Transgender Tuesday: Arguing on the Internet, Tumblr Edition!

So I try to keep up on the various social media platforms, but I inevitably stick around on a few of them and don't... really... do much.  That's what Tumblr has been for me, except then I gradually started getting more involved.  Over the past couple of weeks, I got into it with a couple of transphobes.  We touched on a variety of topics that I have been wanting to write posts on, so I was unusually well-prepared for this internet debate (or at least this iNtErNeT dEbAtE), but this will serve as a sort of bookmark for now.

It's a bit long, though, so I'll mainly stick to screenies & transcripts, and keep the commentary to a minimum.

TERF-Busting #1.5: The Cotton Ceiling, Really.

Last time on TERF-Busting, I introduced the Cotton Ceiling and talked about it a bit more than I did when I mentioned it in Transphobia Busting.  Today I'll be critiquing FactCheckMe's (FCM's) essay on it, and wrapping up this installment.

We're getting there, believe me.  (Image from femonade.)

The basic idea is that FCM has a well-formed piece that happens to not work, which is a shame because I actually agree with most of what she's written in her introductory matter.  It also sounds like she's dealt with or at least heard about some shitty trans folks, which always sucks because hurt people hurt people & all that.

TERF-Busting #1: Introducing the Cotton Ceiling

I mentioned the Cotton Ceiling in passing at the top of my second post on Transphobia Busting.  Today I want to dig a little deeper.  As I deliberately disregard the meta-gaming tactic of worrying about driving traffic to places I oppose (otherwise I wouldn't be able to get any real research done on opposing viewpoints), I'll just be directly linking to this femonade article, and addressing it will be the meat of today's post.

And this is the diagram I'll mostly be talking about.  (Image from femonade.)

As usual, this is aimed primarily at people around middle age who have heard of trans issues but don't know a lot about them and don't have the time to bite deep into research & discourse.  There will also be a good deal less cussing today.  Maybe not any!  As a final caveat, I'll be supplying some examples from my personal life, adding to the pile of reasons I keep a crowbar separation between this blog and my professional life.  Let's get started!

TERF-Busting #0 - Introduction

TERF stands for "Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminism/ist," and is a term that was coined by a cis woman to describe a troubling trend in radical feminism that she had noticed for some time and decided to name:  that some radical feminists ("radfems") were being super transphobic.  This was weird, because second-wave feminism ("the one we don't talk about") was pretty trans-inclusive all the way in the beginning, and...

You know what?  There's a lot to unpack just there, so I need to start earlier.

"Who ordered the SWERF & TERF?"  See, the lobster is for trans folks,
and the steak is for misogyny-laden metaphors.  (Image from Wikipedia.)

A bullet list of links will go here when I'm reasonably into this (looks like we've got Trans Thursdays going, which really makes me wish I'd chosen Tuesdays instead), but for now just know that a general introduction is below the cut.