lily_lxndr
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November production diary: spooky... ooooOoOoOO...
🕑 Added 2022-11-16 16:56:07 +0000 UTCHey, everyone! It's been a while since I've given you an update. I generally put one out every month I don't post a video, so since I don't have anything coming this month, lemme get you up to speed on business at Lily Headquarters (my couch).
WARNING: The following image may be spooky.
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Aahhh! Gay skeletons!!
I've noticed something in anti-trans discourse lately. When the usual suspects drum up panic around medical transition, they reuse a few curious arguments:
- "You're damaging your body, and nobody will want you."
- "You're making yourself a lifelong medical patient."
- "When archeologists unearth your skeleton, they'll know you were really [male/female]."
It seems like people project a lot of their existential anxieties onto trans people. I'm so curious what's going on here, and I've never heard it talked about.
With that in mind, my next project is called Fear of Trans Bodies, and it's about the connection between transphobia and our cultural fears of disability, aging, and death. It'll be out in the second half of December.
I just started writing it, and it's become clear this is a big topic that intersects with loads of issues. Since my last project was so ambitious, I'm trying to keep it short-ish and concise-ish, which may be a challenge.
I'm eager to get other people's perspectives, so if you've got any thoughts on this topic, please share 'em in the comments!
I'm also working on another project I'm pretty psyched for, but not quite ready to talk about yet. A couple of my favourite creators are involved. I'll keep you posted... š«š®
Comments
Lily Alexandre
Mmm, thatās interesting. I think original sin/Christianity have a lot to do with it!
Sue Landsman
Threatening, not threatened.
Sue Landsman
I expect it may be from seeing someone being free to be themselves without shame or guilt and thatās horribly threatened to an ego thatās grown up in a culture that preaches original sin and other suppressive crap.
Lily Alexandre
Haha, it's funny you should mention it!! It's taken a LOT of effort for me to steer clear of Freudian theory with this video. (It's not that I don't want to, it's just a whole can of worms I don't have enough time to research.) But a lot of people agree with what you're thinking
Erica Peterson
And of course those who have deeply buried and denied feelings of being TransGender have to escape from that feeling by any means possible. Like HomoPhobia. And then extend these feelings out into the world to eliminate Trans people from anywhere they might be encountered. Protect the schools, block them from appearing in movies or online anywhere, keep them out of my neighborhood or any possibility of being near. With super powerful 'Ohh! Ick! (barf, barf)' feelings. And then blame the others instead of seeing how these feelings come from within.
Erica Peterson
"if you've got any thoughts on this topic, please share 'em in the comments!" I wonder if much/most of transphobia is rooted in the deep unconscious terror of castration? They recognize a TransWoman and instantly without conscious consideration feel like they are losing their genitals. Eeek! And respond in wanting to get away or eliminate this Trans Threat.
Lily Alexandre
Well said! Totally
Wesley Potts
I get vibes of humorism, cardiocentrism, and even phrenology from the idea that somehow oneās bones, chromosomes, jaw shape, etc. negate oneās trans experience and identity. I think feeling that there is a distinctive marker beyond oneās experience that can āanchorā oneās perceptions can provide some sense of relief. I think most if not all of us do this to some degree. What it seems to me in this instance is that people might latch onto these features like bones to āanchorā their sense of gender to because these features are so visible and require less attention and understanding, than, say, neuroscience, or anything having to do with the role of the brain in regards to behavior. The brain and its behavior is far less readily visible to us and permanent, so I think thatās often why its role gets ignored or even deemed as āin distressā by transphobes, if it is even acknowledged in having anything to do with gender at all.
Momo
"When archeologists unearth your skeleton, they'll know you were really [male/female]." I find that statement fascinating because on the surface it is very easy to dismiss: āWho cares what some hypothetical future archaeologist believes my gender to be?ā But the subtext (I think) is a lot more subtle: There is some inescapable part of my core essence (literally in my bones) in which I am my AGAB. I find it pretty spooky to have something āin my core essenceā define my identity. Even spookier that itās a spooky skeleton šš But then again as a trans woman I know that anyway. My AGAB will always define me in so far as that it is different from my true gender. Thatās the very essence of what makes me trans, and I notice it in more ways than our friend the hypothetical future archaeologist ever could. If it didnāt define us in some way then weād not need trans rights.
Lily Alexandre
LMAO this is fair!! Thankfully I already have a sponsor booked for this video, and we have an agreement that itāll come out in December. Keeps me accountable!
Camille
> I just started writing it, and it's become clear this is a big topic that intersects with loads of issues. Since my last project was so ambitious, I'm trying to keep it short-ish and concise-ish, which may be a challenge. See you in February. xoxo (hahaha)
Lily Alexandre
That's so interesting! I know there are archeologists working to improve how the field looks at sex/gender. I hope when people look back on our time, the groundwork will be there
ZHL
Super excited to see how it turns out! This topic makes me wonder, on a more good faith note, how archaeologists would actually view gender/sex variation for our time in the future, and maybe even the past because intersex people have always existed. I bet it'd be way too out of scope for the video, but I bet there's a huge potential for discussion in that field
