Em

so at a recent work meeting we were looking at our anti-discrimination rules, and of the things it specifically protects is "gender expression" (in addition to gender identity, sexuality etc)

one of my coworkers said that "gender expression is not a thing" which is a claim i've never heard before.

Feb 2, 2019 at 1:54amWeb
Show threadEmFeb 2, 2019

for context she's young, studies gender academically (which means her discourse is often different from mine) and she seems generally cool with both gay and trans people. like, i don't think she's a TERF at least.

still, i'm wondering if this is the catchphrase of some type of person i should stay away from, or if this is a thing in gender academia or whatever. thankful for advice!

Show thread🥭🍛 harpy princessFeb 2, 2019
@em I would be cautious with them
Show threadEmFeb 2, 2019
@c0debabe yeah, it made me a bit uneasy. her "language" around stuff like this is really different from mine, since i get it from more casual online queer spaces, but i've never heard her have a bad take before! so it's at least surprising
Show thread🥭🍛 harpy princessFeb 2, 2019
@em it might be some pedantic academic 🤔 academics are weird
Show thread★ Glyzinite ★Feb 2, 2019
@em uhh i would personally never trust anyone who says gender expression isn't real because it most certainly is and is very important to a lot of people. if it's not something that applies to her i think that's valid but to make the statement that it doesn't exist at all would be a red flag for me, personally. i'm sorry idk if that helps any
Show threadA dead bodyFeb 2, 2019

@em

It's at worst extremely TERFY and at best a bewildering misapplication of critical thinking skills.

If I say "I am a woman" that is an expression of gender and it exists, so I have no clue what she could possibly be on about.

Show threadpippaFeb 2, 2019
@em huh. confusing, because even the TERFs i've spoken to in the past will admit gender expression is very real. (a whole other confusing can of worms.) maybe she means it's more internal? idk, i'd be careful either way.
Show threadBun; Solidarity Rabbit🏴🍞📕🐇Feb 2, 2019
@em It might be the same sort of thing as when a physics person says "centrifugal force doesn't exist" (being more about a technical definition). Gender expression may not be terminology that exists in the academic literature, or at least not as something distinct from the other terminology. This however is just a guess intended as a charitable reading of the situation.
Show threadEmFeb 2, 2019
@STEMfriend yeah that was my thought too, since she's seemed trans supportive so far. in that case i was hoping someone on here would know that as well
Show threadHuldraFeb 2, 2019
@em Well, all I can do is add another "I've never head that one before" datapoint. Was it an off-the-cuff comment? Did she elaborate at all? It sounds very TERF-y but I'm curious.
Show threadEmFeb 2, 2019
@ossifrage no it was just something she mentioned as we were reading through the document, she didn't propose that we remove that line or anything