#TERF behaviour isn't cool

[lordadmiralfarsight]

Essentialism, it's bad even if it looks left wing

Essentialism, its a conceptual base for a LOT of shitty things.

Racism is a variety of essentialism, where you are considered confined to the essential qualities or flaws of your "race" (whatever bullshit is put in the word). It creates a veneer of superiority based on skin color/ethnicity/whatever to comfort the adherant's ego, make them more amenable to the professing populist's ambitions and occult one basic reality : people of all color and origins can be wondrous geniuses who bring amazing advancements to humanity or terminally awkward dumbasses (and sometimes both at once).

Classism and casteism is the same, evaluating the social value of someone based on the essential qualities or flaws of their social class or cast. These two rests a lot on tradition and the natural tendency to social endogamy and self-reproduction through education. But in the end, the "superiority" of the higher social strata class or cast is attributed to essential qualities instead of access to better education and learning materials.

But when it comes to sexism, the essentialism seems to, most of the time, be only recognized one way in many keft wing circles, at least on the surface (which is the most visible part). What prompted this? I saw a post on the Barbie movie on this here hellsite that quoted a bunch of tweets. Up to the end, it was fairly feel good, cute, positive. Even if most of the quoted tweets seemed to have missed the commentary on gender relations that is apparently part of the movie.

I will be upfront, I have not seen the movie. Not by ideology, but simply because I do not feel the urge. But from my understanding, the situation of the Kens is ... not ideal. It could be better.

Most of the tweets did not mention that, focusing on the female aspect. And then there was this :

So, over generalisation based on gender elevating one gender as sweet and kind and non-violent, just vibing, while the other is decried as brutish, oppressive and violent. No nuance, just big homogenous blocks. That is incredibly essentialist. That is also a kind of take that feeds Far Right pundits like nobody's business.

Think a bit on the underlying philosophy. What's being said isn't "inequalities are bad and both genders should be equal", it's "the wrong gender is in power and everything would be perfect if gender relations were switched around". That take doesn't have a problem with the system, but with who is in control. When the system is unjust, changing who controls it or benefits from it doesn't make it just.

And just to pre-empt : yes, I'm a man. So what? I am not obligated to suffer for the actions of other dick-owners.

[stil-lindigo]

okay so, not entirely sure what the last anon was on about (and it very well could be a troll just trying to bait. they really should have at least brought up what they meant if they wanted to appear in good faith), but it may be in relation to "drink up" and how it attracted terf attention on twitter? (which I know you addressed btw, so I hope this doesn't come across as an attack or anything)

personally, I think the phrase "our only natural predator" might have appealed to terf rhetoric just a little (but that's my opinion - I very well could be 100% wrong). I have my own personal feelings on the use of "natural" in the phrase (men don't naturally prey on women like animal predators do their prey - if anything, it's unnatural, deliberately chosen behavior - and it reminds me of the excuse that "it's just naturally how men are," like "boys will be boys." HOWEVER, I see how that phrasing ties into the "lioness/women turning it around and preying on the predator" theme, so honestly it works well there), but aside from all that, I can also see why it might've attracted terfs: bc they very often view and frame trans women as male predators to cis women. I know that's definitely not how you intended it though!!

and this also isn't meant as a nitpick to your work, so my apologies if that's how it comes across. I really like your art and your writing (and "drink up" has a very cool theme)! it's just that I can see how terfs might've interpreted it a certain way. it's not your fault that they viewed it like that though, and you've made it very clear you're NOT down with trans exclusionary BS. so that's literally the only thing I could see anon complaining about tbh, assuming they're not just being a troll. also I'm sorry for the super long message (I have an issue w/ typing too much smh). I just thought I'd share my thoughts on it in case it's at all helpful, but also this might just be annoying to read instead, so honestly feel free to just discard it if you prefer!

It’s not annoying at all anon, and I appreciate you taking the time to send this in. The comic you’re talking about is one I think back on with a lot of regret. It was made in a furious haze after a big time female streamer revealed that she was being mentally abused for years by her husband, where he would waste her hard earned money, threaten her dogs and her livelihood and overall be a monster to the woman who was their primary breadwinner. The reaction online to this information by her largely male audience was so genuinely vile and violently misogynistic that I made the comic, without thinking broadly about the implications you’ve already pointed out. In reality, the comic was meant to talk about how all women (cis and trans) suffer under the patriarchy and how the label of womanhood can often be an open call for baseless derision, dehumanisation and entitlement at many levels.

TERFS quickly co-opted the comic, and I’ll always regret ever giving them an opportunity to feel empowered and validated by my art, but I’ve learned from the experience overall to do better by my trans siblings. Thank you for engaging in good faith - I hope my behaviour now and in the future can make up for past mis-steps.

[vergess]

So there's this popular post circulating. It goes like this:

bulldyke-rider (Sep 11 2022):

"Do I deserve this?" "Am I worthy of this?"

So irrelevant. Do you want it?

OP has me blocked for saying this before and no doubt again in the future, but that vaguely phrased hopeful language is a recruitment tactic. See, OP used to be just a TERF, but has since decided being a "feminist" was too limiting, choosing to be an open and avowed eugenicist instead.

The unspecified "thing" OP wanted to do in spite of not "deserving" it was: A Lesbian Wife handed to her, since All These Fake Bisexuals Are Not Capable Of Truly Loving Another Woman. Incel behaviour is cool and normal and totally not flirting with fascism when lesbians do it, right? 🙄

Other gems of hers include:

Trans women also pretend to be lesbians for sexual predation

JKR and radical feminists in general are "too smart" for tumblr unlike the gormless ~moids and bihets~ that use this platform

Telling people that their poverty is a moral failing and that people in poverty should be denied the right to have children, but it's okay because it's "totally not eugenics"

Do you have a disability that makes using a computer or phone difficult or impossible? Good news! The eugenics parade continues, with "learn how to do it anyway, or die."

It's fine though, because see, some of her best friends are disabled, and that makes them better than most people and such an inspiration! So, her eugenics are TOTALLY cool and fine!

Oh, and if you disagree, be sure not to cite any of your studies in a "college degree" she thinks is "useless". If you study in a field capitalists don't want to fund, that makes you pro-capital by magic. Why, the very term "anti-intellectualism" only exists to justify extraction of wealth. It's not like anti intellectualism FAMOUSLY PRE-DATES THE ENGLISH FUCKING LANGUAGE ITSELF or anything. Aristotle? Never heard of her.

This is a great fucking example of what it looks like when a bigoted swamp of a person develops excellent fluency in the language of progressive, egalitarian, leftist, etc spaces. But uses that language to exclusively push the most heinous, undisguised hatred for any person she doesn't consider fuckable.

She makes these vague, optimistic sounding posts knowing they will get circulated by the people she hates, to literally trick them into directing their followers, especially their younger and more malleable followers, to her. She does this specifically to prey on people for indoctrination to her too-extreme-for-TERFs beliefs.

It is a predatory propaganda technique and I am desperately requesting that if you MUST reblog that post, at least make it clear to your followers NOT to click through to the OP.

Better yet, steal the post and make your own version that isn't a thinly veiled demand for sexual slavery!

[iantovjones]

transmasc call out post from a trans man here

fellas, buddies, besties, so many of us were socialised as women. we experienced misogyny and lived under the patriarchy just like cis women. we have experienced transphobic behaviour towards us, dealt with transphobic rhetoric. we are often overlooked and pass under the radar to both our benefit and detriment. considering all of this, I pose a question.

how could you possibly go through all of that, witness so much, and then turn your back on the treatment trans women go through? How could you be okay with the rampant transmisogyny both outside and within the queer community?

we owe everything to trans women. our fight for liberation would have been stopped before it even started if it weren't for trans women. we exist together as one of the most beautiful things a person could be, trans. and you are willing to let them suffer? to cater to those who will never fully understand or care for us in the same way a trans woman can?

get your head out of your ass, get off your toxic dudebro misogyny bandwagon and actually fucking do something to help the pillars of our community.

cis people will never fully accept you. in the current world we live in, we will never be seen the way we want to. Not if we abandon our trans sisters and use them as stepping stones to acceptance. That isn't how this shit works.

We fight together, or we die together.

The cool guys at work won't like you more just because you agree with their transmisogynistic banter, and the radfems won't feel safe around you if you agree with their TERF bullshit. all they will do is see your agreement as more reason to invalidate the trans community. The community which they soon will absolutely lump you into.

hurting trans women hurts everyone. have a goddamn heart.

[2158ad]

Flagged as terf.

Go to hell.

Maybe we are all in hell already! No I am not a Trans Exclusionist Radical Feminist (no need to stigmatize this) and I never did a profound research about it, did you? I do follow people of all kinds of opinions tough because, not like you, I prefer to enrich my view of society and the world instead of excluding from my sight every single opinion that does not match with what I believe. I think cultivating this nowdays would solve so many problems. And, apparently not like you, I am not an autoritarian person, I am always open to discussion, sometimes I am not right on every single aspect of what I endorse (and if you think you do, I feel sorry for you, get better), and it is good to have the hability to change opinions when one does not make sense compared to a opinion that is more reasonable. Sometimes someone with a totally different world view than yours can say something that is valuable (cool isn't it?).

But really, the word TERF is totally stigmatized around social media at this moment, people are literally brain programmed to see this word and trigger their flight or fight response... Like... it is just a different opinion than yours and maybe not even that if you study enough, because if you think rationally and see any other people's point of view eventually you will find common matters with yours. Promoting this kind of behaviour that blindly exclude and repress other's opinions that SEEM different than yours does nothing good to society, it is literally authoritarism.

I think we all should be uniting around what we have in commom to fight the real opressors (the economic and political elite), instead of blindly fighting our equals as if it is them that have the power to create a sistematic opression that intents to ensalave and profit off our destruction, our pathologies, our necessities, our hate against one another, profit off us.

[theshampyon]

Shampyon is not on twitter

Water takes the shape of it's container. Personalities tend to do the same, to a certain degree. We're still who we are, but certain sites play into certain impulses and behaviours more than others. Twitter's a prime example.

By the time I boil down what I want to say into a low enough character account in a minimal number of tweets, the nuance and subtlety and tact is gone. There's nothing left but blunt fact and/or snark. Even when there is room for more, the culture of the site isn't super receptive to it. Every thread, no matter how benign the topic, is filled with Musk Remoras, MAGA chuds, COVIDiots, LibsOfTikTok stans, and so on. No matter how many and how often I block them there's always a hundred more waiting in the wings, and I find it far too tempting to dunk on them.

I can see why some people have fun with it, but for me it just becomes a feedback loop of negative emotion. I think my account actually got greenlit by Shinigami Eyes, which was cool, but overall I spent too much time arguing with arseholes in full petty snark mode. I don't like who I am on that site.

I like who I am here. Sometimes I get snarky, or angry, but there's more room for me to be my full self, more room to actually be thoughtful and tactful. Any negativity I put out is usually a conscious choice, not a result of the format. Even my angry rants get to have some level of nuance and depth. The chuds and TERFs and fuckwits are very easy to block and avoid. I can just surround myself with cool people posting cool shit. Tumblr reminds me of the early days of the web, when I spent time on little forums about niche shit where we could moderate effectively enough that no-one could ruin our good times for very long.

I've just run an app to delete every one of my tweets and I've deactivated my accounts. Someone else might snap up the usernames now, so I want it to be very clear that if you see someone on twitter with a name like mine after the 17th of December 2022, they're not me.

[somecunttookmyurl]

I'm trying to think how to word this, because the trans woman was 100% in the wrong, but also your response was 100% transphobic. This isn't me defending her or trying to get you to care about what I think, but we're both residents of TERF Island, casual transphobia is on the rise, and I need to at least try to explain why that wasn't cool. Yeah, no problem not checking the pronouns of whatever random person interacts with you, who even does that. The problem is her saying she's uncomfortable with a term that is technically gendered and you saying you don't care. It's fundamentally the same principle as people misgendering Caitlyn Jenner for being shitty and is basically saying that if trans people are "bad enough" we're not entitled to the most basic dignity that cis people are granted by default. Whether you decide to even consider this makes no odds given I've already unfollowed (not that that's relevant either) but I hope you'll give it at least a couple of second's thought for the sake of any trans people in your life. I really hope this doesn't come across as aggressive, I just wanted to explain in the interest of understanding.

like i get that you're trying to be. you know. considerate and all but it was blatantly fake outrage of the type that's so ridiculous it stirs up even more anti-x sentiment as a result

as evidenced by the fact she just called me an extremely gendered "slur". without asking me anything about my gender or pronouns.

i have absolutely no time for that sort of undermining behaviour of real serious issues and i will not indulge it

[star-anise]

The more I reread what I wrote, and the more the emotions die down, the more embarrassed I am at my reaction. I'm increasingly aware I owe you a genuine apology, but I'm sort of at a loss for how I could offer one genuine enough. It seems to be my unfortunate gut instinct to lean into anger as a means to avoid the hurt of old wounds, and that isn't a shortcoming I should have made you pay for.

Thank you for humbling yourself enough to say so. For what it’s worth, I forgive you. 

As a general note about my account and posts: I do keep a tighter watch on my notes than many people and will ban you if you attack or use violent imagery towards other users, argue lastingly and unrepentantly for TERF values, or just generally end up being a huge headache. Those are the same rules I use for everyone, though.

I... okay, I’m kind of sorry to make this a teaching moment? But this kind of is a teaching moment. My Tumblr is having a “screw up and mouth off and apologize” week. I’m on a restricted Tumblr regimen because I regret my own behaviour. On Monday night someone else used a different definition of “empathy” in reply to one of my posts and we yelled at each other before we realized we were saying the exact same thing; on Tuesday night I sought out an interaction with an unpleasant person, and when they got unpleasant, I lost my cool and made derogatory remarks about their character; yesterday, I apologized and spent as much time as I could offline; tonight I spent most of my time picking out flower bulbs to pre-order, and I guess you made up the slack I left behind in producing an example of walking back something said in anger.

So, said with deepest sympathy: I’m sorry, and thank you, and please don’t feel too bad about it.

I very much want my Tumblr (if nowhere else on Tumblr) to be the kind of place where people with good intentions can talk and disagree and screw up and repair damage. I talk about some seriously high-voltage subjects; trauma responses come with the territory. I’m enormously glad @kayjaydee17 was able to step in and genuinely engage with you.

[toycarousel]

hey! i hope this isn't weird to say but i used to keep up with your voice acting stuff years ago, and in looking for it again i came across your blog here. i just wanted to say it's really cool to see that you're still around and doing voice work! i hope all is well and life is treating you okay

It’s not at all weird~! I know my response will be weirder, unfortunately, ahahaha! :’) Life is... a struggle.  But it’s a struggle worth, uh, struggling for, imo.  Ahahaha~! It really, truly is.  I’ve been through so much, and yet somehow I managed to voice act through all of it, despite the pain, which is ongoing when you’re an addict to a substance or behaviour (I’ve got substance issues).  I’ve tried to stay around.  After the ban here on tumblr, I’ve moved more to twitter, but I’ll still be here too~!!! Just a little less because I’ve been... getting healthier after lessening some of my tumblr activity??? It has nothing to do with my awesome followers, btw, it has to do with... groups that run in mine, that a lot of ppl I love don’t realize are spewing TERF (trans -- esp. trans feminine -- exclusionary radical feminist) rhetoric, because they are afraid to face something I’ve had to face.  The fact that you will be in your 20s regardless of how much you think being in your teens would be “better.”

I’m genuinely happy you like my work still, and thank you for sticking around -- I know I could be hard to take at one point in time, and I am now too, but now I have forgiveness, and now I’m focusing on my voice work~