this is what happens when you make suffering a cornerstone of your self-image. on the same wavelength as people who jump down the throats of depressed people giving advice to other depressed people on how not to be 100% miserable constantly because “we cant all be neurotypical KAREN”
something something if we always define transgenderism by how much we’ve suffered, the community will never be able to envision and work for a future that involves joy and acceptance.
This is why making how much oppression we experience a badge of pride and creating oppression hierarchies in our communities and progressive spaces is Not Good actually. Especially since people don’t exist as a single identity or experience. Even putting aside the fact that said theoretical trans person mentioned in the screenshot does still experience transphobia, what if that person complaining shares *gasp* more than just one identity with the trans person they’re complaining about? And what if that hypothetical trans person has suffered in ways that don’t get slapped with the forced binary of “victim or oppressor”? Is stuff like a car accident, child abuse, abandonment, loved ones dying, developing a terminal illness, etc. necessarily always tied to oppression?
People don’t just exist as the one identity or experience you can use to put yourself above them.
Identities and experiences don’t “cancel out.” Being a man doesn’t nullify your transness. Being white doesn’t cancel out your disability.
And frankly, a person’s worth should never be based on how much that person has suffered. Because not only should we not have to justify our existences that way like some fucked up “submit your suffering for peer review and approval” system, we also have inherent worth as human beings. I don’t believe that oppression hierarchies forced in progressive circles take away the fact that I and the people I meet are all human beings.
kids transitioning as soon as they need to, with loving family support, is the GOAL of queer rights and queer respect. id rather hang out with a hundred cis allies than one vicious, bitter trans guy who feels justified in punishing kids for inheriting our hard work to make the world better.
