Halle Berry recently apologized for considering playing the part of a transgender man. Under literally any other circumstances, a progressive feminist like myself would applaud the bravery of a woman taking over a man’s job. However, we’re talking about a transgender man, so it’s different.
Under previous gender paradigms, it might be considered a sign of progress for a woman to take over a space that would otherwise belong to a man. However, science has now shown that trans individuals can make up whatever they want whenever they want at all times, and if you question it, you’re a bigot. Obviously, I’m not a bigot, so I don’t question it.
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I’m all for toppling the patriarchy, unless that patriarchy is made up of transgender men. Then it’s good. It’s normal. It’s okay. I’m okay with it. Totally fine.
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But this is no isolated incident. Sadly, it is indicative of a larger problem, of cisgendered actors feeling entitled to play transgender roles. As we know, actors should only ever play roles that 100% accurately reflect who they are in real life. Therefore, if a female actor wants to play a transgender woman, that would be inherently problematic, because the woman actor is not a transgender woman.
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Uh, t̷h̵a̸t̸ is to say, of course, that ̴t̷h̸e̸r̸e̵ is no r̷e̷a̶l ̸d̵i̶f̵f̴e̷r̵e̴nc̴e̸e between a cisgender woman and a transgender woman! Gender is a social c̴̤̎ò̸͉n̵̥̆s̷͈͐t̸̤̅r̴͇̚ù̸̺c̶̫͝ṫ̴͓, and a transgender woman is just as much a woman as any r̶̡̀e̵̘͒ã̵̱ļ̸̆ ̶͑͜w̶̟̕ó̷̢m̵͖͛a̴̡̛n̷͍̚, but a real woman still shouldn’t ̶̝̾p̶̦̉l̸̜̑å̴̲y̴̩̑ ̵̥̔ä̶͎ ̶̜͐t̸̛̬r̶̲͋a̶͙̔n̴͇̅s̵̻̓g̷͖̾e̸͕̊ṋ̶̔d̷̮̈ȇ̴͚ṙ̴̦ ̷̠̈w̷͖͐o̸̪̿ḿ̸̺ḁ̴͑n̵̝̽ ̴̪͊e̴̪̓v̵̮͑e̶̥̿n̶̼̑ ̴̍ͅt̷̜͌h̷̛̪o̷͓̕u̷͚͆g̷̻͠h̸̠͘ a transgender woman si aå̶̛̠͖̓ ̵̫̪̦͑͒̄̉͘͝r̸͈̋̀̓̆̅͊ȩ̷͖̫̓͂̿́̕a̶̠̽̈́͘l̷̮̟̞̼͙̬̔ ̴̢̏̊̄w̵̡̪͉̮̿̏o̴̮̍͂͌m̴̢̡̙̦̣͕̋̍͗̾ä̵͉̘̲̗́̄͗̃n̶̻̭̯̍͒̄͘ ̷̨̢̹̲̲̜̒͛̆͐͝b̴̝̈́̾͠ë̵̯̈͑́̽c̷̩͍͛̃̊a̴̯̍̓̾u̶̞͂̌̂͋͑͘s̴̝̫̜̗͓̒͂̈́̏ȩ̷͉1111111111111
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