One thing that never really gets said but everyone knows is true is that one of the reasons transphobes are so focused on preventing trans teens from stopping their bodies' natural puberties is that it scares them if they can't immediate "tell" if a person is trans.
They push to delay transition because it results in trans people looking more "visibly trans," which is what the transphobes want.
It's why the theme of "omg, you hooked up with a duuuuuuuuuuddddeeeee?!?!" stuff in movies (The Crying Game, Ace Ventura, etc.) was so popular for so long: it reflects a real anxiety about being "tricked."
And so certain portions of society take it upon themselves to make sure trans people are as visibly trans as possible: they feel entitled to know if someone is trans.
It's all based on really gross transphobic tropes.
A lot of people genuinely seem to think they have some sort of right to know if their coworkers or acquaintances are trans. That's absurd. They don't. It's a wild invasion of privacy.
So they push for policies that make it easier to clock us. It's a big old sexist attack.
@parkermolloy
Reductive as the point may be, I like to equate it to the birthmark question.
Would you randomly ask someone if they have a birthmark? Where it is? How big, what shape, the extent to which it affects their lives?
Would you disrobe a person, sometimes forcibly, to determine if they have such a birthmark? Would you scream at them for hiding a birthmark? Would you demand they wear patches on their clothes stating they have one?
It's not that different.
For the longest time, they have asked these questions -- questions with as much verity as the old saw "have you stopped beating your wife" - of those they hate, with no recompense or redound. I wish this were the instance which causes them to finally stop. I know it's not.
More, their office demands they ask these supposed questions. It's for what they were voted into office.
Parker Molloy
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Janice Selbie