I am the evil twin

At the end of the day, the M/M - F/F ratio on ao3 (for example) is a SYMPTOM of the problem, not a problem itself. Your favorite female blorbo getting astronomically less content than the men is a symptom, not a problem itself. Etc

in a VACUUM, none of these are actual harm. But!! nothing exists in a vacuum. People with misogynistic biases are going to take their biases where it matters (“real life”, for a lack of a better term), have it affect their decisions, and cause actual harm.

If we are very literal, the solution is to address and deconstruct these biases, NOT start creating and consuming content about fictional women (because at face value, the phrase “you can’t force anyone to create the content / enjoy characters they don’t want” is true).

it just so happens to be that

One of the easiest ways to start deconstructing misogyny is to start purposefully seeking out stories about / by women and analyzing them. (And listening to irl women ofc. That’s more important)

once you start deconstructing misogyny there’s a 99.99999% chance you’ll find more interest in fictional women, because the apathy around female characters is misogyny 99.99999% of the time

I’m not going to sit here and do a a creative writing exercise trying to figure out what apathy about fictional women NOT rooted in misogyny could look like. I’m sure it exists somewhere. 8 billion people and whatnot

A small compilation of posts from the latest trans twitter discourse. I haven't bothered to screenshot all of the most viral tweets, but also I think it's important to include a lot of the smart ass replies to really help you simulate just how many people are going under black posts and asking "well, what even is racism really?" And if you'd like to know, one of the largest black trans women on twitter was harassed off of the site. No she did not do anything in particular, just posted an image of a sign she didn't make herself that claimed white trans people oppress black trans people (referring to I believe the silencing of a black trans woman who was slated to speak at the protest but was kicked off last minute. @/septembersister, If that's accurate.)

I don't think it ended up in the screenshot but the scenario of the trans bipoc sex worker they were called sex pests in a reply. Victryena was harassed into deactivating.

I think posters who are attempting to swing back on this conversation claiming this is an organized attack against trans women and fems are willfully ignorant. The sign does not name transfems. The sign is in defense of a trans woman. The vast majority of people making this about trans women are trans women posting racist bullshit. It's not my fault they are trans women. My go to search has been 'white trans' as well as off of my feed. Klansmascs and klansgender nonbinaries are also a plague on our spaces that keep us from community or action, but to dismiss this behavior as a psyop is to engage in apologia for racist communities and erasure of transmisogynoir.

Racism is a "personal grievance". Racism is a "niche cultural issue." Racism takes up all the air in the room and addressing it is hampering REAL action. Antiracism is "liberalism".

The most disgusting idea I have seen thrown at Vic, who is an asian trans woman, is that she is weaponizing racism or the struggles of TWOC/TPOC. Absurd as an idea of that is it makes me furious that we as a community continue to use the statistics of violence, sexual assault, and murders of black trans women to push for trans rights but when black trans women attempt to discuss racism they face backlash like this. We have tokenized the idea of the black trans woman as a silent victim, the emblem of transmisogynistic abuse, and continue to deny her her struggles lest she be masculinized and deemed an oppressive force herself.

Victry's racial identity is also important. As an asian woman and due to the racist misogynistic associations we, largely as American and Europeans, fetishize the 'natural femininity' of Asians. Her dysphoria is invalidated, she has had an 'easy transition', her sex work is weaponized as equivalent to racial violence. For those who haven't followed along, she returned to twitter with an eloquent statement I will add here.

I think its also important to notice how many of these creeds attempt to call on ones marxist values and position TPOC and POC as welding imaginary economic power over white victims. Sex work is continually used as a bludgeon (perverted sexually deviant TWOC are whining when they reap monetary gain vs white trans women as the victims of sexual violence forced to participate in survival sex work are being looked down upon by rich TWOC who never have to experience sexual violence to benefit)

For every singular person rolling their eyes and proclaiming their oppression has tuned them into the concept of suffering, that their experiences make them the true savior of the oppressed masses who doesn't NEED to ever listen to another group, theres 10 more replies 'just wondering' why we 'even bother to see color', or if antiracist action was CIA funded to erode leftist unity, and all of them are trying to make this exclusively about trans women. It's insane.

A couple more to close this out.

Racism is trivial. What even IS race? These rich blacks are speaking over fragile abused white trannies. Racism is a niche issue, you're distracting from actual problems. Calling organizations racist is too aggressive, you can't speak here. You're being inflammatory. You're not showing enough nuance. How was I supposed to know theres a victim when all your political slogans are so mean and violent? Discussions of race is a CIA psyop meant to dissolve the left. I'm angry you called me white and this is YOUR fault. Calling me racist is the justifying transphobic violence. You're equating me to a police officer murdering black people right now! YOU support trans peoples deaths because of the color of their skin! I'm not racist! YOU'RE racist for noticing race!

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.

because to hear even Tumblr the "gay gender website" talk people only wear harnesses while strapped into a sex swing while being fisted

but the reality is that the harness, both leather and spandex, in gay male world is like stiletto pumps, a bright red lip stick, a short skirt or push up bra.

sure some people are wearing those things because they're about to get laid or hoping to. But lots of people wear them just to feel sexy, confident or powerful. And there's nothing X rated and "shouldn't be seen in public" about any of that.

lots of gay guys wear harnesses to bars or clubs not because its a sex thing, but because its a sexy thing, they feel attractive and confident.

I get that gay men feeling attractive and confident terrifies people, but if you're at Pride and a guy walks past you in jeans and a harness, either shirtless or over his shirt, he didn't violate your civil rights or do a sex thing in front of you, he's wearing a totally appropriate outside that makes him feel confident and powerful.

“You can’t compare sex work to other types of work because having sex you’re not enthusiastic about is really traumatizing”

I’m sure for a lot of people that’s true but for me sex and masturbation occupy a similar emotional space to brushing my teeth or doing the dishes and I certainly don’t feel traumatized about it and I know for a fact that I’m not the only person who feels this way.

Also I think that someone physically and violently forcing me to brush my teeth might end up being traumatizing.

Sex is so taboo and mythologized that people have forgotten the mechanics of it.

Yeah sex might be sacred and important to you. To me it’s a chore I’ve gotta do sometimes. Like cooking. I love cooking and put great importance on it and who I do it with. A lot of people just cook to live though.