thanks to @iridaniotter@hexbear.net for telling me abt this essay! its been posted on HB before, but not in a while.

read feminist theory you libs! uphold TC69 thought!

  • TheDoctor [they/them]
    ·
    2 months ago
    cw discussion of suicide

    That "leads to" makes it sound like it just mechanically follows from harassment/being unsupported that you commit suicide some of the time. In aggregate, you can describe it like this, but my understanding is that medical professionals oppose the mechanistic framing (also calling gender-affirming care "life-saving", basically the inverse of the same statement) because it effectively normalizes/encourages suicide, as though it's just what happens if you don't get support and then get a bad roll of the dice.

    What is the alternative framing that would less normalize/encourage suicide? I’m skeptical that a non-optimal framing of the situation is contributing meaningfully to rates of trans suicide in comparison to the material reality of being trans and unsupported in modern western society.

    • GarbageShoot [he/him]
      ·
      2 months ago
      same

      Even just saying "Causes depression, alienation, etc." is both more mechanistically accurate and avoids the issue of normalization. Obviously this is not a substantial factor in suicide rates compared to the big issues, but it's also one that can be changed with extreme ease compared to those bigger problems.

    • macerated_baby_presidents [he/him]
      ·
      2 months ago
      cw discussion of suicide

      possibly something like "People enforce gender by continuously and knowingly using the wrong pronouns and names for others. Queer people subject to this violence often self-harm or commit suicide." niche leftist theory isn't gonna meaningfully encourage suicide but we should still try to make sure that our class-level analysis doesn't erase individual agency too much