#transphobia mentions tw //

[samwisethewitch]

Homemaking, gardening, and self-sufficiency resources that won't radicalize you into a hate group

It seems like self-sufficiency and homemaking skills are blowing up right now. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the current economic crisis, a lot of folks, especially young people, are looking to develop skills that will help them be a little bit less dependent on our consumerist economy. And I think that's generally a good thing. I think more of us should know how to cook a meal from scratch, grow our own vegetables, and mend our own clothes. Those are good skills to have.

Unfortunately, these "self-sufficiency" skills are often used as a recruiting tactic by white supremacists, TERFs, and other hate groups. They become a way to reconnect to or relive the "good old days," a romanticized (false) past before modern society and civil rights. And for a lot of people, these skills are inseparably connected to their politics and may even be used as a tool to indoctrinate new people.

In the spirit of building safe communities, here's a complete list of the safe resources I've found for learning homemaking, gardening, and related skills. Safe for me means queer- and trans-friendly, inclusive of different races and cultures, does not contain Christian preaching, and does not contain white supremacist or TERF dog whistles.

Homemaking/Housekeeping/Caring for your home:

Making It by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen [book] (The big crunchy household DIY book; includes every level of self-sufficiency from making your own toothpaste and laundry soap to setting up raised beds to butchering a chicken. Authors are explicitly left-leaning.)

Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust [book] (A guide to simple home repair tasks, written with rentals in mind; very compassionate and accessible language.)

How To Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis [book] (The book about cleaning and housework for people who get overwhelmed by cleaning and housework, based on the premise that messiness is not a moral failing; disability and neurodivergence friendly; genuinely changed how I approach cleaning tasks.)

Gardening

Rebel Gardening by Alessandro Vitale [book] (Really great introduction to urban gardening; explicitly discusses renter-friendly garden designs in small spaces; lots of DIY solutions using recycled materials; note that the author lives in England, so check if plants are invasive in your area before putting them in the ground.)

Country/Rural Living:

Woodsqueer by Gretchen Legler [book] (Memoir of a lesbian who lives and works on a rural farm in Maine with her wife; does a good job of showing what it's like to be queer in a rural space; CW for mentions of domestic violence, infidelity/cheating, and internalized homophobia)

"Debunking the Off-Grid Fantasy" by Maggie Mae Fish [video essay] (Deconstructs the off-grid lifestyle and the myth of self-reliance)

Sewing/Mending:

Annika Victoria [YouTube channel] (No longer active, but their videos are still a great resource for anyone learning to sew; check out the beginner project playlist to start. This is where I learned a lot of what I know about sewing.)

Make, Sew, and Mend by Bernadette Banner [book] (A very thorough written introduction to hand-sewing, written by a clothing historian; lots of fun garment history facts; explicitly inclusive of BIPOC, queer, and trans sewists.)

Sustainability/Land Stewardship

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer [book] (Most of you have probably already read this one or had it recommended to you, but it really is that good; excellent example of how traditional animist beliefs -- in this case, indigenous American beliefs -- can exist in healthy symbiosis with science; more philosophy than how-to, but a great foundational resource.)

Wild Witchcraft by Rebecca Beyer [book] (This one is for my fellow witches; one of my favorite witchcraft books, and an excellent example of a place-based practice deeply rooted in the land.)

Avoiding the "Crunchy to Alt Right Pipeline"

Note: the "crunchy to alt-right pipeline" is a term used to describe how white supremacists and other far right groups use "crunchy" spaces (i.e., spaces dedicated to farming, homemaking, alternative medicine, simple living/slow living, etc.) to recruit and indoctrinate people into their movements. Knowing how this recruitment works can help you recognize it when you do encounter it and avoid being influenced by it.

"The Crunchy-to-Alt-Right Pipeline" by Kathleen Belew [magazine article] (Good, short introduction to this issue and its history.)

Sisters in Hate by Seyward Darby (I feel like I need to give a content warning: this book contains explicit descriptions of racism, white supremacy, and Neo Nazis, and it's a very difficult read, but it really is a great, in-depth breakdown of the role women play in the alt-right; also explicitly addresses the crunchy to alt-right pipeline.)

These are just the resources I've personally found helpful, so if anyone else has any they want to add, please, please do!

[wolfertinger666]

fuck it, my black trans guy experience has been:

other trans people(especially fellow trans men) invalidating my identity because I don't conform to gender norms or whatever bullshit cope they can think of

being fetishized constantly cuz I present fem. even in conversations that aren't even sex related. been told I'm "an easy cheat for straight people" or a heavy fixation on my breast

seeing queers who are white benefit from including black queers in their talking points but in some ways excluding us or tokenizing us.

oh yeah and the extreme transphobes misgendering me and threatening me with corrective SA

but I've also had positive experiences such as inspiring other trans and even cis folks to stay true to themselves and basically express themselves however they want. i like being myself but it sure is scary sometimes.

[shamebats]

If you only ever mention trans mascs & men in relation to misogyny when you want to talk about how we're capable of being misogynistic (which wow you've discovered that afab people can be sexist? good job, I learned that at like 11 probably but I'm glad you got there eventually) and never in terms of how we're affected & harmed by it, how it puts us at risk of being sexually abused & exploited by family members, partners & in workplaces, forcefully detransitioned, forced into unwanted pregnancies, murdered etc, then I don't trust you and don't consider you an ally to trans people btw

[lgbtqtext]

[incorrectbatfam]

Not DC related but it genuinely baffles me how someone can look at my friend—the seediest, Shaggy Rogers looking, bong water smelling dude on the Eastern Seaboard—and still misgender him

[lgbtq-userboxes]

[pokemon-radical-red]

I got this comment on a post that I made about being a trans man and noticing how we’re perceived by others. This person is blocked now because I don’t want some transphobe on my blog, but I want to talk a little bit about this.

I like how this person’s trying to convince me that I’m wrong while saying that the only people who would be attracted to us are lesbians who are into butch women. But they can’t use those exact words or else we’ll all KNOW that they’re misgendering us. It’s interesting. Let’s play a game! TERF or transandrophobe. (I’m not scrolling through their blog long enough to find out.)

Okay. Let’s pretend that we live in their world, where trans men are not also a porn category (as someone pointed out in a response comment), and get to the deep cuts!

Now maybe this person defines oversexualization in a different way, and frequently commenting on our bodies—especially our chests—is totally cool and normal to them, because I literally have a post talking about the Tik Tok trend of “oh trans man wants me to respect his pronouns but he has HUGE BOOBS!!! haha this is so funny, guys!” You may notice that in this example here, she claims to feel bad, but then immediately turns around and makes a joke about it. Is describing transmascs essentially as our chests not sexualization? Not to mention dehumanizing considering they refer to this person as “a he/they,” instead of a transmasc or a nonbinary person or anything else.

But if that’s not enough sexualization for you, or you think that it isn’t valid to be upset over that, you can look under the cuts for the disgusting descriptions of our bodies from some transphobes. From some of those “ladies who just like butch,” since they’re innocent and aren’t oversexualizing us because “nobody oversexualizes ftm trans folks,” as the person in the screenshot said confidently.

I wanna say trigger warning for disgusting oversexualization of trans men (including trans men who are in their teens!) under the cut, but huh… the commenter said that nobody oversexualizes trans men, so this can’t be right. (On a serious note, please do heed the trigger warning before deciding to open the rest of the post.)

[gor3sigil]

Little things about being transmasc and/or a trans man:

As trans men and/or transmasc, we always are told to "do better" than cis men, and at the same time to conform to the patriarchal model of masculinity (white, able bodied, strong, thin, necer show emotions etc) to be seen as men/masc.

But you have to understand that some trans men don't want to perform that type of masculinity or CAN'T altogether.

Furthermore, our sexual orientations are often weaponized against us. If we love men, we're called slurs or in more feminist spaces. we're told that we're just women with extra steps, and if we love women, we're asked why we can't just be lesbians or told that we are doing patriarchy all over again. And if you dare to identify gay, you're told that no gay men like p*ssies, and if you dare to identify as a lesbian, you can't because no lesbians like men. And that is without considering the very broad sexuality/romantic spectrum, where your transness is basically a weapon too (aromantic ? Yeah, figure, you're trans and confused. Bi ? Yeah, figure, you're trans and can't decide. Asexual ? Yeah, figure, you're trans or WORSE you're afab and traumatized and so on and so forth).

Gender nonconforming trans men/transmascs are relentlessly called trenders within the community or asked why they even bother to transition. In the outside world, we are often read as a threat and assaulted because of it. But if you are gender conforming, you'll have smirky cis women tell you how you just fantasised about being a Big Strong Man and are just matrixed by patriarchy or too traumatized to live as a woman.

Want to transition medically ? Oh, but T is a BAD hormone that does BAD thing like make you gain WEIGHT and gives you ACNE and makes you GROSS. On the weight topic I could write a book about the horrible fatphobia within the community because I kid you not, I have been a girl teen with EDs who hung out in pr* an* forums and I've seen some shit in transmascs groups and passing tips that have a real resemblance to what I saw back then. Same for transmascs/trans men fitness groups.

Don't want to transition medically ? Lol theyfab. Like so much a woman. Very lady like with a bonus of bringing the movement down.

When it comes to inside the community, we can't talk about specific issues without being shushed, intersex transmascs, and trans men face a LOT of hardships and are insulted. I remember a friend of mine who is an intersex trans man receiving death threats and got told to [redacted] himself when he talked about his experiences as an intersex trans man BY TRANS PEOPLE.

Bipoc trans men and transmascs are always confronted to the white standards of passing coupled with the rampant racism within and outside of the community.

And one thing I can not not bring up: I think a lot of people forget that we can't mourn our dead. Why ? Because these past years, transmascs and trans men have been forgotten from TDOR lists. I remember seeing Twitter threads from trans men adding them because we don't even KNOW when someone has died or they are deemed as women and the death is treated like a feminicide. And it has been a constant.

We can basically never please no matter what we do.

That's my 2 cents on the transandrophobia because I feel like it needs to be said. If you still think that trans men and transmasc individuals don't face specific issues, think again.

[victoriadallonfan]

…Oh my god, she’s just copying South Park

That’s seriously where she’s at right now. Copying South Park’s attack on the trans movement.

Also, like, this is a TERRIBLE thing to bring attention to, considering the black character of Kingsley Shacklebolt she created.

And the fact that house elves really love slavery and Hermione trying to free them was seen as naive and ignorant.

Anyways, her post is in response to people upset that she’s targeting Lucy Clark, the first openly transgender football (soccer) referee in the world, who came out in 2018. She honestly just seems like a nice person.

But this was too much for JK Rowling! She posted the above tweet and several more

Misgendering and sending stray shots at people who cross dress too - apparently because the media(??) is too nice to them(??)

I wonder how JKR would react to learning that pants were initially unisex, and that pants were deemed “unmanly” at times

Or the fact that people who cross dress have played important roles in history, like Dorothy Lawrence

Of course, JKR doesn’t really care about facts.

All she cares about is that Lucy had the audacity to… lightly warn people to not make transphobic comments:

JK Rowling is a real asshole

[ihopesocomic]

wait i’ve not liked tribble in ages but she’s also transphobic?? how did i miss that part. everything i hear makes her worse lmao

We've mentioned this a couple times before on this blog, yea. She purposely used he/him pronouns for a nonbinary ex-employee who specifically uses they/them pronouns, talking shit and lying to negatively impact their career.

Believing it's fine for lesbians to pursue trans men even tho there's a horrible ongoing stigma that lesbians just treat trans men as the new butch lesbian instead of. You know. Men lol which on its own can be taken at face value like, oh there's just a misunderstanding, or she's referring to multi-gendered people. But when trans men, bisexuals, and lesbians alike explained why this is a problem, her reaction was less than impressive, and she flew off the handle and made herself a victim and just said people were attacking her. Which if they were, I didn't see any of that anywhere. I saw people calmly explaining and then rightfully had a bad reaction to HER bad reaction. Some of the tweets and Tribble doubling down can be found here.

Further proof of this can be found in this callout doc on page 22 (please note if you intend to read the whole thing: everything up until page 29 concerns only the behavior of Tribble, anything after covers general controversy of users in the MP Discord server)

And of course there's the trans lioness in MP. The inclusion of which is hardly noticeable or has any significant impact on the plot despite the plot specifically outlawing queerness. But the real problem lies in that her purpose in the show is to demand harm upon a child, and trans women/trans men have been propagandized by right wing media and politics saying the mere presence of a trans woman/trans man is a threat, especially to kids. And if you're cis and queer in the last 5-10+ years, and you're not aware of this harmful stereotype and you opt to include it in your "lgbt+ friendly show" then you're just adding to the problem.

As for why Moonstrike was there, her being trans was probably an afterthought. She probably thought it'd earn her some brownie points. I have no proof of this, just judging based on everything else in the show that was added at the last minute. Like the main queer couple for example lol. - Cat

-

Also, her having Moonstrike as a character in her show doesn't cancel out this history of transphobia. If you're not willing to accept what a problematic stereotype the character is anyway...

Like Cat said, it feels like Moonstrike was just there as an afterthought just so the transphobia allegations could be waved away with 'well, she has a trans character in her show so she can't possibly be transphobic!' (and it is an argument I've seen some MP fans actually put forward here and there) when we all know an infamous situation concerning an infamous author where a trans character was slid into a game centred around her IP. Still doesn't make said author not a blatant transphobe. oof

And, as a sidenote: we didn't want to have to do a legit "callout" post on this blog regarding this issue because it's obviously distressing to some folks and not what the blog is primarily for but because some of you seem so intent on painting us as awful people for not tiptoeing around someone with a history of transphobia, we're taking this opportunity to weave this stipulation. - RJ

[theothergal]

TW: Transphobia, transandrophobia, rape, suicide

A 22 italian transgender man was raped after being admitted at the hospital Vizzolo for being abused by his family, and he committed suicide.

As if It wasn't enough, EVERY SINGLE FUCKING NEWSPAPER has misgendered him.

I read the news yesterday where he was reported as a woman, and if I didn't came across a post made by his friends, where they explain that he was a man, I would have never known.

Italy Is a shithole country, and Italians journalists are FUCKING WORMS, almost all of them.

And don't fucking Say that they didn't know, because he had his pronouns on every social and his Friends told them that he was a man.

Here's an article where the news Is reported and he's gendered correctly (mind me, in the same newspaper they made multiple articles misgendering him, but that's the best I found).

https://notizie.virgilio.it/22enne-suicida-all-ospedale-di-vizzolo-predabissi-dopo-lo-stupro-lettera-degli-amici-per-chiarire-la-vicenda-1622834

Let's not allow them to erase him.

[lgbtqtext]

[hiiragi7]

Being intersex is a mutation ❤️ you still only have one working set of genitalia, you're still just one gender, you're mutated, not normal ❤️ that's why it's a mutation. Hope this helps!

I think that this is a very sad way to view the world.

I'm okay with not being "normal". In fact, I think it's a good thing.

With regards to my genitals, that is not my gender; those are just body parts. My gender is more like an art project; something I'm constantly working on and experimenting with, an extension of myself. Something I create.

Sure, my genitals do not "work" the way people expect, but what does that even matter if I myself am happy with that? Even in considering SRS, it's never been about desiring "working" genitals for me, just ones that feel right to me. I don't want them to "work". It is entirely about my own enjoyment of them. If other people want to try to say that the functionality of my genitals determines my gender, well, they can go right ahead, but I think that's weird and invasive. I mean, you came into my inbox talking about my genitals, it's creepy. I don't know you.

[lgbtq-userboxes]

[deadeyedfae]

Here it is! Part 3 of Dead Eyed Ivy Second Puberty Edition 💜🏳️‍⚧️

[stiffyck]

Every time I see something transphobic I’m transing one more hermits gender.

Starting with-

Cleo. Cleo already uses she/they and they are an icon.