I got into a discussion with a cis woman recently about my gender dysphoria and she pointed out most of it is the same as the things she's uncomfortable about. And that got us onto the topic of body hair, deep voice, etc. And it feels just wholey wrong to say "gender dysphoria is internalized misogyny" but I can't put my finger on why. Or how they're linked or if they're not. Does someone have a more salient thought about this to help me on the right track? I've been tossing it around for days and I also can't find anything non terfy about it.

  • frankfurt_schoolgirl [she/her]
    ·
    1 year ago

    I don't think a list of things that make you uncomfortable is a good description of what gender dysphoria like. It's more like this weird speration from both your own body and reality, maybe like you're watching yourself do everything in 3rd person and it's boring. I can think of plenty of masculine features of my body that make me feel shitty, but dysphoria is more than the sum of them.

    Also your post seems to imply that any problem a cis woman had with her body is due to internalized patriarchy. But why? Can't somebody innately want their body to be one way, and feel uncomfortable if it is a different way, without that being the result of a social hierarchy?

    Also also, suppose gender dysphoria was internalized misogyny. I don't think that actually matters. Lots of people, including cis women, have internalized patriarchy, and act a certain way as a result. It's clearly a double standard to obsess about trans people potentially doing that. Like I'm not going to wait around waiting for patriarchy to disappear so I can find out if that makes me stop being trans, because I would be waiting for a long, long time.