By Sasa Testa* Last Friday, Valeria Licciardi, a former contestant on the reality show Big Brother , was the only trans woman invited to discuss feminism, transphobia, abortion rights, and other issues on the program Intrusos , hosted by Jorge Rial. Among the panelists was Marcela Tauro, whom Valeria questioned about the pathologization and stigmatization she and Guido Kaczka had made a few months earlier regarding non-binary identities on the radio program No está todo dicho. Tauro's immediate reaction was to evade the question, instead talking about the Misoprostol pill and saying that, as a "woman" (a category that at this point transcends the mere fact of having ovaries, a vulva, and a vagina, because we now know that one is not born a woman but rather becomes one), she was uncomfortable with the mention of this medication, given her Catholic faith.

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It's truly lamentable how short-sighted we sometimes are. Marcela Tauro may have forgotten that it was the Catholic Church that instigated a holy war in the Middle Ages and murdered many people in cold blood in the name of a so-called god. It was also the Church that, through the Inquisition, ordered thousands of women to be burned at the stake simply for being labeled "witches." And I don't want to forget that it was the Jesuits, also part of the Catholic Church, who enslaved thousands of inhabitants of our Indigenous communities while, in the name of God, claiming to evangelize them.

It was the Catholic Church that spoke of "unspeakable sin" and "unnatural acts," while simultaneously performing abortions on virgins, impregnated by the supposed archangel. It is the Catholic Church that, through a judgment riddled with dubious arguments, opposes the fight for the legalization of abortion.

The importance of inclusive language 

On the other hand, and returning to the striking aspects of the program, I think it is highly necessary to remember the importance of using inclusive language to avoid phrases like “transvestites”, said during the broadcast of Intruders, whose guest was, coincidentally, a trans woman, can finally stop speaking out.

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Discourses are generators of reality and also drivers of the maintenance of the collective unconscious. Therefore, questioning what is said is simultaneously questioning the reality presented to us as the only possible one and ceasing to render invisible those whom hegemonic powers have decided constitute the periphery. It is also acknowledging that, ultimately, we too have a voice, and that this voice also constructs realities.

And when will they become tolerant?

But, well, protected by the "turn the other cheek" that the gospels of the apparently saintly Matthew and Luke proclaim, the members of Intruders They were saying on air that we had to be tolerant because they were “learning.” And, once again, the question of whether they've ever stopped to reflect on how many years the LGBTQ+ community has actually been practicing tolerance surfaces in my thoughts, and I realize that, clearly, the scales are tipped only to one side. With tolerance and compassion, we remain trapped in the exclusionary binary logic of homolesbotransbinobinary. And when will they show tolerance? But, of course, it's better to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to all of this, because what seems to matter most to public opinion isn't bringing issues like these to light, but rather the clashes between Valeria and Lizy Tagliani. After all, there will be time to talk about the other stuff later. After all, we will continue practicing tolerance forever and ever. “There is none so blind as he who will not see.” *She teaches Spanish, Literature, and Latin, and is a gender fluid activist. She is currently pursuing a master's degree in Gender Studies and Policies (UNTREF). ]]>