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🧵 upon first glance, you likely “determined” the gender of most of the people in this photo immediately, even though many of them are partially blocked or out of focus. why did your brain do this? did you notice any trans ppl here?... [no paywall on Medium: juliaserano.medium.com/how-do-we-se... ]

How Do We See Gender and Trans...

in reply to Julia Serano

Julia Serano
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Julia Serano
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...or did your brain automatically presume that all these ppl are cisgender by default? what if I told you that the guy on the right or the woman on the left was trans – would they suddenly look “different” to you? if so, why?... [same essay on Substack: juliaserano.substack.com/p/how-do-we-... ]

How Do We See Gender and Trans...


How Do We See Gender and Trans People?

a short essay and video
Julia Serano (Switch Hitter)
in reply to Julia Serano

Julia Serano
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Julia Serano
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...last year, when “transvestigators” were in the news, many stories treated them as unhinged, which seems to imply that *the rest of us* see gender & trans ppl “normally” or “correctly.” but nothing could be further from the truth! juliaserano.medium.com/how-do-we-se...
screenshot from linked-to essay that reads: So last year, when discussions about so-called “transvestigation” went mainstream, I found much of the media coverage to be overly simplistic. Many of these stories would lump together “gender critical” and conservative claims that Olympic boxer Imane Khelif was “really a man” with online “transvestigators” who claim that Hollywood celebrities like Henry Cavil and Ryan Gosling are “really women,” even though these groups are clearly viewing gender in wildly different ways (e.g., JK Rowling would never claim that Cavil or Gosling were women). Furthermore, this framing creates a false dichotomy between these supposedly unhinged individuals who “see trans people everywhere” and the rest of us who presumably see gender and trans people “normally” or “correctly.” But nothing could be further from the truth! I can assure you that you and I probably see gender somewhat differently, especially if you happen to be cisgender.
in reply to Julia Serano

Julia Serano
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Julia Serano
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...so in 2024, I penned this essay, using “transvestigators” as a jumping off point to show that the way we're socialized to see gender is bizarre in its own right, as it involves filtering away... on Substack: juliaserano.substack.com/p/why-does-t...& Medium: juliaserano.medium.com/why-does-tra...

Why Does “Transvestigation” Ha...


Why Does “Transvestigation” Happen?

On Gendering, Ungendering, and (Mis)Perceiving Trans People
Julia Serano (Switch Hitter)
in reply to Julia Serano

Julia Serano
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Julia Serano
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...any gender-ambiguous or conflicting cues. which is why we tend to distinctly see women & men, rather than lots of gender diversity. but this mental shortcut is imperfect & leads trans ppl to sometimes have weird experiences like this (from my transition)...juliaserano.medium.com/how-do-we-se...
screenshot from linked-to essay that reads: Rather, the thing that blew my mind was that, despite those modest changes, I went from having strangers reliably view me as male to having them reliably view me as female in six short months. As if that wasn’t weird enough, the people who saw me on a regular basis — my friends, co-workers, and other acquaintances — didn’t even notice these changes. This would sometimes lead to multi-person conversations where some people (who already knew me) were convinced that I was male while others (who had just met me) were convinced that I was female, yet neither party picked up on the fact that they were gendering me disparately. As time went on — and especially once I started presenting more femininely — I would accidentally cross paths with people that I knew before my transition and they would treat me like a total stranger without a trace of recognition. But if I intentionally got together with old friends who knew I transitioned but hadn’t seen me yet, they were always able to pick me out of a crowd and would often tell me that I seemed like the exact same person to them (they were expecting a more dramatic change).
in reply to Julia Serano

Julia Serano
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Julia Serano
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...essentially, trans & other GNC ppl *break* the way we traditionally see gender. & this is totally okay so long as we're willing & able to see and appreciate gender diversity. but those who don't seem to get stuck in a stage where they compulsively view natural gender diversity as “transness”...
slide from my video (see next post in thread) titled: "Part 4: Dismantling the Two Filing Cabinets Mindset (for better or worse)" on the right hand side is an image of "Galaxy Brain" meme, with the following four stages: 1) assuming everyone you meet is cisgender, 2) being convinced that you can "always tell" when someone is trans, 3) constantly scrutinizing people for telltale signs that they may be trans, 4) no longer obsessing over whether people are trans or not. on the left is text pointing to those stages, where stage #1 is listed as "cis people have historically been here", stage #4 is listed as "many trans people eventually wind up here", and stages #3 & #4 are listed as "increasing numbers of cis people seem to be getting stuck here" with a "grimacing face" emoji.
in reply to Julia Serano

Julia Serano
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Julia Serano
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...that last slide is from my new video based on my 2024 essay. it covers how we are socialized to see gender, what happens when we become more cognizant of gender diversity, & why some people seem to get “stuck” in stage where they compulsively perceive trans people everywhere:youtu.be/kC6lsvUKEQ0

Why Does “Transvestigation” Ha...

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