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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Such an interesting article about the psychological burden of performing “gender”

303 replies

Cantunseeit · 27/08/2026 09:57

Not sure if this is really a FWR topic but the total lack of compassion from some of our TRA/MRA visitors for those suffering from gender confusion has shocked me recently. Probably shouldn’t be a surprise but it nevertheless has been.

While they are busy pointing fingers at “the audience”, they are not considering the distress their rhetoric props up.

I think this is a compassionate and important article.

https://genspect.substack.com/p/no-intermission-gender-performance?r=1one23&utm_medium=ios

No Intermission: Gender, Performance, and the Distress Nobody Measures

Steve Andrews on stage fright, passing and whether gender-affirming care really is "life saving"

https://genspect.substack.com/p/no-intermission-gender-performance?r=1one23&utm_medium=ios

OP posts:
RedToothBrush · 30/08/2026 19:43

murasaki · 30/08/2026 17:19

I also have massive sympathy for parents who raised a child that they know is what it is, and are suddenly told they are wrong. They and biology are not. Taking their parenting experiences away for a lie is unforgivable. Same with siblings, and RedtoothBrush speaks eloquently about this.

We have multiple identities. Whether we want to admit this or not. We do not and can not control them all.

Our identity as self is just one of these.

We have multiple other identities which are social and relational. Eg a parent child relationship and identity. Or our collective identity as a woman. You can not escape this. Other people can say you don't fit the criteria of this identity if they wish; you don't dictate terms of identity. Other people have a say in shared identity formation and sustainability. You don't get to come along after thousands of years and rewrite the rule book because you say so, against the explicit consent of others.

Whether there is conflict between your self identity and relational identity you will not resolve matters until you resolve this conflict - or to put it another way, you can never escape who you are and where you came from. It is central to your identity and how it's formed. Normally such statements are about class and race but it's as applicable to gender identity.

You can pretend differently all you like, but it will only ever be superficial. Deep down you know this.

You can put on a performance and go into denial. But there will almost always be someone who knows who you are when this mask comes off. And yes it's usually family who suffer with this because if someone spends all day putting on a performance, and then unmask at home they usually unload that build up of stress onto the people who can't judge because of blood ties and instead are bound by obligation.

You can't suddenly say I'm the eldest daughter of my parents and change their identity as parents of a boy and a girl (and how they relate to others from this) not can you displace the only daughter to being the second daughter. That wasn't your lived experience. It wasn't their lived experience. Every relational social interaction growing up was about a brother and a sister not two sisters. It wasn't two sisters arguing over clothes or boyfriends. It wasn't two sisters with hormones going off left right and centre. It wasn't mum talking to others about how her two daughters got on and how her husband would really liked a son but he was amazing with both daughters and wouldn't change it for the world.

Because this is a fiction for everyone concerned.

The reality is dealing with the transition. It's dealing with the unfair shittiness if you make a mistake even if you have tried hard. The reality is requiring everyone else to play best supporting actor or actress to uphold your singular identity.

And not everyone is good at acting. If you are putting on a shit 'performance of feminity', they can't polish a turd even if their own performance is Oscar winning. You are still a shit actor regardless of how you identify.

Everyone will see through it.

viques · 31/08/2026 11:35

Northernlightsss · 30/08/2026 01:17

Listen, all of us have friends, acquaintances, relatives & work colleagues that are crashing bores or have some other undesirable personality trait we would prefer to avoid but I very much doubt most of us don't 'tolerate' them to some degree. We tend to pretty much entertain their crap as much as necessary without nary a whisper to them. What we don't tend to do is confront them as being social undesirables…for a reason & its called social cohesion.

I have a friend who recently went scorched earth on another friend for gently pointing out she has a habit of repeating herself & asked me if this was true to which I lied & 'of course not'. We do this 'your fat arse looks great in that dress' all the time because people prefer to maintain a civilised relationship particularly when its a trait that is unlikely to change (my friend is slightly OCD). So its about trade offs.

Part of being a grown up is learning to tolerate 'challenging' people or ideas (like I'm doing right now). I have friends that are GC & racist but I would never call them ignorant or delusional to their faces. I'm personally civilised & avoid the topics because I respect their right to their positions regardless of how toxic they are. If I want to debate the topic I'll do it with strangers.

I don't consider respecting another's identity as an unreasonable demand or a 'anti truth statement'. Pronouns are just a form of polite acknowledgement to another's preferences about their identity. They aren't a belief statement just like any other forms of politeness.

If only the trans " belief statement" was limited to pronouns.

But it isn't is it?

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 31/08/2026 12:35

Such wise words, @RedToothBrush - you have hit the nail squarely on the head!

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