December 11, 2020, 6:45 am
After actor Elliot Page came out as transgender and nonbinary earlier this month, we all knew it was only a matter of time before some conservative commentator or another went on an ignorant rant about something that is of no consequence to them whatsoever. As it turns out, Ben Shapiro decided to take a swing at it, and it’s as nonsense-filled as anyone who’s ever had the misfortune to listen to him might expect.
Advertisement
Hide
While Shapiro claimed that he had no issues referring to Page by the name “Elliot,” “you cannot, however, change your sex by declaration, or your gender by declaration.”
Advertisement
Hide
“There is no other area of life in which people simply declare themselves to be a thing, and everybody goes, ‘Oh, okay,’” he said.
Likely realizing that’s entirely untrue, Shapiro soon backtracked to clarify he was referring to “an objectively verifiable thing.”
“You can declare your sexual orientation, or you can declare a thing that you like,” he unfortunately continued. “You can declare that you’re a fan of this particular band, you can declare that you have a sexual attraction to x, y, or z. That’s all subjective. And all we have to go on is your behavior, which is objective, and your subjective self-assessment.
“However, when you are declaring something as core as your sex, there’s no…objective measure whatsoever whereby [Elliot] Page is a man,” he concluded.
Advertisement
Hide
It’s the age-old transphobic argument that your genitals determine your gender once and forever, which, at the very, very least, ignores a percentage of people that are born intersex and don’t fit cleanly into a male/female binary supposedly determined by genitals or chromosomes alone. Although that’s certainly not the only reason it’s ignorant and close-minded.
But though Shapiro is perfectly capable of saying enough words until some people think he’s making some points, the bottom line is that he’s using Page’s celebrity to inject himself into something that doesn’t concern him to actively attempt to put trans people down as the latest part of the conservative culture war against progressivism and inclusiveness. And people weren’t having it.
Advertisement
Hide
Advertisement
Hide
Advertisement
Hide
ben shapiro is having a meltdown about elliot page. seems like he’s having a lot of feelings about some facts
— lauren
ipsum (@hambsanitizer) December 3, 2020
Advertisement
Hide
And while this is not the point, and Shapiro’s argument would still be a bunch of archaic trash either way, several people were quick to point out that Page actually identifies as non-binary, just with he/them pronouns. So when Shapiro reaches the point in his transphobic ramble where he makes a show of struggling to figure out how Page could identify as queer while still, presumably, only being attracted to women, it rings completely hollow.
Shapiro might not make as much money if he just shut up and made an effort to understand people that are different than him rather than trying to tear them down, but it would sure be a nice change of pace. And he might even learn a thing or two along the way.
*First Published: December 11, 2020, 6:45 am
0 Comments