Today, I'm going to talk about the problem with all the abstract talk over trans issues. It is a problem that is affecting both sides of the trans discourse at the moment.
Basically, people are arguing over philosophy, rather than over real life issues. It seems that people who are more interested in academic philosophy than in finding real life solutions to real life problems have hijacked the whole debate, and are using the debate to make their point, while making people on both sides needlessly confused and polarized.
The endless debates about 'what is a woman', whether 'gender is a social construct' and so on might be interesting for a minority of people, but they clearly have not helped us find practical solutions for real life problems. Furthermore, the needless division generated by these debates has made it harder for both sides to talk rationally and to make compromises, so that we can reach solutions that balance the needs and rights of everyone, which is what we actually need to do in reality. This is why we should abandon the abstract philosophical approach, and start looking at things from a practical point of view.
