*sigh*
My guy’s best friend is basically a mostly-non-asshole version of a neckbeard. He’s neurotypical, but is incredibly socially awkward in that “I don’t know when I’m making everyone uncomfortable because I’m genuinely not paying any attention” sort of way. His troubling behavior isn’t enough for us to cut him off, but they have forced us to call him on it multiple times so he’ll get his shit under better control. Examples:
Over 50 but staaaaaares at girls just out of their teens until we have to confront him about it
Obsessed with hentai, genderbend web comics, unsettling assbaby/genderbend/dubcon fanfics, and furry porn, all of which he’s constantly bombarding us with links to
Neglects things like bathing and grooming until he looks like a hairy greaseball
Constantly lets toxic people latch onto him, then sides with them when we try to point out why he should flee from their criminal dumpster-fire asses
Refuses to get treatment or do anything about his depression even though treatment would be completely free for him
Spent four years trying to use me as his therapist and flipped out when I told him that enough was enough and that his insurance would fully cover an actual professional
Has driven away some of our other friends with his behavior to the point where we can’t invite him to group events
Basically, a slightly more whiny, creepy and unwashed version of Bill Daughtry from King of the Hill.
He is now in his mid fifties and has decided that, since he’s a bottom, likes genderbend media and cooking, and keeps being manipulated by the trans FELON who lives downstairs, that he must be a trans woman. That all his misery, which is largely self-inflicted or because of neglected health issues, is actually the result of unacknowledged womanhood.
This is not going to end well.
He’s taking the combined pain of social ostracism due to selfish obliviousness, of self-neglect, of life not being like his fantasies, and of constantly being conned by TERRIBLE “friends” who zero in on his vulnerabilities, and deciding to blame all of it on dysphoria. He’s convincing himself that transitioning will somehow solve all his problems. And if he goes through with it and then it doesn’t, which it won’t, he may kill himself.
Now keep in mind, he’s constantly trying to dump his emotional shit on me, so I’ve got a front and center seat to this trainwreck. I have tried to explain to him that he needs to talk to an actual therapist about this situation, but he would rather listen to the advice of the neighbor, who literally went to jail for ripping people off and is constantly “borrowing money”.
The neighbor, who came out as trans in jail (of course), is super-manipulative and controlling and has a violent temper, literally won’t leave our friend alone. She love-bombs, she crosses boundaries constantly--she basically acts like a cult member looking for new recruits. He’s in an affordable housing unit so moving is difficult, and he won’t shut her out anyway because he loves any attention that he doesn’t have to work for or reciprocate.
And I have no doubt that he wouldn’t be turning into another middle-aged, white, computer-nerdy self-ident trainwreck if he wasn’t being aggressively recruited by a literal criminal who went to jail for manipulating people. I have no doubt that if he had a good therapist and this leech hadn’t latched onto him, he would have made his peace with being slightly GNC and gone on with his life.
Instead, he’s bugging an almost completely GNC autistic woman for tips on being more “womanly”, only to be mystified when I tell him that I consider gender roles to be bullshit in the first place and don’t care about conforming to them. The oblivious fuck has known me for fifteen years, yet somehow he never noticed that I don’t wear makeup, heels or jewelry. Now he wants tips on wearing them. From me. Because I’m a woman, and must somehow magically know about all that shit.
He asked me earlier today if I was actually a closeted trans man, and I wanted to fucking punch him. This gender nonsense is out of control. I have heard it called the “trans cult” before, and I think that’s about three steps too far...
...but there are in fact trans people who treat it like a cult, and who are actively recruiting vulnerable people for that cult. And our poor, stupid friend, who listens to criminals over his oldest and closest friends, may be next.











