How to tell an ally from a closet transphobe in 1 question (but only if they don't know you're trans)

Submitted by Majrelende in transgendercirclejerk (edited )

"Did you know men can get pregnant?"

The blinding procedure is to check whether the person in question will defend you only when you are present, or always.

Also, as per Fool's comment below, this technique only works if the person in question is actually familiar with transgenderness in the way described above.

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Fool wrote

I'd say it probably depends on the background of a person, I can think of plenty of places that not knowing would be quite legitimate.

It's a fairly privileged position to think that modern post-post-structuralist ideas are culturally universal.

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Majrelende OP wrote (edited )

Yes, I can see that. I was thinking mostly of my own context, where the vast majority of people know something of transgender-ness in the present sense, but I agree, "not knowing" is perfectly justifiable. "Not thinking of" is a completely different question, though, which indicates that someone does know something of trans issues, but pushes them to the margins and doesn't let them interfere with "easy" biological gender reductionism in the everyday realm.

To summarise, I'm thinking about distinguishing allies from the kinds of people who are considerate to one's face and then forget consideration when they leave the room.

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Majrelende OP wrote

PSA to the cis people of the world: "I didn't think of that" is still a transphobic answer. Being an ally doesn't just mean not being an enemy; it takes effort.

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WithersChat wrote

Nah, not knowing isn't being transphobic. It sure isn't being an ally, but I can't really blame someone for not knowing how this shit works when even with more than a year of first-hand experience I'm still learning.

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