Why do transgender people skew towards being Liberal?
This is a question that has a simple and logical answer. Liberals put a greater priority on the rights of the individual than they do for the community's need for individuals to surrender their rights to the collective for its preservation. For example, who do we value more? Do we value the contentious objector to a war fought for questionable reasons, such as Vietnam? Or, do we value the drafted soldier who may give up his life fighting in the same war where our nation's goals were not achieved? Whose rights matter more, the individual or the community?
Historically, gender was viewed as a binary in Western culture. Either one was born male or female, and then slotted into the roles assigned to the associated gender. Household and community tasks were assigned to the genders, and rarely did things not match accepted Western cultural norms. Reproduction was a higher priority than it is today, as both a large number of women died in childbirth, and many children died before they were adults. Homosexuality was discouraged, and being transgender was totally out of the question. As you can guess, people who did not meet these norms had to hide their true selves in order to survive.
The 20th century brought us great change. We had 2 world wars. We entered the computer age. And Christine Jorgensen made news with her sex change (now called gender confirmation/correction surgery). Things people took for granted as unchangeable could now be changed. Gender may be the first attribute assigned to identify a person, and traditionally has been based on a person's visible genitalia for good reason. This can scare people with weak self identities. These people tend to cling to traditional ways of identifying people, and reject transgender people as freaks - simply because they don't understand the emotional pains of people born with a brain that develops with the characteristics of one gender, while the body develops with the characteristics of the other. In short, those that reject transgenders as being weird are simply looking to conserve traditional ways of understanding the world.
When people are rejected by a collective group of people, they gravitate to others that will accept them. Liberals tend to be much more diverse in views and expressions, as they accept non-traditional ways of defining the world. This is why transgenders tend to associate with liberals - we are accepted for who we are, and not being forced to comply with others' ways of looking at the world.
Yet, there will always be some transgender people who identify with others that hold "conservative" values - even when those others reject them because of being transgender. I'll never understand why some people keep trying to belong to groups that would reject them. But then, humans are a tribal species, and none of us enjoys being rejected by our peers. One trans person I've met moved to a "conservative" region of my state and decided to go to the local church - and was rejected because she was transgender. I don't know what happened to this trans woman since then, but I know the rejection must have hurt her very much.
So I have to ask, have you noticed how political conservatives are using the "fear of the other" to control the masses? Look at Trump's lie, saying that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH are stealing dogs and cats, then eating them. This has "given permission" to crazy people to terrorize the residents of this city, and has forced schools, offices, and public events to be shut down for public safety. Contrast Trump's lies with objective reality - the Haitians have been a net benefit to Springfield, law abiding people who have helped in the rebirth of the city. No wonder why transgenders skew towards being liberal - we have suffered like most of the groups that have been defined as "the other".
So, what do you believe and why do you believe it?
2 comments:
I am not a liberal. I am what is called these days (and 100 years ago, as well) a progressive. In fact, I’ve got a few toes into leaning democratic socialist. Of course, I’m socially liberal (libertarian?), of course, and I’m still sorting out how our forms of capitalism continue to reinforce and police gender norms and the patriarchy. Long story short: capitalism’s record is horse-hockey. I see too many American liberals paying lip service to transgender equality, but too many still fall for the lies perpetrated mostly by the Right. However, leftists aren’t perfect, either, just better in the broader views (TERFs not included).
I have no problems with socialism or capitalism, as long as society is willing to loosely define guard rails to prevent their extremes, and gives the people the power to keep things within those guard rails.
Patriarchy is a problem. As individuals, we can't do much about it, save to gradually wear it down until it is gone. Being transgender is a relatively new social phenomenon, though we have have existed and have been in the closet for ages. It took a long while for homosexuality to be accepted by the majority, and it will take longer for us to be accepted, as we have been the closet even longer.
It's easy to fall for the lies from the right, as I've learned one truth about lies - hear a lie often enough without challenge, and people will tend to believe it. When people really want to believe that lie, the person telling the lie becomes the leader of a cult. Combine cultism with traditional religion, and you get forces who will use us as a bogey monster to be attacked at every turn, so that the cult gets energized by having wounded (or slain) a monster.
Do I expect things to change quickly for us transgenders? No. I expect them to change slowly, as we have to make our way into small groups of society and be seen as "normal". That's why I try to blend in as much as possible, and try to appear as cisgender to those who aren't looking too carefully.
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