Why Transmeds Aren't the Enemy of Non-Binary People | TE Report Trans S3 E9

Hi everyone, welcome again to the special LGBT season of the TaraElla Report. This is where we talk about the diversity of views in the community, to show that diverse views do exist, and to promote mutual understanding. Subscribe if you are interested. This show is brought to you by my new book, Postmodernism, Skeptics & Transmedicalists, which is all about the battle between postmodern and Marcusean ideology vs skeptics opposing these ideas, and how trans people got entangled in this battle and got misunderstood by the world. Link is in the description.

Today, I am going to revisit my response to the Transtrenders video by ContraPoints from last year. When the video came out, I did some response to it, but it wasn't systematic, and it wasn't very well thought out. Thinking about it, the video actually talked about two separate topics, transmedicalists vs anti-transmeds, and assimilationists vs those openly queer, for lack of a better term. This time, I will try to examine the two topics again, in a more systematic, and may I say, more concilliatory and constructive manner. Today, I will talk about what transmedicalism should actually be about, why the gender non-conforming isn't our enemies, and why, if you are a gender non-comforming, openly queer trans or non-binary person, the transmedicalist point of view is not your enemy.

Firstly, I identify as a transmed. But what is a transmed? The word is a combination of 'trans' and 'medical', and taken literally, it should mean seeing the trans condition through the biomedical point of view. As somebody who is trained in the biomedical tradition, I think it can accurately explain almost everything about the human condition, hence I am very committed to explaining things like the trans condition through this model. In other words, I am of the firm belief that gender dysphoria, and in fact, even gender non-conformity more generally, is biomedical rather than sociological in origin. This, of course, is closely linked to my firm belief that gender is biological, not sociological. Now, I understand that gender non-conforming and non-binary people are sometimes very skeptical of transmeds. As I said previously, I think this has to do with the behavior of certain controversial transmed online personalities, who go around and attack people as 'transtrenders'. But the transmed view actually has nothing to do with that kind of behavior.

As a transmed, my primary fight is not even with 'trenders'. My primary fight is with the science denying postmodernist gender philosophy that comes out of certain sections of academia, for example gender studies. The more these ideologies are taken up, the less attention is paid to the science, and we, as trans people, suffer for several reasons. We suffer because people out there will think that being trans is a choice, a choice that they can prevent us from making. We suffer because basic trans rights become entangled with postmodern nonsense, and people will start opposing trans rights thinking that it's part of stopping postmodern nonsense. We suffer because there would be less support for scientific research into gender dysphoria, and hence less progress on understanding and helping trans people. Make no mistake: anti-science postmodern gender philosophy is one of the biggest oppressors of trans people right now. As a transmed, I'm here to fight the fight to right this wrong. I'm certainly not here to waste my time and argue if certain people are transtrenders or not. I have much bigger fish to fry.

Another thing is, I personally think there is a real transmedicalist case to support the validity of gender non-conforming and non-binary people against societal prejudice, because the existence of gender non-conformity in a small number of individuals is clearly supported by both basic medical science and observations from clinical medicine. In the case of biological needs conflicting with societal expectations, biology should always come first. As I often say, medical science is the friend of discriminated minorities everywhere, because of its power to explain the truth of biological diversity. That's why I put my faith in medical science, and not anti-science postmodern philosophies, to explain the world.

The transmedicalist model also provides a lot of empowerment and freedom: after all, if what we feel is biomedical, then it is morally wrong for society to try to force us to suppress it, with all the bad health consequences this will cause. On the other hand, if gender dysphoria is sociological, then it becomes no more than a lifestyle choice. If gender were a social construct, then trans would also be a social construct, and it could be constructed away. If gender were performative, then trans would also be performative, and the rest of society could simply ask trans people to stop putting on that performance. Not to mention that, if gender were performative, then trans people would only be our identified gender when we perform it right! This would suggest that trans people who cannot transition for whatever reason, for example, are less valid. This is very cruel indeed! As you can see, the social constructionist model of gender, and the anti-science views that are taught in many gender studies programs and increasingly accepted in many LGBT circles, are incompatible with the basic dignity of trans people.

As I often say, the transmed model is the only attempt to understand the trans phenmenon, which was developed through actually studying and respecting trans people, our needs and our agency. On the other hand, all that stuff that comes out of gender studies departments weren't even developed with the reality of trans people in mind. Instead, they all share a root with 'gender critical' feminism, otherwise known as TERFism, and you can draw whatever conclusion you want from that. The fact is, believing that gender is a social construct is the root of gender critical-ness, which is why all that gender studies ideology don't actually accept trans people, no matter what they say on the surface. I would even go as far as to say that gender studies ideologies inevitably leave a backdoor for a trojan horse to enter and attack trans rights.