Good thread. When I was much younger I was obsessed with the being of objects and theories that attempted to erase the need for an inner being. Young Lena feels vindicated by this https://twitter.com/KatyMontgomerie/status/1337429762311155713

It's weird how the concept of an inner self that is knowable comes up a lot in how we explain trans stuff to young children and TERF philosophy at its most advanced. But it is nonsensical

Who you are is a constant negotiation and performance between how you're perceived and how you'd like to be perceived - there's not some inner woman I want to become or an inner man I'm trying to hide. I am the woman trying to be perceived as one

As a perceiver of others this means I can't be looking for some inner truth of people's genders thats independent of what they tell me. My perceiving is an action that helps form their self in the world and that means perceiving is not morally neutral but a political process

Which is my way of saying, gender is performance but the lack of an objective inner truth doesn't mean you have a right to misgender people not performing how you think they should, because perception isn't morally neutral, it's a political and moral action