Clearing Up Confusion About Non Binary People

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[psyfi]

Commenting for the algorithm.
I really like how concise and digestible your content is, by the way. Keep doing what you're doing.

[MatthewCaunsfield]

"Here's a thing I don't understand, so I'll just posit my feelings as fact" is not how learning gets done!
The information that TMM showed in this vid clearly demonstrates that the answers are out there if you want them

[gravelmonarch]

Shoutout to @TMM for not falling into the “asshole” skeptic community. I’ve been loving your content for a long time. Keep it up.

[Mallory-Malkovich]

I used to wonder about all the variations of gender, but then I realized that I spend 98.5% of my time thinking about myself, so who has time to worry about what gender other people are?

[Philbert-sc]

"It seems like it's a made up term..."

Yeah, that's how words work.

[marlinbundo]

"I don't really see myself as a man or a woman. I'm just...me."

This woman would have us believe that NO ONE has ever said the above statement and meant it.

[GetOfflineGetGood]

Arielle is not "confused, " she's dishonest. She's been on this shit for years off and on. I do appreciate your video breakdown, though. I'm non-binary, and like, is it the worst thing that nonbinary can mean different things to different people? It's ultimately just a rejection of being forced into the male/female binary. We don't have a lot of cultural norms for that. The language and norms are developing. It's not bad to try to expand our understanding of gender to make more room for more people to feel comfortable with themselves. I wish she could understand that, and understand that the people who really have hostility for nonbinary people won't stop with us. This is about reinforcing patriarchy and heteronormativity. Lesbians are a target too, and this intentional and hostile feigned obtuseness won't save her when the fascists come for her.

[AgMrE]

Please note that the American Psychological Association does not represent 'scientists'. It represents some psychologists. But a number of psychologist stepped away for the APA in 1988 because the APA's poor track-record on science. These people formed a new 'Association for Psychological Science' (APS; although in its first incarnation it was the 'American Psychological Society'). So it's wrong to say "...let's look at what scientists say" and then quote the APA. The APA tends to attract clinicians, not scientists. Psychologists interested in science tend to gravitate towards the APS.

[andytomcho]

Thank you @TMM for standing with the LGBTQ+ community.

[Snailman]

I won't pretend to be an expert on these kinds of issues, I am an ally looking in, but I have a rule of thumb that works pretty well: give people the benefit of the doubt. If someone says they are a woman, I'll consider them a woman right off the bat. Generally, people don't lie about this sort of thing. It would be like lying about being left handed or right handed.

Also, I think the world is richer for having non binary and transgender people. Diversity is the spice of life. There are only so many stories centered around cisgender heterosexual relationships that can be written about before one longs for something different.

[Keira_Blackstone]

my younger sibling is non-binary. And they've always been that way since they were a child. They've never felt any psychological compulsion to adhere to the traits of either gender. So they definitely exist. As if policing how people see themselves inside their own head was even a worthwhile argument to have.

[christopherbiomass]

There are two types of people in the world.
People that understand that not everything falls into one of two boxes,
And people who don't.

[TheDarthbinky]

Her stance that it's just young kids wanting to say F you to "the patriarchy" is kinda sad actually. I deal with trans people quite often through my work and I've seen lots of people who are 50+ and are trans. My observation is that it's more difficult for older people to be trans because they have lived a life. They have jobs, bank accounts, retirement accounts, cars, houses, college degrees, and yes, even families. It's daunting looking at all of that and the hurdles that society places in front of you to change it. There's also the societal pressures involved - they grew up in a time when LGBT+ people were decidedly NOT accepted by society, and still struggle with that pressure.

So the perception is that it's just kids because, well, it's a bit easier for them, as far as that (incomplete) list is concerned.

[footonfire]

I watched her videos a lot when I was coming out in the early 2010s. Years ago she started posting videos that almost pulled me down the anti-trans rabbit hole. It is disappointing to see that she is still refusing to reconsider her position so many years later. I appreciate you making this video to potentially help her followers reframe their thinking.

[fredericchristie]

I have the tiniest bit of sympathy for the attitude Arielle is expressing, but the problem is that many people, even those who are nowhere near as clearly reactionary in their thinking as she is, do the same thing she did at the start. "I don't understand what these people are telling me about their perceptions of reality, therefore it's a lie".

Arielle, what does cinnamon taste like? Tell me without comparing it to any other flavor. Describe what it's like to taste cinnamon.

Qualia are by necessity nearly impossible to communicate. Anyone who's thought about this for a second would realize that they can't necessarily understand what someone else has experienced but that doesn't mean they didn't experience it. At best, some good-natured, humble, respectful skepticism would be in order.

As for "control"... It's sheer projection. I think a lot of commentators fail to see how desperate the reactionary mind is for categories to be able to put people into so they can control *them*. The entire gender debate, the fervor with which they hold onto a need for a strict and identifiable binary, is an outcome of a need to be able to police who people are. If people can't fit into your categories, then you can't tell them whether their place is to be in the kitchen or not. That's it. And, as always, the reactionary mind views all challenges to *their* control, even a request for basic respect, as an *attempt to control*, because that's how they do things.

[sunflare]

The problem with gender identity as a theory is that it is unfalsifiable. Who cares what psychologists think is real? That's an appeal to authority fallacy (and there are many psychologists who don't recognize the legitimacy of the theory).
The whole theories concerning identity/soul/spirit and the likes are by definition pseudoscience, because they don't have a measurable object to study and therefore they are purely metaphysical. If we accept these theories as scientific, then we have to accept religious experiences as scientific too.

The morality of recognizing transgender people is a different issue. I think the mistake is confusing epistemology and ethics while discussing the subject

[stevewebber]

I think an unspoken underlying question might have been, "why do we need a nonbinary category/description?"
And I think a good answer might be, "Why do we need to fit everyone into two binary categories?"

I think I heard her sneak a statement about a need to segregate by gender frequently. I about wonder what situations, and reasons she has in those cases.

Finally, why do people think that a biological classification wouldn't be more complex than a simple binary.
True binaries, or dichotomies, seem exceedingly rare in the real world, and biological systems are especially prone to be challenging to categorise perfectly.

[nyctophobia]

Thank you. As an Enby it's always reassuring to know there are people out there who support us!

[stramster]

I have to admit I struggled with this concept for some time.
Then, while thinking about how the broad range of human hair colours come from only two pigments, the penny dropped.

[andyk]

2:15 it's funny, the language here indicates the narrator considers androgyny to be inferior to being non-binary.