I should really be studying. And that's an understatement (I'm 2 weeks behind where I should be) But instead I allowed myself to be sidetracked by Barr's article which left a bad taste in my mouth.
I am a white trans woman, I live a relatively middle class lifestyle (which may be crashing to an end soon), and I also live in California. In many ways my life is insulated from the institutionalized oppression that is the United States Federal government.
That said, I've been verbally or physically assaulted four times in the last 2 weeks. And that's just my recent history. In the past 4 years, have receive death threats, as well as being on the receiving end of verbal and physical harassment. I can't even go out to dinner at this point without having to deal with some level of bullshit. There's a target on my back every time I leave my house. That's not a result from doomscrolling.
And I AM involved with the local trans community. I'm a board member for an advocacy organization here. I give when I can, not only with money but time.
Guess what? I'm still in fear for my existence. I don't want to minimize how awful the situation is for all trans people, but I do want to point out that a lot of the rhetoric and laws targeting trans people are going after trans women specifically. I stopped counting the number of times I've been told to calm down by people within the trans community, people who are not trans women or transexual women. It feels like the way some white people will tell people of color that things aren't that bad. I don't think that this was Barr's intention, but that's how it hits.
I would really like to pretend like this isn't happening, but I can't. Especially when someone rams their shopping cart into my fucking ankles with the phrase "watch where you're going SIR!!"
Reading good news about trans folks is not going to erase that experience. It is difficult to get out of bed some days. And the last thing I really want to hear is someone telling me that my fears are overblown and irrational. They are not. It's been hard to find the positive over the past year and a half. Even the relieving joy of getting bottom surgery wasn't enough to blunt the existential fear that I and many of us live with from day to day.
Anyway I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this other than to say thank you for writing this response. I appreciate your work, and I definitely appreciate your perspective here.
Thank you for the thoughtful comment š¤ I hope you remain safe and thank you for paying for my subscription it really does mean a lot! Iām not sure what else to say other than that I agree with you that trans women are the ones who really experience the full force of the politics rn š¤š
Absolutely. Thank you for doing what you do. I will add something that is a little positive. I'm in the process of tracking down my grandmother's birth certificate. She was born in Canada. And she might be the key to my exit strategy.
This article feels so topical to me and ym news diet! I've been following both sources of this story for a while, both CZM and garrison davis and also one or two of the independent journalists i think they mentioned in their article - and yeah it feels like the davis article is just not that . Are independent, inexperienced journalists getting things wrong occasionally and maybe overstating the immediacy of danger? yes, but I still support them, because the substance of the reporting is vitally important (even if the tone and headlines are overly alarmist). And should we even expect breaking-news journalists to provide a good analysis of our political situation, predict the future, position our current trajectory in the historical perspective, etc? i mean it would be nice, but it really seems like too much to expect of substack journalists. also, davis didn't provide any alternative journalists to follow, if i remember correctly. I mean, I don't disagree with most of their article if I view it as only pure criticism of certain journalistic practices. but if they wanted the piece to function somehow as harm reduction, ithink they really should have suggested specific counter-examples of 'good' trans journalism...
I should really be studying. And that's an understatement (I'm 2 weeks behind where I should be) But instead I allowed myself to be sidetracked by Barr's article which left a bad taste in my mouth.
I am a white trans woman, I live a relatively middle class lifestyle (which may be crashing to an end soon), and I also live in California. In many ways my life is insulated from the institutionalized oppression that is the United States Federal government.
That said, I've been verbally or physically assaulted four times in the last 2 weeks. And that's just my recent history. In the past 4 years, have receive death threats, as well as being on the receiving end of verbal and physical harassment. I can't even go out to dinner at this point without having to deal with some level of bullshit. There's a target on my back every time I leave my house. That's not a result from doomscrolling.
And I AM involved with the local trans community. I'm a board member for an advocacy organization here. I give when I can, not only with money but time.
Guess what? I'm still in fear for my existence. I don't want to minimize how awful the situation is for all trans people, but I do want to point out that a lot of the rhetoric and laws targeting trans people are going after trans women specifically. I stopped counting the number of times I've been told to calm down by people within the trans community, people who are not trans women or transexual women. It feels like the way some white people will tell people of color that things aren't that bad. I don't think that this was Barr's intention, but that's how it hits.
I would really like to pretend like this isn't happening, but I can't. Especially when someone rams their shopping cart into my fucking ankles with the phrase "watch where you're going SIR!!"
Reading good news about trans folks is not going to erase that experience. It is difficult to get out of bed some days. And the last thing I really want to hear is someone telling me that my fears are overblown and irrational. They are not. It's been hard to find the positive over the past year and a half. Even the relieving joy of getting bottom surgery wasn't enough to blunt the existential fear that I and many of us live with from day to day.
Anyway I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this other than to say thank you for writing this response. I appreciate your work, and I definitely appreciate your perspective here.
Thank you for the thoughtful comment š¤ I hope you remain safe and thank you for paying for my subscription it really does mean a lot! Iām not sure what else to say other than that I agree with you that trans women are the ones who really experience the full force of the politics rn š¤š
Absolutely. Thank you for doing what you do. I will add something that is a little positive. I'm in the process of tracking down my grandmother's birth certificate. She was born in Canada. And she might be the key to my exit strategy.
while canada has its own problems, I will say it is far safer and stable than the USA. Street harassment is also a lot less common.
This article feels so topical to me and ym news diet! I've been following both sources of this story for a while, both CZM and garrison davis and also one or two of the independent journalists i think they mentioned in their article - and yeah it feels like the davis article is just not that . Are independent, inexperienced journalists getting things wrong occasionally and maybe overstating the immediacy of danger? yes, but I still support them, because the substance of the reporting is vitally important (even if the tone and headlines are overly alarmist). And should we even expect breaking-news journalists to provide a good analysis of our political situation, predict the future, position our current trajectory in the historical perspective, etc? i mean it would be nice, but it really seems like too much to expect of substack journalists. also, davis didn't provide any alternative journalists to follow, if i remember correctly. I mean, I don't disagree with most of their article if I view it as only pure criticism of certain journalistic practices. but if they wanted the piece to function somehow as harm reduction, ithink they really should have suggested specific counter-examples of 'good' trans journalism...