#just like. why is there a whole thing about destroying terf rhetoric but also zero trans women

[no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist]

Hmm I didn’t really think about it as much the first time I read it but I have a couple of gripes about the portrayal of trans issues in Dear Wendy. And I do still love it very much and think it is a good book. I just feel a little iffy about some of it.

[evilelitest2]

how do you keep rightists from infiltrating leftist spaces? I used to think that just being openly socialist would keep nazis away but the Dirtbag Left and the Red/Brown Alliance and the whole "anti Idpol" shows that doesn't seem to be true

Yeah one of the misplace concretes of the left is that “oh if we just openly support socialist/communist/anarchist rhetoric, the fascists won’t join us” which logically should make sense but that isn’t how things play out in reality.  Turns out, Far Rightists are actually pretty good at infiltrating openly far left spaces because by definition, Fascists don’t have consistent beliefs by definition and rely far more on rhetorical flourishes and other such nonsense to hide their beliefs.  Cause in reality, people don’t unusually have consistently laid out beliefs, they have a hodgepodge of various contradictory beliefs borrow from a bunch of sources, so simply supporting universal healthcare in no way prevents Nazis from growing in your audience (cough Chapohouse Cough).   So the best way I think to keep Fascists from your space is to rely less on ideology, and more on specific methodology and rhetorical styles (because fascists always value rhetoric over ideology) 

   Firstly, any leftist space must openly declare their support for intersectionality in all forms.  I know a lot of them do this already, but it is very important that even if your primary concern is say, healthcare, you make sure to address the issues of Racism (including antisemitism), Sexism, Homophobia, Classism, Transphobia, Anti Immigration rhetoric, Colonalism, and disability bigotry.  Openly acknowledging these issues is important to keep fascists out, because there is a long history of the Rightists using a specific form of bigotry to infiltrate a community.  For example, TERFS started out as a feminist group and were generally left wing, but many of them have moved to the Right because bigots almost always value bigotry over other values.  There also has to be an awareness of how groups who are good on one front might be bad on another, lie how many Black Nationalist were quite antisemtic or the sexism you find in a lot of socialist groups.  That needs to be addressed at the outset. 

   Secondly, absolutely zero tolerance for conspiracy theories.  In addition to being incorrect and a form of intellectual laziness, one of the dangers of conspiratorial thinking is that you lose a sense of reality.  I was reading about how QAON has been attracting supposed leftists of the hippie variety, because they are drawn to “Deep State” narratives over their actual leftist beliefs.  The Far Right thrives on conspiracy theories, in fact conspiracy theories are sort of their founding principles, and they are extremely good at using them to get leftists to adopt reactionary positions.  Also most conspiracy theories are just a step or two removed from the Jewish Conspiracy Theory (notice how many supposed leftists bitch about George Soros) 

   Thirdly, an adoption of academia.  Academia has its problems, but its rigorous approach to research and its demand that claims need to be backed via evidence makes it like holy water to the alt right, there is a reason why one of their main targets is academia and college universities.  Anti-Intellectualism or anti education attitudes are just breading grounds for reactionary thought.  

Fourth, no tolerance of harassment.  If there is a core belief of the Far Right, it is “Being a dick to people is good actually, cruelty is something to be valued” so while it might seem tempting to harass shitty people, the problem with harassment is that it morphs, cruelty is addictive and people who engage in abusive behavior against shitty people, inevitably start to turn it against each other.  And if your community gives praise to people for being cruel, its an environment where Nationalists can easily infiltrate.  And when your community is defined by hate, its a lot easier to divide leftists from each other.  This is how “anti Idpol” was able to thrive, because the community that would become the Dirtbag left made their bones being toxic to people online, and then they took those methods and turned them against other forms of leftists.   Its comically easy for rightists to infiltrate Communist or Anarchist spaces, because if you have been in any of those circles, its an endless cycle of auto-cannibalism and people harassing each other, so the maladjusted reactionaries can fit in easily.  Civility politics are pretty shitty, but the response among some communities seems to be to just embrace the most toxic elements of internet culture.  If leftist spaces feel like 4chan but with Marx avatar, then that is just screaming for Far Right infiltration.  

   Finally, there needs to be a rejection of political binaries and linear thinking.  The Far Right isn’t just morally abhorrent, their entire world view is extremely simplistic and reductionist.  All bad things have a single source, goodness is just based on being a dick to the “bad people” and you never have to acknowledge complexity of reality.  Reality has a strong left wing bias because the world is actually complicated and nuanced and contradictory without clear simple answer (beyond fascists suck).  The left can have a bad tendency to embrace this really simplistic binary world view, which makes them really easy for fascists to trick.  A great example of this is how all the tumblr teenagers are using the term liberal  as the embodiment of everything bad, and they keep hanging out with other people who hate “liberalism” but mean something very different with that term.  You keep seeing supposed leftists who keep hanging out with White Nationalist because they both hate capitalism (again, Fascists don’t actually like capitalism, they just are willing to ally with it to destroy minorities).  People who make themselves ideologically rigid on purpose are really easy to manipulate, which is why the left keeps fighting each other rather than focusing on the fucking fascists.   An anti fascist space is one where people can tolerate a degree of disagreement as long as the subject isn’t bigotry.  

Its not enough to just oppose fascism, you need to reject their methods and mindset 

[princessbigf00t]

Terf-y/transphobic/anti-trans things I noticed in JK Rowling's essay thing:

Terf is a slur

the "but some trans people de-transition" argument... which... okay? but what about all of the trans people who don't regret transitioning? or the trans people who don't physically transition for a whole host of reasons? (((also where the fuck do people get data on this from????? I won't actually believe it until somebody shows me significant data!!!)))

in making the above point she also highlighted how transitioning (and de-transitioning, yuck) ruins a woman's fertility... bc that's the most important thing about womanhood... fertility.... *sigh*

the whole bathroom debate... again... (which frames trans women as inherently predatory and is just all kinds of transphobically yikes)

"lesbians shouldn't have to date trans women with penises" OOOOH MY GOD

the distinction of "good" vs "bad" trans people... which is a thing I hate bc who the "good" or "bad" trans people are is entirely subjective to the speaker and also just... no, what?

also a lot of "angry trans lady" stereotype vibes.... which... no

"gender critical women"

stuff about young girls "identifying" their way out of sexist oppression... I'm not even gonna start on this...

a lot about how it's so easy to transition nowadays... which, no

I would also like to point out that there is LITERALLY ZERO mention of non-binary trans identities... because why would that even be a consideration??!?!! haaaaa

ALSO just a huge issue I have overall with the "but what about biological sex!?" stuff is when she talks about how young people (she seems to really wanna undermine the self-determination process of teens... "60-90% of gender dysphoric teens will get over it" like WHAT, way to invalidate young people, jesus) feel... I dunno, pressured into mass identifying as trans, physically transition, and then regret it later which she sees as 1) caused primarily by internalized homophobia (which, okay, then your focus should be on combatting homophobia instead of whatever anti-trans bullshit this is) and 2) an assault on womanhood, which... wouldn't it make more sense to, like, move the entire discussion around gender & sex & whatever away from biological sex stuff, so that younger people who are struggling with their identities don't inherently think they need to change physically????? or at least open up the rhetorical space around discussions of gender & identity for young people to have a little more wiggle room & space to actually explore their experiences in complex ways??? (I DUNNO, just thoughts) also, I don't really understand how changing legal stuff from focusing on gender instead of sex takes legal security away from cis women... because they're still women......???

I do respect her experiences as a survivor of domestic abuse and sexual assault, and I do think that some of the shit she's gotten online is excessive (I've reached a point where I think a lot of directly targeted canceling & whatnot is excessive)... but she continues to frame "trans activists" (which I dunno if she's labeling like every person who tweets at her a trans activist or what, she never specified) as people who are in league with misogynistic & patriarchal structures (& men) to destroy womanhood & feminity... which is untrue, because in my experience actual trans activism is trying to dismantle misogyny & patriarchy... and overall it just feels like she's drawing this arbitrary line in the sand... she even mentions the similar struggles that trans AND cis women share (particularly with regards to assault & abuse) but, like, if you're feminism & activism doesn't actively include people who are also heavily disadvantaged by the systems hurting you, if you only accept a certain temperament of trans person or whatever... then, JK, I'm sorry but your feminism is absolutely trans exclusionary

so I'm reading JK Rowling's recent article/post thing and it's just.... honey... what??? She's just approaching things for a very weird angle and just... ?????