Make Trans Normal Again: the Non-Woke Trans View

Let's face it: trans people were able to live more normally 20 years ago compared with today, which means things are actually worse than 20 years ago. I often point this out to well-meaning progressives who like to say how far we've come on trans acceptance. Well, we've indeed gone far, but in the backwards way. Obviously, something needs to change.

I think people with political agenda, on both the left and the right, are responsible for this mess. Most of them aren't even trans, but they use trans people and trans issues like a political football. The postmodern left in particular likes to use trans people to attack existing social norms around sex and gender, with no clear benefit to actual trans people's lives. Their aim is to deconstruct, and ultimately 'abolish' gender, which is not what most trans people want. I'm certainly staunchly against this deconstructionist agenda myself. It has made the trans discourse weird, by introducing both language and ideas that only serve to confuse people, and ultimately bring on a backlash against trans people. The results of this backlash are now clear to see, especially in the American South, were trans people are seriously thinking about fleeing their states due to a tsunami of anti-trans laws. (Meanwhile, the postmodernists aren't even apologizing for the damage that they have done to us. Trans frustration against postmodernism is very well justified indeed.)

On the other side, we have the reactionary right, who have been particularly angered by recent developments like the legalization of gay marriage across the West. They want nothing more than to wage a culture war to reclaim their 'lost ground', to ideally force all LGBT people back into the closet if possible. They are now very open about their aim of 'eradicating' LGBT representation and ideas from public life. They also like to give a big platform to postmodern left activists, because their words and actions tend to portray us in the weirdest, most uncomfortable light. This is why, in documentary after documentary, in talk show after talk show, right wing culture warriors would only feature the most outrageous far-left activists, with reasonable trans people entirely ignored. The biased reporting from the right thus is also a major contributor to a very skewed perception of trans people in the media, where the majority of trans people are seen as politicized activists, and not as people who just want to quietly live their lives. This is extremely unfair to the silent majority of the trans community.

To get out of this mess, we need a new perspective on trans issues. One that is geared to normality. This would have to mean thinking about trans issues in a way that is consistent with the long-standing values and consensus of our society. Up until now, the postmodern left has been using trans people to challenge society's norms, and the reactionary right has happily used this to demonstrate that trans people are supposedly harmful to society.

What we need is a trans discourse that is aimed at assimilating trans people into the norms of society, so that the two are in harmony rather than in opposition. Moreover, to advance trans acceptance and get basic trans rights secured, the most important thing we need is a consensus on how trans people should be accommodated. A consensus can only be built along the lines of the values that are already accepted by the majority of a given society. This is another reason why proposals for trans integration need to be aligned with existing values and practices as much as possible.

I believe the best thing we can do for trans people is to 'make trans normal again'. We owe it to the silent majority of trans people out there to make it happen.