It’s part of the culture. When I was a kid, trans people were portrayed as serial killers (Silence of the Lambs) or villains. Gay people were seen as no different than pedophiles. This was true in the general, “secular” culture as well as in more conservative and religious communities.
Not to deny the connection between homophobia / transphobia and Christianity (it’s also probably the root of misogyny and patriarchy, as well), but I just want to emphasize that it can be cultural and not just for religious reasons.
Ultimately I think people find cross-gender and mixed-sex traits as disgusting - it’s commonly used in horror films to convey something monstrous and terrifying, for example. If you want to create a jump scare in a movie, you might flash a face that has male features with heavy feminine makeup and hair on the screen, for example.
Probably a lot of this is from socialization and culture, but I suspect given the behavior of primates and other animals, that on some level “sexing” and gendering one another ties to biological processes that might be universal in humans - not that we should think biology determines destiny, there are many human cultures that don’t debase or mistreat mixed-sex, cross-gender, etc. people.
You could probably tie a lot of the anti-trans stuff to colonialism and imperialism as well (and that ties back into Christianity, too).
Monster: The Ed Gein Story was released in 2025 and played up the same transphobic tropes that Silence of the Lambs indulged (and like Silence of the Lambs they tried to disclaim their transphobia by trying to be clear the character wasn’t a “true trans person”).
Got any idea why? I read all the stuff you wrote before too.
It’s part of the culture. When I was a kid, trans people were portrayed as serial killers (Silence of the Lambs) or villains. Gay people were seen as no different than pedophiles. This was true in the general, “secular” culture as well as in more conservative and religious communities.
Not to deny the connection between homophobia / transphobia and Christianity (it’s also probably the root of misogyny and patriarchy, as well), but I just want to emphasize that it can be cultural and not just for religious reasons.
Ultimately I think people find cross-gender and mixed-sex traits as disgusting - it’s commonly used in horror films to convey something monstrous and terrifying, for example. If you want to create a jump scare in a movie, you might flash a face that has male features with heavy feminine makeup and hair on the screen, for example.
Probably a lot of this is from socialization and culture, but I suspect given the behavior of primates and other animals, that on some level “sexing” and gendering one another ties to biological processes that might be universal in humans - not that we should think biology determines destiny, there are many human cultures that don’t debase or mistreat mixed-sex, cross-gender, etc. people.
You could probably tie a lot of the anti-trans stuff to colonialism and imperialism as well (and that ties back into Christianity, too).
You did write the first paragraph before.
ah yes - I do remember that, sorry for the redundancy.
Ironically it’s still happening:
https://www.them.us/story/ryan-murphy-monster-ed-gein-transgender-killer-horror-trope-crossdressing-myth
Monster: The Ed Gein Story was released in 2025 and played up the same transphobic tropes that Silence of the Lambs indulged (and like Silence of the Lambs they tried to disclaim their transphobia by trying to be clear the character wasn’t a “true trans person”).