I understand that transphobic people exist online.
We also need to recognize that being trans doesn’t mean that you’re incapable of being an asshole, engaging in cyberharassment or any other negative social behaviors that all people are capable of.
Much like OP, I’ve been attacked by these people for supporting trans people in a way that wasn’t popular (I.e. not brigading Twitch streamers and harassing children playing Legacy of Hogwarts). I saw a user banned for saying to donate to the Trevor Project instead of brigading and I spoke up in support of them.
I was banned for “transphobia”.
There are absolutely mods/admins using their power in trans social spaces to attack and purge people for no reason other than that they’re not fully aligned with whatever dogma the mod feels is correct.
I just don’t even try to interact anymore. There will always be some chronically online commenter or mod who wants to try to deconstruct your every word choice looking for an angle to accuse you of saying something outrageous.
Alienating allies and bullying people out of the community is toxic and wrong, regardless of your being a member of a minority group.
I have several trans friends these days and two of them were friends all the way back in highschool, in a different city. They’ve recently found themselves distant from one another because there is a clash in ideologies.
One lays lower, goes about their business, and goes to queer events and all that stuff, though they’re still out there visibly trans. The other is very much an activist and will straight up yell at people on the street, I hear, and protests they organize have had at least one physical clash, to my knowledge. I can’t blame either of them, really, for the caution in these volatile times or the aggression when they’re pretty much the only group of people reliably standing up for their rights. The specific issue that came up was a whole thing, but suffice it to say there was a disagreement on tactics similar to what you mentioned.
Ultimately I think the no interaction thing is not a bad play. Allies or no, we aren’t them and while some communication is good sometimes it’s important to be reminded that we’ve entered someone else’s space. Not only someone else’s space, but space belonging to people who are constantly harrassed and feeling cornered just by existing and who will understably defend what little they do have with a maybe…overzealous approach. By the stories here are they handling it well? God no, that sounds wild, but my point still stands.
It goes for any margainalized group, I suppose, that by nature of being pushed aside one lives in a world where they must speak multiple “languages” and learn about how to live in more than one way. They end up generally being better people for it, but that doesn’t at all mean that every single one is better. For all the supportive, kind, and otherwise chill trans people there are still a very small handful who do things like forget who their allies are or even who go way off the deep-end and support the GOP or whatever equalivalent in their country.
I understand why it exists in online spaces, at the same time it’s on every person to speak up against bad behavior.
I didn’t magically become transphobic because someone was an asshole to me and I can empathize with what caused the behavior.
These kinds of reactions are still wrong and is harmful on both the individual level and to the community writ large. Because of that, people should not feel pressured to accept bad behavior or blamed for not walking on egg shells.
We all have the right to be treated with respect and dignity.
I understand that transphobic people exist online.
We also need to recognize that being trans doesn’t mean that you’re incapable of being an asshole, engaging in cyberharassment or any other negative social behaviors that all people are capable of.
Much like OP, I’ve been attacked by these people for supporting trans people in a way that wasn’t popular (I.e. not brigading Twitch streamers and harassing children playing Legacy of Hogwarts). I saw a user banned for saying to donate to the Trevor Project instead of brigading and I spoke up in support of them.
I was banned for “transphobia”.
There are absolutely mods/admins using their power in trans social spaces to attack and purge people for no reason other than that they’re not fully aligned with whatever dogma the mod feels is correct.
I just don’t even try to interact anymore. There will always be some chronically online commenter or mod who wants to try to deconstruct your every word choice looking for an angle to accuse you of saying something outrageous.
Alienating allies and bullying people out of the community is toxic and wrong, regardless of your being a member of a minority group.
I have several trans friends these days and two of them were friends all the way back in highschool, in a different city. They’ve recently found themselves distant from one another because there is a clash in ideologies.
One lays lower, goes about their business, and goes to queer events and all that stuff, though they’re still out there visibly trans. The other is very much an activist and will straight up yell at people on the street, I hear, and protests they organize have had at least one physical clash, to my knowledge. I can’t blame either of them, really, for the caution in these volatile times or the aggression when they’re pretty much the only group of people reliably standing up for their rights. The specific issue that came up was a whole thing, but suffice it to say there was a disagreement on tactics similar to what you mentioned.
Ultimately I think the no interaction thing is not a bad play. Allies or no, we aren’t them and while some communication is good sometimes it’s important to be reminded that we’ve entered someone else’s space. Not only someone else’s space, but space belonging to people who are constantly harrassed and feeling cornered just by existing and who will understably defend what little they do have with a maybe…overzealous approach. By the stories here are they handling it well? God no, that sounds wild, but my point still stands.
It goes for any margainalized group, I suppose, that by nature of being pushed aside one lives in a world where they must speak multiple “languages” and learn about how to live in more than one way. They end up generally being better people for it, but that doesn’t at all mean that every single one is better. For all the supportive, kind, and otherwise chill trans people there are still a very small handful who do things like forget who their allies are or even who go way off the deep-end and support the GOP or whatever equalivalent in their country.
I understand why it exists in online spaces, at the same time it’s on every person to speak up against bad behavior.
I didn’t magically become transphobic because someone was an asshole to me and I can empathize with what caused the behavior.
These kinds of reactions are still wrong and is harmful on both the individual level and to the community writ large. Because of that, people should not feel pressured to accept bad behavior or blamed for not walking on egg shells.
We all have the right to be treated with respect and dignity.
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