[video]https://youtu.be/sZa26_esLBE[/video]

On the plus side, it is a positive portrayal showing that trans doesn’t necessarily equate to effeminate, that someone who is trans can still work all day at a demanding physical traditionally-cis-male job, as well as finding time for shopping, scones and flower pressing.

On the down side, the “poofter” bit is obviously less progressive. 😕

But it does then finish with a rousing acknowledgement that actually “he’s okay”.

So maybe it is really a song about acceptance?

Is this a thread where everyone pretends to be a character out of W.1.A.?

It’s lumerjackaphobic.

I think the Canadian mounted police may be offended. Won’t somebody please think of the Canadian mounted police

It’s comedy, it’s from another era…..it’s still ok to find it funny.

Do people actually waste their day worrying about this stuff!?!?

Phobic against transsexuals or transvestites?

It’s Monty Python’ist.

We are just assuming that the characters are male, based purely on their physical appearance.
If we put that notion aside then the lyrics are nothing out of the “ordinary”.

I’m not scared of my van.

Having said that, Optimus Prime is quite threatening.

perchypanther – Member
I’m not scared of my van.
Having said that, Optimus Prime is quite threatening.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czAOngHlJ-A[/video]

IIRC the album is named for the fear/hatred of scummy tour vans…

It might seem hip and ironic to laugh at that video but even today timber production and associated industries is still almost entirely male dominated, with women, trans/intersex/non binary/ and gender fluid individuals making up for less than 10% in the industry overall and less than 1% in actual logging.

WOMEN now outnumber men at elite colleges, law schools, medical schools and in the overall work force. Yet a stark imbalance of the sexes persists in the deadly but lucrative lumber industry.

And analysts say more than social equity is at stake. A dearth of ideas and participation by non-cis males in the logging industry has business consequences as well because women and trans people actually think differently from men, despite there being absolutely no difference in their brains.

Wooden products, from firewood to chopping boards often attract more non men than men as users. And many products from wood suppliers are aimed at non men. But when trees are cut down they are often referred to as logs, a term loaded with phallic symbolism which makes women and trans people deeply uncomfortable. The logs are then bucked – verbiage associated with the male act of sexually penetrating their victims.

Research indicates that investing in women, trans and intersex as lumber jacks is good for the bottom line. Venture-backed start-ups run by women use, on average, 40 percent less capital than start-ups run by men and are increasingly involved in successful initial public offerings of stock, according to a recent white paper by Cindy Padnofanaos, a venture capitalist who compiled data from 100 studies on gender and lumber entrepreneurship.

However this can never happen until this patriarchal old boys club accepts the need for women, trans and intersex individuals on the mountainside. Changing, washing and toilet facilities for people of all genders need to be a pre-requisite as most non-cis are reluctant to simply pull down their trousers and spray their urine over the forest in front of co-workers and potential predatory animals.

Chainsaws, axes, hammers, saws are all designed for male users typically being heavy, smelly, loud and dangerous. Other than the oh so patronising pink chainsaws on sale from Husqvarna the arborist tool industry has ignored anything outside of its traditional male customer base. Even the term “tool” itself is obviously loaded with phallic inference and yet more evidence of the dominance of the conceptual penis as a tool of oppression and male tyranny.

I realise you’re taking the piss jimjam, but I have a drinking buddy who after leaving the military, spent most of his life working in heavy machinery doing stuff like logging, mining and running plant equipment in incredibly remote areas of Russia. He eventually got fairly high up in major multinational plant firms (i.e. the ‘flown about in private executive jets’ level).

His views on women in the workplace are distinctly “unreconstructed”.

He doesn’t trust a woman around any equipment or machinery, regardless of her qualification/experience “because they just don’t understand it”. He doesn’t think women should do any manual labour, because they are “useless” and doesn’t think any women should be allowed in the police, fire service or military because those are jobs where you need a tough strong man not a feeble crying woman.

Not sure I’d even dare ask his views on trans or intersex.

(He’s a really nice guy BTW, just a bit… patriarchal)

He doesn’t trust a woman around any equipment or machinery

Not even an ironing board?

I tend to determine whether something is “transphobic” (or any other x-phobic) based on the content of the material, not whether it mentions a particular group.

Essentially, if something is mocking an individual because of who they are rather than what they do, I find it a problem.

As an example, I find Barbara from The League of Gentlemen bloody hilarious. They don’t always get it right but, overall, they mock things I’ve heard just about every trans person I know, including myself, say and do at some time or another. It’s observational rather than just “point at the tranny and laugh”.

So far as the OP’s video? I find it mildly funny – I’ve never been a huge MP fan. I certainly don’t find it offensive.

Of course, I can only speak for myself. It is very possible that there is some poor kid watching this thread, terrified to come out and be themselves because they worry they will be laughed at, maybe even physically attacked. Given the attempted suicide rate amongst trans teenagers is over 50% (yes, really, 50%), there is a hell of a responsibility on all of us to think before we mock anyone…

Rachel

edit – just because I used the word “tranny” doesn’t mean you can

edit – and, should such a worried kid be out there, I’m happy to talk about stuff.