Why Trans People Are So Threatening
A Reflection on Fear, Control, Transphobia and the Illusion of Certainty The recent surge in anti-trans rhetoric has left many asking, “Why so much now?” For me, the answer keeps circling back to something deeply human: our need for certainty in the face of fear. Especially fear of death, of change, of losing identity. In my studies as a Spiritual Health Practitioner, I’ve come across a psychological framework that helped everything click: Terror Management Theory (TMT), [1]—the idea that much of our behaviour is driven by our need to fend off the reality of our mortality. Terror Management Theory and Transphobia TMT was inspired by the work of cultural anthropologist and philosopher Ernest Becker , whose Pulitzer Prize–winning book The Denial of Death argued that much of human behaviour is driven by our fear of mortality. Becker suggested that we construct cultural worldviews—religious doctrines, national identities, moral codes, to give life meaning and t...