Jan
14
Is Misgendering Someone an Act of Violence?
If you haven’t heard of Brad Polumbo before, he is one of those rare birds — a “gay conservative”. Not as conservative as, say, Guy Benson. (In at least one podcast, Brad implied that he is more “center-right / moderate”.) But, he is certainly anti the most woke stuff, which he talks about and reacts to on his DAMAGE CONTROL podcasts. In particular, he knows that the rhetoric and goals of the “progressive” trans-activists and influencers serve to undermine much of the work done by the LGB members of the alphabet community.
Of course, as a politically- and theologically-conservative Christian, I disagree with Brad on a number of things. But, in this particular area, I very much appreciate his contributions to the social conversation, since he (along with a few others) is speaking out from within the larger LGBTQ+ community.
In one of the segments for this episode of “Normal gay guy reacts to unhinged LGBTQ TikToks”, Brad plays a TikTok of a trans-woman (see pic) who is explaining — in a surprisingly calm and “reasoned” way — how & why the misgendering (especially if repeated) of trans individuals is a form of “violence”. But, Brad ain’t havin’ it. He responds…
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“No, no. It’s not.
Misgendering is not violence. And, frankly, if you actually think that, that tells me you’ve never experienced real, physical violence. Which I’m thankful for, but it’s really suggesting your ignorance here.
To conflate words that hurt your feelings with physical violence is insulting to actual survivors of physical violence. And, if words can cause you physical pain like you’re saying, that’s a you-problem that means you lack the emotional resilience of a functioning adult. And I’m not trying to be mean. That’s actually something you should seek help for and work on. But, it’s on you to do that. It’s not on us.
This thinking is really actually pernicious and dangerous. Because, if you say that “mean” words you don’t like are violence, well then you can justify violence in response to those words or even violence to prevent those words from being uttered. Once we go down that path, there’s no turning back and there’s no hope for free speech in this society. Once words are conflated with violence and violence is a response to words,… [once] that’s legitimized, at that point nobody can speak their mind. You can’t have an open exchange of ideas and information, and you no longer have a free society. You have a wild, wild west of physical violence and domination. I don’t think this is actually what folks like this want. They really need to reconsider this bonkers approach.”
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I have often noticed that many trans people (as well as effeminate gays) in particular act and speak in childish ways. I’m glad Brad picked up on this here, too, even though the individual he was responding to was relatively mild in this respect.
As for the subject matter, I’ve heard this “words can be violence” claim used by the BLM crowd and other “woke” people, too, as I’m sure many of you have. But, Brad was right on. He recognizes the implications for letting it gain any traction. Good for him!
