They mentioned going on stormfront for trans stuff

you know i had to do it to em

Due to recent concerns regarding this post by @ashinadash@hexbear.net, I felt compelled to issue a statement to this community.

There were a few people who responded to this post by acknowledging some degree of validity to Serano's pretty damn explicitly enbyphobic analysis. I just want to start and say that I don't entirely assume bad faith here, as some people often get sucked into holding bad beliefs in good faith with no malicious intent. However, let me just make something totally clear here: Serano's ideas presented in this passage, especially if uncritically given a thumbs up, are very harmful.

As a person who has been harmed very harshly by enbyphobia in the trans community, I see through bullshit. I've seen disingenuous efforts at masking enbyphobic statements as "I'm just concerned about the oppression of binary trans people!" before. These kinds of takes are often thrown around myopically by people who think that there is, within the trans community, some degree of disproportionate hate against binary trans people compared to how enbies are viewed when, in actuality, it's the inverse.

Truscummy rhetoric and non-binary erasure have damaged more enbies than any of this so-called "binary-phobia" has damaged binary trans people. This notion of "binary-phobia" being rife in the community is laughable, as this position is such a niche that you seldom hear about it seriously being exercised and you'd especially never see whole online forums dedicated to it. You, however, cannot say the same thing about transmedicalism. Transmedicalism has pushed many false narratives about non-binary people that aim to be prescriptivist and thereby wholly inaccurate in describing the non-binary experience.

To give a common example, truscum often believe that enbies are inherently non-dysphoric and never undergo any form of medical transition. This is demonstrably false, and the enbies who are dysphoric and/or undergo medical transition are not just some tiny, obscure percentage of the non-binary community. These enbies are far more common than one would think if they go beyond watching bigoted cringe compilations and actually take some time to interact with non-binary people.

However, with that being said, even if a trans person is non-dysphoric, that doesn't make them not a valid trans person, and just to make my point totally clear here: not all non-dysphoric trans people are non-binary, and not all non-binary people are non-dysphoric. Either way, both groups, non-dysphoric trans people and non-binary trans people, whether someone is one, the other, or both, are not invalid in their gender identity. Gender identity is a deeply personal thing, and every single person who is not cis inherently subverts the system that keeps cisheternormative and patriarchal oppression in place. It is about as valid for a binary trans person to be enbyphobic as it is for a cis person to hate trans people in general, but in this case, it is far more hypocritical.

To go back to Serano's concerns, I'm not saying that I've never seen non-binary people give bad takes on binary trans people and gender transition altogether. I have, but these are rare cases that don't make this notion of a major problem with "binary-phobia" any more legitimate of a concern than something as silly as "anti-white racism." I sensed that a lot of users were trying to sniff out good faith in what Serano is saying, but it is nowhere to be found, so you can stop looking. If there were, at the very least, some fair understanding for the current day, she would've done a fair revision of this horrid passage, but she has not.

The bottom line is that gender identity is incredibly personal, and as leftists who absolutely do not want to validate systems of oppression, anyone who is gatekeeping certain kinds of trans people or being bigoted in some other way towards them is going against some of the core, fundamental principles of leftism by validating reactionary, oppressive structures. Whether someone is medically transitioning or not, dysphoric or non-dysphoric, binary or non-binary, gender-conforming or gender-nonconforming, or existing in any way that a trans person can exist whatsoever, and there are a lot of those, they are welcome here, and this is a judgement-free zone for all transgender, non-binary, and genderqueer comrades.

If you have yet to do so, please read The Gender Accelerationist Manifesto by Eme Flores and Vikky Storm, and I have an old effortpost comment that takes down transmedicalism and actually references this work in the process right here.

You are all valid in your gender identities and experiences as trans, non-binary, and genderqueer people, so do NOT fucking tell anyone else here that they aren't, even if you're doing it with the mask on.

please do not dox yourself and post your actual names please thanks

i can do trans masc/nb names too but i don't feel super qualified to rate them

Look right, I like a lot of things about the foundational 2007 text Whipping Girl by Julia Serano. But if you've ever been told to read this book without any qualifiers, I'd like to apologise on behalf of the trans community.

Obviously the concepts of traditional and oppositional sexism, the idea of transmisogyny, Serano's analysis of media depictions of trans women, and more are all superb and well worthy of praise. However, Serano is a land of contrasts, as AcidSmiley so concisely put it. She's read both Leslie Feinberg and Kate Bornstein's works, and writes this extremely salient quote:

We must also stop pretending that there are essential differences between women and men. This begins with the acknowledgement that there are exceptions to every gender rule and stereotype, and this simply stated fact disproves all gender theories that purport that female and male are mutually exclusive categories.

Despite all that, Serano has a perspective that's utterly mired in exorsexist* binary-only assumptions, with language to match. On own, describing someone taking estrogen as "hormonally female" or her body prior to hormone replacement therapy as "physically male" would be unpleasantly cisnormative, but just that. I respect fully that the intent of this book is to analyse the ins and outs of being trans in the gender binary, and so the text is focused in that direction. When Serano writes goofy shit like "mtf spectrum" though, you wonder if she wouldn't be better served by thinking a little outside of the two-genders box.

She doesn't want to, though; Julia Serano circa 2007 (the text has not been meaningfully updated to my knowledge) is a brave warrior going against the grain of non binary domination :citation to defend our poor, repressed binary genders. She's taking down those woke non-binary moralists from their ivory towers:

There are many different (but often overlapping) forms of gender entitlement and gender anxiety. For example, one of the most frequently discussed forms of gender entitlement is heterosexism, the belief that heterosexuality is the only "natural," legitimate, or morally acceptable form of sexual desire. Heterosexist gender entitlement ean lead to homophobia, which is an expression of gender anxiety directed against those people who engage in same-sex relationships. Similarly, the gender-entitled belief that all women are (or should be) feminine and men masculine-which some have called cisgenderism-gives rise to transphobia, a gender anxiety that is directed against people who fall outside of those norms. While homophobia and transphobia have both received mainstream attention, thinking in terms of gender entitlement and gender anxiety also allows us to consider less well- known (but just as disparaging) forms of gender and sexual discrimination. For example, many gays and lesbians who believe that all people are "naturally" either homosexual or heterosexual often express biphobia, a gender anxiety directed toward bisexual people because they challenge the presumption that people can only be attracted to one sex or the other. I have also met some people in the transgender community who feel that identifying outside of the male/female binary is superior to, or more enlightened than, identifying within it. Such people often express gender anxiety (binary- phobia?) at people who identify strongly as either female or male.

I would be laughing if I weren't actually really mad about this classic, foundational transfeminist text featuring tons of brainworms about anyone outside the binary. It's a punchline, the phrase "binary-phobia" is perfect to sit right next to "heterophobia" or "cisphobia". It's right up there alongside white westerners claiming to be victims of racism when someone calls them a cracker, even. It should be plainly self-evident how ridiculous a claim this is. I want to ask Serano circa 2007 to tell me which genders have legal recognition - binary or non-binary ones?

It is truly incredible that a woman can write so sharply about the cultural/societal hedgemony of cis gender and heterosexuality, about how the concept of anything being inherently gendered is antithetical to feminism, and then turn around and write a deeply unserious aside about how non-binary people are apparently smug moralists commiting discrimination against people of binary gender due to the same gender anxiety**--in itself a smart concept about how queer people disrupt assumed gender/sexual normality--that drives cis people to be transphobes!! I am for real left somewhat speechless.

I don't think Whipping Girl is a book nobody should read, obviously. But I scoured the bearsite to see if anyone had dome criticism of or even qualified their recommendation of Whipping Girl, and I found nothing. Part of me wonders if anyone has made a concerted criticism of this book before, but surely someone has before me. I yap exclusively for your benefit! I wonder if Sexed Up or Excluded are better, but frankly I'm just disappointed and angry. Truly a joke.

--

*Exorsexist, I learned today, is discrimination against people outside the gender binary!

**Serano describes gender anxiety as "the act of becoming irrationally upset or being made uncomfortable by the existence of those people who challenge or bring into question one's gender entitlement." In turn, she describes gender entitlement being "an arrogant conviction that one's own beliefs, perceptions, and assumptions regarding gender and sexuality are more valid than those of other people". She is more or less insinuating that non-binary people are befuddled supremacists who cannot stand... adherence to the gender binary. Cool.

Final Fantasy XI

Final Fantasy XI is the eleventh numbered installment in the… Okay, you know what it is, I’m just going to tell you about one of the storylines!

During the Wings of the Goddess expansion, adventurers will be sent back in time to experience the events of the Crystal War, a cataclysmic event that is the foundation for conflicts of the modern-day timeline. Should an adventurer choose to serve the Kingdom of San d’Oria, they will be immersed in the story of the Young Griffons—a group of children who would see themselves knights, many of whom grow into prominent characters later in life.

Among the Young Griffons, the player will find Bistillot, a shy boy who doesn’t like to be seen. With his penchant for engineering, shy demeanor, and lack of combat potential, Bistillot prefers to spend his time inside of an orcish war machine that he was able to repair to working condition.

He is often seen before he is heard, with his signature phrase, “HAAAALLOOOOOOOOO” being used to hail the adventurer. Through the course of the story, Bistillot finds his way, even contributing to the war effort with his engineering skills.

However, when another member of the Young Griffons is kidnapped and taken to the present day, the adventurer must return to the present day and reunite with the Young Griffons’ present selves! The adventurer’s first contact in the present day is Bistillot. When the adventurer hears the signature “HAAAALLOOOOOOO,” Bistillot approaches the player, but what the player sees is… a woman?? She introduces herself as Bostilette, a “friend of Bistillot.”

After the rescue mission, Bostilette comes clean. She is, of course, the very same Bistillot who was a little boy twenty years earlier. She explains that she was very sick as a baby, so her parents gave her a boy’s name so that she would be stronger and survive the illness. Once she overcame the illness, she was comfortable to reclaim her name and gender. Well, that closes the book on that story, except… I’ve decided that’s bullshit!

I have unilaterally decided that Bostilette is trans, the sickness she had was dysphoria, she stayed in the orcish war machine because she was an egg, and I hope you all agree!

Join our public Matrix server! https://matrix.to/#/#tracha:chapo.chat

As a reminder, be sure to properly give content warnings and put sensitive subjects behind proper spoiler tags. It's for the mental health of not just your comrades, but yourself as well. Here is a screenshot of where to find the spoiler button.

Where the guy says "no man can kill me" and she takes off her helmet and says "I am no man" and he implodes out of respect to her pronouns. Always loved that scene.

Went to get some last minute groceries, wasn't particularly concerned about passing, but wore a mask because I wanted to give my face a break for the weekend. I get out of my car and some corn fed yokel 14 year olds run past me while loudly have a conversation about 'what is it?!'. They go back and forth on if I'm a girl or boy, I can't remember the exact details of the conversation because the girl in the group answered the two boys with something that shut my brain down. She said "that's a Democrat"...

I'm still having trouble processing the whole thing.

don't fucking lecture me by saying that i "don't need others to validate me since i'm already a woman" or that "i don't ACTUALLY need others to validate/affirm me, i can do it myself".

like yes i can do that but it fucking hits different when someone else says that. especially if it's someone close to you.

but apparently it's too hard for some people to tell a trans woman in need that they'll "always be a woman". even if you explicitly fucking request that. even if that someone is your partner who also happens to be a trans woman.

apparently according to her i don't need anyone else "to tell me that" because "i'm already a woman"

i hate this constant dismissal of what i need. just tell me what i want and i'll get out of your fucking way.

makes me wonder what's the point of having friends/partners even is when you can't even depend on rely on others and ALWAYS GOTTA FUCKING DO EVERYTHING YOURSELF to get what you want

ae/aer, thon/thons, pup/pups, ee/ees, and em/ems

this glorious image needs to be seen by more

also if someone could provide alt text for this image that would be great. i dont even know where to begin describing it

Anybody else pack a heater? (Non-burgerlanders, we know this is not normal or good, but we are surrounded by frothing at the mouth chuds with guns). Right now I carry a pepper spray and a legal knife, never needed to use it, but I'm thinking of carrying. What are your thoughts on this from the trans perspective?

(i ripped this off wikipedia real fast so sorry if it's lib)

In October 1776, the Public Universal Friend contracted an epidemic disease and was bedridden and near death with a high fever. Their family summoned a doctor from Attleboro, six miles away, and neighbors kept up a death-watch at night. The fever broke after several days. The Friend later reported that [deadname redacted] had died, receiving revelations from God through two archangels who proclaimed there was "Room, Room, Room, in the many Mansions of eternal glory for Thee and for everyone". The Friend further said that [deadname redacted]'s soul had ascended to heaven and the body had been reanimated with a new spirit charged by God with preaching his word, that of the "Publick Universal Friend", describing that name in the words of Isaiah 62:2 as "a new name which the mouth of the Lord hath named".

From that time on, the Friend refused to answer to their deadname, ignoring or chastising those who insisted on using it. When visitors asked if it was the name of the person they were addressing, the Friend simply quoted Luke 23:3 ("thou sayest it").  Identifying as neither male nor female, the Friend asked not to be referred to with gendered pronouns. Followers respected these wishes; they referred only to "the Public Universal Friend" or short forms such as "the Friend" or "P.U.F.", and many avoided gender-specific pronouns even in private diaries. When someone asked if the Friend was male or female, the preacher replied "I am that I am", saying the same thing to a man who criticized the Friend's manner of dress (adding, in the latter case, "there is nothing indecent or improper in my dress or appearance; I am not accountable to mortals").

editorial note: I think this is a very cool story and I really love hearing it. We've been around forever and we've been doing variations of this forever. It's really beautiful

Join our public Matrix server! https://matrix.to/#/#tracha:chapo.chat

As a reminder, be sure to properly give content warnings and put sensitive subjects behind proper spoiler tags. It's for the mental health of not just your comrades, but yourself as well.

Here is a screenshot of where to find the spoiler button.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/3654442

Given the recent discourse with regard to trans/misogyny and the call for reading more fucking books to fix your brainworms, I present an anthology of queer insurrectionist writing.

I particularly recommend "Toward the Queerest Insurrection", "Criminal Intimacy", and "Preliminary Notes on Modes of Reproduction".

In a similar vein, I recommend "I Don't Bash Back, I Shoot First!".

1. Be gay
2. Do crimes
3. Start a gang
4. Take up space

Feel free to cross post this into your favorite gender-adjacent comms to stir the pot and promote the war against God!

Hi comrades, want to give you all an informal update on the discussions around the site's misogyny problems that've been happening over the last several days. I wanna make sure you know that the admin/mod team has seen all of that discourse and we've been actively discussing solutions in the matrix mod chat. We're taking this shit very seriously and acknowledge that we haven't used a heavy enough hand on misogynistic rhetoric. As some of you saw we nuked that cheating thread from a couple weeks ago and handed out temp bans to the most egregious offenders. Idk how that was allowed to run it's course but we apologize for that oversight. We're going to do better.

We've come up with some ideas for how to improve this part of the site culture and we want to get suggestions from y'all as well, since the alarm was sounded on this by our beautiful c/traa posters to begin with. Our ideas so far include:

1. A zero-tolerance policy towards any even remotely misogynistic/patriarchal posts or comments, as too much has slipped through the cracks on that, establishing a clear protocol for bans for violating rules against misogyny, and ideally tracking repeat offenders in a way that makes deciding a course of action easy when they reoffend.

2. Uphold TC69 thought by starting up a book club (and hopefully more to follow) on feminist theory and encouraging mass participation, particularly from the he/him's on the site. "The Will to Change" by bell hooks has been suggested by multiple people as a great starting point but please feel free to suggest any other works.

3. Relaunching /c/menby with a trusted educated mod team and a specific focus on countering mainstream narratives about masculinity, relationships and sex that breed reactionary, patriarchal attitudes

4. Encouraging [namely femme] participation in /c/womenby and taking steps to revitalize that sub as an excellent source of discussion on feminism and intersectionality

5. Holding another mod drive to get more folks into mod positions in our communities who can help weed out reactionary attitudes

6. Encouraging users to use the report button often on any post that seems even remotely sus, with the promise that no one's going to be punished for "report abuse" for reporting posts in obvious good faith

Please let me know your thoughts on the above or any other ideas you have for making the site better, safer and more inclusive for our femme comrades. Once we've fully hammered out plans and updated policy we plan to make an announcement post highlighting these changes for the whole userbase. Thank you all for being here and being who you are

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5913910

Over the past few months, I've been working on legally changing my name and gender. Throughout my journey, I've noticed a glaring lack of information about the process. The information that I could find has been incomplete, outdated, or both. Also, most existing resources assume you know how to do things like send mail, but I'd never done any of that, so I had to figure all of that out for myself, with some help from my amazing friends, of course.

So, I decided to document the entire process in detail to help other trans people who want to do the same. So far, I've only covered updating California state documents and some U.S. federal documents, since that's where I live and what I have experience with. I tried to include answers to every question I had, and details about how in-person visits to various government facilities work so that people like myself wouldn't be as anxious. I also wrote guides on the other skills you'll need to complete this process, including sending mail, filling out checks, etc.

However, this process is different everywhere. I only have experience with California, but I'd like this resource to grow into something that can help people everywhere, so here's how you can help:

1. Write about your experiences: If you've completed or are working on a legal name and/or gender change wherever you live (including places outside the U.S.), document the process. Once you're finished, contact me (Elara) at support@elara.ws, and I can work with you to get your resources published. Also, feel free to contact me if you need help documenting your experiences or even navigating the name/gender change process itself, and I'll try to help as best I can. You don't have to be an expert or a perfect writer, just sharing what worked for you is enough.
2. Check existing info: If anything on the website is difficult to understand, incorrect, outdated, or you just feel like a change needs to be made for whatever reason, let me know! I want this resource to stay accurate and helpful to everyone.
3. Share the resource: If you know anyone or any community that could benefit from or contribute to the information in this resource, tell them about it. I'd like this to help as many people as possible.
4. Provide feedback: If there's anything you think could be improved, let me know. I'd love to hear your ideas.

Here's the link to the full resource: https://trans.queer.my.id
And to the California guide specifically: https://trans.queer.my.id/books/california

Feel free to message me here or email me at support@elara.ws if you're interested about contributing to this or just want to talk about it!