Transphobia: An Analysis | Philosophy Tube

found your channel through this video, and I gotta say, it's the first time a cis person has taught me something new about transphobia... (or well, ya know, gave words to something I understood instinctively but not academically) really didn't think it was possible but here we are i guess! great work!

slime simon

Singular they has been used by everyone from Chaucer to Shakespeare my friend. No one's asking you to refer to anyone in the plural.

Jordan h

I'm cis and I support you.

Andrea Repetto

Thank you for making this video! I really think it's awesome that as a straight cis male you decided to use your platform and privilege to hopefully have a positive impact on the lives of a marginalized group of people who deal with hatred and discrimination on such a regular basis that it's just a "normal" part of our lives. The timing of when this was released on YouTube was uncanny since its content directly addresses issues that became a large part of recent events in the US only a week after your video was released. I think the way you approached the subject is a great example of how to open a line of dialogue and rationally discuss or even debate the topic with people of opposing views.

Hallo there, transman viewer here. Deeply enjoyed your dinner table conversation framing, and the takedown of epistemological argument for the purpose of transphobically not engaging in or with discussions that lead to health and safety for vulnerable people. I appreciate you, a white cis gent, making the effort to connect with those who aren't already on board with the idea that my crew are, you know, conscious and real people. As a freak, I don't have the access to shift ideas held by those who are already against my existence. You have that chance. Thank you for taking it.

Sata Prescott

That's precisely the conception that makes it a problem: you might be confusing "unusual" with "abnormal." You might not have familiarity with gender and gender expressions different from your usual field, but that doesn't mean that the person expressing them is asking for extra (rather than normal) consideration. I like to think of it as food: I'm not Jewish. I don't understand what it is to be Jewish. Not many of my friend group is kosher Jewish. But I'm aware that there are different requirements when preparing food for kosher people at my dinner table. To that end, I make the effort to ask any person (who I may or may not know might be kosher Jewish) what their dietary restrictions are. I can't tell who's Jewish by looking at them, and you can't tell what gender someone is by looking at them. You might have a good idea. I'm going to guess that someone wearing a yarmulke might be Jewish. Someone wearing a dress might be expressing feminine gender. But they also might not.

Sata Prescott

again a great video of yxours... but i am a little bit sad cause my name does not appear in the credits... :( especially in this video it would have given me a great good fellin... :(

This was really great, and I feel even more enabled to challenge those Das out there who can't see the issue in their stance <3

Viktor Complex

Love your channel, thanks Olly!

Goddess Of All That She Encounters (G.O.A.T.S.E.)

Great video, really stirred up some thoughts for me about epistemology. I am just post-modern enough to see that all categories we have for understanding our senses are contrived, but that having categories is necessary to function. So I have no problem expanding my definition of man or woman for those that take the not small risk of upsetting those around them by transitioning. I guess where I feel things get a little unfair is expecting people to intuit your internal state when it is incongruous with the parts of your appearance you choose. I am ok with acknowledging that someone's internal and external identity can not match, but I think a not-transitioned trans-person can both be one gender internally and for it to be fair for other people to recognize them as the other gender based on all evidence they have at hand. Both can be true at the same time - a person can socially be male and internally female, the same way a space traveler can experience only 2 years at light speed but to an earth-bound observer objective live for hundreds of years. I guess I feel that gender (and race, and age, etc) depends both on the internal experience and social perception - in fact, it is perhaps more usefully defined at the interface of these two spheres. I guess I want to be a not "yer Dad" as far as accepting trans people based on acknowledging gender is a construct, but I feel that some criticism crosses the line into expecting mind-reading, or extraordinary attention to special pronoun usage (when I struggle just with names). If you make an effort and take a risk to express a non-conforming gender, I will try to have your back. But sorry, I suspect a little bit of preciousness if you look like anyone else but want me to remember to refer to you in the plural

Haha those fart noises when "Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminism" came on screen. Thank you for this episode.

Sophie Huiberts

Also... I appreciate your overall production values keep getting stronger. The sound and music were particulary good,

Hi Oliver... and all... I'm cis, but two of my dearest friends of several decades are trans women, so I have a very slightly greater than average cis appreciation of some of the issues you raise. First of all, I was initially concerned when I heard your proposed topic. WHEW! not at all glib nor superficial nor trendy, as I feared. In classic PhilosophyTube style you explored interesting and important philosophical issues, and I certainly learned a fair bit. I'm really glad you reverted to your more typical style of presentation on this one. I doubt you'll change many minds, but speaking for myself, I really am better informed about transphobia today than I was yesterday. PS... the very term transphobia is problematic to me. It seems to me the main driver of this is bigotry and ignorance, not fear or phobia.

This is so funny, I was literally just thinking this morning about whether you might do a video on transphobia (of course it's possible I saw you mention it but forgot!). I've been dealing with a lot of TERFy nonsense recently (particularly around yesterday's metro ad) and finding it quite difficult, so it was really nice to see this. It's also really interesting to look at the different points of view from a philosophical perspective. I do think something that's missing is an acknowledgement that the TERF perspective is coming from the idea that women are explicitly oppressed through their biology, and so calling people who aren't oppressed in this way women waters down feminist political action. It's a perspective I can have sympathy for even though I disagree with it, and it would have been interesting to see it tackled from a philosophical perspective (though maybe that's for the intermediate class!). All in all I think you did an excellent job, and as a trans person I thank you for taking it on :) Right, I'm off to get some coleslaw

Chris Hubley