But…it is. Language isn’t precise, certainly, but it’s not that “fuzzy” either. And it certainly exists to define things in order to better understand them. You can’t just hand-wave away with an “it’s complicated”. Yes, some of the most complex topics in the world are complicated, but we’ve still managed to define them in clean, understandable ways.
I think this is the major hurdle for acceptance. If something can be understood, then it can be described. If it can be described, it can be taught. If it can be taught, it can be accepted. Approaching someone who would be willing to accept - without being able to give a real answer - relies on them having faith - much like religion - instead of understanding.
Sure, maybe I was being too strong there by saying it’s not a thing. People do use it. But I would be cautious of using it yourself unless someone tells you specifically that they want to be referred that way.
Approaching someone who would be willing to accept - without being able to give a real answer - relies on them having faith
It really doesn’t. It relies on them not being an asshole. And not making generalizations. The intricacies don’t matter on a day to day level of interacting with people who you’re not intimately familiar with. Treat them as you would any other person of the gender that they’re presenting as. That’s literally all there is to it. Anything more is personal preference to the individual, just like it would be for any non trans person. Do you need to understand the intricacies of tomboy vs butch to interact with a woman wearing pants? No? Then you don’t need the same level of detail for trans people either.
You said:
But…it is. Language isn’t precise, certainly, but it’s not that “fuzzy” either. And it certainly exists to define things in order to better understand them. You can’t just hand-wave away with an “it’s complicated”. Yes, some of the most complex topics in the world are complicated, but we’ve still managed to define them in clean, understandable ways.
I think this is the major hurdle for acceptance. If something can be understood, then it can be described. If it can be described, it can be taught. If it can be taught, it can be accepted. Approaching someone who would be willing to accept - without being able to give a real answer - relies on them having faith - much like religion - instead of understanding.
Sure, maybe I was being too strong there by saying it’s not a thing. People do use it. But I would be cautious of using it yourself unless someone tells you specifically that they want to be referred that way.
It really doesn’t. It relies on them not being an asshole. And not making generalizations. The intricacies don’t matter on a day to day level of interacting with people who you’re not intimately familiar with. Treat them as you would any other person of the gender that they’re presenting as. That’s literally all there is to it. Anything more is personal preference to the individual, just like it would be for any non trans person. Do you need to understand the intricacies of tomboy vs butch to interact with a woman wearing pants? No? Then you don’t need the same level of detail for trans people either.