Sick Sick Blog

They described themself as “soft masc” and their gender felt very similar to me to so many butches I had met. They toyed with the label themself. Their attraction to women fell under a pretty sapphic umbrella and in plenty of cases were welcomed by queer women, trans and cis alike.

But often they felt more comfortable in transmasc spaces because, as was apparently a cardinal sin in many transfemme spaces, they liked their masculinity.

They got accused of faking being trans. They were implied to be stealing space from trans women. And then accused by wlws of being a predatory cis man invading space to get to women. They constantly had to walk a narrow path to not be seen as something sinister because they weren’t feminine.

Because masculine is seen as equivalent to “man” and “man” is bad. It’s predatory and violent only ever and always.

And over and over and over and over again anti-masculinity folks claim that this stance protects women and transfemmes. But you are never ever ever going to be normal about “women and nonbinary folx” if you hate masculinity so bad! You will never be normal about butches. You will never be normal about transmascs. And you will never be normal about ANYONE who is AMAB. Even the feminine ones.

A trans woman who is a masc lesbian is going to be a predator to you. A trans woman who doesn’t pass well enough for you is going to be a predator to you. A trans woman who LIKES her masculinity or masculine features is always gonna be a faker trying to evilly sneak into your sacred spaces.

-Peri

Well, the entirety of my syllabus is a full explanation of creating with intent, and intent is not "versus" doing research and applying it!

Also,

"I wanted to challenge myself, using my amateur art skills and my teaching skills, to convey to creators how that makes us as a community feel, and little things they can do to more intentionally create their Black characters (and therefore show more care for their Black audience). There's more to us than adding to a diversity quota. There's more to antiracism than a checklist!"

-My FAQ

There's a difference between writing a character and just happening to make them Black, and Choosing to Write a Black Character. That is, one that is purposely, "I intentionally thought about the importance of the Blackness of this character as I wrote them, as well as the Black audience that will see them, and it shows".

Most of you don't do that. You write a Guy and go "I'll just say he's Black, boom I'm Progressive and Woke and Inclusive!" Meanwhile, it's a shell of a character that you will be angry at me for thinking could be better if you'd put a little more active thought into it, because How Dare You Question My Good Intent?!?

I will love you to the end of my days but the choices you're making are something I cannot follow you in. I love you. I love you even as your choices leave me bleeding behind you. My love for you will kill me. But I will not follow you, because what you are doing is wrong. I will try to stop you because I love you.