lisaquestions:

So there was this study in which adults were shown a crying baby. Those who were told the baby was a boy interpreted the baby’s emotion as anger. Those who were told the baby was a girl interpreted the baby’s emotion as being upset.

Confirmation bias is when people only acknowledge information that supports their biases, or twists information that does not into information that does.

So whenever someone says “trans women are acting according to male socialization” or characterizes anything a trans woman does as being “male” keep that bit about the babies in mind, and confirmation bias.

For some people trans women can do literally anything and it is perceived as somehow stemming from a fictional essential ~maleness~.

I recall snowflakeespecial, for example, linking two webcomics. One was of a cis woman celebrating her breasts, and one was of a trans woman celebrating her breasts. These comics were very similar in presentation and both said basically the same thing. However, snowflakeespecial claimed that the two strips were obviously completely different because the one made by a cis woman was genuine, whereas the one made by a trans woman was evidence of autogynephilia.

This is also reflected when cis people know a woman is trans, they will interpret any behavior, any physical feature, anything to support the contention that said woman is obviously trans, even if they had no idea even moments before.

In short, the game is rigged. When TWERFs, when truscum, when trans women collaborators pull this shit, they’re not engaging honestly. They’re engaging in terms of “Trans women are men. Therefore everything they do is indicative of being men.”

This is also why they lose their shit when trans women refuse to comply with their perceptions, as happened last night.

The basic rule is, however, that trans women are not allowed to be authorities on our own experiences. Everything we say is debatable and simply being a trans woman makes one discreditable. Any attempt to step outside the very narrow, confining boxes that others have decided describe us is seen as an act of aggression.

For that matter, any attempt to assert boundaries is seen as an act of aggression.