[disclaimer: I’m a cis, hetero, straight, white male who has never struggled with any issues around gender identity, so my perspective on trans issues is entirely an outside one]
I think another factor here is the “bubble” effect that happens in many online communities. Many chronically-online people who get a lot of their social interaction within a single niche online community can begin to form distorted views where they believe the views, beliefs and norms in their online niche are much more representative of society at large than they actually are. I’ve seen it happen with niche communities related to conspiracies, political beliefs, health and wellness, all kinds of things, and I think that r/traa subredit mentioned is a classic example of this. I feel bad for the lonely teenager that stumbles on those communities while curious about transitioning, gets way deep in the bubble and begins believing that they’ll receive all kinds of love, validation and acceptance, proceeds to transition, and then realizes too late that much of society outside trans communities or politically progressive urban areas will react to them with indifference at best, or outright disgust and hostility at worst. The whole anime/cutesy side of transgender subculture is something that most people outside that subculture don’t understand, and if a trans person who’s used to viewing themselves and others through that lens expects the rest of society to see them that way, they’ll be sorely disappointed—sometimes with tragic consequences.
I’m not some conservative saying that “people who think they are trans need to get off the gay Internet and go touch grass”, though maybe some do. I’m sure that for plenty of people, transitioning is the right decision to make and it has resulted in a better overall life for them. I’m just saying that this cute-anime-trans-online-space bubble can introduce some biased and erroneous thinking to people weighing important decisions about transitioning. I’m really impressed by this article for acknowledging and really exploring the complexity here. Usually, it’s only very anti-trans commentators that will even admit that AGP is a factor at all. I’m also impressed by your willingness to discuss those things openly that most people consider extremely humiliating about your own psyche, and by doing so you are moving the whole conversation forward in a meaningful way. (I guess I shouldn’t say that it took a lot of balls?)
[disclaimer: I’m a cis, hetero, straight, white male who has never struggled with any issues around gender identity, so my perspective on trans issues is entirely an outside one]
I think another factor here is the “bubble” effect that happens in many online communities. Many chronically-online people who get a lot of their social interaction within a single niche online community can begin to form distorted views where they believe the views, beliefs and norms in their online niche are much more representative of society at large than they actually are. I’ve seen it happen with niche communities related to conspiracies, political beliefs, health and wellness, all kinds of things, and I think that r/traa subredit mentioned is a classic example of this. I feel bad for the lonely teenager that stumbles on those communities while curious about transitioning, gets way deep in the bubble and begins believing that they’ll receive all kinds of love, validation and acceptance, proceeds to transition, and then realizes too late that much of society outside trans communities or politically progressive urban areas will react to them with indifference at best, or outright disgust and hostility at worst. The whole anime/cutesy side of transgender subculture is something that most people outside that subculture don’t understand, and if a trans person who’s used to viewing themselves and others through that lens expects the rest of society to see them that way, they’ll be sorely disappointed—sometimes with tragic consequences.
I’m not some conservative saying that “people who think they are trans need to get off the gay Internet and go touch grass”, though maybe some do. I’m sure that for plenty of people, transitioning is the right decision to make and it has resulted in a better overall life for them. I’m just saying that this cute-anime-trans-online-space bubble can introduce some biased and erroneous thinking to people weighing important decisions about transitioning. I’m really impressed by this article for acknowledging and really exploring the complexity here. Usually, it’s only very anti-trans commentators that will even admit that AGP is a factor at all. I’m also impressed by your willingness to discuss those things openly that most people consider extremely humiliating about your own psyche, and by doing so you are moving the whole conversation forward in a meaningful way. (I guess I shouldn’t say that it took a lot of balls?)