The Club Q Shooter is *not* Non-Binary
Stop. Playing. Along.
One of my favorite Christmas movies is “Miracle on 34th Street.” It culminates in a courtroom trial that centers on whether or not a man is really Santa Claus.
It’s been on my mind constantly since the Colorado Springs shooter’s attorneys announced that he is “non-binary.” In the time since the announcement, I’ve watched otherwise intelligent, serious commentators speculate as to whether or not the shooter has a “real” non-binary identity, or if it could possibly be “a troll.”
For heaven’s sake, people. Stop. Just stop.
He’s not “non-binary” because nobody is non-binary.
Here are two proofs.
People who declare themselves non-binary assert a difference between themselves, who are non-binary, and the rest of us, who fit into the binary. They thus create a new binary of which they are a part, proving that they are not in fact non-binary.
Non-binary is said to be an “umbrella term” meant to cover people who don’t “conform” to “gender expectations.” What they mean by this, if you push them to be clear and specific, is always the retrograde sex role crap we supposedly left behind decades ago.
Nobody conforms to all of it. Nobody. If you think you know of someone who does, have them email me. Ah, but if he conforms to all the manly ones, first you’ll have to go drag him out of the field where he’s killing food. And if she conforms to all the womanly ones, you’ll have to go to the kitchen, have her put on some shoes, make sure her water isn’t about to break, and teach her what a computer is.
What’s that you say? My examples of sex role expectations aren’t correct? They’re too extreme? I dispute that. I also dispute whatever sex role expectations you, or anyone else, are using to defend “non-binary” as a thing. Sex role expectations vary dramatically even within the single country of the United States. I grew up in the deep South and moved to New England as an adult, and what constitutes an “average” or “typical” man or woman is radically different between the two.
Globally, the range is so wide that any group defined as containing those who don’t fit into all of the male or female role expectations is simply another way of describing “people who are alive.”
“Non-binary” is Woke speak for “I’m special!” And that’s all it is.
It. Means. Nothing.
Non-binary isn’t a thing. Stop pretending it is; you’re handing the Wokesters an undeserved and unearned victory. Don’t cede that ground.
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FYI on comment threads: I banned someone from commenting here, and refunded her, because she pretended to be offended because I sometimes swear (as if anyone who followed me on Twitter or has read my Substack could have failed to notice this) and then pulled a stunt my parents pulled, diagnosing me with a disorder that they themselves actually had. I have made absolutely no secret of my psychiatric diagnoses. Indeed, I comment on them with great regularity. The idea that whipping out an amateur diagnosis that's inaccurate will work to make me pretend that a stupid argument is anything but stupid is silly, but then again, this is the internet.
I likewise refunded someone a couple of days ago, a smarmy asshole who pretends to believe that children don't have a biological sex. That anyone could imagine arguing to *me* that children aren't fully human would go over well is farcical. After he started that crap here I was notified by more than one person that going from female writer to female writer engaging in sophistry to gain the fuel of replies is one of his years-long habits. Ain't nobody got time for that.
Both of their emails now go straight to trash without being seen by me, but narcissists gonna narcissist, so it's likely that one or both of them will turn up here again. I'll keep an eye on it and keep refunding and banning until they get the point.
This is beautifully logical and clear. In several non-American cultures, it’s common for male friends to hold hands, as just one example. In Israel, everyone serves in the military regardless of gender. I love baking and sewing but I’ve also built a deck. My husband was in the police and the military but he also knows how to knit. There’s an awesome male YouTuber I follow called The Quilting Marine: he quilts as a therapeutic art to deal with his PTSD.
When supposedly progressive people insult “normies” with this kind of language manipulation, I instinctively feel like, fuck off.