#intersectional activism

Before we learn about trans feminism, we need to learn about feminism. Does it include us? Not often. Is it all trash? No.

We need to learn about the history of sexism and the struggles people with uteruses have to be seen as more than property. We need to be able to empathize and realize that we are co prisoners, not enemies.

I think this hatred of trans men and denial of their pain is rooted in a lack of understanding of feminism. We spend so much of our energy suffering, and trying to find help and community (which is good), that we stop being able to understand other people's problems (which is bad).

It's also rooted in the top down system. The biggest feminists tend to be the most privileged, so they see ultimate privilege man as the default. You can add black or trans or disabled to him and he becomes more oppressed.

Kimberle Crenshaw thinks of things the opposite way. In her 1989 intersectionality essay, she describes a room where everyone is trying to get out by the ceiling. She says that white feminism wants to put a ladder down from the ceiling to the bottom. Only the people near the ceiling (more privileged people) benefit. They might not keep building the ladder. They might fight over it. What she is doing is building a staircase from the bottom to the top. Everyone gets out. (Her essay is much better than my bad memory attempt to explain it. Go read it.)

Cis and man and rich and able and white and etc. can't be the default. They are already the way we see the world. We need to look from the bottom up. If we help the most vulnerable people, we help everyone.

Example. We make law that says no discrimination against women. That doesn't help Black people.

Versus we make law that says no discrimination against any marginalized person. That helps everyone.

The people who hate trans men see it as them stepping up on the ladder, and trans women stepping down. This doesn't reflect what happens. And it isn't helpful to fight over who has it worse because we're just fighting over the ladder.

We need to build the staircase. We need to build the stairs according to what everyone needs. Laws against trans discrimination. Laws against racism. Laws against body discrimination. Laws for bodily autonomy. Laws decriminalizing sex work. Converting hotels into shelters so homeless people can stay safe and not have everything stolen from and have showers. Universal basic income and healthcare so people are never hostages. Etc.

Gender, sex, attraction/relationships:

[PT: Gender, sex, attraction/relationships:]

@androqueer-struggles (focused on the oppression and struggles of peritransmascs, intersex mascs, butches, etc.)

@this-is-misogyny and @thisis-misogyny (focused on the oppression towards fems and women.)

@this-is-antitransfemininity (focused on the oppression of transfems and people who are transfeminized.)

@thisisexorsexism (focused on the oppression of enben, aka people on the non-binary spectrum.)

@this-is-antixeninity (focused on the oppression of xenogender people.)

@this-is-multigenderphobia (focused on the oppression of multigender people.)

@this-is-internoirism (focused on the intersection of intersexism and anti-black racism.)

@this-is-varsexism-transphobia (focused on the oppression of sexqueer and genderqueer people.)

@thisistransphobia (focused on the oppression of trans people.)

@this-is-amato-heteronormativity (focused on how amatonormativity and heteronormativity negatively impact people.)

@thisishomophobia (focused on how homophobia negatively impacts people.)

@thisis-biphobia (focused on the oppression of bi and other m-spec people.)

@this-is-anti-objectum (focused on the oppression of objectum people.)

@this-is-automisia (focused on the oppression of autospecs.)

@thisis-aphobia (focused on the oppression of aspec people.)

@this-is-abrophobia (focused on the oppression of abro people.)

Race, ethnicity, religion, and culture:

[PT: Race, ethnicity, religion, and culture:]

@thisisracism (focused on the oppression of BIPOC.) @this-is-indigemisia (focused on the oppression of Indigenous people.) @this-is-asiaphobia, @this-is-orientalism, and @this-is-sinophobia-orientalism (focused on the oppression of Asian people.) @this-is-sinomisogyny (focused on the intersection of misogyny and sinophobia, which is the oppression of East & Southeast Asians) and @this-is-sinosexism (focused on the intersection of sexism and sinophobia.) @this-is-japanophobia (focused on the oppression of Japanese people.) @this-is-philippinophobia (focused on the oppression of Filipino people.) @this-is-maori-targeted-racism (focused on the oppression of Māori people.) @thisisantisemitism (focused on the oppression of Jews.) @thisis-islamophobia (focused on the oppression of Muslims.) @this-is-xenophobia (focused on how xenophobia negatively impacts people.) @this-is-antiarab (focused on the oppression of Arabs.) @this-is-anti-romani (focused on the oppression of Roma.) @this-is-anti-paganism-animism (focused on the oppression of pagans and animists.) @this-is-anti-religion (focused on the bigotry against religions.)

Disability, alterhumanity, & public/social perception/status:

@thisis--ableism (focused on the oppression people with disabilities.)

@this-is-neuropsych-ableism (focused on the oppression of neurological & psychological disabilities.)

@this-is-physi-sensory-ableism (focused on the oppression of physical disabilities, sensory disabilities, and neuropsych disabilities that cause physical symptoms.)

@this-is-sensory-ableism (focused on the oppression of sensory disabilities.)

[PT: Disability, alterhumanity, & public/social perception/status:]

@this-is-audism (focused on the oppression of deaf and hard of hearing people, including those with auditory processing issues.) @this-is-agorableism (focused on the oppression of disabled people existing in public spaces.) @this-is-deformimisia (focused on the oppression of people with physical deformities and/or disfigurements.) @this-is-seizurism (focused on the oppression of people who experience seizures.) @this-is-anti-brain-injury (focused on the oppression of people with brain injuries.) @this-is-anti-idd (focused on the oppression of intellectual disabilities.) @this-is-infantilization (focused on the infantilization of people, particularly disabled people.) @this-is-saneism (focused on the oppression of people with psychological disabilities.) @this-is-phobia-discrimination (focused on the oppression of people with phobias.) @this-is-depressiomisia (focused on the oppression of people with depression.) @thisis-suicidism and @support-for-the-suicidal (focused on the oppression of suicidal people, and how to support them.) @this-is-cluster-b-saneism (focused on the oppression of people with cluster B personality disorders.) @this-is-anti-bpd (focused on the oppression of people with BPD.) @this-is-a-trauma-response (a place for people to submit their trauma responses and/or coping mechanisms.) @this-is-pluralphobia (focused on the oppression of plural people/plural systems.)

@thisisfictomisia (focused on the oppression of fictionfolk.)

@this-is-factomisia (focused on the oppression of factofolk)

@this-is-anti-little (focused on the oppression of age regressors and syskids.)

@this-is-kinmisia and @this-is-alterhumisia (focused on the oppression of alterhumans.)

@this-is-anthromisia (focused on bigotry against the anthro community, such as furries, scalies, beakies, etc.)

@this-is-fatphobia (focused on the oppression of fat people.)

@this-is-lookism (focused on the oppression of people who have "unacceptable" appearances, often overlapping with deformimisia/disfiguremisia.)

@this-is-anti-homeless (focused on the oppression of homeless people.)

@this-is-classism (focused on the effects of classism.)

Other:

[PT: Other:]

@thisisparamisia (focused on the oppression of people with paraphilias, especially those with paraphilic disorders.)

@this-is-antikink (focused on the effects of anti-kink purity culture.)

@this-is-whorephobia (focused on the oppression of sex workers.)

@this-is-parental-abuse (focused on the effects of parental abuse.)

@this-is-peer-abuse (focused on the effects of peer abuse.)

@thisis-speciesism (focused on the effects of treating humans as the superior species.)

@this-is-bioessentialism (focused on how bioessentialism negatively impacts people.)

@inclusive-youth-liberation and @this-is-adultism (focused on youth liberation for all types of children.)

Notes:

[PT: Notes]

This-is-transgynephobia, this-is-biphobia, and this-is-sapphicphobia is run by a racist mod [link] (more examples are under the cut*) who stalks people and makes tons of accounts, do not follow those accounts.

This-is-transandrophobia is an endophobe [link], do not follow that account.

This-is-transmisandry is paramisic (has reblogged content conflating pedophile/zoophile with predator, has them on their DNI on their personal account, has reblogged content promoting authoritarian censorship.) Please do not harass (this goes for the other accounts too, but I'm extra specifying that here cuz this is a minor.)

Thisis-paraphilicsocialostracization is an endophobe [link], do not follow that account. UPDATE: So the account removed the endophobic statement from that post, but it did exist. They also removed all comments relating to it, completely erasing accountability.

This-is-islamophobia doesn't support LGBTQIA+ people [link], disregards enben ("both genders"), and goes by the "respect but don't support" rule, which isolates LGBTQIA+ Muslims from the account and also perpetuates the idea that queerness is a sin or choice.

To the people telling me that not every @ works - the reason why is because Tumblr only allows 50 mentions per post. There's nothing I can do about it.

(*Examples of the mod's racism below.)

this includes trans people, nonbinary individuals, trans guys and transmascs, trans gals and transfems, intersex people (with or without any trans identity), gnc individuals, black trans people, brown trans people, asian trans people, indigenous trans people— and any combination of these.

Im thinking of ‘boy moms’ excusing their son’s negative behaviors and favoring them, or moms who get upset with their male children for expressing femininity because they are terrified to have a queer son (importantly a son that is perceived by others to be queer). I think of tradwife influencers that spout bioessentialist rhetoric such as the divine feminine and fated role of women as mothers and homemakers, or the mothers who teach their daughters how to endure abuse by saying “oh he’s only teasing you/hurting you because he likes you” or telling them to “cover up” around their male family members.

I’m also thinking of some of the self named feminists on tumblr who genuinely believe the rhetoric that all women are fragile broken victims and all men are violent predatory aggressors and think this is progressive or promoting feminist values, when really it’s just repackaged misogyny and more of that same bioessentialism that the literal tradwives agree with.

And you shouldn't either. A person doesn't deserve to die just because they are unhoused. The large corporations aren't going to be hurt, and literal garbage should be up for grabs if a person needs it.

Instead you should care about that fact that there are so many empty homes, yet so many people on the street.

Instead you should care about the fact that homeless shelters will reject certain homeless people for being disabled, queer, BIPOC, etc. Or how homeless people will be given unfair rules in these shelters, having their livelihood threatened.

Or how homeless people will be actively sabotaged from moving into an actual home by homeless shelters that have a specific headcount they need to fulfill, and thus, need people to stay in their shelter to reach that count.

Instead you should care about the fact that homelessness is a fixable issue, yet it's still happening.