rad-leaning side blog

why do we have to have an endless supply of sympathy for people who conform to every societal norm and would never do the same for us? whenever there's an opinion that's in the minority (veganism, antinatalism, real feminism, anti-porn, anti-prostitution, shaving, etc) the people with the opinion or people who participate in the lifestyle choice that is not shared by majority of society are asked to sympathize with the conformers nonstop. even in the spaces they cultivate to talk freely, they are derailed by people asking you to sympathize with meat eaters, breeders, antifeminsts, people who are pro-porn, pro-prostitution, and pro-femininity rituals, etc, but everywhere else where the dominant narrative lies (which is literally everywhere else) there's no calls for sympathy there. think about all the posts talking about how great shaving is and how much of an artform their conformist makeup is. how often do you see people who think that way say "but I could understand why someone wouldn't do the same thing and we should be considerate of those people." no one is asking the social conformers to please think about x group and how they might feel being bombarded everyday by the majority opinion/lifestyle choice and shame propagated for not doing or being the same way and their reasons for not doing the same, even if they are the most justified and logically sound. the only ones advocating for people who share opinions or participate in lifestyle choices that are in the minority are the people who hold those opinions/participate in those lifestyle choices themselves.

All of that is awful, and I'm sorry that happened to you, but "believing and coming to the defense of a transwoman who claimed to be suffering from domestic abuse at the hands of a different transwoman" in particular stands out to me. Because it's amazing how intramale solidarity in the trans movement doesn't extend to male abuse victims.

I’ll never forget when I was arguing with a person in favor of total prison abolition and I asked them “what about violent offenders?” And they said “Well, in a world where prisons have been abolished, we’ll have leveled the playing field and everyone will have their basic needs met, and crime won’t be as much of an issue.” And then I was like “okay. But…no. Because rich people also rape and murder, so it isn’t just a poor person thing. So what will we do about that?” And I don’t think they answered me after that. I’m ashamed to say I continued to think that the problem was that I simply didn’t understand prison abolitionists enough and that their point was right in front of me, and it would click once I finally let myself understand it. It took me a long time to realize that if something is going to make sense, it needs to make sense. If you want to turn theory into Praxis (I’m using that word right don’t correct me I’ll vomit) everyone needs to be on board, which mean it all needs to click and it needs to click fast and fucking clear. You need to turn a complex idea into something both digestible and flexible enough to be expanded upon. Every time I ask a prison abolitionist what they actually intend to do about violent crime, I get directed to a summer reading list and a BreadTuber. It’s like a sleight-of-hand trick. Where’s the answer to my question. There it is. No wait, there it is. It’s under this cup. No it isn’t. “There’s theory that can explain this better than I can.” As if most theory isn’t just a collection of essays meant to be absorbed and discussed by academics, not the average skeptic. “Read this book.” And the book won’t even answer the question. The book tells you to go ask someone else. “Oh, watch this so-and-so, she totally explains it better than me.” Why can’t you explain it at all? Why did you even bring it up if you were going to point me to someone else to give me the basics that you should probably already know? Maybe I’m just one of those crazy people who thinks that some people need to be kept away from the public for everyone’s good. Maybe that just makes me insane. Maybe not believing that pervasive systemic misogyny could be solved with a UBI and a prayer circle makes me a bad guy. But it’s not like women’s safety is a priority anyway. It’s not like there is an objective claim to be made that re-releasing violent offenders or simply not locking them up is deadly.

Reminder that trans men, ESPECIALLY trans men of color, are not your "gotcha" for the trans people in bathrooms debate. A majority of us cannot safely use the men's room without running the risk of assault, mainly those of us who do not pass as cishetero men. If we are in any way "too masculine", we can't safely use the women's room, either. Stop forgetting we exist until it's convenient for you.

and the reason for this is men. Men are the ones who harass you in the bathrooms because you're female. Men are the ones who have made women so on guard that they question anyone masculine in their bathrooms because males keep invading them. And I'm saying this as someone who used to be a trans man and someone who still gets glares whenever I walk into the women's bathroom, it sucks but the fault lies with entitled males, if they hadn't invaded our spaces then women wouldn't HAVE to be cautious.

we need preteen girl culture & media back NOW! PRONTO!

Maybe detransitioners existing make some of you start having the realization that sex dysphoria is like body dysmorphia—a disorder—and that in itself is unfathomable. It being a disorder doesn't validate that mental state as worth giving into, and the inherent opposition and fight it proposes gets seen as personally hateful, blameful, derogatory.

Just saw a "nature is q*eer" with a male seahorse as an example 😭😭😭😭😭 THESE PEOPLE DONT EVEN KNOW THE MECHANICS OF SEAHORSE REPRODUCTION! The male is not pregnant! He literally just incubates the eggs in a pouch! Again, quite telling when these people think pregnancy = just holding developing embryos

many radfem leaning spaces like to claim to be friendly to detransitioners but then turn around and mock tifs with so much vitriol that it really doesn't feel that way

As someone who peaked because my younger sister became a TIF, I completely agree. It makes me really uncomfortable and angry. What I hate most of all is people who say or strongly imply that TIFs are all mentally ill or have personality disorders. That’s an awful thing to say, especially for girls of a younger generation. My sister was groomed by homophobic doctors who preyed on her and on my family. She isn’t mentally ill (honestly I’m the mentally ill one and I’m totally hetero and appear gender conforming). Hearing people talk about GNC females this way really put me off of fulling leaning into radfeminism for a long time and, frankly, it makes us look bad. If you’re annoyed at TRAs calling us bigoted then stop acting like that.