Making trans boring

[cosmolinguist]

Trans Pride Manchester today.

I took photos of signs saying:

• "Pride was a riot started by us" (held by a dark-skinned person
• "New chair, new arse, same shit!" (with both "EHRC" and "TERF" on it and crossed out)
• "I bite TERFs" (on a blåhaj)
• "Corgis for trans rights" (accompanied by two adorable corgis)
• "Making trans boring since 1983" (held by a trans man)

I didn't manage to get photos of the signs that said:

• "You made toilets weird, not us"
• "Tough year, tougher community"
• "I went to Athens and all I got was this stupid top surgery"

I particularly love the concept of making trans boring -- it can be complicated because trans men/mascs are invisibilized as the flipside of trans women/fems hypervisibility and I don't think it's inherently better to pass as cis or fit in, but also there's a screenshot of a tumblr post that goes around every so often with a photo of a few standard white guys in t-shirts and jeans, completely unremarkable hair and stuff, walking with an "FTM" banner (it might have more words on it too, presumably whatever group they actually were, but this is what I remember of it), and some commentary about how great it is that they just look like Some Guys.

D's sign, tailored to be dual-purpose since we planned to do the trans march and then go counter-protest a UKIP demo in town, ended up giving us cause to illustrate an entirely different way to make trans boring. By the time we got to Piccadilly Gardens, the fash had marched off. So we went for a drink with a friend. But on our way back through there on our way to the bus home, D spotted that a couple of fash had returned. His placard suddenly had a few white guys swarming around us, phones already held up as if videoing, asking him to be "interviewed" for their "citizen journalism."

Their attempts to shock him with language about "men cutting their dicks off" didn't work even after repeated applications, and when asked loaded questions he blandly responded "Well, I don't think that's happening" and then said sensible stuff like "I think kids should learn about all the kinds of humans that there are." His standing-for-political-office skills might be dormant these days but they were undiminished! Another guy -- absolutely stereotypical British racist, down to the bad teeth -- accosted me with "if trans people end up coming out anyway, kids don't need to hear about it in school," an extremely straightforward stance for me to bat away like a fly.

Very quickly they realized that they weren't going to catch D saying anything damning or even interesting for their YouTube channels or whatever, and lost interest, and we strolled away.

This, too, is an advantage of making trans boring.

Comments

[cmcmck]

'men cutting their dicks off'

OFFS

When will they learn that 80 odd percent of what was there is still there only in the right place?

[cosmolinguist]

I have no idea if this person knows better or not, because he was using this language to try to get a reaction out of D, not to actually demonstrate the extent of his knowledge. He's not interested in the reality, only the hate that can be stirred up on the subject.

[otter]

Boring, ordinary, everyday, part of life. Love you.

[cosmolinguist]

Exactly. Love you too :)

[gender_euphoric]

I think the people in that pic with the sign are Loren Cameron, Jameson Green, and Matt Rice. Amongst others. I think I’ve seen multiple pics of the 1990s ftm pride banner in parades, now that I think of it.

[cosmolinguist]

Thanks so much for this info. <3

[sfred]

Well done, D and you.

[cosmolinguist]

<3

[silveradept]

Sounds appropriately boring, and well done on being appropriately boring to the people trying to rile you both up.

[cosmolinguist]

Transitioning straight into a bland dad-type of person has served me well here. ;) I am so good at being boring.

[barakta]

Well done for having the skills to not get baited by the haters. I would like to see more workshops in community about strategies for this kind of thing.

The signs and banners sound great. I'm angry they're needed, but so impressed by the trans communities' creativity,

[cosmolinguist]

I would like to see more workshops in community about strategies for this kind of thing.

That's such a good idea. The skills are extremely useful, and very different from what a lot of people are used to online.