*shows up to ur fandom 5 years late with fanart*

Death of the Author is a term coined by Roland Barthes for his essay of the same name in 1967.

In brief: death of the author is the concept that analysis of a work of art should not be focused on the artist's intent; the artist's intended reading of their own work is just A reading and no more valid than anyone else's.

A good straightforward example of this in practice is the response to Andy Weir and Project Hail Mary. Weir is adamant that his work contains no politics but I would say that PHM is pretty clearly a story about climate change.

this shows up when transfems make posts for and about other transfems, and invariably transmascs will come along to try and make it about them as well. they dont see it as a womens post, they see it as a Trans post that hasnt mentioned transmascs yet

this also shows up in discussions of transmisogyny. transfems discuss the intersectional bigotry we face and transmascs will get defensive that the conversation centres us and not the Trans Demographic as a whole. this is where "transandrophobia" theory comes in, from transmascs misconstruing transmisogyny as just "transphobia for girls" and insisting there must be a transphobia for boys in return, and to deny "transandrophobia" legitimacy is to deny that transmascs face any transphobia. its morphed into its own transmisogynist violence at this point but its inception was very clearly fueled by the transmasc insecurity over there not being one Trans Experience. transmascs think there has to be a blue version, because they dont conceive of transfems belonging to a different demographic than them

i think no small part of this is that transmasculine transition doesnt force them to reckon with transmisogyny the same way transfeminine transition does. of course, it would be wrong to claim no transfem falls victim to this, but far more transfems do have that reckoning because we are forcibly subjected to transmisogyny. and because transmascs flatten the demographic to just Trans, they believe themselves to have a postion of authority to speak on trans issues without ever being forced to interrogate their inherent transmisogynist biases from living in a transmisogynist society and understand the misogyny within the demographic, and any pushback against them is pushback against the Trans Demographic as a whole

it effects everything.

being trans is easier when youre white.

being gay is easier when youre white.

being disabled is easier when youre white.

being a woman is easier when youre white.

being autistic is easier when youre white.

oppression is eased when you are white, as you get extra privileges, and your whiteness is seen as a positive characteristic that in some ways counter-balances your other forms of being a minority. whiteness controls everything.

you are automatically way more innocent in your own oppression as a gay, trans, disabled person because of your whiteness.

three things:

1. it’s true

2. white people get pissed when i bring this up/wear this shirt

it occurred to me that the bizarre and nonsensical idea that trans women transition to escape accountability, as if such a gambit could ever work, serves to offer a convenient explanation for this pattern that allows us to continue hating the tranny guilt-free even after we notice the pattern. the reason the transition and the accusation arrive around the same time is because her entire transition is a disingenuous gambit to escape the accusation! now, not only do we have permission to misgender her, we can take her transition itself as further proof of her guilt!

Bodily autonomy (like abortion, anti draft, etc) -> “The government shouldn’t be able to force anything on my body I don’t want.”

Anti surveillance -> “I don’t trust big government/big tech (big brother if you’re feeling frisky) with the ability to spy on me and my family.”

Immigration -> “Next to all of us immigrated at some point, I don’t see why the elites get to decide who’s allowed to be where. What’s to stop them coming for me?”

Climate Change -> “Big oil shouldn’t get to determine whether or not I get to go places. I don’t want to be dependent on some big business to survive.”

State Violence -> “I don’t want the goddamn secret police breathing down my neck! I trust my community a whole hell of a lot more to help me than I do the state!”

describing this as generalized transphobia flattens out the differences in how variously trans people are variously discriminated against. framing this as transmisogyny correctly focuses our attention on the ways in which discrimination which uniquely targets transfems is weaponized. there will no doubt be downstream effects felt by any number of transmisogyny exempt people, and they will rightly feel upset about the injustices they will experience. i do not want those things to happen, but they will and it will be bad and wrong when they do. but the first people targeted will be those least able to exempt ourselves from transmisogyny, those named explicitly in the majority opinion.

you'll pardon me for not sparing much consideration for future injustices when my sisters and siblings are already suffering, already being cast out and labeled as dangerous, things whose inclusion is a bourgeois luxury reserved only for when we have the time to weigh the complications and the nuance.

and you’re going to tell me what? that my friends and i didn’t experience these things? that i’m lying? all because you don’t want to confront your own privilege? all because a trans woman dared say you need to check your misogyny? that’s ridiculous.