may i speak
the way that people have been consistently perceiving ellie is making my eye twitch a lil like genuinely ... what?? i know she's a fictional character so like whatever but it's more so the thought process or lack thereof lately that is just.. sort of stunning me, a little bit?
people complain about male gaze ellie (rightfully so) but then turn around and sexualize her to a point that is almost damn near concerning !! thirst trapping scenes of her literally traumatized, breaking down and having panic attacks, sexualizing her appearance when she was quite literally the most unhealthy she had ever been and barely eating, barely sleeping, etc. not to mention for some reason the majority of people perceiving her as some sadistic dom with serial cheater tendencies as if she's not capable of any emotional depth.
it just makes my head spin a little and yes it's not real whatever it's just weird i guess seeing a character that i grew up with rapidly being treated like this all of a sudden, not to mention these behaviors are usually stemming from younger people as well?? it just makes me want to gatekeep her character and keep her in a bubble.. like omg girl has been through so much and is now unfortunately one of those mainstream characters that gets treated like shit by their community and the general public
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sometimes i wish i wasn’t transmasc.
i love being me, but it just gets so exhausting.
i’m not in an environment where i’m able to be entirely open about it, and it makes every moment when i’m with anyone i’m not out to exhausting. i feel like i’m putting on a show, pretending to be someone i’m not.
and then (and this is the main point of this post) sometimes it feels like the queer community hates people like me. not always, but certainly enough. enough to make me feel isolated, even in online spaces where i can be myself, because no one wants me to be me. the amount of shit i see by other queer people (even other trans men!) about how my manness somehow means i don’t experience oppression (which assumes every trans masc or man can or wants to pass—and even then, they must also be quiet about their transness), that trans mascs and men aren’t allowed to have the language to speak about their oppression, that we’re oppressing other trans people (by merit of being men, i guess???), that we’re evil disgusting monsters.
the fear-mongering around t, the idea that it makes you bad and dangerous, the idea that certain effects of t are inherently disgusting and bad.
the way that we’re either seen as “evil vicious wicked men” or “poor dumb stupid girls- i mean boys- i mean girls”.
we’re hated because we’re failed women.
we’re hated because we’re men.
no trans man or masc has ever experienced oppression based on their identity—and don’t you dare go look up the reported rates of violence, harassment, and s/a that we receive, don’t you dare look at how high they are!
trans men aren’t allowed to see our transness and our manhood as connected in any way, they must be separated (“we have to protect queerness from disgusting masculinity”—which is also harmful to anyone who is comfortable or even enjoys experiencing and embracing their masculinity).
gay trans men like me are introducing on the gay community.
straight trans men are either preying on innocent women, or they’re “better” than cis men, because they(“‘re not really men”) know what women want and are like and can thus serve women better!
trans men who still identify with lesbianism for whatever reason are either treated as women or treated (once again) as evil invaders out to harm women.
not to mention the trans mascs and men who identify with any other label than those three—no matter what, our identities and labels get twisted around to be used against us, to the point where sometimes it feels like maybe it’d be better if we didn’t identify as anything at all (except maybe that’d get turned against us too).
we get attacked for trying to have more neutral language (i.e. “pregant people” instead of “pregnant women”, “menstrual hygiene” instead of “feminine hygiene”, etc). we get attacked for having our own language (the way every single term used to describe transmasc oppression has been dissected and degraded until it’s become clear that maybe it’s not the word itself but simply the fact that we are using it).
we get told how much men are awful and horrible either as if we arent “really” men (“kill all men. but not you, you’re one of the ‘good ones’ (aka: i don’t see you as a man)”), or because we’re just as bad and need to be separated and killed and harassed and hated (“kill all men, including trans men. you can’t be mad, you’re asking for it by (existing as yourself) being a man!” “trans men really are the men of the lgbtqia+ community” (this is also a form of malgendering—gendering someone correctly for the sake of harming or attacking them (aka with malicious intent))).
i see so much help and resources for other queer people, but hardly any for trans mascs/men. i’ve seen support that parades itself as “for trans people”, and then it turns out it’s for all trans people except trans men. (this isn’t an exaggeration, by the way. i’ve seen multiple respurces that say that they’re for the support of all trans people, and then if you actually read into it, they’re for the support of trans women and nonbinary people only—which is completely fine that those support groups exist! but then don’t label it as “for all trans people” if it’s not for all trans people. that’s exclusionary, and can also present nonbinary identities as “women-lite”—and also often leaves no space for trans women and nonbinary people who present in a more masculine way or who also identify with manhood/as men to some degree, or for nonbinary people who dont identify with womanhood/as women at all.)
violence against trans men is so often erased because we’re misgendered even in death. we’re forcefully detransitioned. we’re s/a-ed and abused at extremely high rates.
we’re pitiful misled girls or failed women or wicked evil men or pick me’s or vile abusers.
we’re evil and we cannot be hurt or oppressed because we’re men, as if that is not a point of view that is based on bioessentialism/gender essentialism, racism, intersexism, and extremely harmful (especially to marginalised men in general—trans or not).
no identity is uniquely capable or incapable of harm—anyone can harm anyone, regardless of who they are.
and yet, and yet, and yet, it’s alright because we asked for it by simply being us.
sometimes it just feels so isolating to be a trans boy, because everywhere i look, there’s people hating me for existing.
im just so tired of it.
(clarification: i know not all of the queer community holds this stance. i’ve seen and/or met wonderful queer people of all identities who have been understanding and accepting. i’m also not trying to say that the things mentioned in this are only driven forward by the community—plenty of people who aren’t in it do this stuff as well. what i mean is just that it feels as if this sort of talk—particularly radfem rhetoric—has been incredibly pervasive lately, at least from what i’ve experienced. i feel like a lot of people forget it’s not just the “trans exclusionary” part of TERFs that is bad, but the radical feminism as well. radical feminism isn’t good. it’s incredibly bioessentialist, racist, intersexist, and harmful in so many other ways by its nature. but it still stands so clearly in so many places. this is also by no means a comphrensive list on the treatment of trans mascs/men. i’m not infallible. there’s certainly other things that have happened that i’ve either forgotten or am not aware of—and if anyone wants to add on, feel free!)
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I'm usually pretty good at ignoring discourse and reading through the tags without it getting to me, but it's been so bad on All sides this whole week and getting worse after yesterday's episode.
Makes me a little sad to see people who all enjoy the same show getting sososo mad about it and each other.
It's a show, improvised! Oftentimes the actors make mistakes, both in character choices and the way they speak, they have to make it up on the spot and are not all-knowing fucking experts of the human psyche!
They touch sensitive topics and I get that, it feels personal. It's not though.
Remember that, this is not about you, it's about eight people in LA playing DnD as a game and as a story (which sometimes does not align well) and making mistakes. Sometimes being vague and unclear.
And it's a show, people will enjoy it in a different way than you, it makes me sad to see people going into blind rage, futilessly defending a fictional character from others' "wrong" opinions and hurting the real people on the other side instead.
Some enjoying reading into it too much, see pattern that aren't there, and it can lead to disappointment, but its self caused. This is not you, this is not about you and these are not your same problems.
There's many ways to interpret the same thing, wouldn't it be better to discuss it without ripping into each other.
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