I (early 40s) used to be unquestioningly supportive of trans rights. Live and let live, if someone feels like they were born in the wrong body let them change that, they just want to get on with things, etc.
But the more vocal certain activists got, and the more stuff that was demanded, the more I started questioning.
- How can someone say that they want to be a woman, but reject reassignment surgery because they're OK with having a penis? By the same token, how can a transman ever even contemplate giving birth?
- Why is identifying as a different sex supposed to be accepted, but identifying as a different race massively taboo?
- If we accept that anyone should be identified as the sex they say they are, how do we prevent the weirdos and perverts from exploiting it? I have every sympathy for people diagnosed with genuine gender dysphoria, but not to the point we need to throw open the doors unquestioningly. I'm also not sure if saying, "Sure, switch genders!" is the correct approach medically, as opposed to treating it as a mental health disorder. I don't think that the NHS would be rushing to amputate my limbs if I said I identified as an amputee.
- Do we throw biology out of the window? We are a sexually binary species, and a sexually dimorphic one. There are intersex folk, but that's because something went wrong with their development. Some people are born with missing limbs, some lose them through accidents - it doesn't mean that as a species humans have a variable number of limbs - we're bipeds.
- How can women's sport ever flourish if people born male and have gone through male puberty are allowed to compete in female categories? If you allow it at the grassroots level, you'll never have any biological women moving up to elite level. If you allow it at elite level, sporting bodies will often just pick the biological males for the best chance of a podium place.
- How can news outlets report on transwomen rapists using she and her pronouns when the rapists have been merrily using their penises to traumatise (and in some cases impregnate) women and children? How can they be sent to a woman's prison?
But one of the big things is that, when I ask myself the question, "What makes me a woman?", I can't answer without resorting to biology, or the social interactions I receive because of that biology. I don't fit into a lot of the supposed female stereotypes, most of my interests are considered stereotypically 'male' - which I've always regarded as bollocks, because hobbies don't have a gender, unless it's penis fencing. Men should be able to knit and watch Call the Midwife without judgement, women should be able to play Warhammer and listen to Cannibal Corpse without people getting sniffy. Boys should be able to play with Barbies and girls with Transformers without being labelled trans.
I don't 'feel' like a woman - I simply am one because of the body I was born into, and a lot of trans ideology seems to be really reductive ("I always hated wearing dresses and having long hair", "I always liked dolls and pink", etc).
I do often have moments of thinking, "Am I a bigot? Am I the equivalent of the racists and homophobes of the past?", or, "I love JK, but maybe she's going a bit far", but then I see TRAs on Twitter insisting that you can be a woman with a penis, and that transwomen are biologically female, and that lesbians are genital fetishists if they won't date transwomen, and I'm just like, "Nah. I'm fine". Generally I'm OK with the transwomen who've had full surgery, because that suggests that they're genuinely gender dysmorphic, but they're always going to be biologically male, and still shouldn't be allowed in women's sports, etc. I'd still question whether the path the medical system took them down was the best, but if they're happier, good for them.
But the weirdos happily possessing 'lady dicks' and demanding unquestioning acceptance are just dudes cosplaying as women.