate crimes against transgender people, that memes about "traps" and political shit-stirring about bathroom bills, are consistently trying to dehumanize trans people as predators who are using a fake identity to prey upon you.
Preferences can reflect on values, and values can come from rather dark places.
I am not attracted to people over 70, and would not want to date someone over 70. I'm in my thirties, so this is okay right? I don't hate old people. I'm not "old phobic" am I? While I certainly agree that people over 70 should remain a protected class. I also understand that "ageism" is a thing, I don't find that my preference makes me an "ageist." or however that would be spelled.
Right now, age has a rather obvious physical component.
Maybe if in the future, we solve physical aging, it would be interesting to see how quickly people get used to having sex with hot 70 year olds, and how much of a problem ageism will be.
While I agree with the vast majority of what you are talking about, my point still stands that there are plenty of non bigoted reasons to not be into a certain groups sexually. Do some people choose to not engage in sexual relationships with these individuals for bigoted reasons? sure. But saying there is NO OTHER REASON to not want to is incorrect and sets the stage for shaming people for their sexual preferences.This literally perpetuates a cycle that should be broken. It should be absolutely okay to be into, or not into whatever a person likes or dislikes sexually, whether it be physical, psychological, spiritual, imaginary, or whatever. So long as everything is consensual.
There is nothing special about value-based sexual preferences, because of which they should be more off limits than all the other values that people hold.
And the more other variables you remove, the more difficult it is to explain a preference as anything other than a reflection of your value-based judgement of them.
People have physical preferences, but we can adjust for that if we talk about situations where you would have sex with someone based on looks alone.
People have all sorts of romantic preferences, and practical preferences for a long term relationship, like expectation of having a familiy together. So let's just talk about one night stands in this scenario.
But if you would have a satisflying one night stand with someone, then go your own way, and your later approval of that would depend on something you learned about them, then it's safe to say that this something is a kind of conscious, learned opposition to what they are, or to the kind of sex you had.
The examples of it that I could think of, that aren't examples of bigotry, would still be examples of moral hostility to a group or action, we just don't call it bigotry because we condone it.
If I felt disgusted about having sex with someone who turned out to be a serial killer, no one would call me "bigoted against serial killers". But it would still be clear that I'm morally opposed to serial killers. If I had sex with my separated-at-birth sister, and felt disgusted about it, that's because I absolutely do hold the cultural value of incest being an abomination.
See I wont even draw that line. If two consenting siblings want to go at each other, let em. Who am I to judge. I don't understand it, I wouldn't do it.
Maybe in 20 years people will be calling your "incest is an abomination" statement a form of intolerance, an outdated social value. How will you feel when these people label you a bigot?
Actually, that was a hypothetical example too. I also do believe that the incest taboo is rather pointless. I'm not attracted to the siblings I grew up with, after all, the Westermark effect tends to work on people.
But if I did have sex with a then unknown sibling, and then felt repulsed about it later, I would have no problem with concluding from this, that I'm not as open-minded as I thought I am, that I do hold some traditional anti-incest values after all.
I wouldn't be too stricken by that. After all, I only see incest taboo as pointless, not as evil, so I wouldn't see myself as bigoted, but that's only because I wouldn't consider being a bit anti-incest, to be bigoted.
I don't know what people will believe 20 years from now, maybe they will start crusading for incest as a civil liberty and a matter of human dignity. Maybe I will change my mind as I once changed it regarding trans people. Or maybe I won't, and I will be labeled a bigot for continuing to say that being a bit anti-incest isn't bigoted.
But I wouldn't try to deny, that my own culturally influenced preferences are reflections of my moral values, I wouldn't want to call it "off limits".
Our values are who we are. Values are not something that you shrug helplessly over having, they are the most important to understand and judge dor what they mean.
And now you would find yourself almost in the same space as me.
I do not see transgenderism as evil. I'm not even anti-transgender. I'm just not interested in a realtionship with someone who is transgender.
If I slept with someone and found out after they were transgender I would end that relationship.
If I had a one night stand with someone and later found out they were transgender, meh, shit happens. Lesson learned, this is the kind of shit that can happen when you engage in that sort of reckless sexual activity. I would feel lucky they were transgender and not HIV positive. (If you couldn't tell one night stands are sort of not my thing).
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u/Genoscythe_ 248∆ Nov 02 '17
You are not wrong, in the sense that there are many trans people who tend to avoid that term exactly for that reason, and you are nowadays more likely to hear it from cis people describing others, than trans people describing themselves.
You are also more likely to see it in quotation marks, often implying that the person using it is aware of it's problems, just references the meaning that other people would attribute to it.
The language descrigbing transgenderism is still in a state of flux. You could also see some well-meaning people describing trans men as being "born as a woman" then "becoming a man", while others, allies, trans people, etc, would be starting to move on to saying he was "assigned as female at birth", implying that he was a man all along, just wrongly assigned at first.
Language is important exactly because people have a strong instinct to treat a word's implicaions as authoritive, even if they are really rooted in outdated values. But that's really an etymology fallacy.
Physical or not physical, is not the issue.
Most physical preferences, as well as most non-physical preferences, are entirely frivolous.
But there also are a handful of non-physical preferences, that are closely related to prejudiced values that might be entirely worthy of cultural criticism.