Char the Butcher

The thing about dog whistles & frog memes is if you use em it's like you know, at least on some level, that your politics are worthless shit. You feel the need to hide what you're saying cuz you know it's fucked up. Imageboard neofascist culture thrives in secrecy. The idea is that anyone you interact with can be a nazi, since they mostly don't wear swastikas anymore. That shit's too subtle for my taste. I want people to know my politics. I want anyone who sees me to understand that I've got their back, one way or another.

Ok, so I'm seeing a lot of people using this symbol without really knowing its history. It's political, and it's got kind of a problematic past. It was originally used by the SPD (Social Democratic Party) a German group opposed to monarchies, communism, & fascism. They supported Germany's involvement in WW1 & allegedly killed key communist activists. The SPD & their offshoot/ sister organization the Iron Front (more militant, same politics) fought nazis in Germany. In the decades since WW2, groups calling themselves the Iron Front have used the symbol, but have been more focused on militant antifascism. The political meaning evolved & focused. The symbol does have functionality in its design- try this now if you want, grab a pen & paper- if you draw the three arrows over a swastika, you cover it up really well. It's excellent to combat nazi graffiti. So anyway. Use the symbol if you want, but maybe know it has some anti-leftist history & be able to defend your choice. Personally, I use it. Because! Fucking! Symbols change with time & historical context. And right now, people who use it are clearly doing so to demonstrate that they're antifascist. Honestly it's my opinion (this is possibly getting slightly off topic, sorry) that the type of person who would misconstrue this antifa symbol today as anti communist or anti leftist is probably the same kind of person who would get really amusingly embarrassed if you were to bring up the fact that Karl Marx would classify most if not all of my friends and I as lumpenproletariat. Sooooooo, personally, from me as a flawed individual, fuck off with that noise. Tl;dr use the symbol but know its history

I made a novelty item! This is for a Walking Dead- themed gift basket containing cosplay gear for Negan. The gift basket is in support of the utterly dashing & flawless Teagan, who is running for Southwest Bootblack this weekend. Send her love!

Got a new shirt.

Hi!I posted things about my sexuality because I had this belief that visibility for those who practice non-normative intimacy is important.That stuff is there for transsexuals and sadomasochists. It's for the person without a leather community in their hometown, terrified that they're the only freak in the world.So we have this interesting situation where I have made content publicly available, but it is not for everyone. You can see it, if you want. But, to gauge by your reaction, it's probably not for you.There's a big internet out there, I'm confident you can find something more to your taste.

I just received a message asking if I still want cis people to die. The person asking requested that I reply privately. Instead of that, I am going to reply to your question publicly but let you stay anonymous. About two weeks ago I was waiting for the bus, going home from work, when a large man who had been staring at me for a while started to let me know that it was all the faggots and dykes that were the problem with this world, and that he and his crew would be wiping us out. Incredulous, I asked him what the fuck he was doing in San Francisco. We both got on the bus and he continued his loud, explicit, and increasingly specific death threats. In the end it just panned out; this guy was all talk. He got off at his stop and I made my way home. Last Thursday I had gotten off work early and was poking around the Stonestown theater near SF State when some dude started talking with me. He was quite insistent. When he asked how my day was going, I muttered "It was alright up until now." His eyes got very large when he heard my voice, and he exclaimed "Shit, you're a fucking dude!" I said "Well, but not really, though," and he looked puzzled for only a moment before he took a swing at me. Things happened & I ended up running to the back entrance of Stonestown and taking the M out of there. I was upset about that whole encounter, but knew that if I shared the story with someone I'd have to deal with their reaction & emotions and that just seemed like a whole lot more trouble than it was worth. So, until right now, I kept it to myself and just increased the distance between myself and those who might care about me. Mostly when I get assaulted I don't talk about it, for just that reason. So you want to know if I think cis people should die. And, you know, I've had this conversation countless times. I know all the branches of this particular dialogue tree. I could explain the obvious and painful joke of a trans person threatening harm against a cis person. I could point out that being visibly marginalized does not mean that I am a saint with limitless patience and forgiveness, and I that I do feel anger and resentment at how I and my siblings are treated every day. I could challenge you to teach me something about violence. But frankly it's been kind of a rough couple of weeks and I'm not terribly interested at the moment in correcting your misperceptions. Maybe ask me again later.

Alright then.

PSA: transsexuals can fly? (by Aria Klein)

So when someone takes that fact and tells me to my face, “You’re delusional and making up bullshit,” I find myself disinclined to continue discussion.  I just am not confident in the quality of communication that might possibly occur when the conversation opens with “I think your lived experience and your hard-won lessons are entirely void and meaningless.”