The Fallacy of "Performance"
The Ideological Rift Between Transsexual Reality and Theoretical Ramblings
I've had enough of the identity police, monitoring my “conformity” to prop up their ill-conceived theories. My hairstyle or manner of dress is not some calculated performance for ideological points. Unlike some, I don't live my life as a continual gender performance on a sociopolitical stage. Those who do are projecting their own performative, ideologically driven insecurities onto the rest of us.
A Misunderstanding of Performance
There's a peculiar kind of arrogance displayed in assuming that everyone sees life through the same distorted lens of performance and presentation. It's a pompous notion that transsexuals are nothing more than actors on a stage, donning costumes and adopting poses, all in the name of some convoluted gender ideology. The unsettling implication? That transsexualism is just another role we play, devoid of medical significance or personal struggle. This is not just misguided — it is outright dangerous.
The term performance implies a detachment from reality, as if one steps in and out of roles while unaffected by them. This might be a fun intellectual exercise for those whose grasp of gender is limited to theoretical discourse, but it's a slap in the face to transsexuals who have sought medical intervention to align their bodies with their cerebral self-perception. There's no performing your way out of sex dysphoria; there's no acting involved when your sense of self clashes so violently with your physical form that medical transition becomes a matter of survival.
The Performance Trap: Reductive and Hollow
The focus on performance reduces the deeply personal and often agonising experience of being a transsexual to mere aesthetics — a matter of clothing, hairstyles, and so-called “passing privilege.” By fixating on the superficial, the transgender zealots miss the crux of the matter entirely. Transsexual lives are not some avant-garde theatre production. This is not about “conforming” to gender norms or “rebelling” against them; it is about achieving a congruence so profound that it's medically, psychologically, and socially imperative for our well-being.
And let's address the outrageous claim that their approach is somehow more “punk rock” than ours — that while transsexuals are conforming, they are a vanguard rebelliously challenging societal norms. If there is anything more conformist than parroting the latest academic jargon and weaponising it to keep others in line, I am yet to hear it. This so-called rebellion is nothing but a façade, one that ironically reinforces the very stereotypes they claim to oppose.
How do I fight against archaic feminine stereotypes and romanticised misogyny as an MtF? By not being a caricature. By living my life, working my job, and navigating society as a woman, not a “trans woman.” By avoiding the flamboyant display of femininity that, ironically, mimics the very misogynistic tropes gender ideologues claim to oppose.
The Spectre of Theoretical Ramblings
The disparity between such theoretical jargon and the lived reality of transsexuals could not be more stark. Those who prattle on about performance display a profound ignorance, a disconnect so complete that they turn what is a crucial aspect of our lives into an abstract debate. It is not a spectacle to be dissected or a role to be critiqued; it is our reality.
The ideological dictum that everyone is performing “gender” not only diminishes the experiences of transsexuals but also sows discord in public understanding. In what world is my decision to have long hair a political statement? Are we really so entrenched in gender theory that a simple haircut becomes a declaration of ideological allegiance? The audacity to reduce people's choices — especially choices so intimately tied to their personhood, to mere “performance” — is not just offensive, it is dehumanising.
The concept of performance feeds into an ideology that erases transsexuals.
This is not an abstract debate. The concept of performance feeds into a broader ideology that is actively erasing transsexuals. It affects healthcare, policy, and public opinion, encouraging the view that being a transsexual is a “transgender” lifestyle choice rather than a treatment for the eponymous medical condition of transsexualism. The people espousing these views seem to think that their theoretical posturing has no real-world implications — that we can all turn off the computer and go about our lives. Well, life is not a theoretical exercise.
Enough of the Theatrics
I am not your theoretical construct or your ideological battleground. Life is not a stage, and transsexualism is not a performance. It is a medical condition fraught with real struggles, real needs, and real consequences. The next time you are tempted to frame someone else's life as a “performance,” maybe it is time for some self-reflection. Your theoretical ideas are not a universal truth, and they do not dictate my reality. That is not just a matter of semantics; it is a matter of basic human dignity.
Tired Transsexual is the pen name of a male-to-female transsexual who lives in the U.K. Her Twitter account is @tiredtransmed.