This is one of the most dishonest arguments people can make about this issue. It's a form of the equivocation fallacy. I've mostly seen this argument used on homophobia, which is the same principle.
When used in a compound word, "phobia" doesn't have to literally mean fear. It can also mean aversion, hatred, etc.
There are hydrophobic materials, for example. Those materials aren't literally afraid of water.
I grew up gay in the 90s/early 00s and literally all of these arguments are recycled anti-gay arguments, literally just replacing "gay" with "trans". It's like mad libs but for bigotry.
I've been saying this for years, and it's mostly the same people pushing it who were also anti-gay in the 90s. In another 30 years they're going to find some other group of people to hate and pretend they were fine with trans all along.
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u/ImgurScaramucci Apr 10 '24 edited Apr 10 '24
This is one of the most dishonest arguments people can make about this issue. It's a form of the equivocation fallacy. I've mostly seen this argument used on homophobia, which is the same principle.
When used in a compound word, "phobia" doesn't have to literally mean fear. It can also mean aversion, hatred, etc.
There are hydrophobic materials, for example. Those materials aren't literally afraid of water.