Selective Validation : in the Trans Community (Pt.1)
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An introduction to the Selective Validation rant series:
We are not referring to everyone within a community when we say these things and our opinions expressed here aren't professional or going to be sourced, this is just a rant series - feel free to suggest communities to discuss and points to make
Some folks in the LGBTQ+ community are just way too selective in what they support and validate nowadays within their own community and it shows. It's like each community within it has its own internal discrimination and/or dislike for a certain identity or community related to it, and we just wanna rant really about how shitty some parts of these communities can be
Click 'keep reading' if you're interested in the exploration of selective validation within the trans community (part 1 as there may be more posts we make on this community):
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Trans Community
(tw: fatphobia, weight, ableism)
The amount of an intercommunity mess the trans community is when it comes to some parts of it is actually sad. Just to name a few, the ableism, fatphobia, expectations to pass or transition, and also sexism and transphobia. Some of this is even more significant in the transmasc community for some reason
There's such a lack of representation of plus-size trans folks, especially transmascs
Fatphobia is definitely more rooted in the transmasc community so points here will use that as examples, this doesn't mean fatphobia isn't seen in other trans communities. The body standards put on trans folks especially trans youth by their own community are ridiculous
The amount of videos of trans folks, once again most often transmascs, of average weight calling themselves fat, using plus-size tags, or labelling themselves as being a fat transmasc is actually concerning - and it can't be all of their faults that they believe this
Yes it's bad to seep your way into plus-size tags and spaces but if you're genuinely believing that a fat transmasc is a transmasc of an average weight, maybe with some chubbiness or stretch marks, that's a problem with social expectations for trans folks
It's infuriatingly expected to be skinny, have no stretch marks or rolls, little to no boobs already, short hair, the desire to transition, to use he/him pronouns, identify as a binary man, all of that.
MOGAI genders, xenogenders, neopronouns, and people with different experiences than just 'binary trans person using he/him or she/her pronouns that wants to transition'
Some areas of the trans community have just never been accepting of these things, and it's often rooted not only in ableism, but transmedicalism, internalised transphobia, and the desire to be liked by the outside.
You see it so often nowadays, 'I'm trans and I think [xyz invalidation]' or '[xyz invalidation] - trans person'. Literally trans folks invalidating members of their own community, even if they're members who they claim aren't 'real' members. The trans community contributes to so much use of terms like 'transtrender', and to so much of the invalidation towards trans folks who are just different, and everything they use as an argument, when put into a more common situation, comes off as really toxic and often ableist
"Nobody sees their gender as a star or a cloud, that's silly, just use normal terms like feminine, masculine, or neutral"
"Nobody describes their emotions like that, that's silly, just use normal words like happy or sad or angry"
"Why don't you just describe your gender normally?"
"Why don't you just think normally?"
"Stop using these terms, they make the trans community look like a joke"
"Stop doing what makes you happy and comfortable, it's embarrassing when you're hanging out with me"
"Nobody's going to use those for you"
"Nobody's going to want to make you feel comfortable or happy"
"You need dysphoria to be trans"
"You need all these symptoms to be [x thing that isn't even a disorder]"
"That was invented by trolls so it's a troll term"
"The words you use to describe yourself were invented by trolls so what you're describing isn't even real"
Extra points
Lack of transfeminine representation, especially ones that don't 'pass'
Lack of representation of non-binary AMABs and a lack of support for them
Non-binary being treated like a thing for AFAB folks only
Invalidating other folk's experiences
Invalidation towards minors who are trans, especially if they use MOGAI genders, xenogenders, neopronouns, etc
Dislike towards straight trans folks, sometimes getting kicked out of LGBTQ+ spaces even
Invalidation towards pronoun-non-conforming and gender-non-conforming trans folks, or just trans folks that don't 'pass' or don't want to 'pass'
