Sakhi
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sakhiii.bsky.social
Sakhi
@sakhiii.bsky.social
7 followers 22 following 4 posts
Neuroqueer 🏳️‍⚧️♾️🏳️‍🌈
• Autistic and Trans •
South Asian (📍India)
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sakhiii.bsky.social
On "degendering" and when that can be transphobic to do.
Background is an image of a city skyline with a pink haze, overlayed with a slightly transparent black square, all slides have the same background. Slide 1 text reads: "Degendering" ... and when that is Transphobic Slide two, text reads: Heading 1: What does "degendering" mean? Paragraph: Degendering refers to the act of removing references to someone’s gender or a typically gendered concept by replacing the language used in reference with gender-neutral language. Second heading reads: How does it differ from "misgendering"? Paragraph: Misgendering refers to the act of incorrectly identifying someone’s gender or using language they do not align with. While not always, as in cases of mistakes or due to force of habit, it is often a deliberate act done with transphobic intent—to invalidate a gender-diverse person’s identity and inflict harm on them. Slide 3, starts with the heading: Examples of Degendering: Following text reads: • Using “partner” instead of gendered labels like husband or wife, • Using gender-neutral pronouns for a person when their pronouns are not known rather than assuming, • Replacing gendered occupation titles like “businessman” Degendering can be a political act, when done to challenge misogyny, cisheteronormativity, and making spaces and services inclusive to gender-diverse people, but depending on context, counterintuitively to the goal, it can also be transphobic. Slide 4, text reads: When a person is known to use gendered pronouns or uses a combination of pronouns, exclusively using they/them to refer to them, or using gender-neutral language to describe them when it is not their preferred language, i.e., degendering them, it becomes an act of misgendering. While it is a good thing a lot of people practice using gender-neutral language when a person’s identity is unknown, rather than assuming their identity, a lot of people use this language even for people they know use gendered language. Doing so takes away visibility from and erases binary-identifying trans folks, and regardless of intentions, it is transphobic and causes harm.
July 30, 2025 at 10:40 PM