@sirosenbaum.bsky.social: Evan, this graf really struck me - and you never really refute it.

Today I've done something I've never done before and written in direct criticism of another trans writer. Andrea Long Chu, in my opinion, is dangerously undermining the fight for access to transition in the guise of defending trans people's right to do it. www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

In Defense of the Medical Model for Trans Healthcare — Assignedwww.assignedmedia.org Andrea Long Chu thinks libertarianism will save the trans community. That’s bonkers.

I think you need to read some critical disability studies and medicine abolition writing. This piece reveals that you haven't engaged seriously with either. Your assertion that something "either helps or it doesn't" is naive positivism that doesn't reckon with what society considers "help" to be.

The conversion therapy would be good if it worked argument is cis supremacist, and rooted in ableist notions of cure. Again, I think this essay reveals a lack of engagement with any of the disability studies critiques of these things, but more concerningly is also homonormative.

I did not say it would be good, Jess. I said I thought, like it or hate it, most trans people would choose it. I believe- though I can go and check- I even said I thought it would be a negative for humanity to lose that diversity?

Honestly speaking for "most trans people" here, as if A) you have a hold on that B) it is some measure of truth about trans people is probably the most egregious part of this. You win some you lose some and I think this is sloppy both philosophically and politically. Ur a pretty good reporter tho.

It's not even engaging w the way that sort of argument is effectively an appeal to "we can't help it" as an ethical plea. I hate to be like this because I learned philosophy going to libraries as a kid instead of uni and I hate when people are uptight about it but this is v 1950s reasoning.

I mean, I am sorry for doing this again, but just as proof that this isn't the first time I'm encountering your arguments, here's Evan from 2018, engaging with them directly. slate.com/human-intere...

Being Transgender Is a Condition, Not a Choice. I Know Because I Tried Choosing Differently.slate.com Where transphobes see “radical gender ideology,” I see the only treatment for my crippling dysphoria.

Evan, this graf really struck me - and you never really refute it.

Thank you for reading, I know asking people to read a second essay is a lot. I don't think I intended to refute it? I'm debasing myself because my pragmatism thinks it's necessary, and it's an update on the 90s version because I'm signposting that I'm doing it but shouldn't have to.

I wrote that in 2018, because I thought support for trans rights was weakening and falling out of favor among liberals. I didn't think my essay could turn the tide, but it was a time when I did think the tide turning back the other way was possible.

Yeah that has been a nice surprise

fundamentally: to the degree that we choose our sex, gender, and expression, this is a matter of bodily and personal autonomy. to the degree that it's beyond our conscious control, it's a matter of compassionate care, but over-emphasizing that is a kind of objectification.

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