Episode 78: The Links Between Autism, Adolescence, and Transgenderism
57 minutes long. Link to audio file. Link directly to this episode.
This episode discusses the baptism by fire that is female adolescence, and how if autism is added into that mix, Transgenderism starts to look like an available escape hatch for young girls who are socially non-conforming - one that has the additional bonus of alleviating the anxiety of surrounding adults. We discuss the psychoanalytic concept of 'psychic equivalence' in relation to autism, the difficulty of not understanding or being unwilling to follow feminine social scripts, and how a Trans identity can be a way to explain disinclination to socially conform and, vitally, perhaps be forgiven for it.
The PMC and middle-classes, as fervently ideologically conforming due to their anxiety-provoking position sandwiched between the bourgeoisie and working-class, have no reasoning available to them as to why a child might not want to conform by adopting dominant norms and highly gendered social scripts, because they ultimately cannot fathom why anyone would not want to advance themselves wherever possible. Transgenderism provides not only an explanation, but affords the PMC and middle-class parents cover for their hostility towards anyone without their values, including their own offspring.
Plus, the strangely sexualised marketing to adolescents of Playboy Bunny t-shirts and stationary, the bizarre measures adults take to groom adolescents into heterosexual social relations, and the very clear social messages of hatred and hostility gender non-conforming girls receive within the family and from the media.