#queer slur discourse

[acelessthan3]

Posting faggot and queer like 2am gunshots to keep property values on my blog low and scare away assimilationist LGBTs who want to replace my empty lot full of native wildflowers with a 5-over-1 because they're too traumatized by their upbringing to accept the reality of our diverse marginalized community

[thatoneautisticfreak]

I genuinely don't understand why people keep saying that queer isn't a slur, it was used to harm people in the lgbtq community in the past and it's STILL being used to try and harm us ??? Like yeah, it's a label, and I get that it's an easy label to fall back on but it's still a slur. Idc if you use it as a label, but you can't just blatantly ignore that it was used to harm us and is still being thrown around to try and harm people

[bonefall]

Anyway. Bi and Mspec Lesbians aren't a hotly "debated" topic or even new to queer culture, it's just the newest thing that bullies who REALLY want to be homophobic and even racist use to justify harassing gay people they don't like.

It's the thinnest possible veneer of progressive language wrapped around TERF and reactionary rhetoric so that they can feel righteous for forming an angry mob against vulnerable targets. If you're gullible enough to fall for the newest wave of bigotry within the queer community, and turn on your allies because they're "confusing" or "invading your spaces," the SAME way they turned on bi/pan labels, trans people, xenogenders, neopronouns, and aroace people before this, then get lost.

[bixels]

The Ryoko Kui interview's reception is such a disaster over a pretty normal (yet still flawed) interview between a non-Japanese fan and Japanese artistic. This is discourse for discourse's sake, and it's no surprise that almost every Twitter user I've looked at who's using this interview to parade Kui around as a goated mangaka standing strong against Western ideology is anti-trans.

Like, I do think the interview was kinda wonky with its focus on fandom culture, which Kui clearly didn't have much interest in. But sometimes that happens. Sometimes interactions between two people, especially a fan and a creator, two people who view and interact with a piece of media in completely opposite perspectives, don't click. Does this really need to get blown up into a "West vs. East culture war" issue.

Anyways, Kui saying "I don't consider my audience's interpretations when writing. I leave it to their imaginations, but I have my own read on things too" is the healthiest, most normal thing an artist/writer who wants a non-parasocial audience could say. Artists and writers use this line all the time. If Kui didn't enjoy autistic Laius or Farcille headcanons, she would have probably voiced/signalled her discomfort, like she did on the topic of Senshi fanservice. Overall, Kui handled the interview really well. Props to her to sticking to her guns and keeping a healthy disconnect from the fandom. While I think the interviewer could've/should've been more tactful and restrained, the flaws in their questions is not a symptom of the woke mind virus trying to wriggle its way into the pure Japanese psyche. It's the sign of an over-eager fan who sees a piece of fiction differently than its creator.

[samdyke]

misha collins can reclaim fag by the same logic thats like if two girls are holding hands on the street and they get called dykes the guy yelling at them wont stop to ask if one of them is bisexual and not a lesbian, actually. if they ever asked that man if he was a faggot before calling him one his answer did not change their minds

[i-like-your-nolaces]

i can't believe i have to say this, but if you use the term "theyfab" to derisively dismiss AFAB nonbinary people and transmascs as somehow transmisogynistic, then you're kind of a piece of shit and i as a trans woman want nothing to do with you

[thee-radio-host-is-a-kookaburra]

Btw if you understand that biphobia exists, but think transandrophobia doesn’t, then you’re a hypocrite. All of the arguments against acknowledging transandrophobia exists can and have been used against acknowledging biphobia exists:

“You have ‘male privilege’ so you’re an oppressor” vs “You have ‘straight privilege’ so you’re an oppressor”

“It’s just ‘normal’ transphobia/misogyny” vs “It’s just ‘normal’ homophobia”*

“Transphobes don’t hate you as much, actually.” vs “Homophobes don’t hate you as much, actually.”

*(“normal” is in quotes because “normal” bigotry is not a thing)

Hell, now that I think about it, there’s a fuck ton of overlap between transandrophobia and biphobia:

“You just want to be special.”

“You haven’t experienced actual discrimination.”

“You oppress us real queer people.”

Also, not to bring up slur discourse, but there’s overlap there too! Both bisexuals and transmascs are told constantly that we can’t reclaim certain slurs regardless of if we’ve had it used against us, and yet, we also both have had slurs invented for or used against us by our own community (ie: bihet, cuntboy, etc).

This post was originally just gonna be the first part but I just kept realizing how similar they are. That’s all.

[fivetrench]

Pride month is almost over and I forgot to draw anything oopsie. Here’s a very, VERY late doodle of an earwig with some flags and wisdom.

(This post is talking about good faith queer identities, NOT harmful paraphilia, trans-id, consang, or anything else that condones or attempts to normalize dangerous behavior. I do not want people who fall under any of those categories to be on my blog. My account has been and always will be safe for queer people with complex/‘contradictory’ identities.)

[sophieinwonderland]

The "sysmed is a slur" discourse is absolutely a TERF tactic. That's not calling people who say this TERFs. It's just saying that they act like people who looked at the TERF playbook and how TERFs have tried to brand the word TERF as a slur and said "yeah, let's do that."

TERFs don't like being called TERFs, their preferred term is "gender critical" because it's totally meaningless on the surface and doesn't have the negative connotation that TERF has. It's the same tactic.

Similarly, certain Tumblr anti-endos have also realized that being "anti-[marginalized community]" isn't a good look either, and have tried rebranding by a number of different labels, then act mad at people when their syscourse labels aren't respected.

The most blatant of these that I've seen is "endo-critical," which... I'm not saying they specifically chose that label because it's almost identical to TERFs rebranding themselves as gender critical but even more blatant. (Like, even the TERFs are just self-aware enough to keep it a vague dog whistle because they realize that "transgender critical" wouldn't play well.) But I do find it notable how the two groups think exactly the same, right down to the specific labels they pick to distance themselves from descriptors they call a slur.

Anyway, whether it's intentional or not, anti-endo tactics often mirror those of TERFs, transmeds and queer exclusionists. I don’t think it's intentional. But I do think it's a result of anti-endos having the same types of thought processes and mentalities as these other groups.

[the-alarm-system]

Guys please remember that being a fag is not that serious and you don’t need to tag everything as q slur

and it’s never comparable to racism btw

[autismvampyre]

i feel so fucking bad for my fellow young queers nowadays. so many are being radicalized by the right because we are so disconnected from our past and history and it fucking sucks man

i remember being 14 and just being so lost and uncomfortable in my own skin and getting wrapped up in fucking exclusionary discourse on fucking instagram of all places. i remember not liking myself and being vulnerable and feeling left out, and all these other online queers took me in and said "its fine, you're normal, but we have to fight the not-normal queers to be accepted" and i believed them because who else would i trust?

the idea that there's a wrong kind of gay or trans or queer is so antithetical to what this community is supposed to be about. we're strange, we're outcast. it's so sad to see infighting knowing that its just successful propaganda meant to divide us.

truth is, bigots don't care if you're the "right kind of queer" or not. they still hate you for existing and pandering does nothing but hurt the only community that actually cares. we have to leave behind the mindset that we can only be accepted if we change, because the people who only accept us when we're the "good kind of queer" never fucking respected us in the first place

we're here, we're queer, and we don't have to be "the right kind" to be allowed to exist

[howdidthisevenhappenanyway]

guys, my dudes, girlies, fine people I am cupping your face in my hands and asking you to listen to me.

gay panic is a concept that is now at this very minute law in far too many places that allows heterosexuals beat the shit out of someone who they perceive to be homosexual and get away with it without repercussions. they say ‘this person was hitting on me and I panicked’ and they get out of any trouble or have a lighter sentence. it doesn’t matter if the person was actually hitting on them. it doesn’t matter if they were actually gay. they get to say ‘I panicked because homosexuality is sooooo scary’ and they get away with vicious and bigoted assault.

I trust you know this is not a good thing, and there is a reason lgbtqia+ folks and those who value human rights are fighting so hard to have these laws removed.

this is still at this moment an active problem, and for those of us who don’t have it around anymore it’s still very very recent and very very painful.

please, I’m begging you not to draw a cute picture of your favourite slash pairing and say one of them is having gay panic when they see the other person. because many people in your audience will read that as the character A immediately beating the shit out of character B (not in a homoerotic fashion) and maybe even killing them because they’re gay

gay panic is literally a legal defence for a hate crime

please don’t ruin your lovely artwork by using the term. there are other ways to say what you mean. just say oh no he’s hot or whatever. it’s a trope for a reason. we love oh no he’s hot.

[bunnymi1k]

i have some thoughts, and i just need to share.

content warning: heavy usage of the word queer in a reclaimed context.

you cannot remove the queer aspect from the owl house.

being queerphobic is literally missing the entire point of the show and it's messaging. the owl house is so important when it comes to representing us onscreen. the protagonist is a queer person of color; it's a huge stepping stone for the community. pushing your way into our spaces, into a fandom that is so elated to have such a phenomenal piece of media so casually show queer characters and relationships, and then telling us you do not accept who we are, etc......

do you not realize the harm you're causing? where's the self awareness? genuinely. belos is quite literally a physical embodiment of religious extremism and the harm it causes; brother wanted to cause a genocide because he was a puritan and believed witches shouldn't live. c'mon now.

the shows whole message is that ostracized people are still deserving of love, and that they'll find their people that love them unconditionally for who they are. that kind of message speaks volumes to queer youth, and can be read AS a queer allegory, especially since luz IS queer.

even if you're one of those people that says "i just don't agree/support" or has the "love the sinner hate the sin" mentality, you aren't exempt. that mindset is still so harmful and disrespectful, and your love for queer people is false. love should be unconditional. you cannot ignore or separate a person's queerness from them. the denial of something so integral to who a person is is so damaging and dangerous, regardless of how ""nice"" you put it. it's the same rhetoric held by those that want us to not exist, in case you forgot; that ideology is a very slippery slope, and can easily become violent. and if your reasoning is just "well i'm religious" then you need to do some heavy self reflection and improvement. whatever authority figure or person from your faith that taught you that you cannot accept queer folk's identities was not preaching the word of god. simple as that. we are people, deserving of acceptance, love, and the same rights as you. if you can't agree with that sentiment, that's your problem and i'm sorry but you cannot call yourself a fan of the show (yeah this is still a post about homophobia in the TOH fandom lmao)

this is, obviously, glossing over the fact that your personal beliefs and faith do not dictate what someone else does in their life, and sure as hell does not dictate what laws should be implemented.

to make a super long story short: the owl house is queer, it's cast is like 99% queer (if not all, i don't even think anyone's been confirmed straight), and to ignore this fact is insulting and there's a reason you guys are shamed in the fandom. however, i do believe people are capable of growth and change, and i hope you can find it within yourselves to change your perspective on the matter.

straights, you got huntlow. leave the other ships alone. especially when it comes to amity. she's a lesbian. stop being weird (this is only half a joke..)

[lets-all-calm-down-a-bit]

Everytime you attack a trannie for lovingly calling his friend a dyke, or a dyke for lovingly calling her friend a faggot, a 19 year old gay on twitter loses 10 more productive thoughts about intersectionality and solidarity to the void.

[americascomic]

Hello. I sat here for a good 30 minutes trying to think of best how to ask this question without giving the online version of an annoying exposition dump, so I hope this somewhat makes sense: I’ve found myself, increasingly, having conversations with the more tenderqueer-esque queers in my life surrounding slurs- specifically slurs like faggot and tranny. I’m a trans guy, and I was told by another trans guy of the genre of person i just mentioned that only gay men can reclaim the word faggot, and trans women can reclaim the word tranny. I thought this was a stupid and gatekeep-y idea, and told him so, but i have been genuinely wondering if this is just a manifestation of terminally online induced queer infighting or a form of ignorant transmisogyny on my part. Is tranny a slur directed at and only to be reclaimed by trans women? Or is it just another tick in the barrel of a long line of slur speciation discourse?

I think the short answer of who can say what slur is "this is terminally online bullshit"

And my second answer is "this is a conversation that mostly people under the age of 30 have, and people mostly online have." I think the age is important - it's feels like it's a developmental phase a lot of queers go through, where they negotiate their identity." So, like I'm patient (if a little irked) when I see it on my feed. Or hear some dipshit socially awkward t-femme at Bluestockings rudely chime in to a conversation I'm having with a friend.

and I sometimes put it as a hypothetical;

I'm telling you right now, as a trans woman, in my lived experience, people of your exact intersecting identities are only allowed to say the word "tranny" on a Tuesday and "faggot" on a Friday. If you forget, remember 'tranny' and 'Tuesday' starts with 'T' and 'faggot' and 'Friday' starts with 'F'

Like, that's absurd for me to ask. And so I think that kind of forces the thought that at the end of the day I'm the one asking it. There'll be no consensus on this issue.; you have to decide for yourself whatever or not to respect one point of view over the other.

We say "listen to black people" but I had this moment in my life where IRL I did a call-out of Nazis in my community and a Black friend told me that I was talking over people of color and another thanked me for speaking up in a way that they wouldn't be listened to. Who is right? Neither. Both. You have to decide for yourself and have a strong sense of race. Same with interacting with our own queer community.

Who can say what queer slur where and when is a thing that can never be litigated online. It's such an interpersonal person-to-person thing. There's no pundit square that can fit all slurs and all identities and all experiences.

in the case of the teen in the previous story who told me not to use the word "tranny," I immediately retorted that people say that word to me on the street and spit at me, which means they recognize it as a thing of power and so I will use that power. And I don't think she'd ever had copped to it, but I think changed her mind because she was saying "tranny" over the next months.

I think for some of this shit, us trans women policing who can say "tranny" is us just doing a proxy war for transmisogny. Like, we get transmisogny in our community, an AFAB person queer person of some type who could probably leverage their privilege against us says "tranny," I can see it irking some. But, have you met a trans woman? Everything irks us. We're reprehensible.

And, I think in terms of your conversation and your friend. I dunno, I think of who-gets-to-be-lesbian discourse. I see so many people online twist in the wind trying to justify to others that they're a trans masc lesbian, or a non-binary lesbian or a bisexual lesbian and I'm kinda sitting there on my ass wondering why they're trying so hard to get probably the dumbest people online to justify our identity. Like, we're hear, we're queer, get used to it. I sometimes feel of the matter that we're all a mass medium as one and just going about shit without apology as a way to force people to confront our humanity.

Iffen you want my personal feelings on the matter, you're just as impacted by the codified violence of the state that's imposed on us and so we're all faggots at the end of the day. But the t-girl sitting next to me might feel differently, and you have to negotiate with that. Sometimes times calls for moments of respect and sometimes it's a matter of saying "fuck it" and doing the thing you know how it is.

If you would like, I can draw you a card that says "Amber, a hot trans woman, says I can say 'faggot'"

Finally, I'll say I wrote a couple paragraphs for you so I'm going to force you to return the favor and just challenge you to sit on your ass and ask yourself in honest ways what the word means and what it means to you and what's beautiful and what's ugly about the word. That - an internal process - a lot more valuable thing worth to litigate then everybody in-community being cops to each other.

And then after that, I always like to challenge people to look beyond the debate. This post I made on the matter is about a dead trans teen. It's nice to debate words, but it's also nice to look out at our wonderful, annoying community, name problems we see that creates material struggle, and then imagine solutions.