(no subject)

[sigmaleph]

I think the correct response to 'social contagion' fearmongering about trans people is to think of transition as a social technology.

There is some portion of the population who because of their current body shape/social role/associated gendery stuff is living a worse life than they could be. Because of the society we live in, for many of those people changing all those things is not an available idea, because they don't think it's possible or they think it's wrong in some sense or they think they will suffer serious social repercussions and it's not worth it. Realising that people are taking that option teaches them new things about transition-as-a-method-of-improving-your-life, and sometimes they decide it is possible or it is worth it or whichever, so they try it themselves. If it works for them, well then. What you actually have is a success story about people learning new ways to improve their lives and be happier.

This can be less obvious if you look at it via a medical model of being transgender, because transitioning is both the most obvious external symptom and the best treatment for the condition. If you think "oh no, lots of new people are showing symptoms when they meet trans people" you might think there's social contagion going on, but what actually happened is that those symptoms were already there, invisible to you, and people are simply adopting treatment for them when they learn such treatment exists and is effective.