MythosArcane
PRIDE 2022 - DEBUNKING HARMFUL FALLACIES
DEBUNKING HARMFUL FALLACIES ABOUT TRANSGENDER PEOPLE
I hope you will take a moment to read this information, as it concerns specific harmful fallacies perpetuated about transgender people. For Pride month I had to do something a little different then my art. As a transgender woman, I felt compelled to address some of the more harmful and often lethal fallacies circulating about us. Much of this comes from personal experiences, discussions and interactions I've had with people. Some of these fallacies are pulled directly from the news.
FALLACY I: TRANSGENDER PEOPLE BELIEVE THEY ARE CISGENDERED WOMEN OR MEN
Oddly, this fallacy is a common belief, and one I have encountered multiple times since transitioning. Many people seem to think of transgender people in this context, but it is a complete misconception. Some transgender people use language in a way that may suggest they believe they are cis gendered. However, that speech is designed to reaffirm their gender identity, in a world that constantly tells them they are wrong. Every transgender person is painful aware of the gender markers they were assigned at birth based on genitalia. Which leads right into our next fallacy.
FALLACY II: SEX AND GENDER ARE THE SAME THING
Like most Americans, I grew up thinking the terms sex and gender meant the same thing. However the definition of the word gender encompasses much more then just sex. The term gender was first coined by sexologist John Money in 1955.(1) Money’s groundbreaking work, opened a new field of research in sexual science, giving credence to medical ideas about human sexuality.
Unfortunately, some took this as an attack on their hetero-normative, binary beliefs, which is an incomplete view. There are many well documented chromosomal and genital variations. One of the most popular is Kilnefelter Syndrome (KS), also know as 47,XXY.(2) First identified by endocrinologist Harry Klinefelter in the 1940s, KS is a condition where a male is born with an extra X chromosome. Recently a UK Biobank analyzed the chromosomes of more than 200,000 men. Surprisingly it revealed that on average 1 in every 500 males will have an extra X or Y chromosome.(3)
Over the last decade humanity has unearthed some compelling data on transgender neural physiology as well. What this research seems to suggest is that it is possible to be born with a female brain in a male body, or a male brain in a female body.(4) Theoretically speaking you could also have a neutral identity in a male or female body. As more data comes together, the human sexes start to look a spectrum rather than a duality. Where being transgender or gender neutral is a matter of who you are when you were born, not a choice you make at a later time in life.
FALLACY III: TRANSGENDER PEOPLE ARE MENTALLY ILL
Phobias are a mental illness,(5) however being transgender is not. We've known this for well over half a century. And yet this is a message I've heard circulated with regularity over the years. The term “gender dysphoria” sounds dreadful, though it's not a psychological diagnosis of illness. After decades of research, psychologists settled on the term “dysphoria” as they believed only medical science could explain transgender people.
Society's inability to accept gender is taking a large mental toll on transgender people. The terms “male” and “female” are, two pieces of an oversimplified puzzle and not representative of our sexes as a whole. This duo fits neatly into a biology lesson about reproduction, but overall it is an extremely limited view. LGBTQ mental health issues stem from the social isolation all of us face because of our inherently conservative culture.
The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youth (13-24) seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S., and at least one attempts suicide ever 45 seconds. To give you an idea of the scale, it's now the second leading cause of death for young people ages 10 to 24.(6) The massive push back on human rights progress by conservatives is only exacerbating the problem, as LGBTQ youths are four times more likely to commit suicide than their peers.
FALLACY IV : SPEECH DOESN'T LEAD TO VIOLENCE
Sadly hate speech does in fact equate to violence. Even in the form of jokes and entertainment. Any time an in-group dehumanizes a marginalized out-group, there is going to be more violence against them. Scapegoating and violence are a cause and effect we see time and time again throughout US history. For example, the rash of assaults on Muslim Americans following the September 11th attacks. Or more recently, those against Asian Americans during the COVID19 pandemic.
Fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color; particularly Black transgender women. This all comes to an intersection of racism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and unchecked access to guns. Even worse, people actively conspire to deprive us of employment, housing, healthcare and other basic human necessities.(7)
FALLACY V: TRANSGENDER PEOPLE ARE VIOLENT
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) DOES NOT make transgender people violent. Transgender female hormones levels are identical to a cisgendered female's. There's actually a baseline comparison on the lab work I have done ever three to six months. The same would go for a transgender males and cis males with testosterone levels. To say transgender people are violent due to HRT levels is akin to saying cisgender people are violent due to their hormones. Neither is true.
According to a study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, transgender people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to experience violent victimization, including rape, sexual assault, and aggravated or simple assault. In addition, households with a transgender person had higher rates of property vandalism than cisgender households.(8)
FALLACY VI: TRANSGENDER WOMEN ARE SEXUAL PREDATORS
Complete fallacy! Male to female hormone replacement therapy dramatically reduces sex drive and causes erectile dysfunction. Plus most transgender women feel quite adverse to their own genitalia. Genital dysphoria effects the majority of transgender people. The last thing I'd want to do is expose my genitals publicly, given they don't feel congruent to my gender identity. Honestly this fallacy we are going to rape women in public spaces is deflection from the heterosexual males responsible for the vast majority of rapes.
Transgender women would be at even greater risk of becoming victims if forced into male spaces. Transgender women are not cis men and many aren't sexually attracted to women. As with some cis females, some of us are though. We are not likely to act inappropriately in women's spaces, especially if we'd like to keep using them. We all want, and should have, safe spaces.
FALLACY VII: TRANSGENDER (LGBTQ) PEOPLE ARE GROOMERS AND PEDOPHILES
This fallacy frustrates me, as I know many bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgender people that want to protect their children from pedophiles just like any other parent. The idea that our community embraces pedophiles is an ugly farce designed to further dehumanize us by suggesting we are the deviants. This deflects from the truth which is most pedophiles are heterosexual cis males.
Dr. A. Nicholas Groth, researcher on adult male offenders and author of “Men Who Rape: Psychology of the Offender”, states that it is a myth that adult males who molest boys are homosexual.(9) Groth writes, “Most men who molest little boys are not gay. Only 21 percent of the child molesters we studied who assault little boys were exclusively homosexual. Nearly 80 percent of the men who molested little boys were heterosexual or bisexual and most of these men were married and had children of their own."
FALLACY VIII: TRANSGENDER PEOPLE ARE JUST SUPER GAY OR LESBIAN
This one I'd heard from gay men in the 90's and it still circulates today. Being transgender and sexual orientation are not related. Researchers discovered that transgender peoples' sexual orientation varies just like that of cisgendered people. All humans are somewhere on this sexual orientation spectrum and it's generally circumstance that keep people from exploring outside the influence of hetero-normative sex. I know I've had my share of “straight” friends that have come out to me, but feel like they could never come out socially. Why? Mainly people are afraid of the stigma associated with being honest about their sexuality in our society.
FALLACY IX: AN ATTRACTON TO TRANSGENDER PEOPLE MEANS YOUR GAY OR LESBIAN
On the contrary. We have known since 1948 when Alfred Kinsey and Wardell Pomeroy published 'Sexual Behavior In The Human Males' that straight and bisexual males are attracted to the feminine traits of transgender women.(10) Homosexuals are not as attracted to transgender women due to those same feminine traits. Gay men can be attracted to transgender women who don't augment their bodies. Many queer and gender neutral people are also attracted to transgender women. Attraction for transgender men include straight or bisexual women and men, queer, gay men in addition to gender neutral people.
I should note many straight men and woman in addition to some gay men will not date transgender men. Much like many straight men and women in addition to some lesbians won't date transgender women. This seems to be more about sexual desire for a specific type than it is about attraction to a specific gender identity.
This also tracks with a recent study involving Canadian undergraduates.(11) The study showed that men not identifying as gay, actually lingered on images of transgender women longer then those of cis women. The reason I believe is that it's sexually taboo, thus making it more attention grabbing.
FALLACY X: TRANSGENDER PEOPLE ARE DECEPTIVE
The idea that identifying as transgender is to trick people, is yet another deflection created by phobic people. Transgender people often hide their gender identity because they are afraid and don't feel safe coming out in most places. As I stated earlier, transgender people live in a dangerous world where their identity and lives are under constant assault. The fact they hide their identity is not to deceive, but to stay safe in a world that often reacts to us violently. Hence we don't exactly want to go around advertising that fact.
FALLACY XI: ONE PERSON CAN SPEAK FOR ALL OF US
Every time speak out about transgender people, I want it to come from a place where we can all agree. Having seen other transgender people fall in to this trap repeatedly, I would like everyone to join me in a constructive discussion. I know I'm bias towards transgender women, so I invite other transgender and gender neutral people to join me in this conversation by sharing their stories or additional fallacies. Please help spread the word. It is my hope that together, we can further educate the general public about theses harmful fallacies killing the transgender community.
However all this deflection is no coincidence, it's designed to dehumanize. These scientific revelations are a big part of why we are seeing such a massive push back in the form of nearly 240 Republican, anti-LGBTQ bills in the United States in the first six months of this year alone. The annual number of anti-LGBTQ bills to have been filed has skyrocketed over the past several years, from 41 in 2018 to 238 in three months of 2022.12 Many of which are based on similar fallacies and in some instances equating to nothing short of cultural eraser.
REFERENCES
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/10/men-extra-sex-chromosome-research-uk-health-issues
https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2016/gender-lines-science-transgender-identity/
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/facts-about-lgbtq-youth-suicide/
https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/ncvs-trans-press-release/
https://www.zeroabuseproject.org/victim-assistance/jwrc/keep-kids-safe/sexuality-of-offenders/