Of all the things I keep trying to tell cis people, “don’t presume your child’s gender” is the one that they consistently, deliberately refuse to understand and it is so deeply telling.
You cannot truly understand the transgender experience, and cannot count yourself an ally, until you accept that the trauma of being transgender is not inherent, it is a product of being coerced into thinking that you had absolutely no choice but to be the gender you were assigned.
Not “born with”, not “biologically”, the gender you were assigned.
The problem is assignment. The problem is doctors and parents believing it is their place to dictate their child’s gender, starting before they can even conceptualize what a gender is, let alone have the mental development necessary to object to what they’re given. This defines a child’s entire life, cuts short countless possibilities. It etches itself into the fabric of our developing minds and it is a ticking psychological time bomb for those children who are given a gender assignment that they cannot or do not wish to live with. This culture of dictated identity must end if transgender people are ever to be regarding as whole and equal members of society.
yes you can reblog this
I’ve done some limited math on this, and the results are mind-boggling.
The human genitalia is less than 0.13% of the body. Moments after a new human being slides into the world, the attending physicians make a very cursory examination of that area and then makes an announcement that shapes the rest of that new human’s life.
Even before the infant can process what gravity is, an entire bundle of social norms is thrust upon it. People speak more quietly to babies assigned as girls. Mothers under-estimate their capabilities. Complete strangers judge them based on their appearances.
And in many countries, any baby assigned as a girl through this archaic method are more likely to be victims of abuse, neglect, and murder.
That’s just wrong.