Part of the latent ableism and transphobia in some cyberpunk stories (not naming any names) is inseperable from the failed anticapitalism (or anti-corporatism) of those same stories

in a lot of 20XX setting cyberpunk stories, corporations have completely replaced the state, the state no longer exists, it's an ancap dystopia, and the anti-capitalist focus of the story shows the horrific abuses that corporations commit given absolute power over people

So they're framing things like cybernetic prosthetics, body modification and other transhumanism as an evil corporate perversion of the human body (there are also class metaphors in this I'll go into in my Cyberpunk 2077 vid)

The crucial issue is that when it comes to transhumanism or cybernetics, both are pretty clear allegory for trans & disabled people, and when you eliminate the state, and remove the neutral ground in which these changes are provided to people, they're evil corporate changes

In these stories the reason people change their bodies is overlooked in favour of a pseudo anticapitalist critique and you end up with this sort of marxism-terfism-ableism cursed ideology where people who need prosthetics or seek medical transition are evil corporate degenerates

I know people never read the whole thread before giving me dumbass replies but I'll just be explicit here in saying that I'm talking about what often goes WRONG in the cyberpunk genre, and I've arrived at this analysis by seeing stories that avoid this stuff or do it well

Anyway those are just some of my cyberpunk thoughts, hope you'll enjoy more of those when I get round to making my proper 2077 vid

Addendum 1: "failed anticapitalism" is that they assume the trend is towards states ceasing to exist & corporations taking their place instead of the more plausible emergence of "corporation-states"
(see Observer by @BlooberTeam for a better example that shows the contrary) 1/2

it is a very liberal critique of capitalism and you see it in everything from 2077 to Alien to Prey, where the "real problem" is the "bad corporation" getting too much power, instead of a system that prioritises capital over community and human needs 2/2

Addendum 2: these stories at their absolute worst bring together the idea that corporations are changing people in a bad spooky way with orientalism and xenophobia around the corporations and pinkwashing in the corporate advertising to create 1/2

a very real sense that all minority issues are a front for a sort of "shadowy cabal" responsible for the evils of capitalism and BAM just like that your cyberpunk story is promoting nazism. Now THAT'S punk! 2/2

Addendum 3: there is a very tangible difference between the cyberpunk stories that come from a minoritised perspective and talk about the issues of their group versus the stories that come from an outsider to that group. 1/3

the outsider usually tries to include those minoritised people and their struggles but ends up falling into these traps stated above by wanting permission to enjoy these aesthetics but not understanding the issues (see the orientalism in much of the cyberpunk genre) 2/3

as opposed to those minoritised people telling their own stories about the ways that capital stigmatises, problematises and marginalises them
(see Umurangi Generation by @Veselekov for a good counterexample) 3/3