we can see from the reception of transmasc-voices that even if you are as respectful as possible, even if you follow the correct social script and perform all of the steps, and even if you make it abundantly clear that you see trans women as women and support trans rights, talking about any of them being abusers or predators as individuals is unacceptable to the wider trans community. this is because they are terrified, rightfully so, of being further oppressed and attacked. i understand fully well that trans women are pedojacketed and slandered frequently, and that a major amount of this is bullshit. but there are also real women on this very website right now who are abusers, and their sisters protect them to ensure they remain platformed because of the fear of transmisogynistic backlash and hatred and because of how they protect their own. but you cannot protect abusers just because they are marginalized without risking that become the norm of the community.
i have been very sensitive to and aware of this overarching pattern for a while but i am still finding the words to articulate it.
there is a tendency of marginalized, niche, or otherwise in some way fringe spaces to become cesspits. this is not because of some innate quality of the people in the demographic/community/space, but because of how this mechanically operates. it is a consistent over-correction, a panicked, flailing response when it feels like they are beginning to lose grip on the narrative. this one bad person might affirm the reality of a bigoted statement, we absolutely under no circumstances cannot allow this to be true... and so it becomes false, because the community rejected it, the narrative of the victim that is. instead of the abuser and the community absorbing the impact, the victim continues to, alone, because the group is terrified of the implications of what was done and values the many over the few.
it's wrong but it is a very animal thing. we see it time and time again, all manner of groups protects their own from abuse allegations like this. It does not matter how you ken it.
