my dear friend coldbrewpup got banned today. I have. many strong words. But mostly im just sad. I met her here on tumblr. I met her partner(who also got termed recently), another one of my closest friends in the world, on tumblr. Ive met nearly all my social group on tumblr, on discord, on other online places besides, or through people who met them on those places.
I always feel, whenever someone i love gets banned, a little silly mourning the account. It feels like a weird thing to care a lot about these days. It feels, much to my chagrin, chronically online. However, I don’t think that feeling stands up to scrutiny.
As queer people, as trans people, and especially as trans women, we often only have online spaces. Either because we live in the middlest of nowheres, or because the places we live arent accepting, or because there are so few other people in our safe group that theres just. Not any who we can be friends with. Not even touching on the facts its much easier to be comfortable behind and through a screen, and all that comes along with that. So, we go online.
And we as trans women contribute a lot. We admin wikipedia, we create much of the internet’s sense of humor, we make music, we moderate servers, we create communities. But we, largely, aren’t wanted in the spaces that want what we contribute. Other queer people want to take advantage of our hard work making community, making spaces where we can be ourselves, and then kick us out. The general public want nothing to do with us at all.
So, even in this one realm we are able to reliably be social, reliably have community, we are driven off, we aren’t ever able to really put roots down comfortably, aren’t able to let our guards down. Because we are so often mass reported, and harassed, and pedojacked, and driven to the edge of sanity and beyond. All over nothing. Over supporting the right to privacy, sanity, and life of an unpopular transfem. Over not rolling over and being driven out. It’s not safe for us, not anywhere the general public can access.
Humans need socialization, it’s non optional, it’s a core part of our psychology and needs. And we are, even in this place, denied it at every turn. It's unacceptable, it's inhumane, and it's terrifying. Love every trans woman you meet before it’s too late, and then act like you fucking love her.
ellievsbear
jbbartram-illu
blakekathryn
dededos
