#transphobia tw

[uncanny-tranny]

People who compare transition to self harm or use real people they know who've self-harmed as a metaphorical comparison to transitioning aren't making the gotcha they think they're making - they're just showing that they don't have the compassion or maturity to engage with either topic at even a conversational level.

And, frankly, it's infuriating as a person who does see those who self-harm as my equal who doesn't need to be used as a cudgel against another group of often vulnerable people.

[transmasc-wizard]

I clarify negatively bc I know there's people out there who's moms are like joy criers and when they find out their kid trusts them with that kind of thing they may cry, so like. I'm talking about "fuck my life, mom's crying" tears.

[memingursa]

Guy certainly knows about it

[kirbyofthestars]

once i said butch girls who call themselves dudes and boyfriends are cute and i got put on a blocklist for supporting “invalid identities” which is fucking hilarious. cant a guy dyke it up in peace in the privacy of his own home

[nyancrimew]

Why do u call yourself a transGIRL if you are over 18? That's pedophilic .

this one is always sooo funny to me, cause like ok, when some random cis woman calls herself or her friend a girl or something she's quirky and cool, but when a trans person calls themselves a girl or a boy we're suddenly pedophiles! hmmmm i wonder where that rhetoric comes from?

[one-time-i-dreamt]

Wow, Daegu (South Korea) went from not protecting Daegu Pride in 2018 the way they should've to receiving education sessions on Queer culture and becoming public allies and vowing to protect Pride from then on and doing exactly so every single year culminating in this year when their hobgoblin of a mayor tried to destroy Pride, and now even protesting in favor of Pride? Growth.

It's important to note that the courts also supported Pride and the mayor publicly threatened the police chief, yet the police still went to protect and support Pride.

"South Korean news agency Yonhap estimated that about 500 protesters and 1,500 police officers were at the scene. The festival ultimately continued, with the parade taking place as planned."

[battlecrazed-axe-mage]

I bought the wizard game because all the troons were making a big fuss about it. jk rowling did nothing wrong.

Okay look, I need you to take a step back from yourself and your in-group and really see that message, because to a normal person it's nonsensical. I acknowledge that you are trying to insult me, but it's not hitting the mark because "troon" just sounds like something a scifi character would use as currency. This is like when incels were calling women "femoids" like that's supposed to mean something. Get better writers.

[striders]

You’re not a lesbian if you post about penises. Words have meaning for a reason dipshit. You’re not a lesbian if you’re interested in penises.

i will gargle a thousand girl cocks before anyone has the capacity to love you! thanks for stopping by!

[communistkenobi]

I was listening to Behind The Police (podcast about the history of American policing) recently and at one point the hosts were discussing the tendency of white supremacist/fascist violence to have this element of absurdity to it - ie, people dressing up in white KKK robes and calling themselves wizards while attacking black people - and the point of this is to deny their victims the decency of “straightforward” experiences of violence. To later recount that a group of wizards attacked you makes you to sound absurd to whoever you’re talking to, and it becomes more difficult to make sense of. it’s all “just a joke bro.” your discomfort and fear and confusion and pain is the punchline. and modern right wing discourse is so laughably deranged as to be a joke in itself (perhaps best epitomised by the now-memetic phrase “the fluoride in the water is making the frickin’ frogs gay”), but this is of course deliberate. the rhetoric of “satanic pedophiles are sacrificing children in the basement of a pizza restaurant” or whatever is employed because it distracts from the real message they’re trying to deliver (ie, antisemitism). it isn’t just a denial of reality but a very particular form of cruelty that makes it more difficult for the victims of right wing violence to be taken seriously, to make sense of what’s happened to them.

and it feels like the same thing is happening now with transphobia - rhetoric that insists on “protecting children” from trans people while the US is actively loosening their child labour laws (x) (x). this isn’t a case of mere “hypocrisy,” this is rhetorically deliberate. the rank absurdity and insincerity of their words is meant to deny you the ability to think clearly, to distract you, to make you sound like a crazy person, to enrage you, all the while they get to carry on as if they aren’t saying or doing any of these things

[samwisethewitch]

Homemaking, gardening, and self-sufficiency resources that won't radicalize you into a hate group

It seems like self-sufficiency and homemaking skills are blowing up right now. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the current economic crisis, a lot of folks, especially young people, are looking to develop skills that will help them be a little bit less dependent on our consumerist economy. And I think that's generally a good thing. I think more of us should know how to cook a meal from scratch, grow our own vegetables, and mend our own clothes. Those are good skills to have.

Unfortunately, these "self-sufficiency" skills are often used as a recruiting tactic by white supremacists, TERFs, and other hate groups. They become a way to reconnect to or relive the "good old days," a romanticized (false) past before modern society and civil rights. And for a lot of people, these skills are inseparably connected to their politics and may even be used as a tool to indoctrinate new people.

In the spirit of building safe communities, here's a complete list of the safe resources I've found for learning homemaking, gardening, and related skills. Safe for me means queer- and trans-friendly, inclusive of different races and cultures, does not contain Christian preaching, and does not contain white supremacist or TERF dog whistles.

Homemaking/Housekeeping/Caring for your home:

Making It by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen [book] (The big crunchy household DIY book; includes every level of self-sufficiency from making your own toothpaste and laundry soap to setting up raised beds to butchering a chicken. Authors are explicitly left-leaning.)

Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust [book] (A guide to simple home repair tasks, written with rentals in mind; very compassionate and accessible language.)

How To Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis [book] (The book about cleaning and housework for people who get overwhelmed by cleaning and housework, based on the premise that messiness is not a moral failing; disability and neurodivergence friendly; genuinely changed how I approach cleaning tasks.)

Gardening

Rebel Gardening by Alessandro Vitale [book] (Really great introduction to urban gardening; explicitly discusses renter-friendly garden designs in small spaces; lots of DIY solutions using recycled materials; note that the author lives in England, so check if plants are invasive in your area before putting them in the ground.)

Country/Rural Living:

Woodsqueer by Gretchen Legler [book] (Memoir of a lesbian who lives and works on a rural farm in Maine with her wife; does a good job of showing what it's like to be queer in a rural space; CW for mentions of domestic violence, infidelity/cheating, and internalized homophobia)

"Debunking the Off-Grid Fantasy" by Maggie Mae Fish [video essay] (Deconstructs the off-grid lifestyle and the myth of self-reliance)

Sewing/Mending:

Annika Victoria [YouTube channel] (No longer active, but their videos are still a great resource for anyone learning to sew; check out the beginner project playlist to start. This is where I learned a lot of what I know about sewing.)

Make, Sew, and Mend by Bernadette Banner [book] (A very thorough written introduction to hand-sewing, written by a clothing historian; lots of fun garment history facts; explicitly inclusive of BIPOC, queer, and trans sewists.)

Sustainability/Land Stewardship

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer [book] (Most of you have probably already read this one or had it recommended to you, but it really is that good; excellent example of how traditional animist beliefs -- in this case, indigenous American beliefs -- can exist in healthy symbiosis with science; more philosophy than how-to, but a great foundational resource.)

Wild Witchcraft by Rebecca Beyer [book] (This one is for my fellow witches; one of my favorite witchcraft books, and an excellent example of a place-based practice deeply rooted in the land.)

Avoiding the "Crunchy to Alt Right Pipeline"

Note: the "crunchy to alt-right pipeline" is a term used to describe how white supremacists and other far right groups use "crunchy" spaces (i.e., spaces dedicated to farming, homemaking, alternative medicine, simple living/slow living, etc.) to recruit and indoctrinate people into their movements. Knowing how this recruitment works can help you recognize it when you do encounter it and avoid being influenced by it.

"The Crunchy-to-Alt-Right Pipeline" by Kathleen Belew [magazine article] (Good, short introduction to this issue and its history.)

Sisters in Hate by Seyward Darby (I feel like I need to give a content warning: this book contains explicit descriptions of racism, white supremacy, and Neo Nazis, and it's a very difficult read, but it really is a great, in-depth breakdown of the role women play in the alt-right; also explicitly addresses the crunchy to alt-right pipeline.)

These are just the resources I've personally found helpful, so if anyone else has any they want to add, please, please do!

[uncanny-tranny]

I think respecting trans people comes with a territory of like... just because many people will pass as cis doesn't mean that it's a great idea to use their passing as a way of legitimizing how absurd transphobia is

Transphobia isn't absurd because I "look like a [cis] man," it's because transphobia is fucking ridiculous. It would be ridiculous whether or not I passed or whether I look like a "conventional man." I use myself as an example, but ultimately, passing or appearing normative should never play into whether or not transphobia is bad.

[anti-terf-posts]

this is someone trying to be transphobic but it's unironically the funniest ask I've ever gotten.

[socialist-microwave-laser]

incredibly uncomfortable finding out a mutual of mine (thankfully one i wasn't very close to) has been rbing shit complaining about "theyfabs." absolutely vile, if you think that shit is anywhere near okay please weed yourselves out. unfollow, block me, whatever. apparently i haven't been vocal enough about this

your transphobia and bioessentialism is not made progressive by supposedly doing it in defense of other trans people

afab trans people don't have privilege over amab trans people. different experiences do not inherently mean one is better, more desirable, or more privileged than the other. it means they're different

afab vs amab is a reductive binary that not only ignores so many complexities of experience and brushes away even the attempt at intersectionality, but it contributes to the ever-present problem of perisex trans people only acknowledging that intersex people exist when it's convenient to do so. also your bioessentialism is not made progressive by supposedly doing it in defense of other trans people

i've made nicer worded posts about this but they seem to have gone under the radar so let me try again. tme vs tma is a dumb ass fucking excuse for any sort of "analysis" and shows everyone you have no idea what the hell you're talking about. NOBODY is "exempt" from transmisogyny that's the fucking point of systems of oppression!!! they're SYSTEMS!!! white people are not racism exempt! non-muslims are not islamophobia exempt! skinny people are not fatphobia exempt! straight people are not homophobia exempt! stop talking out of your ass and think about your words for longer than five goddamn seconds! also! your bioessentialism is not made progressive by supposedly doing it in defense of other trans people!

stop attacking other trans people! there is an entire fucking attempted genocide happening and you're here just spinning your wheels in the fucking mud getting pissy at random trans people over the internet who are in the exact same struggle as you are! you're not getting anywhere! all you're succeeding in doing is LITERALLY creating new slurs to be used by transphobes against those who should be your fucking siblings

your transphobia and bioessentialism is not made progressive by supposedly doing it in defense of other trans people. it wasn't cute when kalvin garrah did it. it's not cute when blair white does it. and it's not fucking cute when you do it either

[allthecanadianpolitics]

A Plains Cree physician who practices family medicine in Alberta says it’s shameful that Conservative Premier Danielle Smith is playing politics with transgender issues.

“It’s really important to know that people don’t do this [gender affirmation] lightly,” said Dr. James Makokis, who identifies as Two-Spirit and works directly with trans patients. “It is something that they’ve known their entire life.

“And clinicians do thorough assessments of ensuring that people when they say they’re trans, they’re trans and we just ensure that there’s not medical contra-indications to doing so and there is a thorough assessment process of that.”

On Wednesday, Smith announced a number of policy changes on social media that will restrict medical access to those seeking gender affirmation therapy – especially transgender youth.

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[poika-nimelta-paivi]

TERFs on trans men having parties to celebrate getting top surgery:

Their entitlement to our bodies truly knows no bounds.

[one-time-i-dreamt]

I expected nothing less from a single mom who works two jobs, who loves her kids and never stops, with gentle hands and a heart of a fighter