Mind the Gap

also, for the unaware: mclaughlin v. florida was a 1964 supreme court case that struck down a florida anti-miscegenation law that criminalized cohabitation (and thus, as implied, sex) between white people and people of color of opposite genders. anti-miscegenation laws made marriage and sexual relationships between white people and people of color, most often specifically black people, a FELONY in several states in the united states up until the 1950s and 1960s. though it was already struck down by the supreme court, the state of alabama didn't repeal their law until 2000! there were THREE ATTEMPTS at codifying anti-miscegenation into the us constitution!

like yes, the issue here is partially straight white people's ignorance on the united states's history of homophobic policy, but it's also really important to recognize that arguably the majority of the issue here is straight white people's ignorance of the united states's history of codifying eugenics and antiblack racism.

“This magic potion turned the emperor into an alligator” -> “huh i guess magic potions do exist.”

Simple. Straightforward. Comprehensible. Least amount of cognitive leaps to take. Occam’s razor slices through so cleanly and neatly.

“Some random peasant becomes emperor eight years after QSH’s death, after winning a contentious (haha) civil war, and beating out some of the most celebrated military men in history. Despite being a crude, backstabbing scoundrel who pissed in people’s hats, he also managed to lay the groundwork for a moderate and (relatively) humanist Han dynasty, which lasted 400 years and became china’s first golden age. He stands as a paragon of benevolence (relative) to the draconian Qin rule*. His legacy is so enduring that into the modern day, chinese people still call themselves the Han people, and the language the Han language, while his predecessor QSH (who envisioned himself as the progenitor to an unending dynasty) only managed to create a dynasty that lasted 15 years, and has nothing but crumbling walls and unopened mausoleums that stand as a monument to human exploitation” <- it this was a work of fiction i’d decry it for being heavy handed and painfully unrealistic.

when considering the sexual violence against trans women, it's important to remember that "people only view us sexually" does not mean the same thing as "people only find us attractive". it means "people can only conceptualize of our existence within a sexual light" because that's how the majority of our coverage in media has been tinged in the past century. as a result of the chaste and patriarchal nature of modern capitalism, gender and sexuality are inseparable in much public discourse by virtue of propaganda, and as a result, a trans woman is seen as sexual because efforts towards projecting specifically femininity is only categorized as sexual. and when paired with the uncharitable perception of "man", that propaganda can often evolve how people view us directly into "sexual threat" anywhere, for any reason. i could be in the freezer aisle of costco looking down at the ground while i push my cart and i'd still get dirty looks for wearing a dress (this has happened).

when i say "they're either jerking off or sharpening a knife", i mean we're either viewed sexually, or as sexually threatening, in almost all scenarios.