Tamás Beáta

2021.10.12

Gender, Rights and Freedom of Speech

Jordan Peterson, professor from University of Toronto who refused to using gender-neutral
pronouns maded a huge issue about gender rights and the freedom of speech.

Jordan Peterson position – as I undertsood- is tha he refuge to use the transgender pronounce,
like „zir” or „ze”, instead he will addres the persons as they playing. He made a video-series
about this situatin and uploaded to YouTube, but nowadays these videos is not available
anymore. Anyways, his action caused a great indignation in the University and across
America. All transgender or LGBTQ community was outraged by this, while the law make
that clear, he did not do anything wrong or improper.

Besides the video, I also readed an article by the BCC about this situation where the writer
made a question: Jordan Peterson is the villain or the victim? I rather to start here.

In my earliest reaction papers, I mentioned that I do not agree with transgender people and I
can’t really feel their lifestyle. For me, I see people who where born a girl or a boy, and they
made theirself the oposite gender, woman or man. In the first stage they were pronounced as
they was born and seen, she or he, but afterwarsd they were pronounced how they were seen.
If they act and dress how they feel about theirself, other people will pronounced they just like
that. As did Jordan Peterson too. But if they don’t I don’t really understand that how could
people name on something that unrecognizable and what I want to say is in this case Peterson
was the victim and not the transgender people.

I want to turning to the second-main-topic, the freedom of speech. As this professor made his
own standpoint in a liberal, democratic, free-speech world, he got a lot of attack about how he
dare say these things. Among other it also came out that what the law say about all of this. For
me it’s absolutely unbeliveable that a professor well-formulated, politely opinion was treated
like a hate-speech.

Nowadays I feel like the whole who I am-why I don’t have rights-LGBTQ-crossover are out
of control. I belive in the freedom of speech. That thing have more history than the LGBTQ
community will ever have. It took real time, that now me as a woman, or non-aristocrate
human being can say what I want, or I could do in the past. I think the transgender people
want what do not exist. Make a neutral pronounce is like – for me- we objectify people. From
the big creation, and that can be anything what you belive in, the human beings was male or
female. This or that. And yes, for the technology you can change it to one another, but you
can’t creat a third one. I mean, yeah, you could creat laws, and operation, but no matter how
many surgery you will have, or how many plastics will be in your body, or law you will made,
the mainthing will never change, you will be a male or a female. I think call a person as they
look like is not a hate-crime. The she/he pronounce can be switched, yes, but a stranger only
will know if you are this or that if you would look alike. Creating a different pronounce will
never be the acceptable for the world. Also I don’t think that if someone do not use correctly
the pronounce is also not a hate-crime and not a discrimination. There’s time when you
cannot recignize if you meet a transgender people or not, because it’s always obviousli and
nowadays the outside look don’t tell you that the person is male or female and that’s way this
can’t be illicit. For an counterexample, there are the gypsy community. They were named for
decades like this, ’gypsy’, but this denomination contain that were they come from, were they
belong, and that’s why this word was considered as discrimination and the denomination for
this etnicity was changed to ’Romani people’. The she/he pronounce will never contain
discriminatory nature about the transgender people, only can be discrimination affect if we
talk about feminism, but that’s a whole different thing.

I also want to return to the freedom of speech and highlight a new aspect. The last decade the
LGBTQ topic were controlled the public life. I undertsood that they want to force a better life
for theirself, but feel a little like the thing went over to the other side of the horse. For me it
seems like if somebody do not accept and suppert them, they are aggainst them. I feel like me,
as a straight, religious person do not support them or agree with them, I am a bad person to
them. It’s important to highlight these things. The LGBTQ community is kinda new and it
goes against the tradition. But it is present, it can’t be denied. It also can’t be denied that there
are lot of people who are hate them and use violence against them. But also there are people,
who choose the third way, who are not support this community but accept their presents. As a
part of this ’third group’ I accept that there are people, who are gay, transgender, etc. And
they speak up ( assume that they do it politly) and change their body as they want, they should
accept that too that there are more people who are can not feel their situation and may have
objection. If they choose to live the lifestyle as they want, they have to accept which comes
with it.
Jordan Peterson was not against the transgender people, He only said that they can’t be named
after what is not a non-existed thing. Taking away the freedom of speech is more dangerous
for me than not use a pronounce that not even which is not written into law.