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There, that's much better. Now the arguments are getting into the territory.
Hmm? No no. Culture contains a bunch of normative principles that are disagreed upon. I don't think the traditional normative framework is justifiable, that doesn't mean it isn't a very real cultural construct. In terms of culture war, you can just argue that "Trans Women are Women" or that "A man is an Adult human Male and a woman is an adult human Female", and this will work because most people haven't reflected on the hidden assumptions around what those words entail within their cultural framework.
I'm saying it's disingenuous to act like the argument is about language, pretend you're just 'stating the facts' about what men and women are, and then rely on existing norms to prop up your actual position.
A thing I've argued is being done by both sides of the culture war.
As for the traditional normative framework itself... I think the traditional normative framework was a compromise with sin used to fight against a dangerous world, that becomes more and more outmoded as technology advances. The culture war we see is the result of a few things:
People who haven't questioned the traditional cultural framework's modern utility at all.
The fact that there is still some modern utility to the framework- we are still hovering in the grey area where it's utility hasn't quite broken all the way down. We don't have artificial wombs yet etc.
People who want to disassemble the framework a bit too early, before it's utility has fully broken down.
The fact that this breakdown of utility differs by tech level, and the fact that tech level is not uniform worldwide, but the internet lets the associated memes go worldwide.
I'll give you this until I stop giving you this. I'm the CloudHeadedTranshumanist, not a Trans Rights Activist for anyone but my high class transhumanist trans friends (who I think it's fair to say are highly unlikely to fuck up their software careers for the sake of bathroom misbehavior, but hey, they're already smart enough to move to California).
But nothing remains too expensive indefinitely. I'm not really concerned with defeating transphobia now. I'm interested in breaking down the restrictions in the territory until there really is no utility left in gender and my opponents are left standing on thin air. I'll get back to you in 10 years.
Sure, I didn't intend this as a comprehensive argument. Rather, I've never heard an argument that works for these people. I've resolved the point that was compelling me to argue with you today. Namely the Motte and Baily I keep seeing. I'll make sure to bring something more comprehensive if I decide to try to hold this hill in a future culture war thread.
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