They Can "Hear" You

It's true of just about anything written by relatively privileged people for outlets with an expected audience of other privileged people about more marginal groups, but I think it's especially obvious that the numerous anti-trans pieces written in our prestige publications are written as if the writer is unaware that trans people - and people who support them - also have access to the internet. 

The implied "we" and "you" (sometimes more than implied) are exclusionary. I'm just asking questions, but I'm certainly not listening to people who might have some insight to the answers. The important thing is the feelings of people like "me" ("us"), certainly not their existence.

I am sure I have been guilty of this too, at times.  It's an individual problem, but also a structural one.  Some people are handed big checks to write about "the other," while "the other" are rarely granted permission to write about themselves.

This is about the BBC specifically, but consider the options. On the rare occasion a trans person is invited, they have to "debate" someone who wants to make their existence illegal. Or choose not to participate and validate the sham.

Trans people are having our very existence debated and we are not even part of the conversation. The BBC has a policy that requires a gender critical person to be present in any debate about trans issues but not a requirement for a trans person.

— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) January 24, 2023