When the dominant sectors of society don’t like a thing or a group of people, they will always focus the worst of their attacks on the most “extreme fringe” examples of that thing or that group, and they will justify all attacks on the group as a whole by pointing to the supposed threat posed by the perceived fringe.

If you’re not part of the fringe but you’re feeling the heat from the fire leveled at them, you might think the solution is to get rid of that fringe. To sever all ties between them and you. To wash your hands of them.

That should work, right? If all the ire that’s coming your way is justified because of that completely unrespectable, subversive, aggressive, extreme bunch of weirdos over there… well, get rid of the weirdos, right?

Okay! Problem solved.

Oh, except, it’s not.

Go back to line one of this post:

"When the dominant sectors of society don’t like a thing or a group of people, they will always focus most of their attacks on the most “extreme fringe” examples of that thing or that group, and they will justify all attacks on the group as a whole by pointing to the supposed threat posed by the perceived fringe.”

When you get rid of what used to be the fringe, all you end up with is a new fringe.

And a smaller mainstream to hide in.

If you’re a transsexual, then the problem that society has with your existence as a transsexual isn’t that they’re comparing you to people who use “spatula” as their pronoun or who have breasts and a beard or whatever it is that you picture when you think of “genderspecials” and “trenders”.

The problem society has with your existence as a transsexual is your existence as a transsexual.

And that’s never going to stop until they accept trans existence.

And trans existence will not be accepted as long as it is fashionable to question trans existence.

When you have gotten rid of every single trans person who is more “extreme” than you, you will be the most extreme trans person. And you will be the target. And you will be the excuse when others are targeted.

If everyone who says they’re trans whose claim seems more questionable than yours is forced to stop identifying themselves as trans, this doesn’t mean your claims will be taken for granted. All it means is that you’re next in line for interrogation. 

This is how it works.

This is one of the primary mechanisms of oppression.

It’s not going to work differently for you just because you’ve got a medical condition. It’s not going to work differently for you because you’ve got a theory about brains and bodies. It’s not going to work differently for you even if your theories are all correct.

When a hostile army is camped at your borders, you can’t solve that problem by sacrificing your borders. The army’s still at your borders, and now they’re that much closer to your capital.