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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   29520 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 26, 2024

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If we didn't assume that almost everyone is bipedal and able-bodied, when building new houses and office blocks, why would we bother building stairs as part of the new construction?

Um... you might want to read some building codes? If you assume everyone is bipedal and able-bodied, why all these requirements for elevators, and curb ramps for wheelchairs?

In fact, now that I think about it, this is just extremely basic Bayesian reasoning

Okay, we're going around in linguistic circles here. If you see someone in a wheelchair, you don't demand any further proof that they can't walk unless there's some sort of extraordinary situation. I'm asking that if you see me and think I'm female, that's also sufficient proof, and you let me go pee in the women's bathroom.

Word games aside, can I pee in the bathroom? I've got a vagina, which locker room do you want me in?

If you assume everyone is bipedal and able-bodied, why all these requirements for elevators, and curb ramps for wheelchairs?

Jesus Christ, you know exactly what I'm getting at, stop playing dumb. I'm not saying "assume that everyone you meet is bipedal and able-bodied (and deny the existence of people who don't meet that description)"; I'm saying "assume that any given individual is bipedal and able-bodied, unless you have strong evidence suggesting they aren't". And likewise with a person's sex. What is so complicated about this?

Bathrooms are probably the part of trans activism I find least objectionable, so I personally am not going to get terribly bent out of shape about an emasculated male who looks passably female going into the ladies' bathroom or locker room. A few gender-critical people presented me with sources suggesting that abolishing sex segregation in bathrooms in a particular jurisdiction caused a spike in women being sexually assaulted, but I didn't look into it too deeply.

Alright, that seems fair. I do think there's some important semantics, but at the end of the day the thing I actually care about is bathrooms and such, not whether everyone thinks like me.

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