Radfems - Tumblr Posts

I laughed my ass off at that Victim Card, thank you for that, and thank u for giving me another account to block (since a quick look at the "victim's" blog shows they're a radfem and clearly (not) pleasant to have at parties)

That's actually something I've noticed here on Tumblr lately.

Radfems, homophobes, ect will have a blog that is absolutely balls to the wall activism for hot current issues as a means of protection and diversion from their beliefs.

It gives them a counterpoint and a defense argument against you.

"I can't be a bad person, look at what I'm doing for Gaza!" "How could you accuse me of being a bad person? I'm an activist for Ukraine! You must be a pro-Russian war supporter!"

Its something I think we need to be cautious of going forwards.

I’m losing followers for reblogging a post rejecting the notion that butch and femme are “lesbian exclusive” terms, and...Look, I was swayed by the wave of thinly-veiled lesbian separatist rhetoric on here and twitter, too, back when I was just coming into my identity as a lesbian and didn’t know enough to identify that rhetoric for what it was—but it’s all a lie. I did my own reading, and the undeniable truth is that women who now would probably identify as bi were part of lesbian butch/fem(me) bar culture. The undeniable truth is that the terms butch and fem(me) were used in the ball scene. The undeniable truth is that anyone saying otherwise is repackaging white, upper-class second wave lesbian separatist rhetoric, which is inherently colonial and white. There is a reason why Black American feminists of the second wave went so far as to start their own movement (Womanism), that being that these white university educated upper-middle to upper-class feminists were full of shit.

Give me some time and I’ll write a cited essay on it this weekend.

The narrative that men are all inherently bad, that masculinity can only be toxic, that any association with maleness is wrong, and that “choosing” to be more masculine is aligning yourself with the enemy,

Does actually hurt trans men.

A lot.

Nobody wants to be “the enemy”. Nobody wants to hurt women, to hurt their loved ones, to be an abuser. When these things are made synonymous with manhood, it becomes uncomfortable and even horrifying to realize that you yourself might be a man.

My ex was a lesbian who spent 5 years driving into me that any expression of femininity was virtuous and progressive, and any expression of masculinity was proof that I still “needed work”. For 5 years, I learned that the best thing I could possibly be was a feminine cis woman.

Two years after ending that relationship, I began to see transmascs (not many, but a few) speak up about the fact that trans men do face legitimate problems in society, and do not in fact oppress cis women. Not long after, I finally began to realize and accept that I myself am a trans man.

This is not an uncommon narrative. Demonizing maleness and masculinity as The Ultimate Enemy doesn’t help anyone; your enemy is the patriarchy. Not individual, marginalized and oppressed men.

All this serves to do is silence these groups, and make trans men fear the possibility that they themselves might be men. It perpetuates transphobia, it encourages violence against trans men, it silences trans men, and it pressures trans men back into the closet for fear of “becoming the enemy” instead.

Masculinity is not evil, men are not evil, maleness is not abusive, men are not all abusers and predators, testosterone is not “poison”, and trans men do not deserve to be punished for being trans men.

Think about who your words actually impact; do you think it’s the most privileged people who are going to listen and take them to heart, or do you think that it’s the oppressed who are ultimately going to be most harmed by your “righteous hatred”?

Given that I get at least three messages from terfs, from faux-pity about my apparent internalised misogyny to outright corrective rape threats a month as a fucking boat fandom blogger with ~650 followers

And given that the radfem push against trans healthcare for teens in the uk is specifically aimed at afab trans kids

And given that radfem extraordinaire Kathy Brennan deliberately doxed and outed young transmasculine people

And given how many other trans masculine people have many, many stories to tell about being targeted by radfems and terfs

I would really, REALLY fucking like it if any post about the dangers of terf rhetoric and how engaging with these people is a waste of time actually acknowledged that we are hurt by them too.

I am so, so tired of always seeing these things only mentioning the harm they cause to trans women. They do, of course they do, but by never mentioning us, by making a point to never mention us, you’re saying none of the harm they do to us matters. Or that it’s not deliberate, that they only ever harm us collaterally.

It also plays into the myth that they actively support us; which I suppose they do, if you consider pray-away-the-gay camps to be supportive of gay people.

Reference card to my butch/femme posts

Probably my best rebuttal of “Butch/femme are lesbian exclusive!” to date: A brief debunking and then the real question: Why is this lie being perpetuated on Tumblr, and not in other LGBTQ+ spaces?

Why LGBTQ+ people get agitated about “queer is a slur” and “butch/femme are lesbian exclusive”: It’s not just that you’re denying people the tools to say who they are; it’s that these phrases in particular have been used to perpetuate real nastiness in the LGBTQ+ community. If you don’t like the word “queer”, filter it or use New XKit.

The history of the terms “butch” and “femme”: They originated in straight culture (”femme” is literally French for “woman”; “butch” originally applied to very masculine cis men), became prominent in the 1930s-50s with lesbians and bisexual women, and then migrated into African-American and Latine ball culture and drag scenes, which include people of all genders and orientations, and have spread widely through every spectrum the LGBTQ+ community as well as retaining their meanings for heterosexual cis people.

Other people using “butch” and “femme” does not actually erase lesbian usage: If a lesbian has her birthday on October 15, other people also having their birthdays on October 15 does not erase her birthday.

Is using “stag” or “doe” as identity terms racist? “Stag” and “Doe”, as gendered terms for deer, are closely related to “Buck”, which is HELLA racist and was used to describe African-American slaves in 19th century newspaper advertisements. Some people might be personally comfortable identifying with them, but they should NOT be forced onto other people.

Yes, we know queer is a slur. That’s why we use it. Those of us who call ourselves “queer” are taking something horrible that’s been used to assault us and wearing it as a badge of honour. Instead of saying, “No! We’re totally normal!” we’re saying, “We’re different, and being different is not a bad thing.” And no, it’s not synonymous with LGBT or LGBT exclusive either. It’s a movement, not a demographic.

What’s the Alternative to Radical Feminism? A brief survey of feminist movements from 1960 to present, including how Radfem vs Libfem is so 1980s, and the rest of us have moved on to better things.

actually TERFs RELY on the rest of the trans community hating transmascs.

they push a narrative that trans women are oppressive men and nonbinary people are gender conforming women, i.e. the two subsets of people outside the queer community who terrorize transmascs and butches most, and once we are isolated from each other and our peers TERFs will swoop in with love bombs and reassurance and the intent to radicalize.

listen y'all. TERFs THEMSELVES spread the rhetoric that transmascs aren't oppressed and have no real problems and are too dumb to know better and should shut up and look pretty. The origin of this rhetoric is obvious: it is repurposed, weaponized misogyny, applied here as transmisandry/transandrophobia, and it is Deliberate.

if the next time you argue against transmasc rights you can switch the pronouns and recognize misogyny, you have a problem.

also: if you're arguing against transmasc rights...you have a problem!!

the only two faces of transmasculinity anyone knows is the caricatured softboi or The Invisible Man, indistinguishable from his cis counterparts, and TERFs are counting on it.

let *us* tell you what our experiences are like instead.

Radfems should be pushing for every man to be force fem.