#and now its all radfems and i hate them

[natandacat]

I wish all radfems using the pain of iranian women to feed their fucking agenda a very die

[swagging-back-to]

not sorry. i extend very little sympathy and patience towards tras who are underage, and the only ones who do get said sympathy are TIFs. but again. it's MICROSCOPIC levels of sympathy.

[2024skin]

Honestly I'm glad that I spent so much time orbiting radblr as a TRA because it led to my views changing, but I find it to be totally creepy behavior now that I'm on the other side of the fence (hello kettle, I'm pot!). Like, I pretty much avoid transgender spaces unless a mutual or somebody I love is engaging with them. So when I see anons that are clearly sent by people who not self identify as radfems, feminists, or "terfs," but still orbit this area often enough to follow our drama, that is weird af to me.

In hindsight tho, radblr totally does (or did) have people doing the same to tra blogs. Toppdyke used to be famous on transblr, and there were anonymous harassment campaigns targeted at various trans blogs (usually blogs run by afab people 🤔) that look very similar to the harassment campaigns we see on radblr. It's like no normal feminist or trans person wants to start an argument online, so instead these social spheres experience the worst of both worlds whenever they meet.

[autolenaphilia]

The main reaction to me criticizing transandrophobia theory has been calling me a radfem. And I have been rambling on about the misuse of words like "radfem/terf" before, but like come on. It happened like thrice now, in different conversations and at this point I might make it an instant block condition.

If you are going to call trans women "radfems", I suggest that you first define your terms. Like answer the following: what do you think radical feminism is, what separates it from other forms of feminism, why do you think it's bad, and what exactly has this trans woman said that marks her as a radfem?

I suspect basically none of them can do it. That's because their definition of "terf" has more to do with 70s era reactionary caricatures of feminists as evil hairy man-hating lesbians than their actual beliefs. (This site's definition of "baeddel" is that caricature, except transfem.) And whatever understanding there is poisoned by a general unacknowledged antifeminism, so talking about basic feminist concepts like patriarchy, male privilege and misogyny is terfy/radfem.

What marks a radfem as distinct from other forms of feminism is not to talk about male privilege and misogyny, but to understand those terms in bioessentialist and biodeterminist terms, as "sex-based oppression." Not that bioessentialism or transmisogyny among feminists is unique to radfems, but their ideology is uniquely defined by it.

I've seen transfeminists accused of being "trans-inclusive radical feminists", of taking radfem ideas and removing the bioessentialism so trans women are counted as women. But that's another thinly disguised antifeminist argument, because what is supposedly left that is distinctly radfemism without its bioessentialism and how is that distinct from general feminism? The idea that we live in a patriarchy in which men have privilege and women are oppressed are pretty foundational to all of feminism.

Both trans women's claim to womanhood and the intersectional concept of transmisogyny is directly opposed to radfem's bioessentialism, so maybe be smarter about labelling transfems talking about transmisogyny "radfems."

[balkanradfem]

To the anon who sent me a message about how she hates her era of being libfem and can't forgive herself!

I think the only way we can go easy on ourselves is to see that it happened to all of us, all of us were affected and most of us were trying to be kind, understanding and reasonable in those times, and what was presented to us as 'kind and understanding' was saying 'not all m*n'.

And the thing is, we didn't have all the information back then. We didn't have the stats. The actual amount of violence and abuse m*n unleashed on women was carefully and meticulously hidden behind closed doors, endless victim blaming, endless rationalizations. And we were so young! We couldn't have looked at the situation and immediately go 'oh yes it's very clear males are dangerous, violent and destructive and we need to get away from them asap', we all had some connections to males in our lives, we all were at least somewhat manipulated into spending time with them and tolerated their stupidity, and we didn't know yet what was in front of us!

And it's not only the lack of information and real stats being deeply hidden from our eyes, it's the societal pressure. I remember whenever I expressed my opinions on blaming males for their actions, I would be persecuted for it immediately, I would be told I was 'not a real feminist', people in my friend circle would look at me as if I was a disgusting, dangerous and evil creature and they wanted to take distance from me, that's not something a woman can just ignore or feel okay about! We're all susceptible to self doubt when our surroundings tell us that we're wrong, even evil for thinking the way we do. Even when we're 100% right, peer pressure gets to us, gets us to doubt our own minds. We don't often have it in us to fight for our views if we have no support and everyone stands firmly against us.

I don't believe I would fully be able to be a radfem now if I didn't find a community of support and access to all of the information on tumblr, and in all of the feminist books I've been reading; it's the community and access to information that helped me stand firm on facts and reality.

And also there are women in the very late stages of their lives, who are still defending m*n, and in fact, most of women are doing it still, we are in the minority. A lot of information is still being withheld from women. And I don't judge or hate any of them, I know with proper access to resources, information and support, they would all figure it out.

And you did figure it out! There's no shame in getting more information on a situation and then changing your mind and standing firm with reality, it's what people are supposed to do. It's the only way to get closer to reality, to shape our worldview. I believe you're expecting the impossible from your younger self, none of us were able to figure it out immediately, or all on our own, so there's no fault if you couldn't either. And you don't have to be open about it if you don't feel comfortable, but a lot of people would be comforted to know that it's not only them, that it happened to others too, that being a libfem is the only way to eventually become a radfem.

Also I live in a country where feminism itself is still a bad word, and in most places there are not even libfems. Patriarchy is not being questioned at all, no positive statements are published about women. Women here would be estatic even to reach libfem level! And I know it's something we look down on because it's easily co-opted by other movements to promote practices harmful to women, but it is in its inception, a form of feminism, an attempt to fight for positive public opinion of women. It does not come from a place of harm, and most of harm inflicted by it is usually by another movements involvement and influence.

I know it might not affect you at all, but I can tell you that I would never hold you guilty for being a libfem at all. You've done nothing wrong. You've just lived in an era where it was the most feminist thing to do at the time, and you figured out a more effective way and followed that! I'd be proud of that! You couldn't have done anything better than that.

[lorynna]

i would consider myself a radical feminist also and i agree with the vast majority of your views. honestly i am just curious why you think aromantic/asexual people don't exist or shouldn't be labeled. i don't mean this as hate i'm honestly curious to know if it is part of most radical feminist views

if you can accept someone who is lesbian, and knows for themselves that they aren't at all attracted to men, why would you not accept someone who realizes both that they aren't attracted to men and they aren't attracted to women? (obviously very different identities and experiences i'm just wondering why some people can be trusted to know who they're not attracted to and others can't)

Hello anon, thank you for asking so kindly.

I am going to try and explain what my personal opinion on the topic is, as well as I can, and please keep in mind that I don't speak for the radical feminist community but just for my own views.

First of all, the definitions I have read of both terms (aromantic and asexual) so far aren't really specific, differ from each other at times and leave open room for interpretation. The gendies meanwhile continue to preach "everything means something different to each person" and "it is a broad spectrum" just like they do with gender, which according to them is so complicated and unfathomable that you have to ask each person identifying with it seperately, to know what their gender means to them.

The first thing that comes up when I google the definition of both terms displayed below (just as an example of what I mean):

Like, what do "sexual feelings" all include and to which extent does "little romantic attraction" go?

I do think that people who fit the mainstream criterias for being asexual or aromantic exist, I am not trying to say that it is naturally impossible to experience no sexual or aromantic attraction to anyone. I do think it is really really rare for this to authentically occur though, and that a lot of people identifying with these labels have experienced some kind of trauma or are doing it because it has become a trend.

The thing I most dislike about these labels are not only their inconsistency in definitions but also how much they are starting to get pushed online = trend. In my personal experience I have seen not only online but also offline how younger kids and teens start to pick up on these labels without knowing what they truly mean, because they are "cool" and just like gender it is starting to become a similar trend. Seeing who publicly identifies as those labels, it is again mostly the demographic of teenagers who are going puberty and the several different, crucial developmental phases that come with that.

Since you are asking if this is a common radfem belief, I cannot say. There surely is a variety of opinions, however I have seen some good takes from which I remember being said that a person doesn't need the label of "asexuality" or "aromanticism" as an excuse to not participate in dating culture or to not engage in sexual relations. It should just be common sense to not ask strangers about their dating lives and not ask "why" if they say they are not dating or having sex as if it was something unusual.

Also answering to your last question of "why I don't trust those people to know who they are attracted or not attracted to" is not what I am trying to do insinuate by questioning/criticizing the labels they use to describe said attraction. It is not about me trying to say "I don't believe you, you are lying" it is "why do you need those labels". I just don't think it adds anything valuable to society and it's getting more mainstream each day. Now even with teenagers using those labels when they haven't had the time to figure out themselves as a person yet. It just looses its meaning.

I've seen women going through long periods without having partners (radfems participating in male seperatism for example) being asked "oh, so you're asexual, right?" or "oh, so you're unable to form a romantic connection?" because people start assuming, forgetting that there are so so many reasons why people might not have partners or might not want to.

Again, people who truly are not experiencing any sexual desire or romantic desire are really rare but through so many people mindlessly adopting the label it looses it's meaning because it gets more broad in definition and everyone continues to define it for themselves. "Yeah, I am asexual but sometimes I have sex. Like once a month but that's barely enough so I must be asexual." Like... you might just have a low libido and that's totally okay! Why do you feel the need to label yourself as asexual? Is it easier because of your partner's expectations, maybe? Is a simple no not enough for them?

"I'm 15 and I haven't had a crush on anyone so far. I actually think boys/girls are ew and I can't imagine kissing anyone, like ew saliva. Also the girls/boys in my class are so annoying!!" And no, I've heard statements like this several times before. I mean, give yourself some time you're only 15.

Why do we always have to slap a label on top of everything and why can't we just go through life saying "yeah at the moment I really don't feel like having a partner, I don't want to date or have sex. Maybe that will change someday, maybe not and either way it's okay, I'm open for change. " but we have to say "oh yes, I'm an asexual aromantic without doubt and that won't change, that's my identity" and then when that changes we get an identity crisis realising that oh, maybe that wasn't me? Who am I now?

It all boils down to me not being able to take those labels seriously anymore, which is why I reacted so sarcastically in the post you're probably referring to, where I talked sarcastically about those terms.

"labels are different for anyone"

like no.. to define means to limit, to define means to exclude people who don't meet those criterias and that's okay, that's what makes labels and words meaningful = contributing to a conversation of mutual understanding instead of having to first discuss what each person means by using one and the same word.

Like I can't go outside in a clothing store saying "oh I want a red dress" and when she shows me a red dress I then say "oh that's not red for me, that's yellow by my own definition." How do you expect everyone to effectively communicate by leaving the option open for everyone to seperately define one single term??

But as we know, the gendies aren't fans of definitions.

[positive-radfem-confessions]

I knew about radfem as a thing that was bad and that you had to block for since like 2017, and not until yesterday did I actually read around about what it was about, and now i feel like my understanding of a lot of things has shifted really rapidly and idk how to cope. Like i thought porn was a healthy expression of sexuality and bdsm is harmless between consenting adults but reading the stats and where it all stems from and its effect on women and the horrific abuse of the porn industry, i cant believe that anymore. I understand the reason behind gender abolition now and why theres critique of trans ideas. This whole time I was taught that radfems hated trans people for existing like how right wingers do, but after reading around I actually see the love that radfems have for trans men, and the indifference for trans women. Its not about hate at all. Its about the love of women and how sex is what we are oppressed by, and gender as a social construct exists to stand in the way of women. Sexism makes my soul hurt so deeply, and I never understood why people don't talk about it more, why I seemed to care about it more than people around me. Why lgbt people dont talk about it more. Its everywhere, in every part of society. It's so hard to acknowledge that this group which I consider family also actively benefits from the exploitation of the female sex. I don't know how I can deal with the fact that my friends would be upset at me for believing this. How do I even process this i feel alone

I normally as the admin of sorts of this blog do not 'answer' asks often, but I wanted to say that there are whole swathes of women (rad-aligned feminists, radfems, etc) around radblr who have been where you are and have felt what you've felt. Don't be afraid to ask them questions or talk with them! It can definitely feel isolating at times, but more women than you'd think agree with a lot of these feminist ideas and are just afraid of being silenced.

This blog is not a 'normal' blog where I answer or console people, so I will have to ask any radfems/rad-aligned who wish to direct this lovely anon to their blogs who are open to asks/conversations/or just have a wealth of information for her to browse through, please reblog or comment for her to find you, or start up conversations on this post if you wish! Many of us have talked about your experience at length, as we've been through it ourselves too.

You are NOT alone in your feelings and discoveries. I hope you remember that ⭐

[butchbarbieagainstterfs]

i was a terf when i was 16-17 (im almost 20) and let me tell you about the amount of minors that were in those circles, getting lovebombed by 30 year old women.

i was a gender-questioning child who had an... incredibly unfortunate experience with a misogynistic family member. basically, i thought terfs were the only people who understood my rage and i took out my gender insecurities out on transgender people. every time i wrote a stupid ass post a 16 year old clearly wrote i would be applauded by women MUCH older than me. the amount of grooming behavior i witnessed and experienced myself is nothing ive ever experienced before online. i had my age in my bio too so none of them have any excuse.

anyway like i said earlier i was far from the only minor in radfem circles. i saw kids as young as 15 making posts. and these kids were very popular bloggers.

i have strong feelings of guilt about my own actions which i have since grown from but i also have strong feelings of disgust towards these adult women who think its a-ok to rope in minors to a doomerism ideology that believes all men are out to rape you and transgender people are gladly enabling them.

i guess in their minds, seeking minors and messaging them about how they should think and feel about complicated and intense issues they simply do not have the capacity to understand very well isnt grooming but instead an act of sisterhood.

point of this is: radfems are vile, they go after children all the time, and have no remorse about manipulating said children into adopting hateful political beliefs.

I am so sorry that happened to you ❤️

I always remember one quite well known TERF on here that has frogs in the url. I think even now she might only be 17 so still a minor, but she’s been making terf posts since she was like 14 years old and, like you, getting lovebombed for it by grown adult women. It’s honestly disgusting and why I haven’t really engaged her here. She’s just a kid who got groomed :(

[aftonsparv-bugzz]

꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷

:33 < INTRO ⋆｡°✩ -⁉️

[pt: INTRO]

☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆

\ | /

✮⋆˙🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🎸⋆⭒˚｡⋆🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:✮⋆˙

:33 < if we are mewtuals, i ask you to please go check out my (now updated) byf. (please check when this post was last updated !!) youdo not have to, it would be great if youdid though (if youhave read it iwould prefer you interact with the post somehow, but it is not forced !!)

[pt: if we are mewtuals, i ask you to please go check out my (now updated) byf. (please check when this post was last updated !!) youdo not have to, it would be great if youdid though (if youhave read it iwould prefer you interact with the post somehow, but it is not forced !!)

:33 < check this out !! (its my info for requests !! :3 request at my side blog only, @neprequests ) (request info last updated: 16:11 (?), may 15, 2024) (this pinned post was last updated tuesday 11th june 2024 at 19:49/7:49 pm)

🌊✮ ⋆ 🦈｡ * ⋆｡🌊✮ ⋆ 🦈｡ * ⋆｡🌊✮ ⋆ 🦈｡ * ⋆｡🌊🦈｡ * ⋆

:33 < velop !1!1 my names are: tesco, tuesday, nepeta/nepetar, gamz/gamzee, kk/kar/kat/karkat, dave strider, davepeta don/donnie/donatello mikey/michelangelo ect (alot of names, iknow) and this is my blogggg !1!1 ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

:33 < my pronouns are all !2!2 (alternating) (do not use "she/her" when referring to me as nepeta though.)

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*

:33 < ihave avpd and am a susterm (and theres more to sli but vi'll not talk about that :o] )

B33 < dni + other things under the cut - !!

dni:

[pt: dni]

B33 < general dni: racist, lgbtqia2s+phobic, intersexist ect

:33 < against xenos and alterhumans

:33 < exclusionists

:33 < against good faith identities

:33 < anti mspec gays/lesbians/lesboys/turigirls ect

B33 < agaisnt littles/agere/petre/agedre/petdre/any other form of regression

:33 < proshipper/comshipper/anti shipper who condones and/or harrasses those shippers

:33 < zionists and antisematists

:33 < "radqueers...."/harmful "trans ids"

B33 < anti polyamory

B33 < radfems/anti trans ect >:o[

:33 < anti juggalis (iam a juggalo there will be no juggalox discoruse here !1!1 >:o(()

:33 < if you post hate/alienating/any stereotypes to any of the following: clowns, vampires, aliens, ghosts, or any of my kittypes/any of my fictives

B33 < you use "clown" in a bad or negative way (or any of my kintypes !!)

:33 < you villanise/hate of gamzee (or any of my kintypes !!)

:33 < basically just dont interact if you see my kintypes badly cause thats seeing me badly :oP

:33 < you arent normal about delusional people/feed into their delusions/reality check them without consent/use "delulu"/say/call people/yourself "delusional" when you arent actually delusional

:33 < reality checking of any kind. ido not care that you are "anti" or "pro" endo, youhave no right to reality chevk delusional systems, and generally nobody has the right to reality check ANY delusional folks.

B33 < say pd slurs when youdont have that pd (cant recalimm it)

:33 < use slurs youcannot reclaim, or call people slurs they arent comfortable being called

B33 < youdont believe holotheres are valid

B33 < kincourse, syscourse, general discourse blogs

:33 < pro-c/com/neu harmful paras.

B33 < you villanise any pds or mental illnesses

B33 < "minors dni"

:33 < heavy kinhk/ndsfw blog 1!!1 (im a minor !1!1!1 not against it, just dont want to see it cause im under 18 and geett triggered by it 0_=)

B33 < ork done :3

BYF:

[pt: BYF]

:33 < my alters may not always give translations to how they speak/typing quirks. that icannot control (may add a translation if possible though !!)

B33 < my alters typically call me "the original" or "the creator" (seemingly as they dont know theyre in a system, or just as a sign of respect, not too sure which) and usually call eachother/icall them "the others"

:33 < youshould let me know if youdont wanna become mewts through an ask or something. id you wanna follow me without us being mewts, let me know

B33 < my headmates (i use alters and headmates interchangeably and nobody has a preference, so its fine !!) are kinda uneducated, nobody really knows terminology like "alters, headmates, fronting" ect/dont know how to describe it so they'll probably just say "im here" instead of "im fronting" or something or refer to eachother as "the others" or just by their names

:33 < most headmates dont realise theyre in a system !! a few are aware, the rest just have no idea and dont question it :oP

:33 < ihave awful memory due to system amnesia and also prefer to be seen as one than multiple if possible (as in i usually say "i" instead of us for personal preference, but occasionally use "we" if needed !!) i use "we" and "us" in my head because iam more than one person but dont see the need for others to prefer to me as "us" and prefer being seen as one

B33 < we have awful communication. literally. we dont talk to eachother like.... ever.

:33 < some alters experience delusions/are very sensitive. be kind to them

:33 < some alters are non verbal/non scribal !!

B33 < they generally wont post as they are quite antisocial and have no interest in doing so. if they do, dont be surprised if "i"sound different

B33 < ihave fluctuated feelings about doubles. occasionally im fine with them, and theycan generally interact, but sometimes imight not respond to doubles because ifeel to overwhelmed to respond to "other me"s. please take this lightheartedly !! imean no harm !! iam not mad ^_^ (mewts that are doubles are ok !! :3 )

:33 < some alters do not like doubles. if they dont respond to doubles, dont be surprised.

B33 < im a self shipper, i typically dont mind sharing, but ocassionally get over protective so if we have the same f/o youcan interact but imight not always respond (ihave fluctuating feelings, the same as doubles interacting with me)

:33 < youhave to use tone tags with me. ido not understand basic tone, so please do use tone tags.

B33 < if you follow me iwill most likely follow back also please watch out ido tent to accidentally spam like, idont repost things, and i generally @ people so tell me not to do so if youdont want me to :oT

:33 < ido not answer dms :o( unless its something like an important question !! in that case iam free to answer !! ^_^

B33 < due to my decidiophobia, idont reblog things u_u also just generally if youre requesting something please be specific and im probably gonna give yiu multiple decisions cause icant make the decisions myself

B33 < i use alot of cat puns*, occasionally some clown and space puns too 1!1! i also do "33" when theres a double "ee" but vi'll try include a translation !1!1⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆(*usually dont anymore)

:33 < this post + other postts may have spelling errors and mistakes. ihave tried to go back and fix it, but it has been difficult

to know more about me and my alter's boundaries: LOOK AT THIS

if we are mewts (moots) please trigger these things: caps* (capital letters), swearing,* slurs (that dosent include "queer"), paras/mentions of them, redhead jokes, any posts hating on ghosts/any post to do with ghost busters, any posts hating/steryotyping my kintypes in general, animal skeletons/taxidermy/ect, any sexual posts, horror/blood/gore/death, (fake or otherwise) reblog bait, long reblog posts, anything that could trigger my delusions (stuff like unreality/derealisaton/depersonalisation/paranoia, saying stuff that isnt true, ect), bunches of eyes, (or things that are deemed "creepy"), very heavy eyestrain, anything that could cause body/gender/species dysphoria, syscourse of ANY kind, vore of ANY kind (even sfw vore), mentions of demons, heavy christianity/christianity jokes (e.g. "im getting the holy water") ect. these trigger either me or the "others" so please do tag it. (/not forcing ofcourse) (please note that im not against all of these !! (minus red head jokes and ghostbusters ((ghostbuster fans can interact !! im just a little sensitive to it, thats all, nothing too serious !! im a ghostkin so it kinda makes me a little uncomfortable)) im very against/sensetive to those) they can just trigger me or the others !!)

mewts feel free to tell me if you need me specifically tagging anything !! :3 iwill always tag anything needed !! :3 and if we arent mewts but you still want me to tag something, please dont be shy and feel free to ask !! id rather you not get triggered than be triggered in any way, even it is the "wackiest, strangest, weirdest, most random" thing, if you get triggered by it and want me tagging it, iwill absolutely tag it !! ^_^

trigger tag is "tesco dont look" or "tagging for clown" if youd prefer not typing out the tw (tagging for all of us/the system as a whole youcan use "tagging for the wicked clownz" if youwant and tagging for me personally (tesco) youcan use "tagging for clown" or "tesco dont look". thank you !)

**these are for alters however keep in mind that my alters do not front often, and do not front for a while. i front like 90% of the time, and so if youcannot tag these things that is ok, it is just most preferred for us !! if you see any mewtuals of mine not tagging these things, dont come at them !! they do not have to, its just greatly appreciated

BOUNDRIES/RULES:

[pt: boundries/rules]

:33 < ask games/reblogging/chain games ?: no, not anything personal, but my fear of reblogging :oP

B33 < dms ? no :o(( (unless youhave something really important to ask/say !! then yea sure !! ^_^)

:33 < no swearing around my alters !! (unless they do so first)

B33 < i(and the alters) have the right to decline any request (though most likely wont)

:33 < i(and the alters) have the right to ignore/not respond to any ask (most likely wont though)

B33 < dont call me a fictkin, call me a fictionkin !! ican call myself fictkin if iwant, but usually wont !! i prefer "fictionkin" to "fictkin"

B33 < do NOT use she/her and likewise (eg shi/hir*, shx/hxr, ect) on me when referring to me as nepeta or referring to nepeta themself on this blog !! (headcanons on your blog are ok, but just please dont use she/her on nepeta here !! any fictionfolk and fictives who are nepeta and use she/her are fine, idont mind !! ^_^) (*shi/hir ISNT FOR PERISEX FOLKS, SO YOUDHOULDNT USE IT ON ME ANYWAY)

:33 < if youwant to be mewts, id prefer you just ask in the ask box !! no shame !! ^_^

B33 < if i make any kinsona art/fictionkin art, PLEASE tag it as "fictionkin" or "alterhuman" or something, and if a post of mine says "do not tag as kin/me/id" or "do not tag as ship" PLEASE reblog it with those tags too !! thank uou :o)

:33 < please dont ask for donations in my asks.

B33 < do not screenshot and reupload my posts without consent

:33 < this'll probably update in the future but thats it for now :oP

EXTRA INFO:

[pt: EXTRA INFO]

B33 < idont really talk about myself for reasons iwont state so thats why the info in this whole intro is focused more on other things than me

:33 < i use 1st person pronouns (sli/me/slime/slimeself fa/fan/fang/fangself, squ/squi/squid/squidself) so yea

B33 < if youdont have a dni or just say "proshippers dni" or "rqs dni" or something else im gonna iteract with you

:33 < i usually dont block people, even if theyre on my dni, so just a heads up :oT block button is my fear 0_o (avpd momer)

:33 < "velop" means hi by the way !! its my little alien way of greeting folks :33c

:33 < shared pronouns: @just-a-silly-clownguy: po/potion/potions, wi/wizzard/wizzards, sta/staff/staffs !! ^_^

here is how youcan help palestine, this is important !!(please donate IF YOUCAN, but if not because youre a minor, or dont have enough money to, that is ok, you are not a bad person for not being able to donate for palestine, make sure to support it in other ways though like boycotting companies !!)

B33 < there was more iwas gonna add but iforgor so this'll be updated later

B33 < ork done :3

B33 < (PLEASE DONT INVOLVE ME WITH ANY SYSTEM DISCOURSE !!)

:33 < please keep in mind ihave avpd and decidiophobia !! they impact me massively, so you prolly wont see me repost stuff (im a massive overthinker and reposting scares me iwould wabt my first repost to be perfect and cant decide what that would be) soooo iwill most likely @ you and respond in a post !! please tell me if youdont want me doing this !!

:33 < i'll try tag everything needed !1!1 (characters used, tws, ships, ectect)

🖤♡❤️‍🩹🐾👾🎶🎱☀🗯✂🎧

:33 < adults can interact !! just please keep it friendly and normal cause im a minor :33c

:33 < self dx with a lot of care is ok here !!1!₊˚⊹≽^•⩊•^≼₊˚⊹

B33 < typing quirks are ok here !! also, all neurodivergent individuals are welcome !!‧₊˚✩ 🪐✩˚₊‧ (if youre worried about translations, i usually put them in the tags. big long posts typically dont have it, and i generally dont use it when responding to asks )

B33 < my main instrests are: tmnt, homestuck, icp

:33 < other intrests: storybots, spiderverse, sanrio, lsoh, vocaloid, grease, west side story, the lego movie, bocchi the rock, detective connan, little witch academia, pokemon, mlp, les miserables, miffy, class of 09, needy streamer overload, lmk, garfield, hilda, sky cotl, idont know what else, i forgot !! :oP

★⛆૮ ･ ﻌ ･ ა✦

:33 < iam ID with donnie, (rottmnt) mikey, (2012 tmnt and rottmnt) with nepeta, (slis pfp is not me !!) karkat, gamzee, davepeta(sprite^2) and dave strider 1!!1! :oD also kin with more fictional characters but thats all im gonna say for now :oP im alsos a therian, otherkin and more !! :33

//⋆⋅☆⋅⋆\\ 👾🌈૮ ˙Ⱉ˙ ა rawr !!^_< -★ //⋆⋅☆⋅⋆\\

B33 < things youcan request: icons, sprite edits, ship sprite edit thingus, (as long as it aint against the dni) stimboards, moodboards, pannel edits, dni banners, non scribal emojis/any type of emojis kn general, banners, soutce calls, art requests, ect !1!1!!1 (keep in mind fan the only one running this blog)

(id prefer things requested from sources iknow !1!1 id prefer it be kept mostly related to the things iknow, that way its easier for me, ican understand a couple of non-related intrest/thing reqquests, but please try keep it related to things iknow !1!1) (iwill also do kin and pride n stuff related !! kin stuff dosent have to be related to my interestsh)

💿🧷🎸✮🔗⚡★🎶🕸️🦇🌈🎸⋆⭒˚｡⋆☆

:33 < i generally put alot of trigger warnings in tags, but please do not take it as a "joke" it is not a joke its serious !! (if theres anything you want me to tag, please do tell me. purrfurably through an ask)

B33 < iam also a multi shipper so if there are any ships that i post about that youdo not want to see/trigger you, please filter it out in the filter section ^_^

:33 < spam liking/reblogging/spam requesting ? PERFECTLY OK :33 /not forcinf

☠︎︎༒︎✞︎🕷๋࣭ ⭑☆⋆｡𖦹°‧★⋆♱✮♱⋆☆⋆｡𖦹°‧★☠︎︎༒︎✞︎🕷๋࣭ ⭑

TAG GUIDE:

(tag guide)

:33 < clicking on yhe links will take you to a random post wigh that specific tag used !!)

• "surprisingly not homestuck" - anything not homestuck related

• "repost response" responding to people who reposted my stuffaroosies

• "im waffaling" hear me blabble :oP ("mew is ranting :oP" is also used for rantsz !!)

• "(this post will have a lot of tags)" idont know why, but i f33l (feel) the n33d (need) to mention that my post will have a lot of tags, so yea (only occasionally used)

• "this post will not have a buncha tags !!" exactly what you think it is (only occasionally used)

• "nepeta sp33ks !!" any post of me sp33king, the "im waffaling" tag is me being silly and talking nonsense, but this is just any post revolved around speaking :oP (revolved around imean only speaking. so like any requests/art posts wont have it, but other posts will:3 "im waffaling" can be with the same tag as "nepeta sp33ks !!" but "im waffaling" wont always be there as its just me saying sillysilly thinsh :33)

• "mew is raging !!" for when im angry n stuff

:33 < and thats kinda it !! i tag all things needed with trigger warnings, and all things relevant to the post ^_^ this might update in the future but yea !1!!

🟥⬛🟧⬛🟨⬛🟩⬛🟦⬛🟪⬛🟦⬛🟩⬛🟨⬛🟧

TAKEN ANON SIGN OFFS:

• -🕸️📺 anon

SIDE BLOGS !! :3c

SIDBLOGS LISTED ARE ALL THE CURRENT ONES THAT ICAN @, AND THAT ARE FINISHED. (with the exception of the shaggy blog) MOST SIDEBLOGS ARE IN USE. OTHER SIDEBLOGS THAT ARENT FINISHED WONT BE ON THIS LIST

if youwant to be mewtuals, please follow this blog !! /not forcing following my sideblogs will make me think you just want to follow that blog for the things i post !!

:33 < alterhuman side blog:

@0uterw0rldly-4liens-x33

B33 < anti radqueer side blog:

@antiradqueer-karkat

:33 < daily violent j side blog (usually inactive):

@badlydrawnviolentj

B33 < daily shaggy 2 dope blog (hasnt been started yyet, currently inactive, will start it soon though (hopefully)):

@badlydrawnshaggy2dope

:33 < erequest bblog

@neprequests

B33 < coining blog:

@nepcoinz

:33 < art blog:

@nepetaleijonsdrawingtablet

B33 < plural blog:

@i-am-a-multiple-choice-question

🟥⬛🟧⬛🟨⬛🟩⬛🟦⬛🟪⬛🟦⬛🟩⬛🟨⬛🟧

SOCIALS/WHERE YOUCAN FIND ME :33c

:33 < pintrest x3

B33 < cohost !!

:33 < medibang !!

B33 < ibis paint !! :3c

B33 < okkkk thats it for now !1!!1!1!! byebyebyebye have a lovely lovely daydayday !! \(.^w^.)/

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

:33 < (dividers from scenekidsaki, faysayk and raaawrrxd !! x3c)

[trans-androgyne]

ty so so much for speaking about transandrophobia as much as you do. i never thought it was this bad. i just saw the poll asking whether it existed or not and other disgusting garbage. spent the day rummaging in the tag to learn and do research. (istg if i see the words "transandrophobia truther" one more time.).

i genuinely do not know how it came to be this bad nor will i never understand fellow trans people, in this case some (please note SOME. not all. i shouldn't have to say this but ik someones going to interpret this as me hating transfems when i do not. nor do i want to paint them in a bad light. all i am is deeply disappointed.) trans fems shitting on their siblings and brothers. hell, even me noticing that i have seen a lot of trans fems taking a part in this makes me feel like i'm transmysoginistic or trying to "divide" the community. so idk anymore.

i just personally think terfs have genuinely poisoned this community and people have been gobbling it up without issue and continue to do so. its sad.

we should be fighting for each other, not against. we shouldn't be divided by braindead terf ideology and values. please? i do not understand this hatred. at all. do you maybe have any idea how this all started or what caused it? because i literally cannot wrap my head around all this. and sorry for the rant.

I’ve been trying to find a tidy way to answer this and there just isn’t one. There are so many factors feeding into it. An extremely big one is the queer community’s fear and suspicion and disgust towards masculinity. Transmasculinity is no exception. Transmascs have always been treated poorly in different ways, but we were quiet about it. We were told we aren’t as oppressed as trans women and we just experience normal plain transphobia, so we shouldn’t feel like an authority on trans experiences. Even our own.

Transmascs have historically felt isolated from one another and the community. Now people have found community amongst themselves, talking about their issues, and finally speaking up. And it’s a threat to the status quo. It challenges deeply held beliefs about gendered oppression and makes feminism more complicated. And honestly, transandrophobic, bigoted people have a very strong motive to not acknowledge bigotry, it would cause great cognitive dissonance.

You’re right that the community and honestly popular feminism as a whole has been tainted by radfem ideas. I remember when I was younger, feminism was for everyone. Men were encouraged to get involved. Now people don’t even recognize that sexism negatively affects men or understand that gender isn’t only an intersection for everyone but men, even trans men. So many people don’t even know how to recognize TERF rhetoric so long as they don’t say they hate trans women. It makes it really difficult to have conversations about the patriarchy, and transmasculine people are suffering from it.

I encourage you to look into the concept of “power-jacketing” to understand how this hatred is maintained and functions. Sorry this got too long, I hope it was able to be helpful.

[cuubism]

Hey just wanted to say you're not a killjoy at all, you're actually absolutely correct

Thank you, I wish I didn't have to be 😔 I wish we lived in a world where gender equality was so long solidified that we could make silly jokes like that and not have it inadvertently feed into real world misogyny. I could see a world where women's inequality was so far in the past that 'ugh i wish i could just have someone else pay for everything' could be a funny #relatable 'we all hate working' kind of joke because everyone understood we don't actually want dependency. But that's not this time period when so many people genuinely believe that a woman's place is only in the home, and when young women might see that joke and believe that giving up their independence is a good idea or that women fighting for the right to equality in employment was a mistake. It inadvertently feeds into the rising tide of misogyny and points people towards those "traditional values" influencers that really push the idea that women should (god i hate the phrase "women should") submit to men and that their only valid life path is being a wife and mother. Especially when algorithms tend to push people down alt-right rabbit holes, like, even my insta feed is full of trad wife fundamentalist christian content because I hate watch it and then the algo feeds me more 😂 that's on me really I should just block all those accounts.

I mean, I sympathize, I hate my job sometimes too, I think everyone would like to have a life where they didn't have to work 40+ hours a week and had more leisure time. Unfortunately we live in a world where money by and large equates to freedom. So my go to complaint isn't wow I wish I had no life choices and was dependent on a man for my livelihood! when I'm irritated about work 😂

A lot of the content made by younger women online recently seems kind of regressive in its approach to gender roles, "i can't do this i'm just a girlie" and so on (I'm aware it's a joke, but oftentimes stuff starts as a joke and then reaches people who don't see it as one), and I worry about us backsliding. I'm concerned by young women idealizing the Trad Wife lifestyle, not knowing their history and how dangerous a position it puts women in. I'm concerned by the 'stay at home girlfriend' trend, possibly MORE dangerous for how it lacks even the meager property and alimony protections of marriages. I'm concerned by the increasing gendered political divide and radicalization of young men, the way misogyny has become more and more virulent and loud and normalized over the past few years. The way women's rights are being rolled back with even more restrictions being pushed by the Right in an attempt to hold onto power and maintain their hierarchical worldview.

We need feminism more than ever right now, and additionally I think we all need to reclaim it from radfems and terfs. The word has become too associated with them, to the point I fear people are afraid to call themselves feminists for fear of it being misinterpreted, and I'm sick of it, why should terfs get to define it? Especially when our rights in society are all entwined. Reproductive rights--an issue that doesn't solely impact women but does disproportionately affect women--arises from the same root issue of fundamental bodily autonomy as does trans rights. Moreover the existence of trans and nonbinary people reinforces gender equality because if gender and sex are malleable, not fundamental and binary, then upon what basis is the oppression of women? How can one claim that women are less than men, or that women and men 'should' hold such and such roles when even the role of 'woman' or 'man' is not discrete. I hope terfs can come around to seeing that.

I don't believe in policing people's online activity unless it's like actually threatening hate speech, so I'm certainly not going to tell them they can't joke how they want. I just hope they think about why that's where their mind goes when they don't want to work, instead of wishing that society didn't work people to the bone, that people had more leisure time, that jobs were better and more meaningful etc. I hope they think about the women around the world who are still denied education and denied the right to work and forced to depend on their family or husband with no freedom or autonomy, and how much work it took women in the past to even get where we are, and how much there still is left to do.

[mentallhealthmatters]

Ngl i do NOT vibe woth how ranboo just bounces from one social group to the next. Its hard to keep up with his who ever his current social group is when he keeps seemingly ditching old friends for new ones.

Crumb and Tubbo? Havent heard word on them and their status with Ranboo in ages. I remember he used to collab a lot with them both the dropped them both like stale moldy bread.

Now its Aimsey this and Aimsey that. And im sitting here just counting the days before he ditches aimsey too, cause you KNOW its gonna happen sooner or later especially given how its not a one off thing. Its a fucking patturn of behavior, and from an outside specific i cant fathom why?

Cause Tubbo and Crumb werent fucking problamatic. Tubbo, sure, maybe they didnt see wye to eye and expressed differences on the shipping issue behind the scene. Not my issue, wven if Ranboo still talks postively

Mean while aimsey is trying to avoid talking about Beau's situation and tried to lie about knowing or having any association with Harry. Which is said to see Aimsey voice wanting support all victims but lie and avoid their way out of supporting a victim because hes in the abusers friend circle behind the scenes.

AND Aimsey still never apologied for wanting to violently hate crime (running over them with her car) bisexuals who want to claim lesbian, but like as a joke, which is fucking gross. Lesbian is queer attarction to woman, and yeah, bisexuals can claim that if they want too, and if her beef is because she thinks bisexual ALWAYS means some atractiom to men, its kinda biphobic of her to assume so, given other genders besides men exist, and multigender and genderfluid lesbians exist? Its very problmaric take Aimseys never apologized for.

Either way, Aimsey is just extremely toxic id say, and i am kinda bummed Ranboo would throw away his nontoxic friends who were more queer friendly for a open terf whos quick to put down abusers unless theyre friends with that abuser. What a fake feminist.

I think Ranboo should have looked into joining QSMP and trying to make new friends or go back doing stuff with Crumb.

Cause if Aimsey is spouting anti bi and lesbian radfem terf shit, i dont want to support Ranboo anymore, especially because for all i know, Ranboo thinks the same, and is also spouting terf and rad fem stuff. Both concepts are generally not queer friendly despite claims that they are, and see ranboo associate himself with such people makes him suddenly a lot queer friendly.

Yes, queer people can be not so queer friendly. Infighting exists.

[pillarsalt]

hi Im the same ex transmasc anon who sent you that aask about rhe tumblr ban thing, I did a lot of reading without forcing myself away this time. (I used to look at radblr sometimes bc I got curious, but when it started making too much sense i would make myself stop reading and tell myself I was being manipulated and try to forget about it..looking back that probably wasnt normal haha,)

I have mixed feelings tho. I don’t regret looking closer, the amount of sexism in the trans community was horrible. I think even radfems don’t understand how bad it was because it was all subtle styff. But seeing it constantly irl and online was terrible for me as a female. It gave me so much internalized misogyny, it made me hate myself and I felt worthless and stupid! and whiny! and annoying! all the time!! unless I was able to be perceived as a man. I felt like I had to be a man to have any respect in the community. I remember being so amazed to see abortion be covered by trans people I followed in even a reblog because it was the first time I saw people in the community talk about female issues at all. Even then it was covered with disclaimers and terfs DNI banners. male,opinions were always prioritized.

I thought this was dysphoria and a sign I was really a man. then I started reading radfem things and its like that feeling instantly lifted. I felt respected, listened to, even though I wasn’t speaking. It was also like all this stuff I’d internalized from being female, all the trauma around sex based oppression, was actually being addressed. in trans circles you get called a terf for acknowledging females face any kind of oppression (they acknowledge sex when it’s to talk about how hard male loneliness is on young trans women, and how the incel to trans woman pipeline happens, though…)

but the reason I have mixed feelings is bc I now feel….dumb? And afraid. And angry. I spend well over a decade being part of this community, half my friends are in the community, I’ve been trans since I was 9. My typings not the best… dyslexia sucks lol. But I like to think I’m smart. Now I don’t know,

And it makes me think totally different of these people I saw as progressive cis male allies, who were so loud about trans rights and hating JKR and terfs. Now they just feel like the same flavor of anti-feminist man I hate.

And the community is so huge and it’s so widely accepted and I don’t know how to deal!

But I am happy to be a woman now. In a healthy way I haven’t been for a long time. thats all that matters.

I'm sorry for everything you were put through. Many girls and women have been sucked into this thinking it will provide a solution for their distress at the social ramifications of the body they're born in, only for more people, namely men, to take advantage of their distress and gain power over them. As you mentioned, even "cis" men get in on the action when they justify intimidating and threatening women with violence in response to perceived transphobia. It's a terrible situation to be in. Made worse when you can't openly talk about with people you're close to for fear of alienating them.

I think you should give yourself more credit. You ARE smart. You questioned what you were told was never allowed to be questioned and realized you were being misled. And what you said about trying to make yourself forget the realizations you've had, that is normal. It's a difficult and scary thing to hold opinions that conflict with those of the majority of your peers. I think it's like the climax of cognitive dissonance -- when what you know is true clashes so hard against what you want to believe, you find it impossible to justify anymore, so you just resort to pretending you never learned the information in the first place. Been there.

I'm just being a stereotype now, but there's a classic Dworkin quote for this:

"Many women, I think, resist feminism because it is an agony to be fully conscious of the brutal misogyny which permeates culture, society, and all personal relationships."

Anyway my point is, don't beat yourself up. I'm really happy to read that you're accepting your womanhood, it's a hard journey but it's worth it to have a good relationship with yourself. And in my experience (at the sage and wisened age of 25) that it gets easier as you get older. You work through mistakes, and that prepares you to handle the next mistake better. You're right, your health and happiness is all that matters, keep striving for that and it will steer you right.

I wanted to give you some reading recommendations, you mentioned you have dyslexia but I believe these two are available in audiobook form if that's up your alley:

Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine

Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez

There are tons more great books on feminism but these two are my go-tos for hard facts on gender, socialization, and the systematic discrimination against women worldwide through biases that are built into society.

Well uh; TLDR thanks for gracing my inbox, anon :) Hope you keep well.

[tonitheloftwing]

I SAW THAT POST TOO LMAO

its crazy, like if you’re gonna be an exclus at least be consistent

“Men can’t be lesbians unless they’re genderfluid bc they’re not REALLY men” LIKE DO YOU HEAR YOURSELF???

Queer discourse of any sort seriously drives me insane, but lesbian discourse makes my head hurt more than anything else 😭 my journey of coming to ID as an aro lesbian who loves bald and/or pathetic baby men in fiction was a long one wrought with distress, mainly due to people who go around pretending to be the Gay Police. Like, as of right now, I’m a mostly cis, mostly female-aligned, lesbian who is only attracted to women irl, which fits most people’s idea of what a lesbian is. But that doesn’t mean I’m not hurt by lesbian exclusionaries, because every single time someone comes up on my dash being like “I hate lesboys I hate mspec lesbians!!!” I’m like. Well what if later down the line my gender shifts to be more masculine again. And I like my little fictional boxer boys, does that make me a “bad” lesbian?

This is the new talking point i try to use as leverage against exclusionary ppl. By being exclusionary towards certain groups of lesbians, you’re hurting all the lesbians - even the ones you’re white-knighting for in your exclusionary statements - because you’re showing us that if we do something you don’t like with our gender or sexuality/romantic identity, you’ll come after us. If i see somebody being exclusionary, I automatically assume they’re gonna see me kissing George costanza’s bald head and make a callout post about it because he’s a stinky, rotten man.

This is very discombobulated bc I have thoughts. But tldr, as someone who isn’t mspec and is hardly male-aligned, I still hate exclusionaries. Especially exclusionaries who use “you’re hurting the real lesbians!” As an excuse to be nasty. Like no, I think lesboys and mspec lesbians are cool and them existing has done no harm to me.

And that’s not even addressing how a lot of lesbian discourse loops back around into like, radfem/terf bioessencialist territory. Men are not inherently evil and scary and bad. Just liking women doesn’t make you a better person than someone who likes men, or men and women, or anybody in between. We’re all just beings at the end of the day, and gender is made up anyways.

To end on at least a funny note, here’s a tumblr post from yaoiboypussy that I will be thinking about every time i hear ppl fighting over lesbians now

Also I’m sorry for not answering this sooner, tumblr never gave me the notif 😔

UPDATE JUNE 14: I THOUGHT I POSTED THIS DAYS AGO AND I GUESS I DIDNT. OOPS

[strqyr]

This might be harsh. but it seems like a lot of the newer wave fans drank the radfem koolaid and don't even realize it. Very hostile about male characters like Tai and fans in general.

hhh yeah. . . yeah. though i don't think it's just 'newer wave fans', from my personal experience it goes way past that.

it's something that's been on my mind a lot for a long time now—well over a year, definitely—, and has played a huge part in me sticking to my own corner and bubble here bc as a nonbinary (maybe trans idk haven't figured that one out yet) person i just don't feel comfortable or safe in this fandom; day in and day out the rampant biphobia and the ever growing radfem rhetoric—which now that i think of it probably go hand-in-hand really—goes unaddressed while some people are busy erasing yang's attraction towards men and twisting every scene they can into her 'hating' men or something like no, her reaction to jinn and ambrosius isn't any different, y'all are just being selective with your screenshots lmao

or the attempts at retroactively turning RWBY into some Feminism™ The Show that attracted the "wrong" audience and has never sexualized its female characters like. this is a show made by a company build on gaming and crass humor, concepted and written by three dudes; just look at the V2 cafeteria scene before the foodfight starts, and tell me these character models didn't have jiggle physics build in when weiss chest is practically having a life of its own while she's just talking and making minimal movements—and that's before even getting into yang during the board game session.

or take a gander at the concept art of cinder's spy outfit and compare how it is in the show, and tell me with a straight face this show has never sexualized its female characters.

erasing this show's past, no matter how far it's come since then, helps no one.

i've seen people being surprised that this show and fandom could attract terfs and radfems and like. it's not. at all. y'all build the stage for them with your rhetoric—unwittingly or not—, and they invited themselves in.

[boreal-sea]

"There are no terfs" - so no woman on planet earth is a transphobic radical feminist?

"There are no Karens" - white women can't be racist?

I actually want to talk about this! I want to talk about the semantic drift of TERF and Karen - and I want to talk about how why slut, whore, bitch, and "mean girl" are not in the same category.

If she'd said "the label terf has been inappropriately expanded past its original description of transphobic radfems, and is now applied to transphobes who are not radical feminists, and is even sometimes applied to any person - including trans people - who talk about feminism", I'd agree with her. I've been called a terf, and I'm a whole ass tranny.

If she'd said "Karen has been inappropriately expanded past its original meaning, which was to call out white women utilizing institutionally racist systems to terrorize black people, and is now applied to any woman who complains about anything", I would agree with her.

The expansion of these terms past their original meanings is actually really important to discuss. They came into the vernacular for really important reasons: to call out women who were expressing bigotry. Being called a TERF or a Karen was, at one point, a serious accusation; it meant that person was a transphobic bigot, or a racist bigot.

However, people have definitely blurred the lines on what those terms mean.

Nowadays, "TERF" is flung at one of two kinds of people: general transphobes, OR, anyone discussing sexism and how it's based on sex assigned at birth - even if that person is trans.

At best, TERF is usually flung at all kinds of transphobic people, who aren't always radical feminists. Sometimes they're cis men, which is extra funny because there aren't many cis men radfems since radfems in general do not accept that cis men can be feminists in the first place. But like I said, trans people also get called "terfs" or "terfy" if we discuss birth sex or sexism. It's happened to me a few times. It has in some cases drifted into actually being sexist/misogynistic, when it is used specifically to shut up someone who is a woman, or afab, who is speaking up against sexism or misogyny.

The reason it works is because the original meaning of "TERF" meaning "transphobic radfem" is still lingering there in the background, which is why calling someone a TERF is still an effective way to try to silence them, and an effective way to try to get people to hate the target. "Oh no, they're a transphobe!? Unfollowed!". So folks are still utilizing the original anger that term summons in order to apply that term to a larger group of people.

And "Karen", a term invented by the Black community, also had a very specific meaning: calling out white entitled women who were so steeped in privilege that they felt comfortable using the racist institution of the police to threaten black people, including children. The meaning of that term has also, unfortunately, migrated. It now gets applied to any woman who is being assertive, or complaining about anything at all, even if it has nothing to do with race. It has actually migrated far enough that it's now equivalent to "bitch" in the sense that it is now sometimes used as a sexist/misogynistic slur against women who are just standing up for themselves.

Again though, the reason "Karen" still works as a way to silence women is because the people misusing it are capitalizing on the original meaning of the term as "racist entitled white woman".

The migrated meanings of both of these terms would not have power if the original meanings of those terms didn't have power.

Calling a woman a transphobe isn't sexism or misogyny if she is actively being transphobic. Calling a woman racist is not sexism or misogyny if she is actively being racist. It is ok to call out bigoted women for being bigots!

The claim that anyone using "TERF" or "Karen" is being sexist or misogynistic is blatantly untrue.

I can only speak on TERF with regards to this semantic drift. As a trans person, it is incredibly frustrating that people have stretched the meaning of TERF so far, and it is frustrating that some people are using it in a misogynistic and sexist way, because that weakens it as a tool to call out women who are actually being transphobic.

Now when a trans person says "this person is a TERF", people like OP call us sexists and misogynists, claiming we are using a "slur specifically design to target and silence women".

And speaking of sexism and misogyny, slut and bitch and all the rest are not in the same category as TERF or Karen, as they are not terms originally created to call out bigoted women. These terms are slurs and derogatory phrases meant to criticize a woman's sexuality or her behavior when that behavior is outside what is expected of her by the patriarchy. This is a completely different can of worms: it is in fact actually sexism and misogyny.

And conflating these terms is harmful and very fucking frustrating as someone who, you know, has been damaged by TERFs.