To shriek from the rooftops that there is No Such Thing as “preferred pronouns”?

[Ddakji]

That’s it.

They don’t exist - any more than preferred adjectives, adverbs or nouns exist.

Even people who don’t like them still seem to think they exist.

Language is a shared, collective endeavour that belongs to all. It’s not a pick’n’mix for individuals to choose and change at will. For words not to be garbage they have clear definitions - in this case she for females, he for males, they (singular) for sex unknown.

Saying my preferred pronouns are she/her, even if that doesn’t fly in the face of reality, is no different to saying my preferred species is human, my preferred adjectives are sporty and lush.

It’s nonsense. Nothing to do with being kind or they don’t affect me, or I don’t mind if others do but I won’t. It’s nonsense.

Let’s make 2025 the year we kick this nonsense into touch.

Gender is not sex. You have been told this a billion times and you refuse to accept it, even though it has ALWAYS meant a different thing to sex. Regardless of anything to do with transness, sociology class taught me that distinction in the 90s.
The words he and she in many languages don’t refer to men and women at all, they refer to chairs and tables and eggs and jumpers and any other noun. He and she are gendered words as well as biological sex related words, in many languages.
No one is claiming biological sex can be changed, literally nobody.

Also, don’t take a statistic that there are higher than average trans people who are also autistic and use that to imply that my autism means I’m to stupid understand the issue at hand. That’s patronising and ableist.
A higher than average number of autistics being trans is not even vaguely the same thing as being ‘vulnerable to gender identity ideology’. There is no ‘ideology’ involved in why I can’t understand people being cunty to other people for no reason.

Do you really still refuse to see who this does affect everyone? That the wholesale distortion of our language affects us all? You don’t need to know a single trans person for that to impact you.

I know gender isn’t sex. I’m not the one confusing language that relates to sex with gender. That’s you, and at this stage in the thread I can only assume you’re doing that purposefully.

The only person “being cunty” to other people right now is you.

"Gender is not sex. You have been told this a billion times and you refuse to accept it, even though it has ALWAYS meant a different thing to sex. "

Er, no. Gender and sex literally used to be synonyms when applied to people. It's in every dictionary.

"The words he and she in many languages don’t refer to men and women at all, they refer to chairs and tables and eggs and jumpers and any other noun."

That's the other definition of gender, as a grammatical concept - which has nothing to do with sex, which in turn means you can't use it to argue that sex in humans doesn't have the binary nature it has. What applies to grammatical gender is irrelevant to biological sex.

" No one is claiming biological sex can be changed, literally nobody."

One example: https://www.reddit.com/r/transgenderUK/comments/1kds4yq/im_not_trans_im_gender_incongruence_so_im_a/

I'm not trans I'm gender incongruence so I'm a biological woman!
Came to me last night. I've decided to stop using the term transgender, I haven't become or moved across I've always been who I am. Now I've been diagnosed as gender incongruent and suffered gender dysphoria my cure for this condition is to live as my real self. So I'm not transgendered I'm a natural woman i. e. I'm a biological woman after all! So thanks SC for clearing up what I already new.

Another one: https://www.reddit.com/r/transgenderUK/comments/1k1tliv/trans_women_are_biological_women/

Trans women are biological women
I’m a straight cis man but I just wanted to put it out there that the whole argument that trans women aren’t biologically women and vice verse is idiotic. if someone is born male and has more estrogen than the average man and that causes them to be feminine and identify as trans, how is that not biological? Is biology only about genitalia now? Why does having male genitals outweigh having more estrogen than testosterone? And who decided on this arbitrary decision? The effects of excess estrogen in those born male are; reduced libido, erectile dysfunction, infertility, and gynecomastia (enlarged breast tissue) If you’re gonna be transphobic use something other than the biology argument because it’s not on your side

So yes, some people are very much claiming that biological sex can be changed.

I think I've just fallen in love.

Aww, thanks 😊 !

Just so you know: there are quite a few of us trans people out there who understand that it's not other people's duty to bear the consequences for our choices. You won't hear much from us, but there are more of us than the TRAs would ever admit.

Don’t you think that, given the colossal overreach of the TRAs and the reaction to the Supreme Court ruling, it would be a good thing to hear more from you?

I am so happy to hear it, and you all have my 100% support (and love).

I agree. Unfortunately, the TRAs are every bit as violent towards trans people who don't toe the party line as towards everyone else, so it's a daunting task to oppose them. I'm not even in the UK, where the TRAs have gone mad, and I still preferred cutting ties with the trans community to trying to reform it, because of the way I was treated just for not thinking exactly like I was supposed to. I can only imagine that I'd be terrified to speak up in real life if I were in the UK.

That’s understandable, but that’s exactly what women have had to do. Many at very real cost to themselves.

I know and I'm in awe of what these women have accomplished.

I'd argue that numbers make a difference, though. GC women, no matter what percentage they represent of the total population, are massively more numerous than a group of GC trans people would ever be. So it would be the same risks, for a fraction of the means, power and support. Not viable, really.

Gender is not sex. You have been told this a billion times and you refuse to accept it, even though it has ALWAYS meant a different thing to sex.

Exactly. Gender is not sex. I have always used pronouns to refer to people's sex as did everyone else until about five minutes ago. This is clear from the fact that we use pronouns for animals and babies, none of whom have a 'gender identity'.

And all of a sudden this is supposed to be terribly cruel according to you. Despite there being zero proper discussion about why we should change it and why it's preferable for society as a whole to do this. The only reasoning that's been presented is 'transpeople want us to'. Nothing more.

If they were only bothered about what they called themselves it would be fine, but they're so very bothered about what others call them. And that is the issue.