Agreed on the scare quotes thing. As I've said before, I refer to Amanda with masculine because I believe that it is a person pretending to be female who does not identify as female in real life; it is an entirely false identity. This is not in any way meant to trivialize trans people, but the "quotes" might make people think badly about us.
Although that I suppose that you can argue that net identities are also people as well, as we all play different roles in different situations. Is the net version a female if it's associated with a male in meatspace? But then, completely separated from the body in the wired space, is it even possible for online-only identities like this to even be trans, if they were originally created as female? That would be like calling Motoko Kusanagi a transwoman because her creator is male. Or "was male", if the death of the author applies? Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on Amanda, as it's possible to identify as multiple distinct genders simultaneously.
Ceterum censeo Amandam esse delendam
-- ∇×V
Although that I suppose that you can argue that net identities are also people as well, as we all play different roles in different situations. Is the net version a female if it's associated with a male in meatspace? But then, completely separated from the body in the wired space, is it even possible for online-only identities like this to even be trans, if they were originally created as female? That would be like calling Motoko Kusanagi a transwoman because her creator is male. Or "was male", if the death of the author applies? Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on Amanda, as it's possible to identify as multiple distinct genders simultaneously.
Ceterum censeo Amandam esse delendam
-- ∇×V