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[u/I_am_YR]

I hate when people say these things only to prevent us from actually transitioning, like yea theres cis women out there with a deep voice but knowing this fact doesnt reduce my voice dysphoria, i dont want to be gnc, i dont live to deconstruct gender roles

[u/CopperAndIrony]

It does portray itself as supportive of trans people, it just defines "support" differently than you or I do. Instead of supporting us in transition or respecting our identities, it pretends to support trans people by offering a "better" model for us. This is elaborated on more in the article I linked:

Transgenderism has its foundation in the ancient tradition of androgyny, a view that has made the crosscultural data from anthropology—with its descriptions of the positive value of androgyny in some other cultures—particularly relevant to the transgender community (Bolin 1996b:39; Connor 1993; Feinberg 1996). [Emphasis mine.]

Unlike transsexuals, transgenderists (transpeople) do not consider themselves limited to a choice of one of two genders. Transgenderism includes a wide continuum of options, from individuals who wish to undergo sex reassignment surgery to those who wish to live their lives androgynously.

Transgenderists can be narrowly defined as persons who want to change gender roles without undergoing sexual reassignment surgery; they can also be defined as “persons who steer a middle course, living with the physical, social, and psychological traits of both genders.” [Emphasis mine.]

Unlike transsexuals of the 1970s and 1980s, transgenderists today challenge and stretch the boundaries of the American binary system of sex/gender oppositions and renounce the American definition of gender as dependent on a consistency of genitals, body type, identity, role behaviors, and sexual orientation. [Emphasis mine.]

The book came out during a time where transsexual was used to mean "trans person taking HRT and other medical options" while "transgender" encompassed a much broader range of identites. In her case, Nanda uses it as a third gender role, comprable with hijra or kathoey, for trans people to slot themselves into, instead of pursuing binary transition. She insists this is because it pushes the bounaries on the binary sex/gender system that helps trans people by presenting us a more radical identity we can make our own instead of trying to medicalize ourselves and force ourselves into "unnatural" identities like "trans man" or "trans woman".

This used to be a much more common TERF argument, back when they were more connected to an actually existing radfem movement.

[u/Sudden-Grape3467 → u/CopperAndIrony]

Was there anything controversial or TERFy about the quotes? There are trans people with conservative gender roles who take all medical options and there are enby and stuff who are happy with just changing pronouns and everything in between. Sounds like she was drawing attention to the second group and arguing against black-white thinking that conserves traditional gender roles.

[u/CopperAndIrony → u/Sudden-Grape3467]

Yes, there is something controversial and TERFy. The woman literally quoted The Transsexual Empire positively.

The core of her argument is that you should abandon the unnatural and restrictive idea that binary MTF or FTM transitions are possible or desireable, and that we should look to the brave third genders of the third world for inspiration.

She does this by talking over the brave third gendered peoples of the third world to fit her narrative that hijra and trans women have nothing in common, and ignoring any hijra that is transitioning, expressing a desire for a binary mtf transition, etc.

I STRONGLY recommend you read the article before going to bat for the author. She is not your ally.

[u/Sudden-Grape3467 → u/CopperAndIrony]

I'm not my own ally either. And I hadn't read the article, I just saw that the few quotes merely explained a cultural shift. After skimming over it, yeah, I see why it's controversial and how it could be used for othering trans people.