If you are not familiar with it the disturbing video of a tentatively identified Transgender woman named Chrissy Lee Polis being brutally and repeatedly attacked, you may not want to watch it.
But the question seems to be is why did the perpetrators feel entitled to attack this woman repeatedly and why did those witnessing the attack not only not assist the victim but at times laughed at her plight.
Follow me below the fold for my explanation.
We live in a society where human rights are up for debate. And when our rights do come to the legislative table what is the most frequent clarion call from those opposed? That men will begin menacing women's restrooms if we have rights.
From Joe My God:
Last week the Connecticut House Judiciary Committee held public hearings on its proposed gender identity bill, where the head of a local hate group railed predictably against "men in dresses attacking little girls in the ladies room." Watch him wriggle when the committee chairman points out that laws against such attacks already exist and would remain in place should the bill pass.
Where Transgender individuals can not find employers willing to hire them. They are forced to find employment in some manner and in far too many cases for Transgender individuals that is survival sex (pdf).
Transgender homeless youth are three times more likely than other homeless youth to engage in survival sex, which is sex in exchange for money, shelter, food, drugs or hormones. Some transgender homeless youth will trade sex just to have a place to stay for the night.
The average age for transgender youth to enter prostitution is 11-13.
And apparently this woman who was attacked has been arrested for doing what conservatives rail about, finding a way of supporting herself in a society that puts every barrier possible up against her. Now that information is being used to impugn her status as a member of society worthy of legal protections.
Damned if we do and damned if we don't.
Now to those that wonder why she did not put up a more energetic response. There are a myriad of possibilities for this. Including the fact that if her blows had caused damage to the attackers the police would assume she was the perpetrator. Because in this society those in authority and power have only one way of seeing a transgender person, "They are lying about their gender thus they must lie about every other aspect of their life."
More than likely though in my experience due to receiving similar repeated blows to the head there is a matter of physiology involved. No, I did not get beaten until I seized or at least not that I remember which is entirely possible with those sorts of injuries. No being dragged by my hair and kicked in the head until my ears bled was the extent of the worst assault I have endured. But what happens is such blows shock not only the brain but the spinal cord thus your ability to defend yourself is impeded by paralysis, temporary but paralysis none the less.
Any you Cis women that think this could not happen to you, be warned: I'm an FTM so for the first thirty years of my life I too have been harassed by the bathroom police. Simply for the crime of not conforming to gender norms. Think about that the next time you you the public loo while dressed in work clothes.
We have to show this video every time the Anti LGBT faction brings up the meme of men in dresses prowling the toilets.
Why?
Because the threat is not to Cis women, no not by a long shot.
Update:
The employee that filmed the attack while laughing, identifying the woman as male and telling the attackers to run away from the police has been fired. From the JMG article:
"My first and foremost concern is with the victim," franchise owner Mitchell McPherson said in a statement, adding that action might be taken against other restaurant workers as well. "I'm as shocked and disturbed by this assault as anyone would be. The behavior displayed in the video is unfathomable and reprehensible." The video of a beating the Rosedale restaurant went viral Friday, garnering hundreds of thousands of views on websites and prompting the fast-food giant to issue a statement condemning the incident. The video shows two women — one of them a 14-year-old girl — repeatedly kicking and punching the 22-year-old victim in the head, as an employee and a patron try to intervene. Others can be heard laughing, and men are seen standing idly by. Toward the end of the video, one of the suspects lands a punishing blow to the victim's head, and she appears to have a seizure. A man's voice tells the women to run because police are coming.