I am a mirror

There’s an odd but interesting series on The Good Men Project called Rideshare Confessionals, which sets out to “[examine] the human experience in passengers’ stories as delivered from a therapist moon-lighting as a rideshare driver.”

I did say it was odd.

This one is about a trans passenger, and while it’s all a bit overwrought for me I though this bit was insightful:

When encountering a transgender woman, many cisgender men don’t see a person. They see a mirror.

I think there’s a lot of truth in that. So much of the discussion about trans people is based not on who we are or what we do, but how our existence makes other people feel. And it’s very difficult to change that: to invert the right-wing trope, feelings don’t care about your facts.

This also applies to other marginalised groups, of course. And sadly it’s often used to justify the mistreatment of members of those groups.

You can bash the mirror by creating laws that marginalize people, try to drive them indoors so you never have to look at them. You can create labels and policies that stigmatize them so they are denied personhood. You can talk to them like objects, and heap all your judgments on them.

…mirrors are fragile things. If not handled with care, they break

 


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