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nothing terrifies me more as a trans woman then witnessing mobs of cis and non-trans feminine folks harass, tear down, and vilify trans women online and irl under the pretence of some carceral moral imperative
it usually starts with one person attacking and immediately floods of cis and non-trans feminine folks appear to violently publicly abuse a trans woman while everyone silently watches, usually for innocuous things that other folks (cis and trans) say or do without any reaction
it's almost always framed as "not being transphobic but" and it functions as entertainment for it's audience but also as a powerful warning to other trans women that they are not safe and will be punished if they are perceived as threatening cis dominance over resources or space
public humiliation and violence against trans women is a powerful site of transmisogynist cis power: it allows them to maintain the binaries of the "good" trans woman who is worthy of tentative inclusion and the "bad" trans woman who must be forcibly excluded/punished
I've witnessed more than twenty events like this since I transitioned and each one was completely disproportionate to the trans woman's perceived offense: the reality is that hurting trans women feels good to most people in society even as they claim allyship to trans women
a huge part of it is simply a reflection of the rampant misogyny in society broadly but a deeper part is how normalized transmisogyny is everyday life and how rarely cis privilege + cis sexism is critically examined in cis spaces
when trans feminine death and humiliation is normalized through exploitive news articles, viral videos of trans women being murdered or publicly assaulted (I've seen two at least this year), the outcome is a pervasive dehumanization of trans women as scapegoats for everyone else
living under the burden of constant fear and percarity forecloses the possibility of trans feminine life: until examining transmisogyny is understood as a legitimate and necessary exercise by everyone who is exempt from it, we're trapped in a cycle of constant violence
I can assure you: however "bad" and "deserving" of harm that you think a trans woman is, there's a cis person/transmisogyny exempt person doing much worse who will never be held "accountable" in private or public
any claim of "not transphobic but" should immediately be named as the disingenuous move to cis innocence that it is and interrogated with the same vigor that we put on all other "not -------- but" claims
I live in constant fear that the trans women in my life and/or myself will be driven to suicide, homelessness, or severe mental illness feom these campaigns because I've watched it happen repeatedly in the four years since I transitioned. it's a horrible way to live.
nothing is more dangerous than a group of privileged cis women with their cis male allies who think they have the *moral right* to harass, intimidate, shame, or punish a trans woman online or irl in the name of "justice" and "community"
you all are like "no cops at Pride" while acting like ones in your everyday life lol
