Published on 12, July, 2020
So another thread relating to trans rights has been locked under Rule 4 ‘Be Nice’ , but shouldn’t hatred directed at trans people be actually deleted? The thread was going really well with lots of trans, gender fluid and queer people supporting each other, but as usual the cis hets dive in to invalidate us. The mod response is not to target the prejudice but to lock the entire thread! This is wrong. Can we trans and queer and pride people on the spectrum not have a safe space here? I know the mods have a policy of non-deletion but this is wrong, were racist comments being made I’m sure they’d pounce on that pdq, but hate against trans people is unchallenged and left to stand. Apalling of you NAS!
I was afk and missed it being locked, but I have seen this happen before and tbh it isn't right that our spaces to talk get shut down just because others feel the need to come and disrespect those being supportive of eachother in the conversation. Trans folk on this forum are not failing to be nice just because we refuse to back down when being gaslit about our own experiences. There's nothing wrong with curious cis folk wanting to ask respectful questions in good faith but that isn't what is happening in the majority of these threads.The Mods are volunteers and there's a degree to which limitations can be expected BUT in a forum that claims to be a safespace where transphobia isn't allowed it's apparent that a professional mod team should be the core of those roles with the volunteers as support because in other forums this kind of thing would not be allowed to continue. We're either all expected to follow those rules or none of us are.
I Sperg said:And if you are experiencing a little of your own medicine right now,then, either learn to be nice about taking it or please stop handing it out.
I'm not handing out anything. So no I'm not experiencing any of my own anything.
I Sperg said:This is NOT a sexual politics or trans support forum, there are plenty of places which support those issues, so can we please get back to the Autism, and put the gender race and other politics to one side?
There is no rule that says these issues cannot be discussed, there is a rule against transphobia though.
I Sperg said:And if you insist on attaching invented labels like "cis-gendered" when there is already a perfectly good word to describe us.
I Sperg said:We are NORMAL or STRAIGHT. Label yourselves by all means, and we normal people will even use your labels, but don't label us if you don't want US to label YOU.
You mean "normal" because god forbid you should experience being othered twice over like we are, like people like you make make us othered twice over.I'm disapointed in you Sperg. Your agreement to keep to Thumper rules for our interaction didn't last very long at all.
Peter said: The solution is not to minimise or brush over our differences. Itβs to ram those differences down peoples throats till theyβre forced to acknowledge them. Thatβs largely how I am starting to think about promoting autistic rights at least.
Fair enough, but my point is still that those differences don't make us less human. But as you know (from an autistic stand point) we still get treated as such regardless. Good luck to you in that tho, this is the best week for it apparently.
π Bees π (they/them) Autism resources in bio #stoptheshock #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs said:That's the problem Peter, there are people who would end our lives if they could because they don't think we belong as part of humanity
I’m well aware of that, because to some degree it’s true of how some people think of autistic people. But I’m saying the emphasis is wrong. The solution is not to minimise or brush over our differences. It’s to ram those differences down peoples throats till they’re forced to acknowledge them. That’s largely how I am starting to think about promoting autistic rights at least.
Peter said:Can I just say at this point how much I truly hate that terminology. Othered, Othering. It suggests to me that there is some sort of virtue or purity in asserting that we are all fundamentally the same in one big amorphous blob of humanity.
You may not like it but when certain groups of people are treated as inferior or subhuman, othering is exactly what is happening. That's the problem Peter, there are people who would end our lives if they could because they don't think we belong as part of humanity - at all.I'm going to phrase this next bit precisely as possible (and with the "royal" "you") so as not to risk a baseless accusation as I would hope this isn't the case, but if that fact upsets you less than a word being used then it's telling.
π Bees π (they/them) Autism resources in bio #stoptheshock #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs said:You mean "normal" because god forbid you should experience being othered twice over like we are, like people like you make make us othered twice over.
Can I just say at this point how much I truly hate that terminology. Othered, Othering. It suggests to me that there is some sort of virtue or purity in asserting that we are all fundamentally the same in one big amorphous blob of humanity. That our similarities are more important than our differences which are to be swept under the rug. For the record I'm well aware I'm an autistic weirdo. I embrace my weirdness. I embrace my difference I don't need people to pretend I'm not, I need them to stop being afraid of what is different and weird, to stop trying to insist on normality.
If you look at the world that way normal is really the insult. Normal is tantamount to boring. Beige and cardboard is normal. We need to learn to value people who are different without minimising their difference ... even 'normies.'