cursed queer creature

crossposting from bsky - glad I stopped using spotify when I did and that I unlinked it from my discord, but still

before you reblog that seemingly innocuous transgender positivity or discourse post, here's some important things to look out for:

1. does this post uplift one marginalized group at the expense of another? specific positivity posts are great, like "protect black trans women" or "lets support intersex folks", but be sure that the post in question doesnt put down another group. examples: "trans women get all the love, so lets have some support for trans men for once" or "trans women are so strong for what they go through, trans men could never understand the struggle and dont experience even half of what trans women are put through" 🚨🚨DONT REBLOG IT!🚨🚨 find another post that doesnt have to put down another marginalized group or pit us against each other. remember, as a cis ally, its not your place to decide who does or doesnt deserve support, or to pick sides when misguided trans folks decide to play oppression olympics.

2. listen for dogwhistles! what seems like a harmless feminist post venting about cishet men can have hateful intentions towards marginalized people. terfs will often misgender trans women when they complain about them so it looks like theyre talking about predatory men, but theyre really meaning trans women. radfems/baeddels frequently omit the "trans" aspect of trans men to hide their anti-transmasculinity. if you have doubts, go to the OPs blog and search terms like "TIM" "TIF" "TRA" "TMRA" "radfem" "terf" "radical feminism" "theyfab" etc. you can also just search trans men/transmasc/trans woman/transfem and if you see anything negative, block and move along!

3. does the post operate under the binary for no good reason? does OP seem to forget that nonbinary and/or intersex people exist? does it use agab language when it seems to only be talking about trans men/women or cis men/women? does it use gendered euphemisms instead of specific and plain language, example: talking about periods and saying "women" "afab people" "females" instead of "people who menstruate". while it seems harmless, these small language quirks really build up in the psyche of trans folks and reminds us that people often are not willing to accommodate us. if your goal as an ally is to make us feel welcome and safe, being as direct and plain with your language is a good start

4. lastly, read the notes! watch out for "us vs them" language or advocating violence. even a common, unserious sentiment like "kill all men" that carries little weight in the cis world is a lot heavier in the trans community; cis men are rarely killed but trans men are murdered at high rates. watch out for malgendering, which is someone holding a trans persons gender identity against them, like "trans men really ARE men 🙄" or calling trans women hysterical bitches. remember that no demographic of trans person is "coddled" or supported by the status quo, we all live in a world that is increasingly hostile to us. if people agreeing with the post in question have this level of vitriol against other trans people, chances are its not actually a very friendly and positive post. again, as a cis ally, its not your place to involve yourself in community infighting.

Playbill has this bullshit to say:

While Jean is the first openly trans person to win a Tony, there have been a number of non-binary Tony winners: Cole Escola, Alex Newell, J.Harrison Ghee, and Toby Marlow.

a black trans woman won a Tony and that is not nothing! and I believe she's the first black woman to win one, period! good for her!

but more broadly, nonbinary actors in general. four nonbinary actors have won a Tony, but it only matters to the community when a binary person does it? Alex Newell (any pronouns) and J. Harrison Ghee (he/she/they) won their Tonys at the same time, the first openly nonbinary people to do so, and served while doing it

they had to put themselves in gendered categories (one other nonbinary performer opted out of the awards entirely because of the lack of a nonbinary option) and they chose to accept the award as actors, officially.

Any form of hormone replacement therapy or sex-change surgery is illegal unless the participant is intersex. Intersex genital mutilation is legal and even encouraged.

A (thankfully-unenforced law) is that any homosexual relations, even if consensual, are punished by death.

Crossdressing is illegal and extremely frowned down upon.

Then I see people on social medias calling transgender men “theyfabs” and “transandrobros” for daring to speak up.

Then I see entirely new binaries being made to justify oppression olympics (looking at you, TMA/TME)

Then I see some of the most rancid and pointless discourse, coming from people who live in nations where being out as transgender, as gay, as intersex or as any marginalised identity is encouraged.

From people who don’t have to suppress themselves to stay alive.

From people who don’t have to face some of the worst queerphobia each day and keep a smile throughout.

From people who have allies for family, for people who have so much support.

no seriously

RATING: RELIABLE

"bomb that kills all-" "I just don't get bi women bringing their-" "pansexuality isn't a real thing-" "all lesbians-" "trans men really are the men of the-" "theyfabs-" "pfft aroace people are cringe-" "nonbinary people are actually all-" Instant block. Goodbye. Not listening. It's for both solidarity with your fellow queers AND to protect yourself, because once a person is convinced to hate one group for their immutable traits they can be convinced fairly easily to hate another too, and thus I do not trust them.

Leftist "transfeminists" (so-called): Trans people AFAB are dumb and irritating. Their brains are poisoned by their hormones. The art they make is shallow and silly, their political theory is not worth taking seriously, and they're constantly whining and being drama queens about their stupid problems. They need to shut up and realise they shouldn't be leading our movement.

Children should not need parental permission for medical care!! This doesn't just apply to life or death care*! A pregnant teen should be able to get an abortion without parental permission! Let teens go on birth control without parental permission! A kid should be able to see a doctor about a mental condition that is harming them and get it treated, even if their parent "doesn't believe it's real".

KIDS SHOULD BE ABLE TO HAVE MEDICAL AUTONOMY!!!!!

Misogyny permanently alters your life path.

There are binary trans men who pass today who still suffer from after-effects of fgm which a lot of the time cannot be cured.

There are binary trans men who pass today who do not have the basic education needed to advance in the modern world.

There are binary trans men who pass today who cannot walk/are permanently disabled by misogynistic practices in their youth.

There are binary trans men who pass today who will live in poverty forever because they were forced into marriages young

There are binary trans men who pass today who will never achieve their dreams because they were not allowed to play instruments or sport or early life skills that cannot be 'caught up' later in life

There are binary trans men who pass today who cannot have children because of reproductive violence

There are binary trans men who pass today who missed out on critical promotion years because they were forced to be wives/mothers

And this is not a #sadcore #never transition post, because all this stuff does not mean that you cannot live a happy and fufilling life, it does not mean that there isn't joy in transitioning or that the world is hopeless.

This idea that in order to be a happy man you must deny the role of misogyny in your life is such an insidious lie because it forces trans activists to either shove every single one of these men (plus all the ones who dont even pass/transition/know they're trans now) under the bus, or discourage young boys from transitioning.

Hint: Pretty much everyone chooses the 'lets throw these trans men under the bus and blot their brains out to the reality of transmasculinity' option.

Literally. Some of you heard this quote 'How many Einstein’s have spent their lives washing dishes, how many Mozart’s bent over stoves instead of pianos, because they had the misfortune of being born a woman?' and said: But the moment you find out you're a man it can all go away!

Anyway this is getting long and disjointed but my point is basically summed up with: misogyny permanently alters your life path and there is not such thing as 'graduating' from the affects of systematic oppression

I am begging the UK trans community and its allies to attend the Mass Lobby at Parliament on June 25th, 11am-4pm, organised by Trans Solidarity Alliance.

The new EHRC Code of Practice pushes trans people out of toilets, hospital wards, and community spaces. It normalises gender policing based on appearance and stereotypes. It becomes statutory guidance in the UK by the end of June.

Trans people are now legally their assigned gender at birth and must join gendered spaces accordingly, but if they are perceived as their lived gender, they can also be ejected from those spaces. The guidance says: either break the law, or don’t pass too well.

A mass lobby is where you invite your MP to discuss your concerns with you in-person. Ask your MP to:

Demand full parliamentary scrutiny, debate, and use their free vote on the EHRC Code of Practice.

Support any motions rejecting the EHRC guidance. As of June 4th, Labour MP Nadia Whittome has submitted a prayer motion - Early Day Motion 240.

Write to Bridget Phillipson, the Minister for Women and Equalities about our concerns

Your MP does not have to be an ally, they do not have to respond to your email for you to show up and greencard them (details below the cut.) What matters is that as many people as possible show up.

I cannot stress this enough: Showing up in person matters. It is much more effective than petitions, emails, and letters.

It is a horrible, stressful time, and I am so sorry if you're trans and live in the UK. But I was at last year's mass lobby and the line for greencarding alone stretched around the back gates. It was a record breaking mass lobby and made us impossible to ignore. Let's do even better this time. Details under the cut:

(ravelry is a recordkeeping website for fiber artists. i mostly use it to find patterns but it does lots of cool stuff)

Uh hello based department?