#also many people do refer to themselves as reclaimed slurs

[thunder-pride]

This week's activity is the Colour Palette Challenge!!!🌈

Send eachother a subject (character, vehicle, location, ect.) and a pride flag pallete and draw and create to your heart's content.

Underneath the cut will be some simple rundowns for each identity featured in this year's pallete challenge for anyone who is unsure of what they are or just wants to learn more. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Unlabled - An identity where someone either can't/doesn't want to label their gender and/or sexuality.

Achillian - Men and masc aligned people who are attracted to other men and masc individuals. Also known as MLM or Men Loving Men.

Aroace - An identity where an individual doesn't feel sexual or romantic attraction. Also known as aromantic asexual.

Transmasc - Also known as transmasculine refers to someone who feels their gender is masculine. People who come under the transmasc label may be: trans men & trans boys, demiboys and non-binary individuals.

Omnisexual - A sexuality where someone is attracted to more than one gender, it is often compared to pansexual but the gender of the person they're attracted to plays a role in how that attraction is felt.

Alloace - An identity where someone feels romantic attraction but not sexual attraction. They may be homoromantic asexual, biromantic asexual, panromantic asexual, heteroromantic asexual, ect.

Queer - A label refering to anyone who is not straight and/or cisgender. It is a reclaimed slur, anyone in the lgbtqia+ community may decide to use this term to describe themselves but not everyone is comfortable using it for themselves.

Agender - An identity where someone feels like their gender is completely neutral or non existent.

Sapphic - Women and feminine aligned people who are attracted to other women and femme individuals. Also known as WLW or Women Loving Women.

Demigender - A gender identity where someone only feels a partial connection to a gender or feels kind of but not fully a certain gender. Demiboy and Demigirl come under the demigender label.

Alloaro - An identity where someone feels sexual attraction but not romantic attraction. They may be homosexual aromantic, bisexual aromantic, pansexual aromantic, heterosexual aromantic, ect.

Transfemme - Also known as transfeminine, refers to someone who feels their gender is feminine. People who come under the transfemme label may be: trans women & trans girls, demigirls and non-binary individuals.

Bigender - A gender identity where someone feels connected to two genders or more. This could be, male and female, male and non-binary, female and agender ect.

Dealer's choice or pick your own (bonus pallete) - if a flag you want isn't in this year's challenge, or if you don't know what pallete to pick you can send this option to who ever is taking part in the challenge.

Here's a link to last year's pallete challenge for more options.

[three-maddys-in-a-trenchcoat]

You're right about trap and wrong about femboy. The former was always a slur, the latter never was. Both come from roughly the same segment of the internet but from wildly different times. Trap was ages and ages ago when "feminine person with a dick" was inherently and obviously bad to cis men. Femboy comes out of those who, many, many years later, appreciated and wanted to be feminine people with a dick. It is, at worst, kinna fetishizing of GNC men, but it it's theirs to reclaim and it does not refer to trans women and never has. In part that's actually because of the 4chan crowd's transphobia, ironically - many of them like femboys and many of those don't like trans women, so why would they refer to them with a term they consider positive? It just doesn't fit.

did you miss the part where i said i was there? where i was a victim? i'm almost 32, i saw it all happen.

this is revisionist nonsense.

you came in here to prove me wrong and then demonstrated what a "third gender" is perfectly. who, pray tell, has always been called tr*ps/femb*ys and treated as a subset of gay men? who is viciously attacked by these same people the moment they gain enough self-respect to call themselves a woman? which labels do these people immediately jump to when an AMAB character is reclaimed as trans? when have they ever looked at a feminine character with a penis and said "yeah, that's a trans woman?"they absolutely both refer to us. the claimed distinction only occurs in the fevered transphobic mind.

for the record, they have also always bashed people they call tr*ps as mentally ill, while saying that femb*ys are not (or at least, not in the same way). it's an abusive relationship designed to keep transfems from ever transitioning while they're exploited sexually ("you don't want to be mentally ill...do you? you're different from the filthy tr*nnies"). they get off on trans women being in the closet, that's what all this "failed man" and "boy wife" shit is about.

oh look, here's a "feminine man with a dick" enjoyer proving my point.

the fact that channers distinguish between the two labels is completely irrelevant because they don't have any concept of transfemininity beyond "feminine man i can exploit." their only concern is "how gay does this make *me*," not any sort of inner world that their victims might have. tr*p was just way too close to approving of transness (despite them still thinking it was gay), so femb*y came in to be a more insidious label that firmly classifies us as gay men.

please explain f*tanari/ot*konoko next. do you think all those guys who go to ot*konoko brothels here in japan are just gay boys appreciating a feminine man with a dick? those labels come from the same subcultures we're talking about here and serve the same purpose.

Daisuke Ishiwatari, a goddamn Japanese cis man who helped seed all this in the first place, figured it out and tried to correct the damage he'd done. Somehow transfems are the most eager to not understand their history of being oppressed and to preserve these systems.

are you afraid that gay/bi men will attack you? if they have a problem with this, fuck em. they helped create this mess and keep giving these labels legitimacy for their own benefit. i know who my allies are.

EDIT: sorry, i need to chill out. i just think you're wrong on this, not a bad person or anything

to quote a more eloquent friend, "femb*y exists to be tr*p but politically correct"

[beautiful-basque-country]

Kaixo !

Would you know words in euskara to refer to LGBT people ? I'm learning the language since only one of my parents speaks it and I only had a child vocabulary, and I don't really know where I would find slangs or if basque LGBT history is totally similaire to the one of Spain and France. The dictionaries I looked at only give the formal words and I was wondering if there was others (I don't dare to ask my father so I come at you, ô stranger on the internet).

Have a wonderful day !

Kaixo!!!

Here's a little word list found online:

Words to say lesbian:

Neskazale: girls enthusiast Aluzale, motxinzale, potxorzale: vulva enthusiast Motxinjale, pikujale, txirlajale: pussy eater Lesbiana hutsa: A lesbian who has never had sexual relations with a man. Bargasta: It has been used to designate shameless women, although it does not exclusively refer to lesbianism.

Bekatorosa: it means "sinners" and it's used in Iparralde. It was used as a queer response to the exclusion promoted by the hegemonic Catholic religion.

Bilitisen alabak: it means "the daughters of Bilitis". Lesbians were also called "the sisters of Bilitis". In 1894 Pierre Louÿs published a fake collection of Greek poems called The Songs of Bilitis where Bilitis is a Sappho's student and that is the reason why Bilitis and his daughters are rightly associated with lesbians.

Joxe-Joxepa: it means John-Jean taken from the dialect of the valley of Deba.

Kuku: it means cuckoo. It is used in the area of Oarsoaldea. "Cuckoo parties" were held in the past, the term may be related to the Kuku Herri district of Azkoitia.

Lamia: character of Basque mythology. A name that gays, lesbians and transsexuals use to call themselves in good humor or jokingly.

Lesbiama: from lesbiana + ama (mom), a word game for a lesbian who is a mother.

Emakoi, emaztekoi, andrakoi, neskakoi and verb neskakoitu: they can be used to mean to have a crush on girls, to slip into lesbian attitudes and actions.

Piper-opila: it means pepper cake. A word proposed by the Basque lesbians of EHGAM in Donostia to name themselves about twenty years ago.

Sorgin: meaning witch. It has been used in both good and bad ways.

Soropila: proposed as an alternative to 'bollera'. Formed by sorority + opila (cake).

Tortillera and bollera: literally, omelette maker and buns maker. They're common Spanish loanwords for lesbians in many areas of the Southern Basque Country.

Ulertua, kapaza: The understanding one, the one who understands. Codified statement to indicate that someone is gay or lesbian.

For butch:

Emarkia, marimutila, tunkurruna: tomboy

Hartzeme: it means female bear. It describes a masculine lesbian as an alternative to the English word butch. Other words are mariaker (mary male) and mari-motrailu.

Lumaontzi, lumadun, lumatzar, lumatza: the feathered one. A lesbian with a masculine look.

For femme:

Emaztetto, ematto, maripinpirin, marinexka, mariguapa

Words to say gay:

maritxu, garbiñe: they mean little Mary and Claire, used for femenine gay men. It was a slur but now it's been reclaimed.

tximeleta, marikoi: butterfly, fag*ot. Homophobic slurs, more and more reappropiated among the gay community.

atzelari: top

erregina: queen. A proud gay.

hartz: bear Vocabulary related to sexuality:

Andraketa: from woman + suffix of action. Sex or sexual activity between lesbians.

Andramin: from woman + pain. Strong sexual desire for women. Lesbian sex passion.

Neskatan or mutiletan egin: sort of "to do among the girls" or "to do among the boys". Flirt with girls / boys (same sex flirting).

Opila, opiltxo bat egin: Cake / Make a little cake. Two lesbians have sex.

Bilbon ibili: literally, to walk in Bilbo. To have sex.

[x, x]

Regarding LGBTI history in Euskadi, it's been linked to the one in Spain: heavily prosecuted during the dictatorship and after it - late 70s - the movement started to rally and ask for rights and legal protection. Some highlights:

1978: Basque congressman Francisco Letamendia Belzunce “Ortzi” defends for the first time ever LGBTI rights in Madrid.

1983: Legalization of the first Basque LGBTI association and decriminalisation of sex reasignment surgeries.

1994: First registration of a common-law partner in Gasteiz.

2003: Right to adoption to same-sex couples achieved in Euskadi.

2004: First edition of the International Gay-Lesbo-Trans Film Festival Zinegoak in Bilbo.

2009: Unity of Gender created at the Gurutzeta hospital (Bizkaia), formed by a multidisciplinary team of psychiatrists, psychologists, endocrine system specialists, and plastic surgeons.

2010: The Basque Parliament passes a law proposal supporting the end of the consideration of transexuality as a mental illness.

Sorry for the loooong post!! Eskerrik asko for reading!

[no-stupid-questions-official]

Why is the f slur more widely slung around than the n word? I haven’t heard people of other races do this (probably just my lack of exposure) so this is just abt black folks. This is all online and not about the Real World

I noticed that other black queer ppl (along with most queer ppl) will openly call themselves fags/faggots but won’t call themselves nigga (I get not saying the hard r). Eg. on a poll of “how many slurs can u reclaim” I saw someone comment “I can say faggot and the n word”. Now this is different to irl, where I notice many non-queer black people use the n word to refer to refer to themselves and others. So like, is there a difference?? Is being a fag less intense than being a nigga or smth

I am also black I just don’t say the n word much so the phrasing seems distant

-

[mithliya]

I actually do not get it with queer and gay, like I understand all the problems with queer but I don't understand why people say it's not a slur. didn't it mean "carefree" and then it was used in a negative way against people who had "immoral" lifestyle, including homosexuals? so like homosexuals were called gay which meant carefree. and then homosexuals started calling themselves gay and gay started to mean homosexual. doesn't it all make it a reclaimed slur?

i might be missing sth bc i’m confused by ur msg also, queer means carefree??? as far as i know, before it was applied to gay ppl it meant: weird, strange, abnormal, perverted. this is how they perceived gay ppl as well -> they call gay ppl queer -> they use the term derogatorily -> queer became a homophobic slur. in contrast, gay originally meant happy, carefree, lighthearted, brightly coloured, and gay people chose the term to refer to themselves sometime in like the 60s or 70s i think? it was also bc many gay ppl didn’t like the term homosexual much since it was quite medical and tied to the fact that it was a diagnostic term & deemed a mental illness. i’m not sure of the exact timeline but i recall reading these things in the past. it did not have negative connotations until a while AFTER gay ppl took the term & applied it to ourselves. after that it became a term used to insult the same way any term referring to homosexuality has (“homo”, “lesbo”, “lesbian”, “sapphic”, etc..). any term that has meant homosexual has become negative not bc they were negative to begin with but bc being gay is viewed as a negative quality

[a-frog-in-a-bog]

do you rlly think queer is a slur? why? and if you don't use queer why use other words that are also consideree slurs now or in the past like gay, lebian, trans, homo...

sorry for taking a while to respond. i think queer is a slur because...well... it is. the wiki page on the history of the word is pretty interesting, but tldr:

originally meaning strange, it gained popularity as a derogatory way of referring to gay men in the late 1800s (at the trial of oscar wilde, the father of his lover called him a snob queer). in the early 1900s, it was used alongside fairy, faggot, and invert as slurs for gay men. in gay male subculture, queer referred to stereotypically masculine men "who were repelled by the style of the fairy and his loss of manly status, and almost all were careful to distinguish themselves from such men". outside of gay circles, however, it was still being used as a slur.

by the mid-1900s, many gay men were choosing to call themselves gay, "as a means of asserting their normative status and rejecting any associations with effeminacy" (interesting, considering that within early gay culture queer referred to masculine gays who rejected effeminacy). it's worth noting that in the UK, queer was regularly used as a self-identifier through the mid 1900s, although unlike america it had retained its original meaning and in pop culture still meant odd, strange, mentally ill, or someone who uses counterfeit money (yeah idk why either).

wide reclamation of the slur didn't start happening until the late 1980s, but those who chose to reclaim were still respectful of the individual's choice to reclaim or not, as a flyer at a 1990 pride parade said: "Ah, do we really have to use that word? It's trouble. Every gay person has his or her own take on it. For some it means strange and eccentric and kind of mysterious […] And for others "queer" conjures up those awful memories of adolescent suffering […] Well, yes, "gay" is great. It has its place. But when a lot of lesbians and gay men wake up in the morning we feel angry and disgusted, not gay. So we've chosen to call ourselves queer. Using "queer" is a way of reminding us how we are perceived by the rest of the world".

homosexual, lesbian, and bisexual were scientific terms, not slurs. many people adopted these terms because of their factual and unbiased definition (the definition was unbiased. medical professionals and most cishets who used them were not).

queer, dyke, faggot, fairy, etc were applied to gay people for the purpose of dehumanizing and hurting us. if metaphors help, here's an example: "fat" is not a slur. it's an unbiased adjective. just because some people use it in a derogatory way to hurt and bully others doesn't change that. some people have no problem calling themselves fat, but some people associate it with trauma they've faced and choose not to call themselves fat. the same is true for homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, and gay. calling someone a whale or cow, however, is only used with the intention to hurt and imply that being fat is bad. the same is true with queer, dyke, faggot, and fairy.

the purpose of reclaiming slurs is to take power away from oppressors, but it is a personal choice. not everyone wants to call themselves the same thing that bullies and cops called them before beating the shit out of them or trying to kill them. and since it's a personal choice, a slur can't be reclaimed by the entire community, because we are not a monolith. so if you want to call yourself queer, or a dyke, or a faggot, go ahead, but don't call other people slurs unless they have also reclaimed it. and if someone explicitly asks that you don't call them a slur, respect them. that goes for all identifiers, as some people have more trauma associated with the word gay.

personally, i chose not to reclaim queer, given its history and the fact that it hasn't been used against me, so i feel it's not my place. if someone identifies as queer, i have no problem with it. i just hope they made an informed decision and reclaimed it because it's a slur, not because they think it's somehow more inclusive and progressive than gay or LGBT, because it's not.

[sophieinwonderland]

you don't need to post this but I just want to rant

people assuming you can't use the word tranny because you identify as cis in headspace even though you've had transphobic comments towards you (i recall at least one) and yall collectively count as gender fluid... like how is that not inherently trans?

ofc i understand not wanting to use it since it's quite a heavy word (being a slur and all) but also... idk seeing so many people saying you can't say it is so weird. like are they trying to respect your inner cis identity? (which wouldn't make sense for all of them especially with that one user claiming we're all cis on the inside, even tho thats untrue and weird to say)

idk it's... makes me sad. like i know some of it ws before you came out and directly confirmed that you are afab in headspace but the body is amab and gender fluid, but.. also....

Yeah, this discourse is weird to me too.

Personally, it's not a term I feel comfortable reclaiming. Not only do I not identify as transgender, while I have had transphobic comments sent my way and been intentionally misgendered multiple times to hurt me, I've never been called that slur and neither has anyone else in my system.

For that reason, I stand by my apology and regret what I said.

(Although, for the record, I did reference considering the body being genderfluid at least as early as August. Obviously, not everyone on here is going to read and remember every post I make so I don't blame them for missing it, but I do want it on the record that I already identified the body as such. Also, pretty much every post where I identified as a cis woman mentioned in that the body was AMAB so there's no way they missed that.)

But... there's also an acknowledgement I need to make that many systems will be out publicly. That cis headmates may dress in ways that don't conform to gender standards and be called this particular slur because transphobes don't care whether you identify on the internally as "trans."

It seems wrong to me to say victims of transphobia who have been called this slur shouldn't be allowed to reclaim it.

Not only that, many transgender headmates share systems with cisgendered ones. So where is the line then? Does who has a right to reclaim a slur depend on the individual headmate? Should you not be allowed to reclaim a slur that's been used against other headmates in your system?

And if the inner-identity is more important than the body, where does this leave racial slurs in systems who are bodily that race, but individual headmates identify as different races?

I can't remember if it was an ask I deleted or in a reblog, but shortly after I made that post from before, someone asked rhetorically if it would be okay for a white person to say the N-word. And obviously, the answer to that is a strong no.

But there ARE systems with headmates who identify as other races, separate from the body. I remember reading an article written by a black-bodied system made up of many white-identifying headmates on the inside with only one black-identifying headmate. So would we say that the white-identifying headmates don't have a right to reclaim the N-word unless they explicitly identify as the race of the body first? Even if they've been called that slur themselves? Even if it was used to oppress them and their ancestors?

This, to me, feels like the logical conclusion of this line of discourse. And it feels wrong.

In my opinion, if the body is a certain thing, it seems that's what should determine if you can reclaim a slur.

I, personally, don't feel comfortable reclaiming the T-slur based on my life experience, and so I regret using it.

But I also don't want to support a hardline view that says "no cis-identifying headmates with different genders from their AGAB, even if they or their headmates have personally been called this slur and have been victims of transphobia, have the right to reclaim it."

[iceyrukia]

Really tho it took me a while to realize that so many women ‘reclaimed’ misogynistic slurs and went about it weirdly because they wanted an excuse to revel in their own male-influenced misogynistic sexuality where being called slurs is part of a kink.

If you really pay attention to kinksters 99% of the time the ‘submissive’ ( feminine) person is referred to in misogynistic slurs because they derive from the sexual degradation of women, and do the acting party that is a ‘woman’ gets degraded with these words. And I say this because it applies to homosexual dynamics as well. And these are all “progressive” people doing this btw.

Like for me what also gives it away is that women who love using these slurs almost never call themselves “sluts” just to casually refer to themselves as women who actively desire sex. A lot of them go out of their way act abnormal about these words and treat them as “kink” words. They know these words are degrading and get off of being “bad, dirty, promiscuous” women and embrace misogynistic gender roles in their sexuality but don’t want to admit it and hide behind the “feminist” label. They pretend that as long as they “ reclaim” these words then said words loose all relationship to it’s history and influence it’s had on sexual dynamics under a male dominated society.

Very often you’ll see these ‘feminists’ have a smugness about them when calling themselves “sluts” which is very odd is they were really just matter of factor stating that they are grown women who have sexually desires. Like it always strict me as odd that they love calling themselves misogynistic slurs to ‘stick it to the man’ but then I’m like- OH, It’s a degradation kink. But!!! they’re feminists who love misogynistic dynamics but don’t want the label. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

[fangtastic-bastard]

I do not identify with the queer label because unlike the terms that I do use it has been used against me abusively and violently, even before I knew what the word meant. Between cishet middle school bullies and LGBT "friends" who think that my literal trauma is just some personal preference that can or should be changed, I can say for certain that my refusal to use panic attack-inducing terms does not make anyone transphobic or a radfem. I have trans friends that do and don't use the word queer and I believe that they also deserve the dignity of deciding for themselves which labels they are comfortable with. This does NOT mean that others cannot identify with the word. More power to those who aren't as fucked up as I. But that does not necessitate forcing an entire community to use a single (often, but not always, derogatory) word. Please take the entire community into account and not just those who either have had the courage to reclaim it or not experienced the term derogatorily in their lifetime.

I don't believe in "forcing" anyone to refer to themselves by any particular term, especially on an individual level, so if something I've posted comes off that way I would like to clarify. I have my own history of being hurt by the term queer, so I used to avoid it altogether and I understand that some people don't use the term to describe themselves. I tend to avoid labeling myself beyond "bi" and "genderfluid" tbh. If this is about the post that says queer shouldn't be a frowned-upon bad word, I didn't take it the way you seem to be taking it. It doesn't seem to me to say everyone has to reclaim the word queer, but that it's more useful than LGBT for referring to things like queer theory, queer groups, etc. Which from my own life and my own studies etc. seems to me very true.

Also, I'd like to point out that this community you refer to is very diverse, doesn't agree on all issues, and generally is allowed to disagree on certain things. I don't think someone referring to the queer community is "forcing" anyone in particular to ID as queer any more than the LGBT-preferring crowd are "forcing" me to stop using the word.

Besides that, as the post points out most words related to non-cishet-ness have been or are slurs. Before I started questioning my gender and when I was just figuring out my sexuality, I had a friend that called me a dyke all the time. They ended up being a bad, abusive person so it hurt me a lot to hear that word for a long time. However, I can't take dyke away from those who identify by the word. I just can't. It's slightly different, but it is.

This is all to say that I get that people have bad history with the word. I get that bigots do real harm using words. I just think that my own person discomfort with calling myself queer doesn't give me license to stop others from using the term, even as an umbrella term. If you disagree, have at it. Don't call yourself that. I really don't think that you have to use it for yourself. The larger issue, to me, is policing the language of other people and I'm not in favor of that, which is something I've seen anti-use-of-queer people do over and over. Not all, but many.

So, yeah. I might be responding to this not with all the grace I'd like, but I hope you get what I'm saying. I don't understand totally your purpose in sending this. What is it you want from me? Just to "take the entire community into account"? I try to do that, yes, when I can. But the whole community as you said isn't a monolith. Find any opinion on anything. There will be division on this in the community, and queer isn't the only thing that will divide. Do you want me to stop reblogging pro-queer posts? Hmm... If you still think I'm bad after reading my response here, IDK what to say except have a goodun.

[feuilletoniste]

me and other gay men: *get asked who the seme and who the uke is* *get their irl relationships called yaoi* *get treated like entertainment for fujoshis* || you: well obviously its the gay people's fault

Me looking for where I asked for your input lol

[vergess]

Yeah the thing about 'the rest of these being legitimate gripes' is.... no they aren't.

For example, the phrasing, "tumblr allowed false flags" is a very bold way to reframe what actually hapened. That is, tumblr identified human run harassment campaigns and is currently working to end them.

We’re aware that posts have been marked with a “Mature” community label incorrectly, and the appeals process failed. We’re working to resolve these issues ASAP and ensure it does not happen again. We’re truly sorry about this, it’s not acceptable for us to mess up this process. July 21 2023, Changes

Or did you forget "working to end them" comes after "discovery" for some reason?

The actual quote was to the effect of "human interference has been discovered in our moderation tools and is being addressed." I'll link to the exact quote when I find it again.

But that has been manhandled into "allowing false flags" instead of "actively combatting TERF interference in mod tools."

This post takes "we are fighting this problem" and hears "we are all transphobic freaks."

It's especially funny to see "tgirl" listed as the example tag.

You dipshits may have forgotten, but tgirl is a term originating from sex workers and it refers to those of us who sell ourselves as a trans fetish experience.

Blocking a sex work related tag also being used to harass individuals on their personal selfies is in fact an appropriate approach while addressing an ongoing human interference campaign.

Or, should they just continue to leave a tag that many other websites refer to as a slur, where a bunch of people were being driven to suicide, completely unaddressed so that you can attack them for that instead? Oh, but tumblr should magically know the PORN AND HARASSMENT WORD is actually being reclaimed, and therefore the tag should stay live but MAGICALLY BE CLEANED UP I GUESS, but not by staff, since they're not trustworthy??

Do you want them to keep busting ass working to make this website you can use freely, or not? Which is it?

Or let's talk about tumblr live's "data scraping." The data tumblr live uses is your....... IP address. It has less data than you're fucking alarm clock.

That's the "location data" everyone is pissing themselves over, because they heard "tumblr is selling your location" and went fucking ballistic.

Your IP address, if you don't know, is the thing that connects you to the internet. Unless you use an always on VPN, your IP address is public data that every person on earth can access. You can get someone's IP via their discord, their blog, their anything, because your IP is what attaches you to the rest of the web.

It's "location specific" in the sense that all IP addresses in most countries start with the same 3 numbers.

If this were actually a data hack nightmare why would it be legal in the EU???? Or did we all just forget that international laws exist?

But, you'll note that the link to that one's evidence is broken. Deleted. Poof. I have no idea what that stupid post said, but I know it's a lie because unlike most of these people, I've read the goddamn technical specifications.

"Tumblr made live unsnoozable" is just straight up incorrect. Lies. Tumblr made live snooze for LONGER.

Additionally, we’ve increased the snooze period from 7 to 30 days. Sept 5, Changes.

Or how about "taking away accessibility features." In this case, replacing double tap zooming with pinch zooming on mobile.

In actuality, double tap to zoom and pinch to zoom are mutually exclusive accessibility features. Either you are accessible to people with low finger mobility (double tap) or to people with low muscle stability (pinch).

The "solution" in as much as one exists is to offer both options on a toggle. This is not a realistic expectation in terms of labour, however, for a company of 150 people operating in debt while their own customer base constantly lies about, slanders, harasses and threatens them.

Which brings me to my next point.

PartyJockers Et Al were not banned for """""criticizing staff"""""

They were banned for illegally and falsely reporting a staff member as a child molester. They tried to get a service worker killed for reblogging rated G anime art.

That was the issue.

They didn't like the fandoms a staff member was in, so they tried to kill her. (Oh, sorry, they ~abstracted themselves out of it by merely calling the cops~)

And now, today, people are still passing around these LIES.

Just sit on that. Imagine walking into a fucking restaurant, seeing the waitress has a phone background you don't like, and trying to reporting her to the feds as a child molester with the intent to get her killed.

You know. Violent crimes.

The thing you utter cunts keep saying people SHOULD be banned for?

But that's just the thing, isn't it. No matter what happens, you will find a way to be an indignant piss to service workers.

Or let's take that CEO ad blockers comment. It was made as a joke in part of a long, informal livestream, along with the suggestion to use an ad blockers service.

The JOKE was retracted within an hour, including multiple staff apologies for it being in poor taste. Staff user Zingring, 11 july 2023

Tumblr's dev team then continued their ONGOING efforts to filter unsafe ads, a thing they cannot snap their fingers and fix because ADS ARE SOLD BY THIRD PARTY SERVICES. You have a problem with an ad, report it to the AD AGENCY, tumblr has FUCKALL control of that, you're literally yelling at UNRELATED PEOPLE who are NEVERTHELESS working to solve the problem ANYWAY.

And now.

NOW.

You stupid shitfuck suckass pigstain bastards are harassing ANOTHER SERVICE WORKER TO DEATH but it's okay because, see, you're only trying to get this one to kill themself instead of murder-by-cop.

You disgusting little fuckups.

If you cannot be bothered to learn the basic truth, you can at least stop vomiting such vile lies and be QUIET.

tumblr staff have...

allowed false flags of 100% sfw posts made by transfem users (and blacklisted trans and trans adjacent tags) (edit: '#tgirl' is still blocked as of sept 8th, 2023)

taken away basic accessibility features in an effort to tiktok-ify tumblr

pushed tumblr live, a feature users actively dislike which is mostly unused and overrun by spambots, that also collects all of your data EDIT: staff deleted the blog and post of the user who made the data harvesting expose post (iamdealwithit), as well as rbs. partyjockers and iamdealwithit both had their blogs purged by staff for criticizing them.

allowed ads that can literally kill people via flashing / strobing lights, even if the person had it filtered, despite user complaints, with the ceo even saying people with epilepsy should "just buy ad free" in response to concern over potential death or serious injury from such ads

[NEW!] made tumblr live unsnoozable on mobile, ignoring backlash

[NEW!] a staff member is claiming that people leaving negative feedback is responsible for them being actively suicidal, an attempted guilt trip

STOP GIVING THEM MONEY! stop trying to make crab day or whatever else happen. paying for stuff from the shop is rewarding them for ignoring the userbase continuously and doing things the majority don't want, even if the things they're doing and allowing can cause actual deaths. staff shouldn't be praised and get profit for ignoring their users in exchange for trying to turn tumblr into twitter 2 ft. tiktok. (and now going scorched earth when you criticize them). at this point i don't even care for "staff are people 🥺 be nice" arguments, because even when people are being very polite in feedback, they're perfectly fine ignoring it in exchange for implementing changes nobody wants or asked for (now claiming negative feedback is responsible for them being suicidal), all because new users may like it more (and forget anyone who's used the site for years, apparently).

leave bad reviews. don't buy things from the shop. send feedback, even if they never reply. email them and @ the staff, send asks to the wip blog. don't just blindly buy into "we need to support the site, buy xyz shop product", they don't deserve more money for giving a worse product.

edit: staff have gone scorched earth and removed Every Single RB of the post exposing the data harvesting of live, as well as deleting blogs iamdealwithit and partyjockers for bringing up valid points against staff and their policies (iadwi being the one who made the anti-live post).

[trans-axolotl]

Intersex Terminology Guide

Hi everyone! I thought I'd make a guide of basic intersex vocabulary and definitions. I will link to sources when relevant!

intersex: "A difference in sex traits, that happens on its own, and is noticeable enough to cause stigma or violence for breaking an anatomical expectation. " -Hans Lindhal, intersex activist.

"Intersex is an umbrella term for differences in sex traits or reproductive anatomy. Intersex people are born with these differences or develop them in childhood. There are many possible differences in genitalia, hormones, internal anatomy, or chromosomes, compared to the usual two ways that human bodies develop."- InterACT

Intersex variation: A specific variation and diagnosis such as Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, Turner's Syndrome, or Klinefelter's Syndrome. Here's a link to a glossary of many common intersex variations!

Intersexism/dyadism/interphobia: A term to describe intersex oppression. Intersex oppression is rooted in ableism, and manifests through things like medical abuse, harassment, sexual violence, stigma, and pathologization. Here is one working definition for intersexism: "Intersexism is a type of ableism; ableism that is influenced by and rooted in the cisheteronormative idea of how a man or woman needs to function. This “function” is a construct of what settler-colonialism and capitalism see as the most effective way to use gender as exploitation and extraction of profit."-written by Mod Stev of @intersex-support.

Intersex Surgery/Intersex genital mutilation: A term to describe a category of genital surgeries that happen at birth. These surgeries are cosmetic and not medically necessary, and are focused on "normalizing" ambiguous genitalia and sterilization. Here's a report on intersex surgery and interviews with intersex adults. Intersex surgery is legal is almost every country.

Non consensual hormone therapy: A lot of intersex teens and adults are coerced or forced into taking hormones that they do not want to be taking. This happens to both cis and trans intersex people.

Dyadic/Perisex/Endosex: All words that mean someone who is not intersex. Whichever word people use is basically up to personal preference and community norms.

Intergender: Intergender is a gender identity for use by intersex people only. It doesn’t have one specific definition-it is used by intersex people to mean a whole variety of things. It’s used to describe the unique ways our intersex experience intersects with and influences our gender. Some people use it as a modifying term, such as calling themselves an intergender man or woman, as a way to explain the way being intersex affects their identity. Other people identify solely as intergender, and have that be their whole gender. A lot of intergender people consider themselves to be trans, but not all. Here is the intergender flag.

Ipsogender: A gender identity used by intersex people who identify as the gender they were assigned at birth, but feel that being intersex plays into their gender identity and that their experiences are not adequately described by cisgender.

Outdated terminology:

DSD: DSD stands for disorders of sex development, and is the medical term for intersex. DSD terminology was created at the intersex consensus meeting in 2005 by 50 medical experts and two intersex activists, one from ISNA. The DSD terminology shift was also created with the input of a dyadic transphobes who were involved in the shift in ISNA's intersex activism where they distanced themselves from trans and queer politics and instead allied with doctors and medicalization. Some intersex people still do use DSD terminology for themselves, but dyadic allies should avoid it.

Derogatory Language:

Hermaphrodite: This is probably the most common slur used against intersex people. It should never be said by dyadic people, and should never be said to refer to humans. Only intersex people can reclaim hermaphrodite. There is a scientific meaning to hermaphrodite when referring to animals, and dyadic people should only say it in that context and also be considerate if posting things with that word on social media. Hermaphrodite has a very violent history and is a very painful word for many intersex people. If you see someone referring to the "h slur," this is probably the slur they are referring to.

He-she: This is a derogatory term that a lot of intersex people and trans women are called. Similar to the h slur, there is a history of violence and harassment with this term, and a lot of intersex people have been negatively impacted by this term. Dyadic people should never call intersex people a "he-she." It's good to avoid typing out he-she whenever possible, and if referring to someone who uses both he/him and she/her pronouns, saying "she/he" or "him/her" pronouns is a better option.

Futanari: This is essentially the Japanese translation of the h slur. It is used with a lot of fetish content that primarily targets intersex people. Dyadic people should not call real life people "futa" and need to understand that this is an incredibly offensive term. Futanari is also not the Japanese word for intersex; a Japanese intersex activist website uses インターセックス.

other intersex people feel free to add on, or offer alternative definitions!

[st-dionysus]

How can you use d*ke if you’re not a lesbian?

Because I am a part of the dyke community. I spend most of my time around other dykes. Butch Dykes, Femme Dykes, Bi Dykes, Transfem Dykes, Trans Masc Dykes, FTM Dykes, Dykes, Dykes, Dykes that's what I am and who I love.

And it is a term that I reclaim. For some reason, Tumblr seems to be under the impression that only queer people belonging to certain groups can reclaim certain slurs, when that's not how reclamation works at all. As a trans man, the slur people use most against me is "dyke", it's the word that has been shouted at me on the streets and when I was in school what people referred to me as, I was quite literally stripped of my clothes in middle school in the girl's bathroom and the word "dyke" and "tranny" were sharpied across my body. When people want to misgender me as a trans man, guess what they call me? Dyke. When people assume I'm a lesbian, guess what they call me? Dyke. When people know I'm a trans man, guess what they call me? Dyke. Reclaiming that word means taking that power back and being able to say "Yes I am a dyke, that doesn't mean I'm not a man, I contain multitudes beyond your monosexual binary perception of gender and sexuality.

Dyke is also an identity that many many trans men use, both currently and historically. It's a way of clarifying that just because we are trans men that doesn't mean our sexuality is the equivalent of that of a heterosexual cis male, and that our love of women is just as queer as it was when we were lesbians and/or part of the lesbian community and used that label to describe ourselves. We might no longer be lesbians but many of us reamin dykes.

I'd also like to point you to this post from an ask "if youre a trans man "lesbian" does that mean youre a straight trans man or? sorry, genuine question"

As well as this post, on the history of Butch and Dyke as terms used by trans men. (Please note that this is a very long post, but also a very important one that will likely answer many of your questions, also it has one of my favorite zine covers, which I've attached below)

The fact is, trans men are allowed to have complex relationships with our gender and sexuality and the terminology we personally use to label or define ourselves by. Queerness does not conform to "You must be x to be x" and "you have to choose this if you are this", it's an exhausting binary form of thinking that actively hurts many people in the queer community, especially those of whom are trans.

You'll aslo want to note that MANY trans women and transfem folk ID as "Tranfags" or "fags" in general (many of my friends do in fact) Most people will agree that telling trans women they can't refer to themselves as fags or reclaim that slur is a form of transmisogyny, since it polices trans women's language and ignores that "fag" is one of the most frequent slurs used to attack them. So why is it that people don't regonize the fact that it's transandrophobic to police the langague that trans men use and ignore the fact that "dyke" is one of the most frequent slurs thrown at us?

(also, another fun fact is that many butch AFAB lesbians ID as "Faggot Dykes" since this is a term used to refer to some butch4butch couples ((as well as gay trans men who are t4t)), there is a very nice poem that talks about this, that I sadly can't find right now.)

I hope this helps <3

[she-is-ovarit]

@aroacemonster

"Queer" is often used in replace of "lesbian" and "lesbian relationships" in the media, further obfuscating lesbian characters/people and female homosexual relationships.

"Queer" is generally retraumatizing to especially the population of people not included in online surveys (which have a selection bias in and of themselves): elder gay and lesbian people. It is not only homiphobic, but inconsiderate of elder gay, lesbian, and bisexual people who have a limited presence online and experience added barriers to technology, making it more difficult for them to participate in research on these topics or add their voice.

The Q now standing for "queer" has stolen the place of "questioning". People questioning their sexual orientations need a place and should be represented. Q for Questioning especially benefits people who have experienced sexual violence and have trouble discerning their sexuality—predominantly women ("AFAB/OFAB").

The groups who don't prefer the slur are predominantly homosexual, lol. The ones adopting the slur are overwhelmingly bisexual and/or TIPs (trans-identifying people). Furthermore, it's vastly inappropriate for someone who is apparently "aroace" to make a post asserting that homosexual and same-sex attracted people need to accept a homosexual slur as a self-descriptor. Phrasing this woke homophobia as a "friendly reminder" is both condescending and is abusive behavior. People should feel welcome to set boundaries on not wanting to be called a traditional slur, not calling others a traditional slur, and both mainstream and niche LGB groups and cultures should feel safe in gradually moving away from this term without judgement.

After generations have passed without using certain words, often times in languages they simply die. Why in the world would I want to "reclaim" the Q-word over allowing the word to die? Why are the overwhelmingly bisexual and/or trans-identifying populations so invested in using this word as opposed to allowing it to vanish from common use? Slur reclamation doesn't work, because context is important. A homophobic conservative eugenicist calling someone "queer" with bad intentions still directs hate and places power over a gay person regardless as to whether this word has been normalized by the political left, just as any man referring to his partner as "woman" in a hateful way and through gritted teeth still acts to effectively diminish her worth.

Hundreds of thousands of gay men who have died from AIDs and violent hate crimes have had being called "queer" been the last thing they heard. In the 80s, the word was associated with many of their friends and family refusing to touch them.

"Queer" also makes it difficult for bisexual people to not be percieved as having no sexual boundaries and discriminated against, since "queer" is an amorphous term that also apparently includes kinksters and poly people looking for a third.

"Queer" also continues to portray LGB people as deviant, and directly goes against gay rights and gay & lesbian liberation goals of homosexuality being normalized.

Regarding asexual and "aromantic" individuals being grouped into the "queer" label—I identified as asexual for 6 years starting at age 15. It was in large part thanks to AVEN pushing mantras like, "Some asexual people have sex with their partners even though they don't get pleasure from it because it's a nice thing to do–like giving a back rub!" that I, as a teenage lesbian, agreed to have sex with heterosexual boys and men that I didn't really want to have and ended up in a sexually violent and abusive relationship with a man for 10 years. All because when I Googled, "No sexual attraction to my boyfriend", the conversion church of AVEN was the first result.

And, by the way, "friendly reminder" that controlling the mainstream narrative and belief system within a given subgroup or broader culture overwhelmingly is an indicator that you are the privileged voice within that group. There has always been a concentrated effort to "straightify" lesbian, gay, and bisexual people on both the political left and the right. And yes, sometimes it comes in the form of internalized homophobia within our own population, most effectively pushed by the most privileged members.

Friendly reminder that LGBTQ+, Queer, and LGBT+ are the preferred terms for the community (x).

Friendly reminder that Queer is approved by 72.9% of the people, and the groups who don’t prefer it’s use as an umbrella term are straight people, exclusionists, transmeds, truscums, sex-negative people, and sex work critical people (x).

Friendly reminder that aros and aces are excluded only 9.2% / 8.1% of the time respectively while being included  78.9% / 81.2% of the time (x)

Friendly reminder that exclusionists are in the minority and aro/ace people are included in the LGBTQ+ community by the people within the community.

[friend-crow]

I started this post about a month ago, but I've seen the subject come up twice in the last 24 hours so I figured it might be time to finish writing it.

A recent debate (which I may or may not have accidentally started) about just what people mean when they say "pagan" and why it might piss some people off to have their religion referred to as such has inspired me to write a bit on the subject.

Let's start with some etymology! Wooo!

pagan (n.)

c. 1400, perhaps mid-14c., "person of non-Christian or non-Jewish faith," from Late Latin paganus "pagan," in classical Latin "villager, rustic; civilian, non-combatant" noun use of adjective meaning "of the country, of a village," from pagus "country people; province, rural district," originally "district limited by markers," thus related to pangere "to fix, fasten," from PIE root *pag- "to fasten." As an adjective from early 15c.

The religious sense often was said in 19c. [e.g. Trench] to derive from conservative rural adherence to the old gods after the Christianization of Roman towns and cities; but the Latin word in this sense predates that period in Church history, and it is more likely derived from the use of paganus in Roman military jargon for "civilian, incompetent soldier," which Christians (Tertullian, c. 202; Augustine) picked up with the military imagery of the early Church (such as milites "soldier of Christ," etc.).

The English word was used later in a narrower sense of "one not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim." As "person of heathenish character or habits," by 1841. Applied to modern pantheists and nature-worshippers from 1908.

Pagan and heathen are primarily the same in meaning; but pagan is sometimes distinctively applied to those nations that, although worshiping false gods, are more cultivated, as the Greeks and Romans, and heathen to uncivilized idolaters, as the tribes of Africa. A Mohammedan is not counted a pagan much less a heathen. [Century Dictionary, 1897]

-source

TLDR: Pagan in the current sense of the word began with Christians referring to people who hadn't been converted to Christianity, and was more recently expanded to mean anyone who isn't Christian, Jewish, or Muslim.

This is a specifically Christian worldview, which establishes a false dichotomy of essentially "Christian or nah". It reduces the rest of the world's religions and cultures down to "other".

While it's fine if you want to "reclaim" this word by self-identifying as pagan (or heathen), when you start applying it to others against their will it becomes kind of a shitty thing to do.

But if that's literally what the word means, why can't I use it that way?

If a slur literally refers to an oppressed group of people, does that mean it's fine to go around calling those people slurs? The answer is "no". Knowing what a word means and being a decent person aren't always the same thing.

It's also important to consider that many of us have grown up in a Christian society, whether we were raised as Christians or not, which means that we often view things through a Christian lens in many ways that we're not even aware of. This kind of dichotomy is an example of that. It's also an example of the sort colonizer mentality that often comes with living in a Christian society.

Obligatory disclaimer that I'm not saying that all Christians are bad or that it's an inherently bad religion -- just that there is a long history of Christians colonizing much of the world and using religious institutions to try to erase other cultures.

In general, it's almost* always a good idea to listen to others when it comes to matters of their own identity, instead of placing your own labels on them. Chances are they know better than you do.

*fascists are notoriously bad at properly labeling themselves, so you have to keep an eye out for the signs

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

One thing I would like to explore, but is most likely too complex for me to tackle on my own, or all at once, is the popularity of the word TERF as a tool against feminism as a whole. This will be explored, of course, from a trans positive point of view.

My main point of interest is one brought up by Alice Cappelle in her recent video “Who gets to reclaim slurs?” (which you should definitely watch - I won’t repeat all of her points verbatim but they’re more than worth listening to). Viv Smythe, who is credited with having coined the term TERF in 2008 (although she claims that it is likely she was merely the first one to use it on a blog that still exists, source: TheGuardian), meant the term as a “deliberately technically neutral description of an activist grouping“. She adds “we wanted a way to distinguish TERFs from other RadFems with whom we engaged who were trans*-positive/neutral, because we had several years of history of engaging productively/substantively with non-TERF RadFems.” (Quote: TransAdvocate) In a comment published on one of her own blog posts about the topic of trans-exclusionary feminists in 2008, Smythe added: “After a bit more reading, I think the trans-exclusionary set should better be describe[d] as TES, with the S standing for separatists. A lot of the positions that are presented seem far too essentialist to be adequately described as feminist, let alone radical feminist.” In her article on TheGuardian in 2018, she mentioned that the term “TES” didn’t catch on, theorising that the term wasn’t ambiguous enough to.

In her video, Alice Cappelle brings up the way in which the acronym “TERF” has been reclaimed by those we now view as TERFs. Alice proposes: "They took advantage of the fact that they were still referred to as feminists to position themselves as the minority within the movement." She uses the Twitter profiles of self-proclaimed TERFs as examples - they use positive terms such as “happy lil TERF” and cutesy heart emojis in the colours of the suffragette flag. (A term with a history of having been reclaimed, as she mentioned in passing earlier in the video.) She goes on to describe that "[...] their feminism is super limited. 90% of what they do is comment on pro-trans videos, articles, tweets, and it's always the exact same thing: "We don't know what a woman is anymore" and "Why do we say people who menstruate, and not women?""

In fact, in my experience, many so-called TERFs - whether they reclaimed the term or are being called such by another party - are not actively feminists, if they are feminists at all. In many cases, the acronym is used to describe any transphobe who turns out to be a cis woman. Recently, a YouTuber I watch regularly (...whom I will not name for this is not meant to be a call-out post), a cis lesbian whose content and public image show a history of being a trans ally, misspoke about a trans man she had read about. While it is evident that I can’t speak for her true opinions and intentions, it immediately struck me when I saw commenters claim it might turn out that she’s a TERF. Having watched this YouTuber for years, I recall her mentioning in older videos that she didn’t involve herself with feminism, and I certainly don’t recall her content being specifically feminist. There is, in fact, no argument to be made whatsoever that she’s a radical feminist; though I mentioned the claim that she wasn’t involved in feminism came from older content, there exists a chance that she still doesn’t take the time to educate herself on feminism, period. Yet, when these commenters saw the possibility that she was transphobic, they used the word “TERF”. My question is: why? Is it because she’s a woman, or perhaps because she’s a lesbian? Is being sapphic now synonymous to being a radical feminist? Because that sounds to me like a can of worms I don’t even want to touch. In truth, the history of lesbianism and political lesbianism is also a complex issue, which I won’t explore in-depth for the time being (though I will clarify that I’m very much criticising the idea that just because a woman is attracted to women in the year 2022, she should automatically be labeled a feminist), but I will express worry that people, many of them queer, I assume, being this YouTuber’s viewers, are willing to turn against lesbians and feminists - and that worry is one of the main sources for my wondering about the impact of using “TERF” as an insult against women.

As a note, I will add that I don’t align this train of thought with the debate of “TERF“ being a slur. As philosophy of language professor Veronica Ivy mentions: “The idea—it seems to be—is that ‘TERF’ is a term used to denigrate women, and so it is a slur. However, this is an absurd, nonsensical view of the nature of slurs.” (Source: The Epistemology of Propaganda, PhilPapers) While I may bring up the problematic ways in which any word that can describe women and/or feminism negatively winds up being used against any and all women, claiming that “TERF” is a slur is also a blatant misuse of the word “slur”. In criticising TERFs’ claims that the acronym be a slur, Ivy mentions: “[Radical feminists who don’t accept trans women as women] were labeled by fellow (cisgender) radical feminists as TERFs. This point is important, since many contemporary TERFs accuse trans women of coining the phrase/term—and, ludicrously, claim that ‘TERF’ is a misogynistic slur.” Ultimately, the “TERF is a slur” debate is one based in ignorance, if not full-on lies.

In her article Radical Inclusion - Recounting the Trans Inclusive History of Radical Feminism (source: TransAdvocate), trans historian Cristan Williams describes the blatant misuse of pioneering radical feminist opinion leader Andrea Dworkin’s work by TERF activist Sheila Jeffrey. “While she credited Dworkin as being her inspiration and spoke at length about Dworkin’s pioneering book, Woman Hating, she also denigrated the bodies of trans women and asserted trans medical care to be unnecessary. During her entire presentation, Jeffreys never once noted that—in the very book Jeffreys cited as being the inspiration for her activism—Dworkin advocated that trans people be given free access to trans medical care or that Dworkin viewed gender identity research as being subversive to patriarchy.” In the same article, Williams uses the example of Olivia Records, a radical feminist lesbian separatist music collective described as the pioneer to the 1970s-era women’s music movement, which “was itself trans inclusive, and [...] paid for trans medical care.” As she explains, Olivia [Records] endured “threats of boycott and violence from TERF activists who demanded that the collective become trans exclusionary”. Sandy Stone, a trans woman member of Olivia, was regularly threatened, and it culminated when a TERF group named The Gorgons came to a show in Seattle with guns, to be thankfully stopped by Olivia security - which had been seriously increased due to their violent threats.

What becomes evident to me is that radical feminists and TERFs are not and historically haven’t been synonymous. It cannot be denied, however, that trans-exclusionary subgroups have always existed near radical feminists, and nowadays transphobic women continue to co-opt the name, despite arguably putting less and less effort in appearing feminist at all. That being said, TERFs have always been, and continue to be a hateful group with every intent to harm other, non-transphobic feminists (and let’s not forget their willingness to perpetuate violence against trans women directly). By claiming to be the “true” radical feminists, not only do they undermine the image of the movement, but they also give themselves otherwise non-existent credibility. My argument is: by forgetting that TERFs are, in fact, not representative of historical radical feminists, we are being played by them and contributing to harming feminism and radical feminism as a whole. By letting transphobes rewrite history (as if they don’t do that enough already), we are contributing to a world in which feminism will be misinterpreted as transphobic and, as such, passé - a movement to leave behind as humanity becomes less ignorant. To cite Cristan Williams once more: “When promoting the idea that TERF activism is radical feminism itself, it becomes difficult to clearly see the courage of the women of Olivia who endured months of threats of boycott and violence from TERF activists who demanded that the collective become trans exclusionary.”

By exploring this question, I have myself learned more about radical feminism. The truth is, I had been led to believe to a certain degree that TERFs were the only radical feminists. While I dissociated them from the word feminism on its own - which fewer and fewer people even attempt to do nowadays - I had come to view “radical feminism” as synonymous with “trans-exclusionary radical feminism”. While I still have much to learn about the presence of current trans-positive/neutral radical feminist groups, I am now better informed about the history of the movement. To be honest, this will be a helpful tool to me, a cis woman, when cis men are ~nice enough~ to accept that I’m a feminist, but still have to remind me that “feminists have a history of being radical”. With my pre-existing knowledge of the strides allowed by radical feminists - even those with views that may not hold up today - it will be easier for me to defend our history and current positions now that I’m clearly aware that transphobes were never representative of radical feminism, and even strived to hurt it. Transphobes, or trans-exclusionary separatists (TES) as Viv Smythe put it in 2008, were always a hateful group of their own, with a historical wish to absorb radical feminists indeed, but no success or direct link whatsoever; our goal should be to ensure they still do not succeed.