General questions
1. When referring to you prior to you figuring out you are trans, would you prefer they use the pronouns you use now or the ones you used then?
The ones I use now, though my living situation often means I have to boymode around a lot of people.
2. A friend of yours says that they might be trans. Do you: question them as to whether they are sure/ what they are feeling about it all
or just start treating them as trans unless they tell you that they were wrong and aren't actually trans. Something in between?
Something in-between. I wouldn't question their existence, per se, but I would help them through, share experiences being trans, anything to help them understand themselves better. Of course, I'm not infallible...it's delicate and complicated.
3. A person grows up in the wild without ever interacting with another person. Can they be trans? If yes, how do you figure out whether you are trans without knowing the concept of man and woman?
The concept of man and woman is innate, you're born with that. There's dozens of psychology papers on this, as well as a history of feral humans sexually harassing researchers. They can absolutely be trans as well.
4. In your ideal society, does the concept of sex and gender not exist anymore and people just function as humans
or do the concept of men/women/etc still exist as they do today, but people are 100% accepting and trans issues have been fixed. Neither?
The latter, I think erasing sex and gender would be problematic.
5. How much does someone need to want to be the opposite sex to be transgender? For example if a man says itd be nice to be a woman and live life as a woman but is perfectly content as a man are they trans? What if someone born male says that theyd like to be referred to as a woman but they aren't interested in estrogen, sex changes, or presenting as female. Would they still be considered trans? Do you need dysphoria to be trans?
I don't believe there should be any real "bar" to becoming trans...you just feel it. When you start setting standards in this case, you end up with this (very well-documented) slippery slope of gatekeeping and existence-questioning. There's stuff like gender-fluidity to consider as well in this case.
6. You mentioned an article about trans issues to a friend, they say something to the effect of "yeah the persecution of lgbtq+ people these days is really evil" you've noticed they have a habit of mentioning the entire lgbtq+ whenever trans specific problems are brought up. Do you find it frustrating, are you indifferent, or do you find it empowering?
7. As a friend, if you tell me that you're trans, would you expect me to: keep our friendship dynamic as is but be supportive if you come to me for it or be much more proactive in my support for you?
I've been burned enough in the past to the point that I would expect nothing, but appreciate any support.
8. What are your thoughts about trans people and sports?
There is an enormous amount of misinformation on how transitioning to the opposite gender works, rooted in jealousy. TL;DR is that they are perfectly ok competing in their "new" sex's brackets.
9. If you are a mtf trans person, how do you feel about someone using (guy, buddy, dude, bro, etc) to refer to you? If you don't like it, does that change if they've been using it in a gender neutral way their whole lives?
Gonna be real, I hate all of those, except "buddy" I guess. Just call me "sis" or any of the very long list of gender-neutral terms. I've dealt with these kinds of people before - even friends - and they get so irrationally defensive when all I've said is "hey I'm uncomfortable with this can you call me something else.".
10. How do you feel about other trans people using words like tr*nny?
Power to them. I'm not fond of it, but that could change.
11. Thoughts on non-trans people playing trans characters in media?
I hold the belief that the actor should be as reflective of the character they're depicting as possible. So trans actors should play trans characters, African Americans should play African American characters, so on, so forth. This would bring the script out in its purest form, no?
12. What is something that you'd disagree with most trans people about?
Not sure. A lot of opinions trans people have are based on their living situations and political climate, so it's hard to "disagree". I suppose my openness would be the most contentious thing...but I'm not really disagreeing there, am I?
Questions regarding transitioning
13. How close do we have to be for you to be comfortable answering whether you'll have a sex change? Strangers? Acquaintances? Friends?
Anyone!
14. Do you think it's transphobic if someone straight refuses to date a post-op trans person? What about a pre-op trans person? Why?
Denying someone solely on the circumstances in which they got their genitals isn't just transphobic, it's brain rot-tier stupidity. People bring up the fertility argument, but like, there are so many alternatives. Fuck, I think I remember something about uterus implants being researched for MtF?
People often harp on about dating people based on their personality; if someone truly loves a person, it would transcend their physical being, yes? So their genitals are irrelevant.
TL;DR get better reasons, or you probably don't love that person.
15. If you plan on transitioning, would you date someone if they are only attracted to your post transition genitals as long as you liked them enough? Basically meaning that they wouldn't have sexual contact with you until after you transitioned, at least no sexual contact where your genitals are in view.
Tbh I have a crippling fear of sex due to stuff I went through over the course of my life, so I don't really have an answer here.
16. What about dating someone who heavily prefers/exclusively likes the genitals that you were born with? Would you date someone like that if you liked them enough?
Prolly not, feels grabby.
Miscellaneous
17. (for ftm trans people) Mtf trans people get a lot more attention in mainstream media and social media. Do you view this as a good thing since you don't have to deal with as many creeps/transphobes or as a bad thing since you get less representation in mainstream media and less of a spotlight on ftm exclusive issues?
18. What's one issue you have with how trans people are represented in movies/tv shows/etc?
They often miss a lot of beats due to being written by people who have never experienced trans issues. I don't think there's enough communication between writers and the trans community. There have been some golden moments, though!
...and don't get me started on the "joke" characters.
19. Thoughts on chasers? Would you date one? Sleep with one?
If they see me for who I am, rather than my physical body, then sure. But the definition of chaser is essentially "someone who fetishizes trans people and tries to sleep with them", so it's very very likely a hard pass.
20. What type of partners do you look for? Straight people of the same sex? Straight people of the opposite sex? Bisexuals? A mix?
Anyone!
21. What do you think is the most important thing that I can do as a trans ally?
Research, understand, interact. Each of these is very broad, with a lot of things to it, but anyone who does it is welcome!
