Thread by @NeilShenvi

What happens after the normalization of trans?

The normalization of pedophilia through abolishing age of consent laws.

Am I being alarmist? Thread:

Queer theory argues that the gender binary is an oppressive social construct. Women are "constructed" as weak and helpless, 1/

while men are constructed as strong and competent. Thus, "liberation" requires us to expose and deconstruct the gender binary.

But the gender binary is just one of *many* oppressive binaries. Here's Wilchins in Queer Theory, Gender Theory (46-47) 2/

What's another binary? The adult/child binary. Listen to Lakey et al: "People are just beginning to have a glimpse of what oppression based on age involves.. Children are...considered helpless, dependent, and cute..They experience 10-15 years of unpaid labor and brainwashing" 3/

Or look at this chart (Figure 5.1) from Sensoy and DiAngelo in Is Everyone Really Equal? Notice the oppression of "children" by "adults" via "adultism": 4/

Or look at the Matrix of Oppression from Appendix C from Adams' Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice. "Young people" (not "Young adults"!) are oppressed by adults through "Adultism". 5/

Their argument is that "child" is a socially constructed category that deprives children of agency and power, just like the category of "woman" is socially constructed to deprive women of agency and power.

Children need to be "protected" just like women need to be "protected" 6/

"BUT THAT'S DIFFERENT!" you scream. "CHILDREN REALLY AREN'T CAPABLE OF MAKING THESE DECISIONS"

"Yeah right," says the critical theorist, "that's exactly what men said about women for centuries. In both cases, these claims are just power plays to justify oppression." 7/

"BUT WHAT ABOUT CONSENT?" you demand, "CHILDREN CAN'T CONSENT!"

"Because they're 'inferior' and 'immature'?" says the CT. " But we've already deconstructed that claim."

"NO" you say, "BUT BECAUSE OF POWER DIFFERENTIALS" 8/

Listen to Jagose in Queer Theory, An Introduction:

*Follow her reasoning.*

She asks: if you accept that sexual consent is possible despite "power differentials" between people of color/whites and women/men and rich/poor, THEN WHY THINK THEY MAKE SEXUAL CONSENT IMPOSSIBLE FOR CHILDREN?

9/

Moreover, haven't you heard the argument that "third genders exist in other cultures, so the gender binary is fake"?

Well, what about childhood sex in other cultures? Aren't those practices grounds for questioning our culture's taboos about "pedophilia"?

Here's Halperin: 10/

"OK BUT THIS IS ALL SCAREMONGERING. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN, " you say.

I'll leave you with a quote from Kadji Amin's Disturbing Attachments, Genet, Modern Pederasty, and Queer
History.

11/11