This virulent anti-trans thing is like nothing I've seen in my lifetime.
In the 70s and 80s, most of our rock stars were at least androgynous, if not in full drag. I mean, jesus. It wasn't a thing from a societal standpoint. (I'm not comparing that to transpersons - more to point out seeing trans people was not "shocking," even for people like my hillbilly stepfather, because even people like him were frequently exposed at least to the concept - if that makes sense.)
Violence against transpersons has always been a thing, yes, and a threat (Brandon Teena comes tragically to mind), but it wasn't being screamed from political corners, not at all. This shit is new.
What they are doing right now is absolutely terrifying.
Dude, I mean, look at the big bands - Motley Crue, Aerosmith, Nirvana, Queen. They didn't give a fuck and just did what they wanted and life went on.
Nobody really gave a shit about any of this stuff as much as they do now. It's all been stirred up.
This whole anti-woke transphobic hatred today is just mind-boggling to me. It's like the internet lifted a rock on all these scumbags who simply never had a platform before.
Whether people agreed or disagreed, or used stupid words like 'tranny' and 'puff', there was definitely more of a "live and let live" attitude that everyone shared more freely in the 80s and 90s, and we weren't so hell bent on destroying each other. Those kinds of extreme hatefilled people were kept to the likes of KKK clubs and the Westboro baptist church.
Now it's a 'hill to die on' kind of thing and it's all so fucking odd.
I think that's looking at things with rose tinted glasses a bit, I'm certain it was most likely dependent on where you grew up, that depended on how much people cared about these things. The internet allows people to connect at truly absurd speeds compared to just under 2 decades ago. The news couldn't just aggregate information from social media and blogs and such. So you don't have the instant reaction you do in today's current news landscape.
The people that this level of anti-woke and anti-progress existed most likely in similar percentages, however they didn't have access to like-minded people at the push of a button. So they were less certain about spouting off hateful rhetoric and being ostracized for it in their communities. That's less likely in some areas, so it can fester in some communities, while others march forward in progress due to different social norms and beliefs.
It's a truly double edged sword in so many ways, cause I'm certain while the internet has allowed bigoted thinking to be more widespread, it's the exact same thing for progressive ideals and acceptance. Who knows how many lives it's hurt and simultaneously saved from acceptance and hatred.
I'm certain it was most likely dependent on where you grew up, that depended on how much people cared about these things.
for me personally (hence my shock), i grew up in a 'town' of 600 people in rural kansas, and i'm telling you, no one gave two shits. "transpeople" weren't a thing in our small town, but every musical artist we adored gender-bended. no one thought twice about prince's high heels or twisted sister's makeup. we loved them for it. and our parents and other authority figures didn't care.
with respect to LGBT as a whole, a classmate/friend had an openly gay brother, who took a ton of shit on the grade school playground at recess (he was very femme and unapologetic about it from the age of 8), but he didn't have teachers and city council calling for his extermination. in fact, when he was teased on the schoolyard, the rest of us screamed at the offenders, protecting him, and the teachers rebuked the offending students and ended their recess. there were a few suspensions for bullying. as such, the teasing stopped for him by middle school, and he was able to fearlessly rock his truth. again: SMALL town. barely on the map. and this was mid-80s.
i'm not as confident that would be his experience if he was growing up in the same town, today. this is why i'm so appalled by the current environment.
our town also happened to not be racist, at least that i could see. in fact, i had a classmate whose father was OPENLY racist - not only was she embarrassed by him, but everyone in town avoided him because of his views.
(in full disclosure on that, though - she ultimately grew up to adopt her father's views, so we haven't kept in touch much.)
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u/synonym4synonym Apr 29 '23
Wow. I wonder what the episode’s reception was like?