• Poison_Ivy [comrade/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Is using a neutral they transphobia? Ive been using they to refer to basically anyone and everyone including cis men and women

    EDIT: She clarified further about the “they” to refer to streamers as plural https://mobile.twitter.com/zei_squirrel/status/1572018297377558528

    • Comp4
      ·
      edit-2
      8 days ago

      deleted by creator

    • AcidSmiley [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Is using a neutral they transphobia?

      If you're using it universally, it isn't. If you're using it for trans people expressly using gendered pronouns, it's a common form to express you do not really view them as valid without being too openly transphobic.

      • Poison_Ivy [comrade/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I think you wildly misinterpreted them regardless

        https://mobile.twitter.com/zei_squirrel/status/1572018297377558528

            • spring_rabbit [she/her]
              ·
              2 years ago

              There’s nastiness, sexism and transphobia shot through the entire hanzi system and I don’t see how to reform it without getting rid of it altogether.

              Lmao yes we must abolish the Chinese languages.

              • Fdos [none/use name]
                ·
                2 years ago

                Mao tried to abolish characters. It didn't take, unfortunately.

                • Fdos [none/use name]
                  ·
                  2 years ago

                  Mod removed my post explaining that the Chinese "ta" isn't neutral whatsoever.

                  "The writing system must be reformed; we must move in the direction of a globally unified phonetic spelling system."

                  -- People's Daily, 20th of December, 1977

                  • spring_rabbit [she/her]
                    ·
                    2 years ago

                    他 isn't neutral anymore, but it was until the 20th century. I don't think that's the reactionary part of your post though, so much as insisting that the entire writing system is full of "nastiness, sexism and transphobia" without further clarification.

      • silent_water [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I don't want genderless though - I'm a woman and would like to be affirmatively treated as such. assuming that degendering is appropriate on my behalf is just as much intentional misgendering.

        yes, default to neutral choices when referring to unknown or unspecified people, or for those whose pronouns you do not know. but a new genderless language dropped wholecloth on the present solves literally nothing about either sexism or transphobia.

        the problem isn't language - it's that people think we're women and not-women, men and not-men, at the same time! better ways to hide that fact without addressing the contradictions at the heart of society is a defense of the status quo, a way to sweep the problems of the present under the rug.

        yes, I'm coming off strong about an innocuous comment but this is liberalism and Combat Liberalism.

        • robot_dog_with_gun [they/them]
          ·
          2 years ago

          the problem in this particular case where there was ambiguity between someone referring to breadtubers as a group they or misgendering a woman with singular-they is absolutely a language problem, and my wistful dreaming of that not being an issue is not meant to address the larger social issues.

    • silent_water [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      if you know someone's pronouns, use them. they/them is only correct if someone explicitly tells you they're comfortable with them or if you're speaking about someone non-specific or a third-party who's pronouns you don't know. transphobes routinely address binary trans people with they/them in order to misgender with plausible deniability.