yeahlikethebird reblogged
It's cynically ironic how trans people are on the one hand expected to trace their transness back to their childhood in order to be taken seriously, while we're on the other hand repeatedly told that children are supposedly "too young" to think about such matters.
#i saw someone comment about how this is another example of how marginalized populations are held to impossible standards#and it's true; it is that#and also#it strikes me as another iteration of two ideas#the first is that being trans must be defined by suffering#and the second is that people are only willing to acknowledge marginalized people's experiences if they commodify their pain#therefore 'you must be able to provide this much pain for us to take you seriously' becomes the template#and in this case that means that children arent allowed to advocate for themselves because they haven't suffered enough to be sure#and adults who didnt know as children can't reeeally count because they also havent put in the requisite decades of silent pain#(naturally this is wrapped up in a zillion other hypocrisies too)#tag rant#transphobia