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This was already posted yesterday and ended up being an absolute disaster of a thread, filled with many people expressing their conviction that transgender indi

This was already posted yesterday and ended up being an absolute disaster of a thread, filled with many people expressing their conviction that transgender individuals are suffering from a delusion. I really hope dang is paying attention this time, because if this is the kind of discourse Hacker News and by extension, YCombinator considers to be reflective of the beliefs of the community, it says a lot about whether or not trans members are welcome here or at YC at all.

fock 6y ago
before you get flagged to death: would you mind telling me, what's so bad about the idea to talk with people about their problems and try to find a solution for them before you go all out on them with hormones and scalpels? I understand that an exorcism-like setting and forcing them into any program is not ok, but why can't we ask them: are you really sure, your problem is a lack of meaty breast and the availability of a penis?
vertex-four 6y ago
There’s a reason my recent HR training had an entire section on how not to put the company at risk by being open about one’s beliefs about trans people. Fact of the matter is transphobia is the norm and they’d rather us dead than working alongside them.
- esarbe 6y ago
  Yeah, society has some weird fixations. Sex, sexuality and gender are very much taboo topics and anything that can not be put in nice little boxes is considered deviant and obviously bad. Although I think that may be changing. Since we're slowly (maybe too slowly) transitioning into from a culture that has accepted that fact that reproduction does not have the primacy it once had, we can relax our collective fear of extincting for lack of children and focus our fear and panic where it actually belongs.
- readflaggedcomm 6y ago
  Surely bravery underlies the punishments or dismissals which reward acting according to society's norms. Or maybe fear drives profits.
  - vertex-four 6y ago
    Or, y’know, the Government implemented laws which are intended to protect a minority which doesn’t have another option under capitalism. Come out and say it - “I would prefer you dead than have to work alongside you”.
    - readflaggedcomm 6y ago
      And if your accusation were in the workplace, you win automatically. Good job seizing the means, I guess.
    - wayneftw 6y ago
      Stop shouting it from the rooftops and you'll be accepted however you present yourself. That's your option, but you refuse to take that one. You're continually bashing your sexuality and gender identity politics into people's faces and then complaining that they don't like you. Nobody else does this. If I work with you, I would prefer to not know about your deeply personal issues at all.
      - vertex-four 6y ago
        You would know my deeply personal issues only by how I dress. I don’t shout about shit at work, I do my job (better than most could), and still I get harassed. I wish people did see it as a deeply personal issue and felt embarrassed about bringing it up, or trying to get their fingers into my healthcare as in the rest of this thread. You cannot have it both ways - attempt to tell me to shut up when defending myself, while trying to tell me you know better than my doctor and me about my healthcare and gender.
        wayneftw 6y ago
- wayneftw 6y ago
  How does anyone at work know that another person is trans unless they're wearing that fact as a badge of some sort? If you look like one thing or another, people will accept you as that. The smart thing for trans people to do would be to keep it to themselves. Heck, ugly and fat people have the same sorts of problems. Nobody wants to date them, they regularly get passed over for promotions if a beautiful person is competing and many get depressed to the point of contemplating suicide. [0] [0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23576272/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23576272/
DanBC 6y ago
Yes. Anything about trans people on HN is always fucking terrible. Partly because people expect some kind of truthiness from the UK press, and they're unprepared to deal with the levels of misinformation coming from the UK about trans people at the moment. EDIT: Have you heard of Tildes? It's considerably more friendly for trans people. Send me an email at dan dot bealecocks at gmail dot com and I'll send you an invite. Or email the invite link here: https://docs.tildes.net/contact https://docs.tildes.net/contact

fock 6y ago

before you get flagged to death: would you mind telling me, what's so bad about the idea to talk with people about their problems and try to find a solution for them before you go all out on them with hormones and scalpels? I understand that an exorcism-like setting and forcing them into any program is not ok, but why can't we ask them: are you really sure, your problem is a lack of meaty breast and the availability of a penis?

vertex-four 6y ago

There’s a reason my recent HR training had an entire section on how not to put the company at risk by being open about one’s beliefs about trans people. Fact of the matter is transphobia is the norm and they’d rather us dead than working alongside them.

esarbe 6y ago
Yeah, society has some weird fixations. Sex, sexuality and gender are very much taboo topics and anything that can not be put in nice little boxes is considered deviant and obviously bad. Although I think that may be changing. Since we're slowly (maybe too slowly) transitioning into from a culture that has accepted that fact that reproduction does not have the primacy it once had, we can relax our collective fear of extincting for lack of children and focus our fear and panic where it actually belongs.
readflaggedcomm 6y ago
Surely bravery underlies the punishments or dismissals which reward acting according to society's norms. Or maybe fear drives profits.
- vertex-four 6y ago
  Or, y’know, the Government implemented laws which are intended to protect a minority which doesn’t have another option under capitalism. Come out and say it - “I would prefer you dead than have to work alongside you”.
  - readflaggedcomm 6y ago
    And if your accusation were in the workplace, you win automatically. Good job seizing the means, I guess.
  - wayneftw 6y ago
    Stop shouting it from the rooftops and you'll be accepted however you present yourself. That's your option, but you refuse to take that one. You're continually bashing your sexuality and gender identity politics into people's faces and then complaining that they don't like you. Nobody else does this. If I work with you, I would prefer to not know about your deeply personal issues at all.
    - vertex-four 6y ago
      You would know my deeply personal issues only by how I dress. I don’t shout about shit at work, I do my job (better than most could), and still I get harassed. I wish people did see it as a deeply personal issue and felt embarrassed about bringing it up, or trying to get their fingers into my healthcare as in the rest of this thread. You cannot have it both ways - attempt to tell me to shut up when defending myself, while trying to tell me you know better than my doctor and me about my healthcare and gender.
      - wayneftw 6y ago
wayneftw 6y ago
How does anyone at work know that another person is trans unless they're wearing that fact as a badge of some sort? If you look like one thing or another, people will accept you as that. The smart thing for trans people to do would be to keep it to themselves. Heck, ugly and fat people have the same sorts of problems. Nobody wants to date them, they regularly get passed over for promotions if a beautiful person is competing and many get depressed to the point of contemplating suicide. [0] [0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23576272/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23576272/

DanBC 6y ago

Yes. Anything about trans people on HN is always fucking terrible. Partly because people expect some kind of truthiness from the UK press, and they're unprepared to deal with the levels of misinformation coming from the UK about trans people at the moment. EDIT: Have you heard of Tildes? It's considerably more friendly for trans people. Send me an email at dan dot bealecocks at gmail dot com and I'll send you an invite. Or email the invite link here: https://docs.tildes.net/contact https://docs.tildes.net/contact