What the doll doing?

a reddit post that noted the similarity some years ago inexplicably identified radiolarians as a type of coral. corals are cnidarian animals who form colonies in structures of calcium carbonate; radiolarians are single-celled protists who grow complex shells of hydrated amorphous silica (opal). radiolarians catch food and prey by extending thin arms through their shells' pores and they sometimes host dinoflagellate endosymbionts.

I mean, I can see you struggling. You see how your peers insist their masculinity is intrinsic and easy. It fits on them like well fitted clothing, where on you it chafes and itches around the edges. Are you sure your pants are supposed to sit there? And of course they punish you for it. Oh how they punish you for it.

You know, the idea of growing up has always had a kind of violence in it, hasn't it? An assertion against this you, for the good of all. That you will be destroyed, that you must be destroyed. What do I represent, then? Look at me.

Their teasing and needling. Ribbing and prodding. Joking and bullying. They sense an outsider amongst them. A sheep with the wolves. You're not playing the game, so you have to be eliminated. Or maybe you'll do what they all want you to do and find your way. Figure out that thing they all have that you don't. "Grow up." Cut off the smooth edges.

Are you content to be their vessel? To tell their story and to bear their sins? A life of trying and failing and being punished for your failures? You already proved you needed to try. That this wasn't natural to you. And the was enough to mark you a failure. They'll never let that go.

one example of this which always stuck out to me was after a number of trans reading lists and anthologies and other collections of art works by trans people had no transfeminine people. they were never billed as transmasc anthologies but only ever had transmascs. one trans man in response to a cis woman pointing out the latest example of that (trans women had been pointing out the trend all year already) created a list of trans woman who were bad for the community, where all of the woman were just trans women who agreed with the criticism that a trans anthology with no trans women is bad. when people took issue with him creating a list of mean trannies you should isolate and not trust, some transmascs tried to paint him as the victim of a harassment campaign by a cis woman.

that was the transmisogynistic playbook being described with birthday boy. do something misogynistic, and then use your perceived vulnerability as a trans man to play the victim. the comparison to the tweet is pretty straightforward. the 5'8 guy (in no way short) calls himself a little guy to make the 6'3 guys feel bad about falling for his taunts.

there were many attempts to paint this as a "slur," with people even claiming that it was mocking trans men for being short even though the whole reason the tweet is funny is that 5'8 is not short at all. some of the people leading that charge included the asshole who said julia serano has blood on her hands and a guy who acted like trans women were all privileged while owning horses and land to ride them on. they were not serious people to say the least. and eventually, birthday boy just kind of fell out of use. the strategy is describes is still in full force, but everyone just kind of stopped calling the people who use it birthday boys.