That doesn’t mean we all have to forge one common self-definition. It means we support the right of each person to define themselves and we don’t put down anyone else’s identity. Sometimes individuals may not even realize they are putting someone else down. For example, a young transman told me recently, “I’m not like you drag kings. My identity is about more than just what clothes I wear.” Reducing the identities of drag queens and drag kings to the clothing we wear is insulting. We are transgendered people. We are in danger wherever we go because of our gender expression. And we have a long, proud history of fighting back. Confusing our gender expression with our sexuality denies the reality of our battles as transgender people. For instance, the dismissal of butch females as “just lesbians” does injury to a very oppressed segment of our trans population. To start with, the “just” in that formulation is anti-lesbian. And what does the statement mean? Are all lesbians masculine? Do all lesbians face arrest or violence if they use women’s restrooms? Is masculinity in women who desire other women just a sexual advertisement? I prefer using the term masculine female instead of butch, because butch is assumed to mean lesbian. But what about masculine females who are bisexual? What about those who are heterosexual, some married to men who were attracted to them [because] of their masculinity, not in spite of it? Aren’t transmen similarly insulted by those who try to dismiss their manhood by arguing that they are “just lesbians” who couldn’t deal with the oppression? Don’t we all have a stake in refusing to let our sex or our gender expression be confused with our sexual desire? The accusation that masculine females are not “real men” is also a familiar attack. But it’s never succeeded in pushing us out of sight. We have always faced the charge that we are trying to be men and that we have failed miserably. But the muscles and sweat of masculine females helped accelerate the gains of the U.S. trade union movement-in heavy and light industry-particularly from the start of World War II to the end of the war against Vietnam. Today, with the shift to non-union, service industry jobs, we are fighting a battle to survive economically and socially. We are not trying to be “real men.” We are fighting to survive as masculine females. We face experiences that are differently complicated than those of women or men who are not transgendered. Those experiences develop our lives and our consciousness. And together with transgender males of all sexualities, we are a numerically huge segment of the trans population.

— "Living Our True Spirit" by Leslie Feinberg, in Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue

Biology has no feelings, just accept it.

She's cold as ice

"Look at me smugly making my way into a space where I don't belong,which was created to keep women safe from sex based violence but which I'm selfishly using as a way to affirm my made up identity 😜"

Congrats! You're just another arrogant man who doesn't respect women's boundaries!

You're a whole ass man.

TIF on the other hand...

Interesting how TIM don't have to bother about passing 100% as the opposite sex,but TIF need to conceal their female form as much as they can when entering the bathroom they feel matches their gender identity.

Could it be because sex based oppression is real? And men don't fear women like women fear men?

Single-SEX spaces were created to keep you safe from sexual assault/have privacy,they were not divided on regressive abstract concepts like gender identity.

This shit is so unnecessary and dissociative.

Me watching the LGBT community who almost never rarely gives black women and girls, asexuals, or aromantics genuine respect, pretend we’re all friends and have always treated us right the minute it’s June 1st and want to use black women(mainly darkskinned) and girls as their little poster girl:

Having intersectional feminism as a framework to talk about the experiences of indigenous women, immigrant women and women of color would be so useful.

Instead the language has been stolen by the mens rights activists in the trans rights movement and is now about men and their right to opress women.

We will never know what progress could have been made if intersectional feminism was allowed to continue and evolve.

god it is WEDNESDAY on LESBIAN WEEK and i have not had ANY TIME to do any of the research ive wanted to on trans lesbians through history bruh

Since y’all are trolling on my posts again, let me just reaffirm that there’s nothing radical or feminist about anti-trans bigotry.

the op of the Hannah Gluckstein post is a terf :pensive: shes red on shinigami eyes + has some real sketchy stuff on her blog. obv no judgment, just letting you know in case you wanted to block her. love ur art <3 <3

eurgh thanks for letting me know :/// I’m not gonna delete the reblog bc hannah gluckstein as a jewish butch artist is still something that speaks to me personally and I had never heard of her before but I will be blocking the op. fucking astounding that these people will understand gender-nonconformity of lesbianism and then turn around and fail to expand it beyond the end of their nose. goddamn.

I cannot imagine defending the usa military. The people in poverty who still rejected offers from those military scouting ppl care more about the rest of the world than yall lmao. Being in non combat positions doesnt change complicity when your job is to make it easier for said combat positions??? Like do you think the ppl in medical positions are for helping us? They're for making sure their murderers are okay 🤡

Anyway usamericans, especially white ones, making 'jokes' about how the usa destroys the rest of the world is not funny its fucked up. It's like when hets make 'gay jokes' that just shit on ssa ppl. You are not funny or relatable you are insensitive and making shit up so you can ignore your complicity and the part you play.

god I feel like op of prev post has just been lucky enough to avoid some of the dumber sides of tumblr...there absolutely are people who associate lesbianism with terf-ism and there absolutely are people who call trans-inclusive feminist rhetoric ‘terfy’ because they’re stupid and don’t know the difference 😭

The current trans rights movement is just the latest form of men's rights activism.

A hundred years ago, women who fought for the right to vote and to get an education were shunned by society for doing so. Today, women who fight for sex-based rights are shunned by society. Shunned then, shunned now.

A few centuries ago, women who studied science were branded “witches” and were persecuted. Today, women who talk about science and call out pseudoscientific nonsense are branded “TERFs” and are persecuted. Persecuted then, persecuted now.

Men used to tell women that if they didn't wear dresses, like pink, and do feminine things then they weren't “proper” women. Today, women who don't conform to these sexist stereotypes are told that they're actually men. Wrong kind of woman then, wrong kind of woman now.

In the past, women were expected to be docile, meek creatures and never to argue with men. Today, women are expected to “just be kind” and not to argue with men. Second class citizens then, second class citizens now.

Women used to be treated as though they were nothing more than their father or husband's property. People thought that women's sole purpose was to serve men. Today, it seems that our only purpose in life is to validate men's feelings. Slaves of men then, slaves of men now.

Trans activism isn't progressive. It isn't inclusive. It isn't brave. It's misogyny.

If TRAs hate lesbians, I hate TRAs

When your friend says i dont know if I wanna have this guy over and I ask why and she says “ he’s a Christian, straight and doesn’t smoke weed” and I’m like girl no why did you even talk to him. follow your gut if it’s saying you shouldn’t or don’t want to have this person over in your home then don’t. like if you’re all ready thinking I don’t really wanna have this person in my house then you shouldn’t 💜

i feel like im going insane every time i see people getting pissy about the fact that splash damage rhetoric exists and is used when bad legislation is made or proposed. like. i do not know how to explain to you that it is easier to get people to push back against legislation for being Badly Done than it is to convert everyone into allies in time to do anything useful. i get it! it sucks not everyone is an ally! but also like jesus christ buddy i dont know about you but i would like the maximum amount of support to Not Be Legislated Out Of Existance

The LGBTQ community has seen controversy regarding acceptance of different groups (bisexual and transgender individuals have sometimes been marginalized by the larger community), but the term LGBT has been a positive symbol of inclusion and reflects the embrace of different identities and that we’re stronger together and need each other. While there are differences, we all face many of the same challenges from broader society.

In the 1960′s, in wider society the meaning of the word gay transitioned from ‘happy’ or ‘carefree’ to predominantly mean ‘homosexual’ as they adopted the word as was used by homosexual men, except that society also used it as an umbrella term that meant anyone who wasn’t cisgender or heterosexual. The wider queer community embraced the word ‘gay’ as a mark of pride.

The modern fight for queer rights is considered to have begun with The Stonewall Riots in 1969 and was called the Gay Liberation Movement and the Gay Rights Movement.

The acronym GLB surfaced around this time to also include Lesbian and Bisexual people who felt “gay” wasn’t inclusive of their identities. 

Early in the gay rights movement, gay men were largely the ones running the show and there was a focus on men’s issues. Lesbians were unhappy that gay men dominated the leadership and ignored their needs and the feminist fight. As a result, lesbians tended to focus their attention on the Women’s Rights Movement which was happening at the same time. This dominance by gay men was seen as yet one more example of patriarchy and sexism. 

In the 1970′s, sexism and homophobia existed in more virulent forms and those biases against lesbians also made it hard for them to find their voices within women’s liberation movements. Betty Friedan, the founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW), commented that lesbians were a “lavender menace” that threatened the political efficacy of the organization and of feminism and many women felt including lesbians was a detriment.

In the 80s and 90s, a huge portion of gay men were suffering from AIDS while the lesbian community was largely unaffected. Lesbians helped gay men with medical care and were a massive part of the activism surrounding the gay community and AIDS. This willingness to support gay men in their time of need sparked a closer, more supportive relationship between both groups, and the gay community became more receptive to feminist ideals and goals. 

Approaching the 1990′s it was clear that GLB referred to sexual identity and wasn’t inclusive of gender identity and T should be added, especially since trans activist have long been at the forefront of the community’s fight for rights and acceptance, from Stonewall onward. Some argued that T should not be added, but many gay, lesbian and bisexual people pointed out that they also transgress established gender norms and therefore the GLB acronym should include gender identities and they pushed to include T in the acronym. 

GLBT became LGBT as a way to honor the tremendous work the lesbian community did during the AIDS crisis. 

Towards the end of the 1990s and into the 2000s, movements took place to add additional letters to the acronym to recognize Intersex, Asexual, Aromantic, Agender, and others. As the acronym grew to LGBTIQ, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIAA, many complained this was becoming unwieldy and started using a ‘+’ to show LGBT aren’t the only identities in the community and this became more common, whether as LGBT+ or LGBTQ+. 

In the 2010′s, the process of reclaiming the word “queer” that began in the 1980′s was largely accomplished. In the 2020′s the LGBTQ+ acronym is used less often as Queer is becoming the more common term to represent the community. 

rip bu/mbleby blog i followed. you no longer exist in my mind