Gender Identity As Job
Reacting to Philosophy Tube’s Identity: A Trans Coming Out Story
Content warning: This essay discusses suicide ideation and eating disorders.
This weekend, prominent leftist Youtuber Philosophy Tube (aka Abigail Thorn) came out as a transgender woman. A few hours after making heartfelt coming-out posts on Twitter and Tumblr, she released a 37-minute Youtube video about her journey, entitled Identity: A Trans Coming Out Story.
As a trans person and Philosophy Tube fan, this was a welcome and eagerly anticipated announcement. I’d noticed, as many fans had, that Abigail had hinting about being trans online for the past several months. Her appearance had been changing, and several times she had to step in and discourage fans from speculating about why. I figured she would come out when she was ready, when she felt secure and ready to take on the deluge of ignorance that would inevitably follow. As it turned out, she happened to schedule her coming-out video for the same day that electronic musician and trans trailblazer Sophie died, providing much-needed good news on an otherwise grief-filled day.
