Why? You have very little influence. The best you can do is figure out a way to add positive energy around your desired outcome. Perhaps one day, a person will reflect back on your response and reconsider their own position. But they certainly won't reconsider their position because you said so. This isn't a matter of fact ...as folks operate on whatever facts they choose to accept ...which renders your quest of finding common ground as a moot point. This is a matter of emotion. If you want to change the conversation, appeal to them on an emotional level, rather than a factual level. For me, it's a matter of treating people with dignity and respect. I'm sure the folks you talk to can agree how it feels to be disrespected. So how can they honor their own beliefs without being disrespectful?
Treating people with dignity and respect requires communication, which requires mutual agreement and understanding on language. Not seeking to understand where another person is coming from and just agreeing to whatever they say is not "respect", in my opinion.
I disagree that agreement on semantics is a pre-requisite to treating people with respect. Rather than discussing values and principles, you end up spending valuable time discussing technicalities ...which not only doesn't push the conversation forward, the conversation goes in reverse and no substantive common ground can be achieved. Alright. I've said my piece. Good luck in your search for the holy grail.
It seems the approach you're taking is to have a pre-defined manual or rules of engagement. Just engaging trans and asking questions with an open mind will get you all the answers you're looking for in these threads.
WOW! I forgot about that and can't believe I thought that was funny at 1 point. This is not about you posting it, well played, but its interesting how far we have come.
Do you mean that I appear reluctant to engage with trans people until we are on the same page about the meaning of these words? Not true. I'm happy and willing to engage, if the opportunity is there. Background: Someone on Twitter made a comment about men being disproportionately represented in gaming professions and non-men being underrepresented. This created a backlash on that person's use of the word "non-men" -- some claiming it was essentially erasing "women" explicitly. I found the backlash puzzling and difficult to relate to. Why do people care so much about being identified as a "women"? Then I started thinking about what the word means, and how people on both sides of that conversation were adopting very different versions of the word and unable to reach any kind of mutual understanding about how to interpret the intentions of the original Tweet as a result. That's what prompted me to create this thread.
She would smile and show no surprise, convinced as she was, the same as I, that casual meetings are apt to be just the opposite, and that people who make dates are the same kind who need lines on their writing paper, or who always squeeze up from the bottom on a tube of toothpaste. Julio Cortazar
I'm not saying/implying that you're reluctant, rather your energy/curiosity for the subject is misdirected.
Nah, "This board is likely 99% self identified dudes and I think we've had at most 2 or 3 women participating in the D&D at any point in time." But I just play a professional bra designer on TV.
Well, for better or worse this is outlet I have for political debate/discussion topics, but I take your point. I understand it's a highly skewed demographic and views expressed here are not representative of the general population, nor necessarily the best informed for this topic. I think there are enough smart and open-minded people on this site that it could be worthwhile to try to start a conversation on it here.
Every time I went down that rabbit hole. . . .the evidence leads back to a single source Rocket River
It hard for you to understand because you don’t question your gender identity in relation to your sexual identity. I probably can’t explain it better to you since I don’t feel that disconnect either. What I’ve heard down trans people is that they do feel a disconnect and that disconnect can lead to a host of other problems that makes it difficult to function in a culture that largely functions in fixed gender roles. FYI there have been cases of children being brought up as their non biological gender. In some cases it was due to either being born sexually in determinate or because they suffered an early trauma to their genitalia and doctors believed it would be easier to just convince them they were not their birth gender. In several of those cases they suffers the same confusion and disconnect that many trans people feel. As such it shows that gender isn’t quite as simple as people think. It can be fluid in some but it can also be more fixed in some. I don’t think there is any problem with asking for understanding but I think you’re placing more demands on people to explain their identity for your edification. You can accept someone without fully understanding them.
