Trans News/ Issues

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by Toughy

This is from my previous post and was not answered by folks who were offended. I really am trying to understand this and the reason I don't is in the question.

The voice reference most likely has to do with the changes in voice that occur with the use of T (and E). Is it offensive to make fun of a teenage boy when his voice cracks as it changes? It's the same cracking/change I hear when transmen start taking T.

and this idea of being really careful with words so as to not offend anyone is an impossible task.....and for some folks probably contributes to silencing out of fear of offending when there is no intention of offense....I frankly get tired of trying to find different ways to say something that is simple and straightforward and in the process garbling what I am trying to say......

and I still don't understand how the comment/joke was transphobic..........it's a joke about a voice change.....

First of all, I find the use of the word "silencing" here is exactly what happens when that term is thrown around when a person tries to explain why these jokes have negative consequences for the way trans people are perceived and treated in public. Why is it "silencing" to ask people to refrain from making jokes that make fun of trans people's voices? Is it silencing to call men out for making jokes about their wives and girlfriends by making "imitative" high-pitched voices that are meant to sound "naggy"/fit in with the typical misogynist stereotypes? Is it silencing to call out a person who imitates the stereotypical "gay" voice, as derogatory towards gay men?

And the topic of voices and making fun of them is quite interesting. I don't think I've often heard a comedian making fun of a white, straight cis man's voice. Supposedly imitating women's voices is "funny" to many men, so that they can commiserate with one another about all the "horrid" things their wives apparently say and do. Imitating the stereotypical "gay" voice is apparently quite "funny" as well to a mainstream audience. As is supposedly imitating the voices of trans people, and transwomen in particular. There have been enough skits on Saturday Night Live and other such "funny" shows displaying exactly those situations. Notice how it's always "funny" to make fun of those who have less privilege in society. No, perhaps not "always." There are always exceptions. But by and large, that's the way things are. I find that troubling. It assumes a "normal" way of being that sets up certain people as the standard, while others are "funny" or "weird" or worthy of a laugh.

I also fail to see how such a joke is productive, and why the right to tell an offensive joke trumps the right of the person to speak out against it. Lately I feel like I'm seeing the same pattern. Someone mentions something as transphobic and people claim like it's "silencing" for the trans person to even mention it. People making comments about how "everything is transphobic these days," sounds a lot like how certain people talk about how "everything is racist these days" or "everything is sexist these days," and seems to call for a throw back to some kind of Archie Bunker view of the world when "men were men, and women were women" and so on and so forth.

Has it crossed people's minds that we have traditional engrained social values that are inherently transphobic? That there is a heck of a lot in our society that is subconsciously cissexist? That some trans people call out transphobia often because it actually is present in many ways that are socially ingrained and normalised? In the same way that our society possesses underlying sexist perceptions and values that are not automatically deemed sexist because they are so common place?

Does this mean that trans people who find these kinds of jokes offensive should just shut up and let the people who make these jokes continue to think that it's ok to do so? That there are no negative repercussions?

As far as the "voice cracking," I fail to see how that has anything to do with the story at hand. The actor's voice did not sound as though it was "cracking," he'd just inhaled helium, which generally heightens and distorts the voice in what is popular perceived as a "cartoonish" way. It's generally something people do that they think is comical. To compare the comedic "helium voice" to "sounding like a tranny" then implies that there is also something "funny" about the voices of trans people. That there is a "trans voice" to begin with. As I mentioned before, it's not exactly unknown for people to joke about the voices of transmen (aka the whole "chipmunk voice" jokes) and transwomen. To try to normalise such jokes and suggesting that it is even comparable to "oh well, people make fun of teenaged boys' cracking voices" is denying the fact that trans people are frequently the brunt of jokes. Teenaged boys are not. There are "tranny jokes," not "teenaged boy jokes." Nobody inhales helium and compares themselves to a teenaged boy. Trans people are nowhere near on par with teenaged boys as far as social acceptance, normalisation and privilege.