This is the 2nd piece of read from you and the 4th piece on the other PITT site. What strikes me is
1) how all of the commenters say the same thing: how they didn't know and couldn't tell and that "he seemed like a normal boy" or "she seemed like a normal girl". But it's the same thing... does that not resonate? With these same experiences? How these kids are all following on this similar path because this is how we pull ourselves out of the trauma of being told we aren't who we know we are?
And 2) all the stories talk about how "I tried to do the best I could do by teaching you and showing you how to do [thing that the poster associates with their own gender]". The cognitive dissonance is astounding. What makes (in their persons case) "using strength to help others" masculine? Does that imply that using weakness to harm others is feminine? Bull fucking shit. But all of them, all the stories and comments are like that, conflating teaching actions that they see as gendered as the same as "imparting gender" on someone, as if men aren't allowed to be empathetic and women aren't allowed to strong. Until these parents and people understand that actions, character, and personality are genderless, they will never see their children for who they truly are. I appreciate your satire as it brings levity, but I'm disgusted at the mind prisons these people have placed their perception of their kids in.
1) I think this is a combination of what you are pointing out, and denial. Trans kids often become experts at hiding their true selves because they've been repeatedly told who they are is wrong. The similarity in these stories isn't proof of some "social contagion" - it's proof of how universally trans kids learn to mask for survival. It is never ROGD, that has been debunked thoroughly by folks way smarter than me. It is ROPD - Rapid Onset Parental Discovery. And these two issues are connected - the parents' inability to see past rigid gender roles is exactly why they 'never saw it coming. They were looking for stereotypes (which the kids performed to avoid scrutiny) and listening for what they wanted/expected, and not listening to their actual child.
2) This is a brilliant observation about how these parents are trapped in rigid gender stereotypes while claiming to "know" their child's gender better than the child does. I particularly like your examples (using strength to help others and the BS). To me, this is the height of arrogance, to say you know anyone better than they do. You may have excelled at pattern recognition with a person, but that does not mean you can ever know their experiences better than they do. These parents are demonstrably failing at 'theory of mind' - this is also a easter egg/hint for tomorrow's article, btw, because it ties into satire as well. I am glad you appreciate my satire, I save it for the parents/or AI generated sympathy text bombs (sometimes I can't tell. Now I just count em dashes) because satire is a mirror. You use it to show the reader a reflection of themselves through the absurdity and exaggeration. It brings levity to those who understand and get it, and brings anger and offense to those who recognize themselves in the satire.
All that is to say that I hear you and agree. They had the opportunity to grow, and instead chose to find/retreat to echo chambers and dogma. They chose Ideology, not inclusivity. They chose a group who affirmed their prejudice, instead of their kid.
I read Dick’s piece (of shite). His child struggled in school yet was very smart. Maybe that was his clue? Dick’s answer is the bible and to join a hate group. I hope his daughter has a good life with the love and acceptance she deserves.
Appropriately named DICK for being one. That happened to me, but I wasn't left at the airport. I eventually landed on my feet, but it was devastating. Way back in 1976 or 1977, I was scared. Dick is a loser and where the fuck do they get their disinformation? Illuminati? Don't they realize you have to be ultra rich to even be called on by those people? What an idiot.
![People with Inconvenient Truths about Transphobes [PITT]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YttD!,w_80,h_80,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F704ba0db-3e10-4112-9364-c2f224d0cfae_500x500.png)
![People with Inconvenient Truths about Transphobes [PITT]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YttD!,w_36,h_36,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F704ba0db-3e10-4112-9364-c2f224d0cfae_500x500.png)
This is the 2nd piece of read from you and the 4th piece on the other PITT site. What strikes me is
1) how all of the commenters say the same thing: how they didn't know and couldn't tell and that "he seemed like a normal boy" or "she seemed like a normal girl". But it's the same thing... does that not resonate? With these same experiences? How these kids are all following on this similar path because this is how we pull ourselves out of the trauma of being told we aren't who we know we are?
And 2) all the stories talk about how "I tried to do the best I could do by teaching you and showing you how to do [thing that the poster associates with their own gender]". The cognitive dissonance is astounding. What makes (in their persons case) "using strength to help others" masculine? Does that imply that using weakness to harm others is feminine? Bull fucking shit. But all of them, all the stories and comments are like that, conflating teaching actions that they see as gendered as the same as "imparting gender" on someone, as if men aren't allowed to be empathetic and women aren't allowed to strong. Until these parents and people understand that actions, character, and personality are genderless, they will never see their children for who they truly are. I appreciate your satire as it brings levity, but I'm disgusted at the mind prisons these people have placed their perception of their kids in.
1) I think this is a combination of what you are pointing out, and denial. Trans kids often become experts at hiding their true selves because they've been repeatedly told who they are is wrong. The similarity in these stories isn't proof of some "social contagion" - it's proof of how universally trans kids learn to mask for survival. It is never ROGD, that has been debunked thoroughly by folks way smarter than me. It is ROPD - Rapid Onset Parental Discovery. And these two issues are connected - the parents' inability to see past rigid gender roles is exactly why they 'never saw it coming. They were looking for stereotypes (which the kids performed to avoid scrutiny) and listening for what they wanted/expected, and not listening to their actual child.
2) This is a brilliant observation about how these parents are trapped in rigid gender stereotypes while claiming to "know" their child's gender better than the child does. I particularly like your examples (using strength to help others and the BS). To me, this is the height of arrogance, to say you know anyone better than they do. You may have excelled at pattern recognition with a person, but that does not mean you can ever know their experiences better than they do. These parents are demonstrably failing at 'theory of mind' - this is also a easter egg/hint for tomorrow's article, btw, because it ties into satire as well. I am glad you appreciate my satire, I save it for the parents/or AI generated sympathy text bombs (sometimes I can't tell. Now I just count em dashes) because satire is a mirror. You use it to show the reader a reflection of themselves through the absurdity and exaggeration. It brings levity to those who understand and get it, and brings anger and offense to those who recognize themselves in the satire.
All that is to say that I hear you and agree. They had the opportunity to grow, and instead chose to find/retreat to echo chambers and dogma. They chose Ideology, not inclusivity. They chose a group who affirmed their prejudice, instead of their kid.
I read Dick’s piece (of shite). His child struggled in school yet was very smart. Maybe that was his clue? Dick’s answer is the bible and to join a hate group. I hope his daughter has a good life with the love and acceptance she deserves.
Appropriately named DICK for being one. That happened to me, but I wasn't left at the airport. I eventually landed on my feet, but it was devastating. Way back in 1976 or 1977, I was scared. Dick is a loser and where the fuck do they get their disinformation? Illuminati? Don't they realize you have to be ultra rich to even be called on by those people? What an idiot.
omg, Ray, you're cracking me up even more that this article did!
I talk like that all the time, but usually in articles you may not see. I'm all over the place. LOL 🤣
😁😁😁😂