It is deeply, deeply beneficial to TERFs if the only characteristic of TERF ideology you will recognize as wrong, harmful, or problematic is “they hate trans women”.
TERF ideology is an expansive network of extremely toxic ideas, and the more of them we accept and normalize, the easier it becomes for them to fly under the radar and recruit new TERFs. The closer they get to turning the tide against all trans people, trans women included.
Case in point: In 2014-2015, I fell headlong into radical feminism. I did not know it was called radical feminism at the time, but I also didn’t know what was wrong with radical feminism in the first place. I didn’t see a problem with it.
I was a year deep into this shit when people I had been following, listening to, and looking up to finally said they didn’t think trans women were women. It was only then that I unfollowed those people, specifically; but I continued to follow other TERFs-who-didn’t-say-they-were-TERFs. I continued ingesting and spreading their ideas- for yearsafter.
If TERFs “only target trans women” and “only want trans women gone”, if that’s the one and only problem with their ideology and if that’s the only way we’ll define them, we will inevitably miss a vast majority of the quiet beliefs that support their much louder hatred of trans women.
As another example: the trans community stood relatively united when TERFs and conservatives targeted our right to use the correct restroom, citing the “dangers” of trans women sharing space with cis women. But when they began targeting Lost Little Girls and Confused Lesbians and trotting detransitioners out to raise a panic about trans men, virtually the only people speaking up about it were other transmascs. Now we see a rash of anti-trans healthcare bills being passed in the US, and they’re hurting every single one of us.
When you refuse to call a TERF a TERF just because they didn’t specifically say they hate trans women, when you refuse to think critically about a TERF belief just because it’s not directly related to trans women, you are actively helping TERFs spread their influence and build credibility.
what is some TERF ideology we should be on the look out for?
This isn’t comprehensive, but I’ll do my best.
TERFs are, first and foremost, radical feminists. Radical feminism is essentially second-wave feminism without the intersectionality brought in by third-wave feminism. It believes that patriarchy is at fault for the oppression of women, but sees this in a very strict, binary way: women are the oppressed, and men are the oppressors.
TERFs use this to justify their specific brand of transphobia. This idea, among others, is essential in supporting that transphobia.
I’ll try to outline some of those ideas, and some of the logical thruoughlines they use:
Women are uniquely oppressed, and always in danger. Womanhood- or the experience of being a woman- is defined by oppression, misogyny, and Being In Danger.
Women are particularly in danger in the presence of, and in relationships with, men. Spaces that exclude men are essential to preserving the safety of women.
Socialization: men are raised to support patriarchy, while women are raised to be subjugated by it. Men have no motive to unlearn these lessons, so all men are inherently more corrupted by these lessons than women.
Relationships with men are therefore inherently (more likely to be) abusive, and relationships with women are inherently safe(er).
Sex, in particular, is more often exploitative than not. Only some kinds of sex are not exploitative. Many kinds of sex that we think are consensual, or that people say are consensual, are either rape or proto-rape.
Exchanging money for sex is inherently rape/exploitation/non-consensual in some way.
As women who deny men access to them, lesbians are The Most Oppressed and also The Most Endangered. They must be protected at all costs.
Because so many women have been raped by men with penises, both men and penises are inherently traumatic to A Lot Of Women.
Many lesbians will naturally have an aversion to relationships with trans women because of this. Trans women who argue against this “genital preference” are potential rapists trying to infiltrate lesbian spaces to hurt and take advantage of women.
Men will always try to invade “women’s spaces” to take advantage of women, endanger them, and strip away their resources both for personal gain/pleasure, and in service of upholding the patriarchy.
If we allow men to say they are women, they will invade those spaces and hurt “real” women. Men who say they are women are dangerous, and must be excluded and punished.
Men may try to obfuscate labels and terminology to “define women out of existence” or otherwise cause confusion, which they can manipulate to further their infiltration.
Women are all miserable with their bodies, cursed with the pressure to reproduce and have sex with men.
Women are all miserable with their genders, forced as they are to ensure the overwhelming and constant suffering that is patriarchy.
Women will attempt to escape this misery and pressure by “becoming men”. This is cowardly, but understandable; a tragic but inevitable result of patriarchy. These women must be saved.
Some women who try to escape patriarchy are doing it out of self-interest; they are betraying women by becoming men, and contributing to their oppression. These women must be punished.
Bio-essentialism: women are oppressed specifically because of their bodies and ability to reproduce. This is an inherent and defining part of womanhood. Nobody can claim womanhood without this experience, everyone who has had this experience is a woman.
Women’s bodies are all beautiful and perfect because they are women’s bodies. If the womanliness of them is tampered with, they become less valuable. Men’s bodies are gross and undesirable symbols of patriarchy.
Testosterone makes people violent, aggressive, irrational, and angry. Estrogen makes people calm, kind, and happy.
Men can never understand women’s bodies as well as other women do.
People can be attracted to other people on the basis of “sex” alone. This is inherent, immutable, and unquestionable.
Men are sexual animals who inherently and unavoidably find lots of bad things sexually arousing. Because “youth” is attractive, many men find young girls and children attractive, and will try to take advantage of them. Misogynistic control/power over women, hurting women, and even rape are also inherently sexually appealing to men.
“Gender” is meaningless; it’s founded in misogynistic stereotypes about men and women, and when you remove the stereotypes, there’s nothing left at all. Only binary “sex” is real, because that’s what patriarchy (and biology) is based on.
Manhood is itself a toxic, oppressive, inherently corrupting concept. Anyone who participates in manhood is corrupt and immoral; who would choose to be the oppressor?
Masculinity is defined only by hating women, having power, and being aggressive, violent, and controlling (etc.)
Patriarchy doesn’t just target women, but femininity as a whole, for its association with women.
Patriarchy doesn’t just reward men, but masculinity, as it rejects femininity. People who reject femininity and embrace masculinity are rewarded by the patriarchy.
Some of these ideas are contradictory, but they lead to the same conclusions. Some of them lead to similar conclusions, many of which take very little further nudging to push into more dogmatic ideas.
This is exactly why we need to understand all of these paths into TERF ideology- and more.
In fact, the vast majority of the points on this list- particularly the beginnings of their logic- can be very easily swallowed while still holding that trans women are women, and trans men are men.
That’s what TIRFs (trans-inclusive radical feminists) are, and they’re still incredibly dangerous. TIRF ideology normalizes these points, making it far easier for TERFs to recruit; even if TIRFs themselves try to be aggressively anti-TERF.
Again, this isn’t comprehensive, and it would take a long time and a lot of words to cover every flaw and danger in every line of reasoning here.
But remember how these things work; even if some of them begin with a grain of truth, even if some of them are true- especially if you define the words they contain differently- be wary of them.
It’s important to note how sex-negative they can be, and how in some circles this leads to a belief that being a lesbian is the only way one can liberate oneself from the abuse of men. They see sexual orientation as a choice to be made for one’s safety, or a political act–not something based on genuine attraction. They also sometimes push the idea of the “gold-star lesbian”–that is, a lesbian who’s never been with a man–as the ideal. If you’re a bisexual? Disgusting, don’t interact.
It’s… sadly common to see on dating sites.
radical feminism is almost indistinguishable from evangelical conservatism. both camps believe that heterosexual sex is a violent consumption (and an immoral corruption) of women’s pure bodies. they believe that womanhood is inextricably centered around the uterus. they believe that men are basically ravenous violent sex-obsessed beasts who need to be restrained by the morality of good women. they believe that your sex at birth defines your character for the rest of your life, and that male and female are completely different, oppositional states of being. they believe that limiting young people’s access to information will keep them safer than giving them a full education and letting them make their own fully informed choices. they believe it’s better–safer and more virtuous–to be an innocent victim than an active agent. they both believe that suffering through all of this sanctifieswomen and proves that they’re more noble and virtuous than men. and, of course, the more suffering a woman endures, the more noble it must have made her.
the only difference is that radical feminists express their anger over these terrible beliefs and evangelical conservatives repress it.
and lot of these beliefs are familiar, and comfortable, to a lot of people who aren’t even radfems or conservatives. they pervade western thought already. it’s a framework of understanding sexism that resonates with a lot of our lived experiences. and going from acceptance of a terrible system to righteous anger at that terrible system can be an important and cathartic stage for victims of that system! but the next step is to reject the validity of that system, which radfems do not.
It’s implied but not explicitly stated above that BDSM–all BDSM no matter how well negotiated–counts as “rape” in this type of ideology.
Other highlights: All rape fantasies are inherently sick and dangerous. Pornography is inherently unhealthy and people who say they can separate porn from real life are suspect. “Informed consent” is fake: people are inherently harmed by BDSM/weird fantasies/porn/whatever, and saying yes to those things is just a sign that the person is damaged, not a valid conscious choice.
In a fandom context, the above stuff looks like this:
AFABs who write m/m instead of focusing on female characters are self-hating women who are betraying their sisters.
It is the duty of AFABs to write f/f in particular.
Being into m/m if you aren’t a cis man is “fetishization”.
Everyone could just choose to write f/f if they were being politically good. Saying you’re “just not into” something is an excuse rather than a valid description of how desire and inspiration work.
“Because it makes me horny” is never a valid reason for fic.
F/F is purer and better and softer than any other content.
All kinky fic is furthering rape culture.
Kinky f/f is especially heinous and must be stamped out.
The fact that you have to click on “gross” AO3 works to see them doesn’t matter because their very existence is damaging to people.
If you disagree, it’s because you’re a broken, deluded victim engaging in self harm.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
A lot of fandom wank is explicitlyandovertly pushing radfem garbage and calling that progressive. Yes, you, trans teenagers of tumblr. No matter how many times you reaffirm that you hate TERFs.
When you say “X is bad except for cope-shipping”…
When you demand that hobbyist women write about female characters…
When you say that people are clearly predators or going to become predators because of their Bad fic content…
You are helping TERFs.
…. Huh. I hadn’t previously considered the possibility of connecting the concept of political lesbianism to the way we talk about f/f, but now you suggest it…. Hm.
And just as political lesbians hurt wlw who are trying to find each other by confusing the signals and blocking the ability to find people who are genuinely interested in one another for their own sake….
huh.
Gotta chew on that some, I think.
for FUCKS sake can a single post on this site not derail onto fandom context????
No.
Fandom is a hotbed of radfem recruiting.
Half the people on this site are bathing in this shit within a specifically fandom context and then taking it with them to fuck up other communities after.
Anyway, if you’re a radfem, stay the fuck away from me
*tags post ‘radfem’*
Breaking news: moron doesn’t understand what tw tags are
I know how they work, but you must realise that just tagging ‘radfem’ is going to get you attention from radfems?
You must not realize you can ignore it?
You must realise you can not post in our tags?
Again, you must understand what trigger warning tags are?
I understand, you just don’t. They’re tags where you say ‘tw *thing*’ or ‘*thing* tw’.
You just don’t understand that because you want to trigger tag it ‘radfem’ then it’s going to end up in the radfem tags…
No radfem I’ve ever met in my fucking life has ever tagged their radfem bullshit as “tw radfem”. Blacklisting tags is specific, if you dont wanna see radfem shit you HAVE to filter out “radfem” dumbshit.
But you’re not writing radfem stuff. You’re writing about radfems.
You’re just mad that radfems dared to interact with you when you posted in our tags. If you can’t handle it then get the fuck out of them.
Anyway, if you’re a radfem, stay the fuck away from me
Lmao, saying that while using radfem tags…
If you’re looking for radfems to block, just say so.
I put them there as tw tags, some ppl dont wanna hear this shit lmfao, grow up child.
I’m not the one fishing for attention. ♀️
Kinda seems like you are, cuz you’re still yapping like a broken puppy.
Nah. I follow the radfem tag. Your attention seeking post popped up on my timeline. I’m not the one actively seeking out attention here, that would be you.
And you got the attention! That should make you happy! :) But there are better, healthier ways of going about that.
I literally said “stay away from me” and you took that as an invitation to talk to me? Moron. I cant wait for yall to die out.
The discrepancy between your post and the tag radfem made me want to talk to you.
Also, I don’t know if you know this, but this is the internet. Unless you block, anyone can talk on your posts.
I don’t know if you understand this, but some people only block the tag “radfem” instead of the tag “tw radfem” that’s why the tag is there, sweetheart.
And guess what! You get to choose who you talk to! If you dont like my shit, you can beat it ❤
Anyway, if you’re a radfem, stay the fuck away from me
Lmao, saying that while using radfem tags…
If you’re looking for radfems to block, just say so.
I put them there as tw tags, some ppl dont wanna hear this shit lmfao, grow up child.
I’m not the one fishing for attention. ♀️
Kinda seems like you are, cuz you’re still yapping like a broken puppy.
Nah. I follow the radfem tag. Your attention seeking post popped up on my timeline. I’m not the one actively seeking out attention here, that would be you.
And you got the attention! That should make you happy! :) But there are better, healthier ways of going about that.
I literally said “stay away from me” and you took that as an invitation to talk to me? Moron. I cant wait for yall to die out.
Anyway, if you’re a radfem, stay the fuck away from me
*tags post ‘radfem’*
Breaking news: moron doesn’t understand what tw tags are
I know how they work, but you must realise that just tagging ‘radfem’ is going to get you attention from radfems?
You must not realize you can ignore it?
You must realise you can not post in our tags?
Again, you must understand what trigger warning tags are?
I understand, you just don’t. They’re tags where you say ‘tw *thing*’ or ‘*thing* tw’.
You just don’t understand that because you want to trigger tag it ‘radfem’ then it’s going to end up in the radfem tags…
No radfem I’ve ever met in my fucking life has ever tagged their radfem bullshit as “tw radfem”. Blacklisting tags is specific, if you dont wanna see radfem shit you HAVE to filter out “radfem” dumbshit.
But you’re not writing radfem stuff. You’re writing about radfems.
You’re just mad that radfems dared to interact with you when you posted in our tags. If you can’t handle it then get the fuck out of them.
If all 50 of you can’t handle me, leave my blog ❤
I can handle you just fine. I deal with a lot of dumbasses and children
I hope you dont stay around those children for long.
Poor children? For what? Having someone who cares about their education?
Having to be near someone like you
A nice, smart person who not only cares for children’s education but has been told by multiple people that they’d make an excellent teacher because they know how to explain something to people in a way they understand?
i think you would be a very good teacher @radkindoffeminist
Too bad nobody asked ❤
i wasnt talking to you
I wasnt asking to be initiated into some weird ass roleplay, thanks tho babe.
Anyway, if you’re a radfem, stay the fuck away from me
*tags post ‘radfem’*
Breaking news: moron doesn’t understand what tw tags are
I know how they work, but you must realise that just tagging ‘radfem’ is going to get you attention from radfems?
You must not realize you can ignore it?
You must realise you can not post in our tags?
Again, you must understand what trigger warning tags are?
I understand, you just don’t. They’re tags where you say ‘tw *thing*’ or ‘*thing* tw’.
You just don’t understand that because you want to trigger tag it ‘radfem’ then it’s going to end up in the radfem tags…
No radfem I’ve ever met in my fucking life has ever tagged their radfem bullshit as “tw radfem”. Blacklisting tags is specific, if you dont wanna see radfem shit you HAVE to filter out “radfem” dumbshit.
But you’re not writing radfem stuff. You’re writing about radfems.
You’re just mad that radfems dared to interact with you when you posted in our tags. If you can’t handle it then get the fuck out of them.
If all 50 of you can’t handle me, leave my blog ❤
I can handle you just fine. I deal with a lot of dumbasses and children
I hope you dont stay around those children for long.
Poor children? For what? Having someone who cares about their education?
Having to be near someone like you
A nice, smart person who not only cares for children’s education but has been told by multiple people that they’d make an excellent teacher because they know how to explain something to people in a way they understand?
i think you would be a very good teacher @radkindoffeminist
Anyway, if you’re a radfem, stay the fuck away from me
*tags post ‘radfem’*
Breaking news: moron doesn’t understand what tw tags are
I know how they work, but you must realise that just tagging ‘radfem’ is going to get you attention from radfems?
You must not realize you can ignore it?
You must realise you can not post in our tags?
Again, you must understand what trigger warning tags are?
I understand, you just don’t. They’re tags where you say ‘tw *thing*’ or ‘*thing* tw’.
You just don’t understand that because you want to trigger tag it ‘radfem’ then it’s going to end up in the radfem tags…
No radfem I’ve ever met in my fucking life has ever tagged their radfem bullshit as “tw radfem”. Blacklisting tags is specific, if you dont wanna see radfem shit you HAVE to filter out “radfem” dumbshit.
But you’re not writing radfem stuff. You’re writing about radfems.
You’re just mad that radfems dared to interact with you when you posted in our tags. If you can’t handle it then get the fuck out of them.
If all 50 of you can’t handle me, leave my blog ❤
I can handle you just fine. I deal with a lot of dumbasses and children
I hope you dont stay around those children for long.
Poor children? For what? Having someone who cares about their education?
Having to be near someone like you
A nice, smart person who not only cares for children’s education but has been told by multiple people that they’d make an excellent teacher because they know how to explain something to people in a way they understand?
Anyway, if you’re a radfem, stay the fuck away from me
What is even the point of that you could have simply,,, not made that post and it would have reduced the numbers of Radfem interacting.
I Can only deduce this post is about making you look good and not about Radfem leaving you alone at all lmao
Just make a “transwomen are women ” one next Time, same point but with less Radfems interacting.
I literally made it as a rant post because of the amount of radfems hitting up my underage friends. And yet, here they are. If they dont like it, they can leave ♂️
Anyway, if you’re a radfem, stay the fuck away from me
Imagine being such a dipshit that you don’t understand that “#tw radfem” is used to denote content as triggering without shoving it into “#radfem” main tag content, and then screaming and crying when people looking for #radfem content are finding your #radfem tagged content, and then flipping your shit when people tell you this wouldn’t have happened if you simply used the #tw radfem tag instead.
Rub two brain cells together and realize that people who are triggered by radfems are 1. blacklisting the word “radfem” as a whole, meaning actual tagged #radfem content does not need trigger warnings because it’s still removed in the first place, and 2. don’t fucking venture into the #radfem tag in the fucking first place, so again, radfems do not need to tag #radfem tagged content with yet another #tw radfem tag.
Like seriously just admit you’re braindead
I dont know how else to explain this to you. People blacklist tags by using the exact words used in the tags, for example, instead of putting “tw rape” ppl usually just blacklist “rape” it’s the exact same with radfem shit, because no radfems tag their stuff as “tw radfem” most ppl just have the tag “radfem” blacklisted, which is why I put it there.
I’m not freaking out, I’m explaining this to a bunch of idiots who think it’s ok to harass someone (some of you from multiple side accounts btw) because they dont like their cult.
It’s genuinely demented that you think that parroting my own words back at me without understanding them and then pasting on the idea that you are the one that’s right on top of it makes you in the right.
Blacklisting “radfem” blocks both #tw radfem and #radfem you blithering idiot.
Anyway, if you’re a radfem, stay the fuck away from me
Imagine being such a dipshit that you don’t understand that “#tw radfem” is used to denote content as triggering without shoving it into “#radfem” main tag content, and then screaming and crying when people looking for #radfem content are finding your #radfem tagged content, and then flipping your shit when people tell you this wouldn’t have happened if you simply used the #tw radfem tag instead.
Rub two brain cells together and realize that people who are triggered by radfems are 1. blacklisting the word “radfem” as a whole, meaning actual tagged #radfem content does not need trigger warnings because it’s still removed in the first place, and 2. don’t fucking venture into the #radfem tag in the fucking first place, so again, radfems do not need to tag #radfem tagged content with yet another #tw radfem tag.
Like seriously just admit you’re braindead
I dont know how else to explain this to you. People blacklist tags by using the exact words used in the tags, for example, instead of putting “tw rape” ppl usually just blacklist “rape” it’s the exact same with radfem shit, because no radfems tag their stuff as “tw radfem” most ppl just have the tag “radfem” blacklisted, which is why I put it there.
I’m not freaking out, I’m explaining this to a bunch of idiots who think it’s ok to harass someone (some of you from multiple side accounts btw) because they dont like their cult.
Loving men is fun and good actually. Men can be soft and wonderful and caring and kind. My boyfriend has actually improved my life and I don’t get why I would feel bad for that. If I see any fellow bisexuals pull the whole “too bad I have my (yuck) boyfriend when I could have a good woman :((“ bs one more time I will scream.
Men are hot, they’re handsome, they’re pretty, they’re wonderful. They’re spectacular, they’re soft, they’re caring, they’re silly, their laughs are like music. Men give some of the warmest hugs, and the best snuggles. This goes for ALL men - yes, even the “fat” man you saw, even the punk guy with the tattoos and piercings, and men of color. Men are WONDERFUL. Men aren’t inherently violent, dangerous, angry animals. Can we please stop vilifying men and men who love men please?
And by the grace of Goddess I will keep villifying men until they all commit 70%
this is so fucking funny because imagine if someone did this for any other privileged/oppressor class. white people, straight people, able-bodied people etc. it’d look ridiculous and everyone would realize immediately that it’s stupid. but because misogyny is so normalized, women aren’t allowed to name their oppressors, and we certainly aren’t allowed to be mean to them
Okay, but Able-bodied, Cis, Straight, etc. people aren’t disbelieved or put down for being abused, raped, etc. by other people. They aren’t being genuinely harmed, nor is anyone trying to genuinely hurt them, for being those things. I haven’t heard a single person legitimately say “love those able-bodied suicide rates”.
Meanwhile, you hear radfems saying this shit, supporting abusers, raping/sexually assaulting trans kids (to turn them female again, speaking from experience here), being apologists for women who have raped/abused/etc. men (or even other women) or have said they would rape their own fucking child if it turned out they were a trans man. Having a whole internet culture go “I legitimately hope you die <33 you should feel ashamed to love men <<3” to the point it’s homophobic and I’ve heard gay men feel ashamed for being gay…like.
These things aren’t comparable because the same damage ain’t happening.
Anyways, I see you using “tra” so I’m also going to assume you’re one of those people who excuse (and secretly support) the rape of transmen (to turn them back!!), abuse of men (know you support that one oof), etc. And it’s gross and also reductive. Believing all men are inherently evil isn’t just harmful to men, it’s harmful to woman dumbass. “Men are inherently evil” is just another “boys will be boys” and men who are gross will use that as an excuse. Congratulations, instead of holding men up to a higher standard and bad men accountable for their actions you’ve played literally every woman! So smart, so wow. /S
radfems don’t support rape. at all. you literally cannot be a radfem if you support rape or any other form of sexual assault. that isn’t a “no true scotsman” moment either, before you say that, because radical feminism is a set of political beliefs that is (among many other things) explicitly anti-SA. that being said, if you have evidence of self-proclaimed radical feminists sexually assaulting or raping anyone, especially minors, PLEASE make a post about it so that those people can be held accountable and kept out of our circles. that’s absolutely disgusting and it won’t be tolerated.
acknowledging that men are an oppressor class and being cautious around them isn’t on par with saying “boys will be boys”. women are not “playing” each other, making excuses, or enabling men by pointing out how shitty they’ve been towards us. you’re drawing on the first rule of misogyny here.
i don’t believe men are born evil. i believe the way they are socialized in a misogynistic society severely impacts the way they see and treat women, that all men benefit from patriarchy, and that women have every right to be wary of them and talk shit about them online. i’ve also never advocated for anyone to go out out their way and abuse men, but if you want to lie about what myself and others like me believe in order to demonize us, i guess i can’t stop you.
I’ve seen jokes against those people, never seen the genuine hate or the vitriol I’ve seen for men. I’m curious about the homophobia that the trans community does, genuinely, how exactly are we homophobic?
As for the rape-apologist and actual sexual assault stuff - you can say that it’s not ideologically supported, but boy is it common. Through this post I’ve gotten rape-threats by radfem anons (when more radfems were responding) and I think that shows you how okay it is to do as long as it’s against one of the “bad ones”. The last thing about raping trans sons came from Lily Cade herself, in one of her rants about lynching trans women.
But, no seriously, how do you want me to prove that these personal experiences happened? I was sexually assaulted 4 years ago, by a radfem who was 30 and wanted to turn me female again. It did not happen over tumblr or Twitter. How do I prove it happened? How do I prove any of the abuse or sexual assault, or rape apologisism, that radfems have thrown towards me or friends personally happened if it didn’t happen over Twitter, or tumblr, or (worse) if it happened irl. Would Twitter screenshots even count, because I have screenshots from radfems who absolutely used demolish me before I got off Twitter for being trans. Would old discord screenshots count, or is there like a date-limit on this stuff?
I mean, just scrolling through the notes you can see radfems 100% support a rise in male suicide rates, is that not enough? What will be enough for you, because in my experience radfems don’t believe what they don’t want to. That is in my personal experience. I’m really glad you’ve never had to personally experience a radfem going up to a trans guy and letting them know that all they’ll need to be normal again is the feeling of another vagina, but sadly that’s a normal experience for trans men.
And yes, saying all men are evil (a common radfem phrase) does act like a “boys will be boys”. Just think about it. “Oh, I’m a man so I’m evil, so of course I abused my wife”. Like. That’s what is going to happen.
These are things that the radfem community is known for, if you haven’t encountered them I’m glad! Genuinely. Because in my experience the radfem community is one of the most disgusting, infantilizing, abuse-apologizing communities I have had the misfortune to encounter. And I’ve had run ins with MRAs (gross).
Lastly; I do not believe women are responsible for what men do. There are some real shitty men out there, I get that. I get that in some parts of the world, weariness against men is needed. I get that there’s nuance here. Feel free to call out shitty men for the things they do; I like knowing who to avoid, and I think all shitty people deserve consequences. But men aren’t responsible for what women do either.
I don’t want to have anymore messages in my inbox telling me that if I were a real man I’d kill myself like one, so I’m going to disengage now. Have a nice day!
[Image Discription: A picture of one person holding another in a doorway, seeming to protect them from the person standing across from them. The person being held has a caption reading ‘trans women’ and the person holding them is captioned as ‘Aphrodite’. The person that Aphrodite is protecting the person against is labelled ‘terfs’.]
I don’t personaly headcanon Snape as trans (my version of Snape is an awkward straight cis boy who´s been in the receiving end of the consequences of toxic masculinity a ton of times, partly for not fully conforming to it), but in light of JKR´s latest bout of transphobic fuckery, trans Snape in fanart, fanfiction and in discourse is necessary.
Also if you headcanon any Harry Potter character as LGBTQ+, keep it up. Write it, draw it, debate it. Reclaim your favorites, express yourself through them. In spite of JKR and her opinions (or maybe because of them) the Harry Potter fandom has to be a safe place for everyone.
As a trans dude who has been into Harry Potter longer than I can remember (my parents liked Harry Potter and managed to get me obsessed for years. How they managed that with my attention span? Nobody knows) seeing a post like this is really great!
Reminder that cis people get “gender-affirming” procedures performed all the time! Most electrolysis and laser hair removal is performed on cis women, and it’s safe and legal to perform on teenagers. Most breast augmentation and butt/hip enhancement is performed on cis women. Cis women are the most common recipients of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Cis men are the ones who receive most testosterone therapy, testicular prosthesis, jaw and chin implants (though this is on the rise in cis women, too), beard transplants, and implants designed to mimic muscle mass in biceps, calves, and abs.
Most of these procedures are performed to help the recipient feel more “feminine” or “masculine,” or to move them closer to a gendered beauty standard. Although they’re often left out of the discussion, intersex people receive many of these therapies and procedures as well. Just as with trans individuals, gender-affirmation is important to mental and physical health. Laws designed to limit access to medical care for trans folks affect us all.
But honestly?
Hurting trans folks is reason enough to oppose them.
Affirming your gender is your right.
You have no right to interfere with someone else’s medical care.
I honestly cannot believe how far T(W)ERF rhetoric has spread on this site. They used to be the ONLY ones I saw openly mocking the concept of identifying as queer, the ONLY ones I saw referring to people as ‘kweer’ in a mocking way.
You all are so 100% certain you know how to identify radfem and T(W)ERF rhetoric and can’t possibly fall victim to it but guess what.
They are nowhere near above pulling this shit. And you all are falling for it.
And if you think that screenshot is an isolated incident, think again!
There are countless radfem and T(W)ERF blogs that I’ve blocked that said ‘secret radfem sideblog’ in the description.
Like, it’s great that we’ve made being a T(W)ERF so unaccepted on this site that they can only be open about the most toxic of their views in secret side blogs rather than on their main, but it’s time to accept that they’re taking advantage of that in a really fucking insidious way.
Just a tip on how to recognize these blogs. If you follow someone and you start getting suggested t*rf blogs that’s a good sign the person has sideblog for that stuff. There was some cowboy blog I followed a while ago and I used to get follow suggestions saying “this blog is similar to cowboy whatever” and it was a ton of t*rf shit and low and behold they ended up outing themselves
This is why we learn about what actual TERF ideology is. Saying “trans women are women” and “TERFS not allowed” and putting “TERF destroyer” or whatever in your bio is not enough. Learn how TERFs actually work, and what they believe, and where it stems from, and how they express diluted versions in order to warm up non-TERFs to their ideas.
Do the fucking work. Unfollow/block people who express TERF ideas even if they don’t label themselves as TERFs, challenge those ideas in your community, and you won’t have to worry about secret TERF blogs anymore.
Just in case you happen to be unaware, some of the “radfem lite” they post to warm you up to their rhetoric, just off the top of my head:
Ace/aro exclusionism
Bi exclusionism or claims that bi people are “less queer” bc of “straight passive privilege”
Saying you have to be dysphoric to identify as trans
Invalidating nonbinary people
Calling queer a slur regardless of context, saying people can’t identify as queer, and saying that it can’t be reclaimed
“Mogai hell”, “kweer”, or otherwise mocking less common labels and claiming they are “just cishets who want to feel special”
Excluding sex workers from feminist discussions or claiming that sex work is inherently evil
Basically anyone who thinks they can determine what other people identify as
adding onto this list
belief that bdsm and kink are inherently abusive in nature
adding onto that last one, believing that people who practice kinks where someone is physically hurt at all are abusers (even when consensual)
putting down transitioning/transitioned bodies or saying that theyre gross
talk of how harmful it is to assume someone is trans/being upset that a masculine woman was referred to as a guy etc etc
talk of women being “brainwashed” to enjoy being hurt, which is why they like kink
use of the term “female” and “male” to an unnerving extent
shit talking neopronouns
saying that the sex work will always be an abusive industry
Younger feminists and people that don’t like TERFs this is important. The person susansontag is a crypto TERF they went mask off on a post so if your not a transphobe suggest you block them. Gonna put this in multiple tags, stay safe and be careful, screw crypto TERFs. @terfsarehomophobic
The post that was shared:
What she said:
How the conversation went:
They really think we just jump on any person we see like we’re animals…
for people who read my pride post and said “who is saying that disabled people can’t be queer??” …
firstly, you’re living a much better life than me. I wish I was living in your version of the universe. secondly… lots of people.
non-speaking or otherwise mid-high support autistic people are often not trusted when they communicate their queerness to others.
physically disabled people are often sent the message that they can’t be sexual. that they don’t have a sexuality.
denying us our sexuality and gender is a component of the infantilisation of disabled people. people assume we’re too feeble to be thinking about sex, and too confused to think about gender.
so who is saying that disabled people can’t be queer?
doctors who won’t let disabled people access gender-affirming processes.
carers who don’t consider that their client might be queer.
media that continues to depict disabled people in ways that are desexualised and generally infantilising.
disabled people still know themselves better than you ever will. listen to them.
Literally one of JKR’s biggest arguments against transmascs was that we’re autistic girls and therefore can’t be trusted to know our identity, or that we’re too stupid and will be brainwashed by the evil transes.
And from what I’ve heard this argument has done wonders to make HRT more inaccessible to trans people in the UK.
and if you can, go and see The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson, which includes this footage as part of a fuller segment on Sylvia Rivera’s life right up until her death. what an amazing person who the world was not ready for.
(Transcription follows:) Sylvia Rivera: I may be—
Crowd: [booing]
Sylvia Rivera: Y'all better quiet down. I’ve been trying to get up here all day for your gay brothers and your gay sisters in jail that write me every motherfucking week and ask for your help and you all don’t do a goddamn thing for them.
Have you ever been beaten up and raped and jailed? Now think about it. They’ve been beaten up and raped after they’ve had to spend much of their money in jail to get their [inaudible], and try to get their sex changes. The women have tried to fight for their sex changes or to become women. On the women’s liberation and they write ‘STAR,’ not to the women’s groups, they do not write women, they do not write men, they write ‘STAR’ because we’re trying to do something for them.
I have been to jail. I have been raped. And beaten. Many times! By men, heterosexual men that do not belong in the homosexual shelter. But, do you do anything for me? No. You tell me to go and hide my tail between my legs. I will not put up with this shit. I have been beaten. I have had my nose broken. I have been thrown in jail. I have lost my job. I have lost my apartment for gay liberation and you all treat me this way? What the fuck’s wrong with you all? Think about that!
I do not believe in a revolution, but you all do. I believe in the gay power. I believe in us getting our rights, or else I would not be out there fighting for our rights. That’s all I wanted to say to you people. If you all want to know about the people in jail and do not forget Bambi L'amour, and Dora Mark, Kenny Metzner, and other gay people in jail, come and see the people at Star House on Twelfth Street on 640 East Twelfth Street between B and C apartment 14.
The people are trying to do something for all of us, and not men and women that belong to a white middle class white club. And that’s what you all belong to!
REVOLUTION NOW! Gimme a ‘G’! Gimme an ‘A’! Gimme a ‘Y’! Gimme a ‘P’! Gimme an ‘O’! Gimme a ‘W’! Gimme an ‘E! Gimme an ‘R’! [crying] Gay power! Louder! GAY POWER!
There’s some really important commentary on this event by several trans women on the previous upload of the video. I’m going to quote it here so it’s not lost; unfortunately the original commenters have deleted their blogs or gone private so I can’t provide full attribution.
lilacbootlacessaid:
[[Trigger warning: suicide]]
Sylvia went home that night and attempted suicide.
Marsha Johnson came home and found her in time to save her life.
Sylvia left the movement after that day and didn’t come back for twenty years.
this is incredible, she is incredible, I highly recommend watching it
but I think the addendum re: the effect of this day on sylvia is really important
so often we valorise decontextualised moments of tough, articulate resistance and rage
and the suffering of the people who embodied them is not acknowledged, it’s uncomfortable, it’s not inspiring, we want them to stay tough and cool and stylish forever
which is particularly terrible when I think about how sylvia felt like that because of women like me — women who are now watching this video and feeling inspired and impressed and maybe a bit pleased with ourselves for finally having watched a speech by the famous and really cool to name-drop sylvia rivera
girl-assassinsaid:
rebloggin for the true as fuck commentary (bolding mine)
n like, on one hand this moment is decontextualized as fuck, but on the other hand a lot of ppl try to hyper-contextualize it to make it “history” and a very specific historical moment, so we (cis women) can be like “oh so sad that’s how it was in the 1970s, radfems were so awful, but it was only the whole second-wave scene that was the problem, glad that’s over.”
Like have we forgotten the fact that Sylvia only died in 2002? And she died young, if she were still alive she wouldn’t even be 65 yet. I know hella older ppl in NYC who knew her personally, and hella “leaders” of the NYC queer scene pulled horrific shit on her constantly in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, like literally until the day she died (ppl from Empire State Pride agenda literally went to St. Vincents to beef with her on her death bed) Where are the video tapes/memorializing of that shit?
N now the Manhattan LGBT center on 13th st has a room dedicated to her memory, despite the fact that very center permanently banned her in 1995 for daring to suggest they should let homeless QTPOC sleep there in sub-zero weather.
N now there’s a whole homeless trans youth shelter on 36th st named after her, Sylvia’s Place, that kicked my TWOC friend out on the streets for testing positive for marijuana; failing to recognize how fucked up that is in a shelter named after a woman who struggled with addiction all her life, and was very vocal about the relationship between drug use and the stress of living under constant threats of violence.
N from the late 90s onward rich gays and lesbians openly fought against Sylvia to try to shut down 24/7 access to the piers that she n hella other QTPOC cruised and lived on bc they were bringing down the property values of their multi-million west village apartments.
N like 90% of the individual people who perpetuated fucked up violence against Sylvia are still alive and high-profile leaders in the NYC LGBT “community” today.
So like yes, good, remember the oppressive weight of our history of transmisogyny…but also remember that this shit specifically ain’t even history, it’s the current reality of the NYC queer/trans hierarchy today—like not even figuratively, literally the same people who pulled shit like this on Sylvia are still alive n well n all over NYC cutting the ribbons to the newest Sylvia Rivera memorial n eulogizing her like they never tried to fucking kill her themselves.
And all y’all transphobic fucks fucking dare say that we did not fight for your rights. We were there to help you get your rights every step of the way, now fucking do the same for us.
Damn fucking right.
Dedicated to the terf who reblogged with something like “Ooooh woe is me, I guess it’s not enough to control our language, they want to control our thought too oooh I’m but a poor little transphobe” and then blocked me.
Our trans elders fought for your rights and when they turned around you stabbed them in the back.
May you never forget and may you suffer for the evil shit you spout at our sisters and us.
Just a daily reminder, if you’re a TERF/SWERF and you somehow get past me checking my followers, I hope you fucking die, I don’t like you, and I don’t want you here, i found at least five of you measly little shits and I will continue to block you, so, go die
A trans woman: It’s very hard to get HRT, I wonder if it would be beneficial to have a guide on how to extract it from equine urine for those who might live around horses and are desperate enough to attempt the process, since we are medically disprivliaged?
Ciswomen: omg, omg, im so scarred, they are gonna steal are feminine energies, oh god, oh no,
Stalking towards my ancient terf coworkers with a straw
Just a warning to everyone you may be following this person, and trust me their blog is terrifying and disgusting. She was likely a sides blog prior to 2020 and now is a terf and posts really nasty things
Need to reblog as she has a new url stay safe y'all
