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Blazingtransfem98 @discuss.online

Transphobia in the fediverse

discuss.online Transphobia in the fediverse - Discuss Online

I’ve only been on Lemmy a few days and I’ve already witnessed a lot of thinly veiled transphobia, anything from people dismissing the existence of trans people, to trying to claim we are predators. I’ve also seen people downvoted in the general communities for expressing trans support, or seemingly ...

cross-posted from: https://discuss.online/post/12273255

I've only been on Lemmy a few days and I've already witnessed a lot of thinly veiled transphobia, anything from people dismissing the existence of trans people, to trying to claim we are predators. I've also seen people downvoted in the general communities for expressing trans support, or seemingly for no reason other than simply being openly trans or visibly queer. I know it's an ongoing effort to moderate transphobia on Lemmy, and the fediverse as a whole. We have to also address mentions of thinly veiled transphobia and transphobic users. Transphobia isn't just a differing opinion, it is a dangerous hateful sentiment which causes harm to vulnerable people and it needs to be addressed, at the instance and community level. We need to put in the effort to identify transphobic dogwhistles and language used by transphobes to eradicate this type of behavior from our communities and servers alike.

Some people will argue that the light stuff isn't something to worry about, but that's not true. This is a tactic they use to blend in with normies and make them think that nothing they are doing or saying is wrong. It's what transphobic right-wing YouTubers and Facebook users do to avoid being banned for hate speech. We are better than these corporations though, Fediverse is run by communities and for the users, we should not let these things slide as easily as Corporations do, they're in it to make money, we... We're in it to create a community for the users. Part of that means kicking out those who don't have all our best interests at heart.

40 comments

  • I think it depends on where you go. I've seen lots of supportive behaviour across the fediverse.

    • Everything on the fediverse really depends on where you go. That's kinda the whole point.

      • It's true, but it's not obvious if you're new to the fediverse, since until now the closest we've had to decentralized communities online is Usenet and that's only familiar to you if you're been online for 30 years or more.

    • Yeah I haven't seen any mods who are for it, granted OP is on discuss.online and I have defederated a lot of hate instances. People on beehaw, lemmy.world, and quite a few others have been if anything overly accepting than not. However, it's why I discourage browsing all and instead curating a list of communities.

      • I only saw one Mod who was for it and he wasn't even using his mod powers to push it, he was just pushing transphobia apologia and happened to be a mod in a different community. He got banned quickly from the community he did it in by the way. Glad he did, I'm sure he would've kept going if they didn't. Though I do regret posting to his community. I might make a post addressing it later in !trans@lemmy.blahaj.zone so people know to steer clear of those communities.

    • I have too, !mtf@lemmy.blahaj.zone, !trans@lemmy.blahaj.zone, and !asktransgender@lemmy.blahaj.zone are some really nice ones. Most of what I've seen weren't bad communities or even bad posts, it was users commenting under posts, sometimes their own, sometimes other people's. Some weren't even in communities related to LGBTQ, but it came up and they were talking about it. Most of the users had the @lemmy.world extension but a few were lemmy.ml, and a few others too.

  • It may be more effective to bring it up to the moderators of the individual communities where you've seen it. Also, generous use of the report button.

    • I will definitely report it more often when I see it.

      • Speaking as a mod, even speaking as a mod who's terminally online, we can't have eyes everywhere at once. Somewhere, in the depths of the comment chains, we always miss something, or skim over it. Reporting isn't adding to our work load (generally), it's a great help. You shouldn't hesitate to report anything that seems like it breaks the rules/expresses bigotry.

  • I don't support transphobia, but this sounds extremely aggressive and almost unworkable. Who gets to decide what qualifies as "thinly veiled transphobia"? or "transphobic dogwhistles" and what approach is used to disperse bans?

    For example, in many countries some people who might be generally supportive of trans people (in the sense that they would want you to be the best version of yourself) might oppose inclusion of transwomen in natal-women's spaces. Does this qualify for an automatic ban?

    Some might claim this is transphobic, but my answer to that would be: How do you know? Do you speak the local language? Have you lived there? Do you have any knowledge about the region's history? Do you know what the attitude of the local LGBT community is to the above-mentioned example?

    We shouldn't limit ourselves by the assumptions (and polemics) of a given region even if English is the lingua franca of the internet. A lot of people in the world speak English as second language.

    Hopefully more people from lemmy.blahaj.zone can go through the general communities on lemmy.world and the like and report as many of those users as possible so they can be banned from their instance.

    I would definitely oppose this without addressing specifically what qualifies as "transphobia" and what the specific policies are with regards to moderator actions. Otherwise this is just some rampage witchhunt against perceived enemies.

    • I don’t support transphobia, but this sounds extremely aggressive and almost unworkable. Who gets to decide what qualifies as “thinly veiled transphobia”? or “transphobic dogwhistles” and what approach is used to disperse bans?

      It's easy, comments which dismiss or devalue trans people, attempt to undermine our rights, or justify or sympathize with transphobia count as thinly veiled transphobia. This is widely agreed upon by trans people and their allies alike.

      For example, in many countries some people who might be generally supportive of trans people (in the sense that they would want you to be the best version of yourself) might oppose inclusion of trans women in natal-women’s spaces. Does this qualify for an automatic ban?

      This is transphobic, it implies that trans women aren't real women. We are real women. We aren't men pretending to be women. This type of argument attempts to invalidate trans women and claim that we aren't real women. They claim to respect us as women but they don't think we should be in spaces with other women. If we're real women and they think we're real women how does that make any sense. Answer, it doesn't. This is an example of thinly veiled transphobia.

      Some might claim this is transphobic, but my answer to that would be: How do you know? Do you speak the local language? Have you lived there? Do you have any knowledge about the region’s history? Do you know what the attitude of the local LGBT community is to the above-mentioned example?

      More examples of trying to justify thinly veiled transphobia. You know how we know it IS transphobic, because it is exclusionary towards actual women on the basis that we're transgender. Just because transphobia is normalized in some places doesn't make it not transphobia, also doesn't make it not wrong and exclusionary. Please don't try to excuse transphobia on the basis of the people being foreigners or the transphobia being mild and the people still self-proclaiming themselves to be trans allies.

      Hopefully more people from lemmy.blahaj.zone can go through the general communities on lemmy.world and the like and report as many of those users as possible so they can be banned from their instance.

      I would definitely oppose this without addressing specifically what qualifies as "transphobia" and what the specific policies are with regards to moderator actions. Otherwise this is just some rampage witchhunt against perceived enemies.

      It's not complicated, anything trans exclusionary or invalidating to trans identities is transphobic. "I don't hate trans people but I don't think they should force their identities and pronouns onto other people" is a transphobic dogwhistle and a prime example of thinly veiled transphobia, and it's the kind of thing you'd likely excuse here. I mean you literally excused excluding trans women from "women's spaces" despite us being women. That in and of itself is a dogwhistle, "protect women's spaces". I do think that Lemmy.blahaj.zone though should alert other admins including lemmy.world's admins o the problem though so they can ban these people everywhere, and not just from a single instance and its communities.

      • This is not a matter of justification or sympathy of transphobia. You can't condemn hundreds of millions of people (billions?) as evil just because they don't 100% align with your worldview. Especially if you know nothing about various countries' LGBT communities and their views and priorities.

        How do you know your maximalist approach is shared by the global trans community? How many languages do you speak? Have you ever been part (IRL, not online) of another country's trans community? Living there and interacting with other people (trans and not trans).

        Why are you saying that I believe that "[trans people] should [not] force their identities and pronouns onto other people?" Why are you putting words in my mouth? Is this because I provided a critique of your approach and offered a perspective from a non-english speaking country? I brought up the natal women's spaces example because it's a real world example that shows the limits of your approach. You don't know whether trans folk in non-english speaking countries are in 100% alignment with you on this issue.

        I will admit I don't either. But unlike you I do have some exposure to our local LGBT community and to me this comes off as almost orientalist. You definitely have a lack of appreciation that people in other countries (trans or otherwise) may view things through a different lens and have their own strategies and priorities.

    • Terminally online people often get the feeling that everyone except a hateful minority agrees with them, when in reality they’re part of a secluded echo chamber.

  • This thread transformed from being about a serious issue on the fediverse into a pile of accusations on a personal level. I don't see this thread becoming any more civilized the way the comments are spiraling downwards. I'm keeping the post up because, as I said, this is a serious issue, but I don't think keeping the thread unlocked is doing any good.

  • I know it's not specific to the Fediverse, but I recommend you watch this video from Fran Blanche: it's eye-opening and a bit heart-breaking:

    When Google calls you a slur

    Fran Blanche is a genuinely kind person, a good engineer, and her career has been hobbled by rampant transphobia.

  • The downvotes on this thread might be a very good way for admins to identify transphobic people, most of them are likely either transphobes or bots run by transphobes. If you're not interested maybe still collect the names and send it to @ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone so she can use it to better clean up their instance from silent transphobia.

    • I'm surprised by the numbers too, why would someone downvote such thread?

      • It's almost certainly transphobic people or bots run by transphobic people. Either way people who don't bring anything positive to the discussion and who bear hostility to the trans community, hence why I say the downvotes on the post can be used to find some of the more quiet transphobes and ban them.

    • "anyone who doesn't want my change needs to be banned!"
      They'll always exist and you need to accept that as a fact. Just silencing people you disagree with isnt a way to solve the problem.

    • What do you mean by "the downvotes on this thread ... [is a] ... very good way to identify transphobic people"?

      Which specific post is transphobic? Considering that you are asking for a major instance-wide ban campaign, you should expect people to question the criteria for the application of such bans.

      You didn't even provide a basic definition of your understanding what needs to be banned or what qualifies as "just asking questions". Do you not see how this is completely unworkable?

      • what qualifies as “just asking questions”

        You just highlighted a transphobic dogwhistle, where people claim to be "just asking questions" and their questions are by nature invalidating or attempting to be invalidating towards trans people.

        if you want to know what I meant by downvotes in the thread, many people who are transphobic aren't bold enough to express it directly, they do it indirectly claiming they are just asking questions or that they just don't support that one basic things that trans people expect to receive. Some are even more less direct, lurking and hiding but they still express their distain and transphobia through downvotes. On Reddit they were practically anonymous. The fediverse though allows votes to be seen by instance admins, so it's really easy for admins to find the ones doing this and give them the boot. Votes aren't anonymous.

        I already did provide you with criteria for what counts as transphobia, though from what you've said here you sound like a typical apologist and discussion will likely not go anywhere.

40 comments