In today’s political landscape, it’s clear that the right – far-right especially but not exclusively – needs someone to hate – a scapegoat for all their problems. We can see through the political tactics of people like Donald Trump that choosing a demographic or a minority group to point the finger at is, unfortunately, quite a successful strategy to mobilize people.
By creating an appealing narrative that seeks to engorge one’s negative feelings, regardless of whether it’s based on facts, unscrupulous individuals like Trump – whose campaign spent a whopping $215 million on anti-trans ads – have influenced their followers to be angry at people who they otherwise might have no reason to be. In this case, we’re talking about transgender people and how, this election cycle in particular, they were the dead horse the far-right kept beating on for no other reason than amassing political support based on pure hate.
So, it’s up to us, those who do not buy into this fallacy-ridden hate-filled messaging, to push back against it. As is the case of this lady, going by @pullupspastapolitics on TikTok, who had to spell out the truth that all sensible women – and sensible men – are aware of.
What women want fear
Out of the member groups of the LGBTQ+ demographic, who are all still victims of prejudiced assumptions and bigoted attacks, transgender people must face the most arduous uphill battle when it comes to gaining comprehensive social acceptance.
That’s because homosexual and bisexual individuals have since become more accepted – or tolerated, in some cases – and while transgender people are also more integrated into society than before – amid so much bad news, thank goodness for the electing of Sarah McBride, the first transgender women to achieve a seat in Congress – there’s still a long, long way to go, no less thanks to proudly outspoken transphobes like J.K. Rowling, Elon Musk, Piers Morgan, and even – a biologist I otherwise had (past tense) respect for – Richard Dawkins.
To make a valid point and deconstruct the fearmongering tactic that is unfairly used against trans people, this TikToker asks two pointed rhetorical questions, one about how many women have been assaulted by a trans woman in a public bathroom, and a subsequent one about how many women have been attacked by a straight man “anywhere else on the planet.”
In answering pullupspastapolitics’ questions, many comments below pass the vibe (and generally decent human being) check: “Zero – but I gave her my lipstick because it looked better on her.”
However, there are still people for whom sound logic does not speak louder than their unfounded, misguided hatefulness. Thankfully, the commenters who allowed this lady’s points to go completely over their heads, got appropriate responses from unprejudiced netizens.
If you are a woman, you likely know what it’s like to, at the very least, fear for your bodily integrity by being made the victim of a sexually motivated sexual assault. And this fear is incited by violent straight men, never by transgender women who are only trying to live their lives.
Without a doubt, I’d rather be stuck in a forest with all transgender women in America than with a single straight man – the reverse is also true, even more so. I’d also rather be stuck in a forest with a trans woman than a bear, while the same cannot be said for straight men – no, it’s “not all men,” but it’s enough men– I haven’t met a single trans woman – or any member of the LGBTQ+ for that matter – who was not wholeheartedly empathetic to the struggles women face on a daily basis, as for men, I have personally met too many who downplayed the dangers of being a woman in a patriarchal society. That’s because, as I see it, people who are discriminated against, in one manner or another, tend to empathize with others who also suffer from persisting societal norms and the status quo.
In times like these, we need to be allies to one another and raise our voices for each other, that is, if we ever hope to live in a world where people are not judged and ostracized simply for being who they are.
