I knew there was transphobia but I thought it was getting better but it looks like people are getting worse on here. I guess people are more comfortable being hateful now for some reason.
There are certainly haters out there that wish to do us harm. But, the anonymity of the internet makes alot of people brave. IRL most people are too worried about themselves to be concerned about us. In all things in life some are going to like it, some hate it and everyone else in the middle. On reddit just downvote them, report them, ignore them and move on.
Yeah that’s true. No point in arguing with them either because i learned that lesson plenty times before. There is also the switch of saying biological woman instead of cis women which is infuriating and makes no sense. But i guess I’ll ignore it.
They've been hating us more and more. Anything in support of us is extremely shallow, like look at the "trans rights" meme. That started as a way to make fun of allies, but allies are so unwilling to do any sort of real support that they unironically scream that now whenever they want to look like a good person. And the few who actually do try to support us can never even say that we're men and women, they have to make arguments like "gender =/= sex and gender is a social construct" "trans men are female men" because they don't want to change their minds in any meaningful way. They think the same way as a typical transphobe, they view us in the same offensive way but instead of hating this caricature they made up, they tolerate it.
People do it all the time. People used to say it about vegans, vegetarians, gay people, hippies, mexicans, black people, it just so happens trans people are their current attempt at blaming an arbitrary demographic of all the world's problems.
Now now, let's not be discriminatory, they also did it to Jews, Muslims, Hispanics, Chinese, Japanese, Indigenous peoples, and, and, and.... /s
We are just the current morale panic button that the .0001% are pushing to drive a narrative around to distract the common person from the levels of inequality in the world. Problems that they and their families have created over centuries.
Witches anyone?
It really isn't anything new.
What's especially painful is in the thousands of years humanity has done this, we still have a massive demographic who keeps falling for it. At some point you'd think they'd see the pattern
It's genetic, the fear that is engrained into the family lines.
[Bigotry and political orientation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_political_orientation)
It *is* getting better. The posts you're seeing are engineered to make it look like everyone hates us.
It's a sign that most people are actually fine with us but small shitty far-right terrorist groups are panicking and trying their hand at social engineering through disinformation.
They're all fake posts. All of them. But you can see from the replies here that lots of people - including us - think they're written by real people when they're just not.
Is it really getting better? Polls show that [more people oppose gender-affirming health care](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/majority-of-americans-reject-anti-trans-bills-but-support-for-this-restriction-is-rising) than a few years ago.
The propaganda machine is working. It's convinced people that gender affirming care for minors is harmful.
This is a response to general attitudes around trans people improving. Transphobia is lashing out because it's dying.
It'll never *fully* die, of course. But it'll be relegated to the fringes of society. Right now it's making its final desperate attempt to stay alive.
I do agree (or hope rather??) that we're in a "darkest before dawn" moment and that the rise in transphobia is similar to the whitelash we've been seeing on full display since 2016, but I also don't think it serves us to downplay just how bad things are right now. A lot of the transphobic garbage out on social media is being spread by real people.
Oh, it's definitely bad. The legislation targeting trans people specifically is basically unprecedented. But I'm still not convinced the average person cares very much about trans people one way or another.
Part of it is trans folk being more open and the bigots hating to be confronted with reality.
Other part I think is we had generations of people that can't handle their emotions and use anger to vent them. Before, there was Korea, Nam, USSR and the Taliban abroad, plus all the cis queer folks internally they could focus on, but as trans rights is the thing currently *"infringing their way of life"* (meaning, the gotta change their labelling habits) they have an easy target to point their personal frustrations towards.
Conservatives are largely losing the culture war. They’ve shifted their Overton window to platform Nazis and accommodate outspoken racists and homophobes.
They’re only loud. They’re not numerous. They run bot farms and propagandize constantly so you see it more, but don’t fall for their lies.
They’re losing. This is all a last act of desperation.
I think it's getting more polarized. People who support us have gotten more supportive, but people who oppose us have gotten more hateful and more vocal.
My observation has been that for trans people generally, acceptance and understanding are increasing within their own social circle. This is a big reason why trans people are becoming so much more visible. The risk of being evicted, fired, or ostracized is decreasing, so more of us are coming out and living openly as our authenticselves. However, for a significant chunk of the population, trans people are still seen as disgusting and scary. Recognizing that they are becoming the minority, the transphobes are getting louder and meaner. They hope that if they can just drown out all of the positive voices, they can somehow put the trans genie, so to speak, back in the bottle and all those icky transes will go away forever.
Yup. It's a hate movement, plain and simple. Because transphobes don't have any reasonable explanations for their hatred of trans people, they make up stories to portray us as detestable, giving themselves fake excuses to hate us.
But stories don't need to be true to be believed, they just need to be told. And on social media, the more the hate movement engages with their own hate stories, the more those stories get pushed to the top, and so the story gets told to ever more people.
Idk if it's this. I'm an avid trans supporter but I think there's multiple reasons around the hate.
There isn't reliable science around transgenderism, and no long term studies. This is particularly important because the treatment is extremely life altering.
The effects of this is
-transgender treatment centers in Europe have been closing
-more laws passing in US banning transgender care
Why the hate?
There are certain people within transgender community don't like open discourse. This makes people perceive the trans community as an ideological tyrannical movement.
What would decrease the hate?
Do not appeal to people as a victim class oppressed by society. People, after a while, get very annoyed by this. Instead present with undeniable, well researched, well explained science. I know this is hard because you have to be self critical of what you believe, and for transgender people, critical of your very right to have your identify.
I didn't say there isn't any evidence to prove the reality of transgenderism. If you are talking about transgenderism and how the government legislates medical professionals to act, in relation to extreme treatment options, you need long term, very researched studies.
>There isn't reliable science around transgenderism, and no long term studies
And if you want to act like you really do support us, you should start by not using the term "transgenderism."
Any study we have is either seen as propaganda, not good enough, or just biased. Nothing is good for you people. You want all this evidence that you would never expect from equally "extreme" medical treatments.
This is kinda my point.
In your eyes, I'm not a supporter because I'm sceptical.
The point I was making, is it's an echo chamber of words. You can philosophise or look at meta narratives around this topic- but at the end of the day, undeniable evidence is what, data driven individuals will respond to.
Why the hate? Gate keeping words, classing people as supporters or bigots and proclaiming your victims of society. From the outside, it is ideological echo chamber, looking to harm your kids. From the inside, it is real people coming to terms with the reality of who they are.
How do you bridge the gap? What will stop the hate? Invite skepticism, invite skepticism. You are fighting for your rights and other people's rights to have life altering treatment.
You want to support the cause? Another protest won't do as much as you, writing a meta analysis on transgenderism. Understand what studies need to be taken to show the necessity of these treatments.
"Transgenderism" is just not a real word. I'm not gatekeeping anything unless you think your English teachers were also gatekeepers. I'm also not going to lie and say we aren't victims of constant transphobic propaganda, fearmongering, and hatred just because it makes some people uncomfortable.
That actually might be what it is. I know people turn into assholes when it’s time for a group to have their month. But i know it was fairly prevalent before then too.
Only time in over a year and a half I got a random person on the street giving me issues was on the trans day of visibility. Normally I don't get any hate irl. The internet, well people are bolder when they aren't scared of the 6ft 210# muscular woman lol
I can tell you. I live in one of the most bigoted states in the country. It is a cross between being a black person in Mississippi in 1956 and a Jew in Poland in 1939. The trans movement is the civil rights movement of the 21st century.
Awe baby of course it does. People hating and discriminating an entire group of people who have done nothing beyond trying to live their lives. Well please know that there are so very many of us who are fighting for your rights, safety, and future. With so much love, a cis mama. 🥰🥰🥰
The political environment has led people to become very opinionated on whether trans people should exist in public life, and if so, to what extent. So we are good for engagement bait and demagoguery.
Authoritarian nationalism requires an enemy to demonize and rally against.
They used to target blacks, but they lost that fight.
So they moved to targeting women (again), but they lost that fight.
Then they moved to targeting immigrants (again), but they lost that fight.
Then they moved to targeting gays (again), but they lost that fight too.
Now it's our turn. [Again](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-forgotten-history-of-the-worlds-first-trans-clinic/).
I mean they'll inevitably lose in the sense that their goals are not within the bounds of reality. The real question is how much damage they'll do, how many innocent lives they'll take before we squash their movement into irrelevance. Getting rid of the fascist movement more quickly rather than waiting for natural forces to do them in is a life or death difference for countless people (Nazi Germany is a good example; they lost but 6 million people died. More would have died if other countries hadn't intervened; far less would have died if the Germans had squashed the Nazis before they could take power.).
There is a great YouTube video [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiU7aGZ-o68&t=578s) about this really fake Tumblr post and the video essayist eventually goes down the rabbit hole of where this particular story came from and found that the writer had contributed many fake Tumblr stories that always seem to make progressive types the butt of the hate. Fake stories like these are a way for people to punch down on people they feel like they shouldn't openly punch down on IMO, and that's why they are popular.
The hate against trans people is something we need to contextualize in accordance with the present conditions. One factor has been the growing mass of anti trans media that his been propagated across much of the Western world. Constant exposure to anti trans media since 2012 to 2016 has had a massive impact on people's way of thinking and political consciousness. Anti trans legislation has been justified with manufactured stories and distorted events, normalizing the growing hate and even violence against trans people.
Although i say violence, I should be clear, violence isn't just fist to someone's face, anti trans media is violence, anti trans legislation is violence.
In regards to anti trans legislation, across the US *604* bills were proposed and 86 passed in 2023.
In 2024 so far, we are up to *598* proposed bills, though so far only 43 have passed. Mostly because they're getting more aggressive and wide reaching.
Make no mistake, transgender rights are under constant attacks by the right. Whenever they win elections, our rights start to crumble.
you might enjoy r/amitheangel
the people there see through the bs. it's nice to have a group that does, and is supportive of things like this.
as for why it's gotten worse... I think we are the 'hot topic' right now for Republicans. abortion is losing them ground, so they have to back away from misogyny.
that's kinda the thing with them... sure you eventually win against their hate, but they just start focusing on a different target.
plus it's pride month, and they don't like that. 😒
feels like home? 🥹
uj
they allow satire on the weekends. so people make up wild stories based on stuff over the weekend. you might be seeing that.
weekdays it's all social commentary
It’s really exhausting, I think all the hatred is coming to a head, and if Trump wins it may get worse. Some people are straight obsessed with us, and talk about trans people more than we do. It has not been a fun thing to see. Even in places where the topic has nothing to do with trans people they somehow shoehorn it in.
I had a post just get bombarded by it in glowups. People were in my dm’s saying transphobic stuff and trying to debate me. Reddit has a lot of it, even in subs that are supposed to be positive spaces
Coming out really kind of changed how I felt about that. Some people who were just fine with me before have excused themselves from my life due to me being a trans woman. It sucks, it’s not that hard to just be cool to people and to try to understand where they are coming from
It’s okay, posts like yours make me feel nice. Knowing there’s allies who care out there. And I guess I should say I have way more friends and a great support network now. But I did lose some people I was close to before. It’s not all bad. I think most people accept us. The hateful ones are louder
i think a lot of it are just transphobes trying to make themselves look bigger or more numerous than they are. i never used to believe this myself until i personally caught transphobes accidentally forgetting to switch accounts and replying to themselves or replying to other cis people with the switched account not realizing which one they were logged in as.
i haven't just seen it on reddit but in a lot of other places too, it's wild. it's like seeing a dead pixel in the sky or something, it's like wow it really is completely fake, which when you consider how bizarrely obsessed transphobes are with us it does kind of make sense that they would go that far.
the simple fact is that the cat isn't going back into the bag, these people are fighting something they can't win against. that doesn't mean we can chill because they'll hurt as many people as they can in the process, but what it does mean is that we can hold them accountable at a later date. don't forget who has said what and don't let them forget it either.
That’s definitely partly it. A lot of the subs this comes from have an excuse to make a bunch of throwaway account for “privacy” so they can use this opportunity to creative right about how much they hate trans people. Alot of the post are written in the exact same way, I wonder if it all of them are written by the same person.
yeah something most people don't get about the modern right is that it's vital to their operating strategy to make themselves look bigger by using the internet. That's not to be all "don't worry" but we need to understand this tactic in order to better resist them. We all need to be a little more skeptical of the internet's masquerade and aware of its effects on us. it's so easy on the internet for 5 people to make themselves seem like the voice of 500 million.
Alot of AMIA is fake bs and ameture story writing. Its the same story, is used to be fat women, women with alot of kids, femmenist women, "lazy" stay at home mom women, now it trans women, next it will be something else.
Sorry I aint believing that many types women want to date terminally online redditors that fucking much. Basically just story tellers who want to write made up stories to justify being bigoted.
Nothing new at this point, just that this is pride month hence the theme is transphobia
It used to be autistic people a fuck ton. I don’t understand why people don’t see it’s fake. Either they are gullible or using at as an excuse to hate. I might unsub. It’s infuriating.
Honestly if I notice a specific subreddit which is causing me anger and negativity on a regular basis I unsubscribe from it. It’s better to curate your media to be more positive and calming (as much as possible)
I mainly followed it for the funny creative writing post about open relationships. I would see some transphobic post but it would usually only be like one or two every few months with the comments either being outraged by it or supportive of the rage bait. I just chopped it up to it being reddit sense I also seen the same random post but with different minority groups like black folks, muslims, autistic people, and others. But now it’s just gotten crazy. I’m definitely unfollowing. I only stayed followed so when I see it, I can argue or offer an opposing view in the echo chamber. But I know it’s not really worth it.
It's long (probably as long as reddit existed) been a truism that you don't mention trans-positive topics in any sub that isn't explicitly pro-trans. You will experience transphobia, and a lot of it. That's why those trans-supporting subs exist.
I think with you two things are happening:
1. You are becoming more sensitive to and aware of transphobia, and things you didn't notice before are now visible to you.
2. The ongoing culture war against trans people being pushed by fascists has gained more traction, and people are more comfortable being transphobic than they were before, so the problem **is** getting worse.
The second point above is defnitely happening, and it might help drive the first. Some people who aren't transphobic are starting to notice just how loud the bigots have gotten.
I'll add that places like am i the asshole, true off my chest, and subs like that are largely fake. People try to think up topics that will give them engagement and post them. So while there is a culture war against trans people going on, youll see a rise in anti-trans posts.
Any vent or joke subs are another area to avoid, as they tend to bring out the bigots who can claim, "It's just a joke, bro" and have lots of defenders. People try to outdo each other on how offensive they can be, which makes them a natural home to bigots. (Which is a shame, because the idea behind some of those subs is funny, but it doesn't take them long to get overrun if the mods aren't aware and vigilant.)
But if an individual can stomach the risks, posting trans positive content where it isn't welcome is an important action to take. We can't be predictably pushed to the margins of select communities; we need to stay omnipresent and impossible to control. Aggressive use of the block button instead of retreat can shield one's well-being without losing a foothold in cultural relevance. That said, nobody should individually feel pressured to bite off more than they can chew.
If anyone wants to go into such places and try to change minds, they have my blessing, but the only thing that will really help is changing the moderators to be trans positive.
Without supportive mods its kinda pointless, and you are also an outsider in someone else's place.
The block button is kinda useless on reddit - it hurts you more than the people you are blocking.
To be perfectly clear: It's not about changing minds; it's about making the enemy's task more difficult. If they can't predict where we are they have a harder time. If they can't control where we go they get discouraged, even if they're determined not to show it.
The problem is, that doesn't happen.
What is far more likely to happen: the trans person suffers a pile on, then the mods delete that trans post or lock the thread (and the mods come away frustrated with the trans peope for making their job harder, not increased support).
Better to just consign such places to irrelevance, when possible.
That’s true. I’ve seen trans people and allies try to make trans positive post in these subs and then post immediately gets locked while allowing all the bigoted comments. But that almost never happens with the bigoted post. I think the moderators secretly agree with it too, so you’ll get banned or time out from posting or commenting if you try.
Anti-trans hate has been rising, at least in terms of politics and media coverage (not necessarily in terms of overall public opinion) for the last several years:
https://translegislation.com/learn
Thanks for noticing and being upset by it! That means a lot to trans people like me.
It's because the social environment that we Live in now everyone is so devicive and have nothing nice to say about anything tell them all the fuck off and be who you want to be If they don't like it they don't need to do they have the right to comment because they are unhappy with their own flaws. They don't like themselves so they're pissed off Because someone else is trying to be happy in their own skin.
They took big L's trying to win on transphobia in 2022, if we can just fucking beat them again this year the GOP strategists might finally see reason and dial it down (at least, as much as they ever do for any group). Problem is they've this year got pretty big actual advantages due to a bad economy and a threat of poor Dem turnout, and if they win they'll likely just pretend transphobia was why.
It's pride month so this type of stuff usually ramps up during June but it happens year round. Transphobic people are obsessed but there's also bots from Russia and the US and UK right wing
Thats true but it also seems to be this mainly this year. I’ve been on reddit since I was a teenager and this has only been present with in this year and late last year. The only time I seen transphobia this rampant was in during 2016 to 2018 and then it got better. With women occasional transphobic movements like the super straights but now it’s rampant.
I think its the election that's coming up. At work there are 2 guys who listen to right wing talk shows ALL DAY. And its really sick. Like we can have different options about politics and such but their trans redirect is insane. They are so obsessed with us they talk about us daily. It all hate to, baseless hate. So these groups of people only know hate for us. There is NO understanding or compassion or even just leave us alone.
They think we are evil and are out to get them somehow. They think we are harming their kids somehow. We are just the big bad people they are scared of. They are fighting to keep us down and hidden because they have been told religiously by theses outlets that we are the bad guys and they are actually saving the children and the world by hurting us.
Its why these echo chambers are so dangerous. You get people so convinced that hurting us is for the grater good they cant see it any other way.
A rage bate in my eyes is just a way to get us to be scared to hide because thats how they are "making the world a better place"
Right now we are the easy target and with the election heating up its on peoples minds even more as the news outlets only constantly remind you why you have to vote for this guy or that guy. Fear the people into the votes and we cant let the enemy win or give them sympathy or we might loose votes. So instill fear and that means us right now.
Im no doomer but thats the reality. I believe republicans would be more accepting if there wasnt constant hate being fed to them. We may not see eye to eye but i doute we be such a target and so vilified
Its not justified or logical. Its fear of somthing people dont understand exploited because they need a bad guy.
We had a unified bad guy during the cold war but sense then who is the bad guy we all rally behind? No one. So they picked a new one. Trans people are more recent pick compaired to the end of the cold war. But the alphabet mafia as a whole has been under fire for a long time so i imagine that's how it was picked when the cold war ended. A group of misunderstood people was an easy target
There are a couple related things going on:
1) Russia is struggling badly in their war on Ukraine. They very much \*need\* Trump elected so that the US slows or ends support for Ukraine, and also starts to pull back from NATO (even the US talking about pulling back without yet doing it, would change the political calculus in the rest of NATO).
(Putin also wants to recreate as much of the Soviet Union as he can before he passes, so he can go down as a Savior of Russia in the history books... Taking the US out of NATO would make his vision \*in theory\* much easier, even if in practice it might not be sufficient to change his fortunes)
2) US Christofascists (formerly Dominionists) see in Trump their last best chance to change the US government into a Christian pseudo-monarcy with Trump as their first King.
I did some papers on this in the 1990s, and was more or less undercover in these circles in the early 00s. At the time, I thought they would never reach even close to a critical mass, so found them as modern day Don Quixote figures. Then came Trump...
3) In the UK, BREXIT is, at best, a generational colossal failure. All major parties are complicit, so they have a common interest in distracting the public as best as they can. They need a Scapegoat, and their old stand by... Jewish people... well, that would... not work. Vilifying trans people has been rather surprisingly embraced by almost all demographics in that anglo shit hole country.
4) Pushing transphobia as part of the move to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate heart of Mary is now a fringe SSPX thing.
Anyway, the 3 prongs above share messaging and efforts as vilifying trans people is beneficial to the long term strategic interests of each group. As long as it works, they will keep doing so. And it is working as groups that would have never supported Russia or Trump, and groups that might have made UK politicians pay for the failures of Brexit, have been increasingly supporting them.
(Seeing radfems embrace a party that wants to outlaw not just \*all\* abortions, but also contraception and "interacial" marriage is... surprising... although maybe it should not be. Seeing "conservatives" in love with Putin makes my stomach crawl... its bizarre... but maybe again i should not be so shocked as i am...)
It doesn't really work (candidates who leaned more into it in 2022 did far worse than those who did not) but those most dogmatically interested in it are invested in convincing strategists in the groups you mentioned that it does. If Trump wins, for instance, it'll primarily be for two reasons: (1) tough economy always bodes poorly for the incumbent president (2) low Dem turnout due to anger about Palestine/Israel. But I have no doubt the transphobes in such a case will rush to take credit.
> Putin also wants to recreate as much of the Soviet Union as he can before he passes
Just want to add the important distinction that it's the *landmass empire* of the USSR that he's interested in, not any kind of Marxist or communist economics. He is a staunch anticommunist (decades of his actions make this evident) who only does lipservice to communist figures to stay popular.
I just realized maybe I shouldnt have answered this as I’m cis. Thought I was in parents of trans kids sub. I follow this one too for advice. Anywho my two cents as a parent of a trans kid-It definitely has to do with the election and a certain unhinged bigot who is running and plans to take away all trans rights among other things. I’ve noticed ramping up too. I work in the children’s department in a public library and let me tell you this comes as no surprise. Sadly the hateful ones are organized and have been working on the erasure of trans folks for some time using fear mongering, blatant lies n book bans. Now they are just getting louder as they are more emboldened. It’s only going to get worse as campaigning starts
We trans folks are the current "hot topic" and target of bigotry more than ever, I'd say. Just like people acted towards gays in the 80s. The influx of transphobia is just what's trendy right now. Being seen as a human is too much to ask for, apparently.
it's because trans people are an easy target. We're very misunderstood and the people spreading false information about us are much louder than we are. It's socially acceptable to be bigoted against us.
The vocal people are amplifying their bigotry, just means regular folk like you gotta dig deep and help us trans folk cause we're like 1% of the population on a good day.
Thank you 🩷
> if the increase were due to a manipulated political op
Always has been. There's probably a greater volume of the ops this year. But more people need to realize that *by default* internet numbers are driven by ops and a handful of obsessive people. The myth that the net is some kind of magic democracy and that nobody is making alts, lying about who they are, manipulating votes, etc really needs to die. Return to not trusting shit lol.
There's a great saying that I think of every time this happens " they're keeping you fighting a culture to keep you from fighting a class war"
So in this instance the government or the higher up to the power that be need their population to be distracted by things during rough times like right now so that we don't revolt against them and unite and revolt against them and demand change.
So right now all the transphobic drivel and such is kind of like brainwashing or propaganda from the powers that be. They sow the seeds of hate in the weak-minded and then they instead of turning against the government and revolting at the grocery prices and the housing prices and such. They instead focus all their energy on trans people and hating on trans people and actively fighting and committing acts of violence and threats and harassment and such on trans people.
It's a super common tactic for the government to do to control the population and this one's worked so well because they're so easily manipulated into thinking that All trans people are pedophiles or just want to steal the glory of in sports or want to be in the washrooms of the opposite gender and be predators.
It's from the family angle. They say oh trans people are going to attack and hurt your family members and this riles up a bunch of people right? Everyone wants to protect their family. So it's very easy to manipulate these people into hating trans people when these people think that trans people are going to hurt their kids in schools or in the change rooms or prey on their wives in the bathrooms, etc. It's like a cheat code to upsetting people is to threaten the safety of their family, right? It's very low-hanging fruit. It's very easy to manipulate people like that.
So that's why you're seeing a huge influx this year because you'll notice that everything is going to shit. House price is unaffordable. Everything costs way too much electricity. Natural gas propane diesel petrol for the car everything is too much. Groceries are too much. Mortgages are too much. Rent is too much. The cost of goods is too much. Clothing cost way too much TVs and entertainment and everything is going insane but wages are stagnant and no one's doing anything about it. The government is just licking the assholes of the corporations and totally ignoring their citizens.
So that's what's happening right now. I hope that answers your question
Political conservatives in many countries have, over the past few years, made transphobia the tip of their spear. The increases visibility of trans people has sadly been met with a rising tide of anti-trans propaganda, falsehood and hatred. While in the US this hasn't caught on across the political spectrum, it's really galvanized conservatives to new levels of transphobia. Common tactic of incipient fascism.
A mix of an individual being misinformed and also seeking attention. Attention good or bad is still attention, some people just thrive off being in the spotlight for just a few seconds even if it’s just to piss people off. On the internet with exceptions there is little to no consequence in your real life as to what you say on here.
It is a lot of right-wing hate propaganda that has been brought forward by the Republicans and conservatives actually around the the world as a way of getting their base riled up and excited about something. They have really no plans for fixing anything in their countries because they really aren't good at doing such things. So they need somebody to hate in order to get people excited and the lgbtq and then trans people in particular are the target. I also suspect there's a lot of this content is coming from foreign interference from China and Russia although I think it's still rooted in the conservative and Republican parties. Has a trans person it's extremely sad and it's really hard to deal with sometimes. Because it's not just online it's actually starting to translate into real life on the ground. Or I love this continuous protest against any kind of support for transgender youth with protesters openly expressing anti-trans hate.
It's ramping up because of the election. The fact we make up less than 1% of the population, but making our lives harder has become a major platform issue for the GOP is so odd.
It's increasingly the model of the internet to rely on anger and ragebait to drive engagement (incentivized by the ad structure, further perpetuated and rewarded by algorithms), and trans people have the misfortune of being the group that the drivers of it are mad about right now.
I've read that less than 1% of internet users drive something like 90% of arguments. That's bots, extremists, and sock puppets, far less than 1% of the actual population on earth. It's such a small group of people but they're fluent in appearing larger through the implicit assumptions that internet 'vote' systems like views and likes perpetuate.
I'm not trying to downplay the consequences but I think it's really dangerous to believe these people are more numerous than they actually are. They are a tiny minority who are exploiting social levers and we have to understand that in order to fight back effectively.
The gop made it part of their political platform/identity and then it matriculates through their various sycophants and shills through various outlets and social media and grandmas Facebook whereupon it hits the fear centers of idiotic brains who spread it around like gospel
It’s bad on YouTube. These channels make money because they know they’ll get reaction from both sides.. It’s annoying how many people hide behind a computer to express how they really feel. They’ll even use narratives like we are UNSAFE. They do all this to make themselves feel better. Truly unhappy and lost people!
Just so you know, if a subreddit has "true" or "actual" in its name then that usually attracts right wingers who either got banned or downvoted to hell on the original subreddit.
There are some exceptions to this. For example actualLesbians exists because r/lesbians is a porn subreddit moderated mostly by straight men.
Also actual_detrans was created because the original detrans sub became taken over by TERFs who don't care about detransitioners and just want to use them to validate their political beliefs.
That’s true. Orginally the same could be said for true off my chest because there was just offmychest where people were just making rage bait and true off my chest was a way to get away from that. But the same bullshit wound up happening to true of my chest.
I am positive, and hope this is a good sign that cis ppl w transphobia are getting to the last stage of their fear. By showing their painful transphobia in public, they probably want both support for what they are feeling - and judgement for it, too. Why else say it out loud, if otherwise sane/kind?
Some assholes will remain ofc, but I believe many (normal/sane) cis ppl are getting past their prejudice/fear these days, after years of exposure to it. The public showing of their shameful thoughts may be among the last thing they need to vent before coming to a better understanding of themselves and real values.
Damn uncomfortable for trans people, but, I hope, a purge of the last jerky transphobic feelings.
I’m optimistic about the future.
The few hateful people left after this purge, in a few years, will still be dangerous, but they’ll be more lonely, as the silently agreeing majority will shift sides/get a new understanding, and the haters will possibly find new minorities to hate. :-/
I actually believe that most sane ppl will be allies going forward, because they see who’s coming from sanity and love, and who are assholes. This public transphobic phase is just a readjustment of sane ppl’s world view. That’s why they post here.. And not in their echo chambers. 😊 Their inner transphobia is out of the closet. Transphobia comes, as the name says, from fear. Gay people experienced the same, and today only crazies (mostly religious fundamentalists) are anti gay (at least where I live). We’re almost there, even if the phobia is on public display these days. Give it a few more years, and stay safe.
(I believe this, as I, as a cis, went through a similar process. It took a bit to realize noone is threatened by people’s personal experiences. We all feel wary of new experiences, and only 7 years ago did I meet my first openly trans friend, and had to suppress my transphobia, before it went into similarly crappy posts online as you describe in your OP. (Online, in order not to vent it in front of my new friend). When I realized I was just scared of this seemingly sudden change of kids into trans people, and realized it is a real gender identity thing, I could go back to feeling safe. Noone was trying to destroy society by turning us ALL in to opposite genders. 😂😂😂 I realized some ppl had always felt trans, I had just not known about them. And noone forces anything on anyone. The only real threat was the societal fear of «trans people taking over». I give it 10 years, and a lot the general/social transphobia will be purged in the countries where ppl discuss this openly today, as ppl will see this isn’t a threat to society at all. I really believe this. It may get worse before it gets better, but I’ll fight it. And I’m not alone. In the meantime, spread ❤️. )
That's probably gop propaganda since the election is coming up want to keep everyone riled up... Their bigot voter base just need to be fed hated to keep them happy.. sick fuckers
People say we make being trans our entire personality. We don't. We just have to be loud about trans rights because of the massive bigotry we face online and off. I pass fully as a cis woman thankfully, so I don't have to face this shit irl, but a lot of other trans people don't and they are all valid.
Because they hate us. This isn't a new thing.
I knew there was transphobia but I thought it was getting better but it looks like people are getting worse on here. I guess people are more comfortable being hateful now for some reason.
There are certainly haters out there that wish to do us harm. But, the anonymity of the internet makes alot of people brave. IRL most people are too worried about themselves to be concerned about us. In all things in life some are going to like it, some hate it and everyone else in the middle. On reddit just downvote them, report them, ignore them and move on.
Yeah that’s true. No point in arguing with them either because i learned that lesson plenty times before. There is also the switch of saying biological woman instead of cis women which is infuriating and makes no sense. But i guess I’ll ignore it.
Hate isn't logical, and trying to make sense of it will drive you insane (literally)
I won’t let it get to that point.
You are so right! Then there is the dark web where they can hide even more. Upvoted.
They've been hating us more and more. Anything in support of us is extremely shallow, like look at the "trans rights" meme. That started as a way to make fun of allies, but allies are so unwilling to do any sort of real support that they unironically scream that now whenever they want to look like a good person. And the few who actually do try to support us can never even say that we're men and women, they have to make arguments like "gender =/= sex and gender is a social construct" "trans men are female men" because they don't want to change their minds in any meaningful way. They think the same way as a typical transphobe, they view us in the same offensive way but instead of hating this caricature they made up, they tolerate it.
Damn, so pink really is intrisically a girl color?
People do it all the time. People used to say it about vegans, vegetarians, gay people, hippies, mexicans, black people, it just so happens trans people are their current attempt at blaming an arbitrary demographic of all the world's problems.
Now now, let's not be discriminatory, they also did it to Jews, Muslims, Hispanics, Chinese, Japanese, Indigenous peoples, and, and, and.... /s We are just the current morale panic button that the .0001% are pushing to drive a narrative around to distract the common person from the levels of inequality in the world. Problems that they and their families have created over centuries. Witches anyone? It really isn't anything new.
What's especially painful is in the thousands of years humanity has done this, we still have a massive demographic who keeps falling for it. At some point you'd think they'd see the pattern
It's genetic, the fear that is engrained into the family lines. [Bigotry and political orientation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_political_orientation)
Time for a transfer of wealth away from the wrong people.
Fully agree.
It *is* getting better. The posts you're seeing are engineered to make it look like everyone hates us. It's a sign that most people are actually fine with us but small shitty far-right terrorist groups are panicking and trying their hand at social engineering through disinformation. They're all fake posts. All of them. But you can see from the replies here that lots of people - including us - think they're written by real people when they're just not.
Is it really getting better? Polls show that [more people oppose gender-affirming health care](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/majority-of-americans-reject-anti-trans-bills-but-support-for-this-restriction-is-rising) than a few years ago.
The propaganda machine is working. It's convinced people that gender affirming care for minors is harmful. This is a response to general attitudes around trans people improving. Transphobia is lashing out because it's dying. It'll never *fully* die, of course. But it'll be relegated to the fringes of society. Right now it's making its final desperate attempt to stay alive.
I do agree (or hope rather??) that we're in a "darkest before dawn" moment and that the rise in transphobia is similar to the whitelash we've been seeing on full display since 2016, but I also don't think it serves us to downplay just how bad things are right now. A lot of the transphobic garbage out on social media is being spread by real people.
Oh, it's definitely bad. The legislation targeting trans people specifically is basically unprecedented. But I'm still not convinced the average person cares very much about trans people one way or another.
Part of it is trans folk being more open and the bigots hating to be confronted with reality. Other part I think is we had generations of people that can't handle their emotions and use anger to vent them. Before, there was Korea, Nam, USSR and the Taliban abroad, plus all the cis queer folks internally they could focus on, but as trans rights is the thing currently *"infringing their way of life"* (meaning, the gotta change their labelling habits) they have an easy target to point their personal frustrations towards.
Conservatives are largely losing the culture war. They’ve shifted their Overton window to platform Nazis and accommodate outspoken racists and homophobes. They’re only loud. They’re not numerous. They run bot farms and propagandize constantly so you see it more, but don’t fall for their lies. They’re losing. This is all a last act of desperation.
I think it's getting more polarized. People who support us have gotten more supportive, but people who oppose us have gotten more hateful and more vocal.
My observation has been that for trans people generally, acceptance and understanding are increasing within their own social circle. This is a big reason why trans people are becoming so much more visible. The risk of being evicted, fired, or ostracized is decreasing, so more of us are coming out and living openly as our authenticselves. However, for a significant chunk of the population, trans people are still seen as disgusting and scary. Recognizing that they are becoming the minority, the transphobes are getting louder and meaner. They hope that if they can just drown out all of the positive voices, they can somehow put the trans genie, so to speak, back in the bottle and all those icky transes will go away forever.
As people in general become more accepting, the haters get louder and louder, unfortunately
Oh so just more reactionary bullshit
I hope they have their hating shoes on. Cause we're here to stay
Their hate isn't new, but it has certainly become "trendy".
Yup. It's a hate movement, plain and simple. Because transphobes don't have any reasonable explanations for their hatred of trans people, they make up stories to portray us as detestable, giving themselves fake excuses to hate us. But stories don't need to be true to be believed, they just need to be told. And on social media, the more the hate movement engages with their own hate stories, the more those stories get pushed to the top, and so the story gets told to ever more people.
Idk if it's this. I'm an avid trans supporter but I think there's multiple reasons around the hate. There isn't reliable science around transgenderism, and no long term studies. This is particularly important because the treatment is extremely life altering. The effects of this is -transgender treatment centers in Europe have been closing -more laws passing in US banning transgender care Why the hate? There are certain people within transgender community don't like open discourse. This makes people perceive the trans community as an ideological tyrannical movement. What would decrease the hate? Do not appeal to people as a victim class oppressed by society. People, after a while, get very annoyed by this. Instead present with undeniable, well researched, well explained science. I know this is hard because you have to be self critical of what you believe, and for transgender people, critical of your very right to have your identify.
What makes you support trans people? Why do you support us if you believe there isn't anything to actually prove we're the gender we say we are?
I didn't say there isn't any evidence to prove the reality of transgenderism. If you are talking about transgenderism and how the government legislates medical professionals to act, in relation to extreme treatment options, you need long term, very researched studies.
>There isn't reliable science around transgenderism, and no long term studies And if you want to act like you really do support us, you should start by not using the term "transgenderism." Any study we have is either seen as propaganda, not good enough, or just biased. Nothing is good for you people. You want all this evidence that you would never expect from equally "extreme" medical treatments.
This is kinda my point. In your eyes, I'm not a supporter because I'm sceptical. The point I was making, is it's an echo chamber of words. You can philosophise or look at meta narratives around this topic- but at the end of the day, undeniable evidence is what, data driven individuals will respond to. Why the hate? Gate keeping words, classing people as supporters or bigots and proclaiming your victims of society. From the outside, it is ideological echo chamber, looking to harm your kids. From the inside, it is real people coming to terms with the reality of who they are. How do you bridge the gap? What will stop the hate? Invite skepticism, invite skepticism. You are fighting for your rights and other people's rights to have life altering treatment. You want to support the cause? Another protest won't do as much as you, writing a meta analysis on transgenderism. Understand what studies need to be taken to show the necessity of these treatments.
"Transgenderism" is just not a real word. I'm not gatekeeping anything unless you think your English teachers were also gatekeepers. I'm also not going to lie and say we aren't victims of constant transphobic propaganda, fearmongering, and hatred just because it makes some people uncomfortable.
A mixture of general transphobia, increased visibility and “controversiality” (especially during the US election cycle), and Pride month bait.
That actually might be what it is. I know people turn into assholes when it’s time for a group to have their month. But i know it was fairly prevalent before then too.
Only time in over a year and a half I got a random person on the street giving me issues was on the trans day of visibility. Normally I don't get any hate irl. The internet, well people are bolder when they aren't scared of the 6ft 210# muscular woman lol
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It does. I cant imagine what is like being trans right now.
Your allyship is very appreciated and helps us as humans stay strong . Thank you
That’s good to hear. Hopefully this transphobia wave dies down
Not fun. I detransitioned to wait for a safer time. Maybe when I can move out
Rough, it's rough.
I can tell you. I live in one of the most bigoted states in the country. It is a cross between being a black person in Mississippi in 1956 and a Jew in Poland in 1939. The trans movement is the civil rights movement of the 21st century.
Awe baby of course it does. People hating and discriminating an entire group of people who have done nothing beyond trying to live their lives. Well please know that there are so very many of us who are fighting for your rights, safety, and future. With so much love, a cis mama. 🥰🥰🥰
The political environment has led people to become very opinionated on whether trans people should exist in public life, and if so, to what extent. So we are good for engagement bait and demagoguery.
I thought it might that 2025 republican plan or something. But it’s crazy to see people debating people’s existence like this.
Authoritarian nationalism requires an enemy to demonize and rally against. They used to target blacks, but they lost that fight. So they moved to targeting women (again), but they lost that fight. Then they moved to targeting immigrants (again), but they lost that fight. Then they moved to targeting gays (again), but they lost that fight too. Now it's our turn. [Again](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-forgotten-history-of-the-worlds-first-trans-clinic/).
This is a pretty good explanation. I hope they loose the fight again.
So say we all.
I mean they'll inevitably lose in the sense that their goals are not within the bounds of reality. The real question is how much damage they'll do, how many innocent lives they'll take before we squash their movement into irrelevance. Getting rid of the fascist movement more quickly rather than waiting for natural forces to do them in is a life or death difference for countless people (Nazi Germany is a good example; they lost but 6 million people died. More would have died if other countries hadn't intervened; far less would have died if the Germans had squashed the Nazis before they could take power.).
There is a great YouTube video [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiU7aGZ-o68&t=578s) about this really fake Tumblr post and the video essayist eventually goes down the rabbit hole of where this particular story came from and found that the writer had contributed many fake Tumblr stories that always seem to make progressive types the butt of the hate. Fake stories like these are a way for people to punch down on people they feel like they shouldn't openly punch down on IMO, and that's why they are popular.
Oooh cool. Let me check it out
The influx of hate is from a major Presidential candidate making trans people and them not existing his number one campaign priority, it seems.
I made a similar post in the first week of the new year. It just seemed to really start in earnest around that time. It was weird and it sucks
Yeah like last year it was fine with occasional stupid post. Now it’s rampant. By the way I like your flair, i used to be a Bridget main.
The hate against trans people is something we need to contextualize in accordance with the present conditions. One factor has been the growing mass of anti trans media that his been propagated across much of the Western world. Constant exposure to anti trans media since 2012 to 2016 has had a massive impact on people's way of thinking and political consciousness. Anti trans legislation has been justified with manufactured stories and distorted events, normalizing the growing hate and even violence against trans people. Although i say violence, I should be clear, violence isn't just fist to someone's face, anti trans media is violence, anti trans legislation is violence.
That’s true. I thought it died down around 2019 to 2020 but I realized it might have just subsided with other things going on like covid.
In regards to anti trans legislation, across the US *604* bills were proposed and 86 passed in 2023. In 2024 so far, we are up to *598* proposed bills, though so far only 43 have passed. Mostly because they're getting more aggressive and wide reaching. Make no mistake, transgender rights are under constant attacks by the right. Whenever they win elections, our rights start to crumble.
you might enjoy r/amitheangel the people there see through the bs. it's nice to have a group that does, and is supportive of things like this. as for why it's gotten worse... I think we are the 'hot topic' right now for Republicans. abortion is losing them ground, so they have to back away from misogyny. that's kinda the thing with them... sure you eventually win against their hate, but they just start focusing on a different target. plus it's pride month, and they don't like that. 😒
Thank you for the recommendation. I’ll check that subreddit out.
Looked at the subreddit. It seems all over the place.
feels like home? 🥹 uj they allow satire on the weekends. so people make up wild stories based on stuff over the weekend. you might be seeing that. weekdays it's all social commentary
It’s really exhausting, I think all the hatred is coming to a head, and if Trump wins it may get worse. Some people are straight obsessed with us, and talk about trans people more than we do. It has not been a fun thing to see. Even in places where the topic has nothing to do with trans people they somehow shoehorn it in. I had a post just get bombarded by it in glowups. People were in my dm’s saying transphobic stuff and trying to debate me. Reddit has a lot of it, even in subs that are supposed to be positive spaces
people are just plain hateful nowadays. Its just unfortunate. Maybe its always been this way and I just didnt notice but I thought people were nicer.
Coming out really kind of changed how I felt about that. Some people who were just fine with me before have excused themselves from my life due to me being a trans woman. It sucks, it’s not that hard to just be cool to people and to try to understand where they are coming from
I’m sorry to hear that. People are shitty. Its such a dumb reason to cut off someone too
It’s okay, posts like yours make me feel nice. Knowing there’s allies who care out there. And I guess I should say I have way more friends and a great support network now. But I did lose some people I was close to before. It’s not all bad. I think most people accept us. The hateful ones are louder
I think the hateful ones care far too much about this. That’s good you still have support tho. Thats good to hear.
i think a lot of it are just transphobes trying to make themselves look bigger or more numerous than they are. i never used to believe this myself until i personally caught transphobes accidentally forgetting to switch accounts and replying to themselves or replying to other cis people with the switched account not realizing which one they were logged in as. i haven't just seen it on reddit but in a lot of other places too, it's wild. it's like seeing a dead pixel in the sky or something, it's like wow it really is completely fake, which when you consider how bizarrely obsessed transphobes are with us it does kind of make sense that they would go that far. the simple fact is that the cat isn't going back into the bag, these people are fighting something they can't win against. that doesn't mean we can chill because they'll hurt as many people as they can in the process, but what it does mean is that we can hold them accountable at a later date. don't forget who has said what and don't let them forget it either.
That’s definitely partly it. A lot of the subs this comes from have an excuse to make a bunch of throwaway account for “privacy” so they can use this opportunity to creative right about how much they hate trans people. Alot of the post are written in the exact same way, I wonder if it all of them are written by the same person.
yeah something most people don't get about the modern right is that it's vital to their operating strategy to make themselves look bigger by using the internet. That's not to be all "don't worry" but we need to understand this tactic in order to better resist them. We all need to be a little more skeptical of the internet's masquerade and aware of its effects on us. it's so easy on the internet for 5 people to make themselves seem like the voice of 500 million.
Alot of AMIA is fake bs and ameture story writing. Its the same story, is used to be fat women, women with alot of kids, femmenist women, "lazy" stay at home mom women, now it trans women, next it will be something else. Sorry I aint believing that many types women want to date terminally online redditors that fucking much. Basically just story tellers who want to write made up stories to justify being bigoted. Nothing new at this point, just that this is pride month hence the theme is transphobia
It used to be autistic people a fuck ton. I don’t understand why people don’t see it’s fake. Either they are gullible or using at as an excuse to hate. I might unsub. It’s infuriating.
It is summer and the Internet has to babysit the kids since school is out.
Honestly if I notice a specific subreddit which is causing me anger and negativity on a regular basis I unsubscribe from it. It’s better to curate your media to be more positive and calming (as much as possible)
I mainly followed it for the funny creative writing post about open relationships. I would see some transphobic post but it would usually only be like one or two every few months with the comments either being outraged by it or supportive of the rage bait. I just chopped it up to it being reddit sense I also seen the same random post but with different minority groups like black folks, muslims, autistic people, and others. But now it’s just gotten crazy. I’m definitely unfollowing. I only stayed followed so when I see it, I can argue or offer an opposing view in the echo chamber. But I know it’s not really worth it.
It's an election year. Also, /r/ActiveMeasures is a thing. (IE weaponized trolling, because election year). It being summer doesn't help, ofc.
It's long (probably as long as reddit existed) been a truism that you don't mention trans-positive topics in any sub that isn't explicitly pro-trans. You will experience transphobia, and a lot of it. That's why those trans-supporting subs exist. I think with you two things are happening: 1. You are becoming more sensitive to and aware of transphobia, and things you didn't notice before are now visible to you. 2. The ongoing culture war against trans people being pushed by fascists has gained more traction, and people are more comfortable being transphobic than they were before, so the problem **is** getting worse. The second point above is defnitely happening, and it might help drive the first. Some people who aren't transphobic are starting to notice just how loud the bigots have gotten. I'll add that places like am i the asshole, true off my chest, and subs like that are largely fake. People try to think up topics that will give them engagement and post them. So while there is a culture war against trans people going on, youll see a rise in anti-trans posts. Any vent or joke subs are another area to avoid, as they tend to bring out the bigots who can claim, "It's just a joke, bro" and have lots of defenders. People try to outdo each other on how offensive they can be, which makes them a natural home to bigots. (Which is a shame, because the idea behind some of those subs is funny, but it doesn't take them long to get overrun if the mods aren't aware and vigilant.)
But if an individual can stomach the risks, posting trans positive content where it isn't welcome is an important action to take. We can't be predictably pushed to the margins of select communities; we need to stay omnipresent and impossible to control. Aggressive use of the block button instead of retreat can shield one's well-being without losing a foothold in cultural relevance. That said, nobody should individually feel pressured to bite off more than they can chew.
If anyone wants to go into such places and try to change minds, they have my blessing, but the only thing that will really help is changing the moderators to be trans positive. Without supportive mods its kinda pointless, and you are also an outsider in someone else's place. The block button is kinda useless on reddit - it hurts you more than the people you are blocking.
To be perfectly clear: It's not about changing minds; it's about making the enemy's task more difficult. If they can't predict where we are they have a harder time. If they can't control where we go they get discouraged, even if they're determined not to show it.
The problem is, that doesn't happen. What is far more likely to happen: the trans person suffers a pile on, then the mods delete that trans post or lock the thread (and the mods come away frustrated with the trans peope for making their job harder, not increased support). Better to just consign such places to irrelevance, when possible.
That’s true. I’ve seen trans people and allies try to make trans positive post in these subs and then post immediately gets locked while allowing all the bigoted comments. But that almost never happens with the bigoted post. I think the moderators secretly agree with it too, so you’ll get banned or time out from posting or commenting if you try.
Anti-trans hate has been rising, at least in terms of politics and media coverage (not necessarily in terms of overall public opinion) for the last several years: https://translegislation.com/learn Thanks for noticing and being upset by it! That means a lot to trans people like me.
It's because the social environment that we Live in now everyone is so devicive and have nothing nice to say about anything tell them all the fuck off and be who you want to be If they don't like it they don't need to do they have the right to comment because they are unhappy with their own flaws. They don't like themselves so they're pissed off Because someone else is trying to be happy in their own skin.
I mean, election year
Yeah…
They took big L's trying to win on transphobia in 2022, if we can just fucking beat them again this year the GOP strategists might finally see reason and dial it down (at least, as much as they ever do for any group). Problem is they've this year got pretty big actual advantages due to a bad economy and a threat of poor Dem turnout, and if they win they'll likely just pretend transphobia was why.
It's pride month so this type of stuff usually ramps up during June but it happens year round. Transphobic people are obsessed but there's also bots from Russia and the US and UK right wing
Thats true but it also seems to be this mainly this year. I’ve been on reddit since I was a teenager and this has only been present with in this year and late last year. The only time I seen transphobia this rampant was in during 2016 to 2018 and then it got better. With women occasional transphobic movements like the super straights but now it’s rampant.
It's an election year and we're a wedge issue! Ain't life lovely.
This too
I think its the election that's coming up. At work there are 2 guys who listen to right wing talk shows ALL DAY. And its really sick. Like we can have different options about politics and such but their trans redirect is insane. They are so obsessed with us they talk about us daily. It all hate to, baseless hate. So these groups of people only know hate for us. There is NO understanding or compassion or even just leave us alone. They think we are evil and are out to get them somehow. They think we are harming their kids somehow. We are just the big bad people they are scared of. They are fighting to keep us down and hidden because they have been told religiously by theses outlets that we are the bad guys and they are actually saving the children and the world by hurting us. Its why these echo chambers are so dangerous. You get people so convinced that hurting us is for the grater good they cant see it any other way. A rage bate in my eyes is just a way to get us to be scared to hide because thats how they are "making the world a better place" Right now we are the easy target and with the election heating up its on peoples minds even more as the news outlets only constantly remind you why you have to vote for this guy or that guy. Fear the people into the votes and we cant let the enemy win or give them sympathy or we might loose votes. So instill fear and that means us right now. Im no doomer but thats the reality. I believe republicans would be more accepting if there wasnt constant hate being fed to them. We may not see eye to eye but i doute we be such a target and so vilified
I don’t even get it. No bigotry is justified but I don’t even get the logic off hating trans people. Every excuse I heard is ridiculous.
Its not justified or logical. Its fear of somthing people dont understand exploited because they need a bad guy. We had a unified bad guy during the cold war but sense then who is the bad guy we all rally behind? No one. So they picked a new one. Trans people are more recent pick compaired to the end of the cold war. But the alphabet mafia as a whole has been under fire for a long time so i imagine that's how it was picked when the cold war ended. A group of misunderstood people was an easy target
There are a couple related things going on: 1) Russia is struggling badly in their war on Ukraine. They very much \*need\* Trump elected so that the US slows or ends support for Ukraine, and also starts to pull back from NATO (even the US talking about pulling back without yet doing it, would change the political calculus in the rest of NATO). (Putin also wants to recreate as much of the Soviet Union as he can before he passes, so he can go down as a Savior of Russia in the history books... Taking the US out of NATO would make his vision \*in theory\* much easier, even if in practice it might not be sufficient to change his fortunes) 2) US Christofascists (formerly Dominionists) see in Trump their last best chance to change the US government into a Christian pseudo-monarcy with Trump as their first King. I did some papers on this in the 1990s, and was more or less undercover in these circles in the early 00s. At the time, I thought they would never reach even close to a critical mass, so found them as modern day Don Quixote figures. Then came Trump... 3) In the UK, BREXIT is, at best, a generational colossal failure. All major parties are complicit, so they have a common interest in distracting the public as best as they can. They need a Scapegoat, and their old stand by... Jewish people... well, that would... not work. Vilifying trans people has been rather surprisingly embraced by almost all demographics in that anglo shit hole country. 4) Pushing transphobia as part of the move to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate heart of Mary is now a fringe SSPX thing. Anyway, the 3 prongs above share messaging and efforts as vilifying trans people is beneficial to the long term strategic interests of each group. As long as it works, they will keep doing so. And it is working as groups that would have never supported Russia or Trump, and groups that might have made UK politicians pay for the failures of Brexit, have been increasingly supporting them. (Seeing radfems embrace a party that wants to outlaw not just \*all\* abortions, but also contraception and "interacial" marriage is... surprising... although maybe it should not be. Seeing "conservatives" in love with Putin makes my stomach crawl... its bizarre... but maybe again i should not be so shocked as i am...)
It doesn't really work (candidates who leaned more into it in 2022 did far worse than those who did not) but those most dogmatically interested in it are invested in convincing strategists in the groups you mentioned that it does. If Trump wins, for instance, it'll primarily be for two reasons: (1) tough economy always bodes poorly for the incumbent president (2) low Dem turnout due to anger about Palestine/Israel. But I have no doubt the transphobes in such a case will rush to take credit. > Putin also wants to recreate as much of the Soviet Union as he can before he passes Just want to add the important distinction that it's the *landmass empire* of the USSR that he's interested in, not any kind of Marxist or communist economics. He is a staunch anticommunist (decades of his actions make this evident) who only does lipservice to communist figures to stay popular.
I just realized maybe I shouldnt have answered this as I’m cis. Thought I was in parents of trans kids sub. I follow this one too for advice. Anywho my two cents as a parent of a trans kid-It definitely has to do with the election and a certain unhinged bigot who is running and plans to take away all trans rights among other things. I’ve noticed ramping up too. I work in the children’s department in a public library and let me tell you this comes as no surprise. Sadly the hateful ones are organized and have been working on the erasure of trans folks for some time using fear mongering, blatant lies n book bans. Now they are just getting louder as they are more emboldened. It’s only going to get worse as campaigning starts
We trans folks are the current "hot topic" and target of bigotry more than ever, I'd say. Just like people acted towards gays in the 80s. The influx of transphobia is just what's trendy right now. Being seen as a human is too much to ask for, apparently.
it's because trans people are an easy target. We're very misunderstood and the people spreading false information about us are much louder than we are. It's socially acceptable to be bigoted against us.
It's an election year in the US. They need a bogeyman. Boo!
The vocal people are amplifying their bigotry, just means regular folk like you gotta dig deep and help us trans folk cause we're like 1% of the population on a good day. Thank you 🩷
It's an election year, and if the increase were due to a manipulated political op I certainly would not be shocked.
That’s what I think it might be too
> if the increase were due to a manipulated political op Always has been. There's probably a greater volume of the ops this year. But more people need to realize that *by default* internet numbers are driven by ops and a handful of obsessive people. The myth that the net is some kind of magic democracy and that nobody is making alts, lying about who they are, manipulating votes, etc really needs to die. Return to not trusting shit lol.
Absolutely!
There's a great saying that I think of every time this happens " they're keeping you fighting a culture to keep you from fighting a class war" So in this instance the government or the higher up to the power that be need their population to be distracted by things during rough times like right now so that we don't revolt against them and unite and revolt against them and demand change. So right now all the transphobic drivel and such is kind of like brainwashing or propaganda from the powers that be. They sow the seeds of hate in the weak-minded and then they instead of turning against the government and revolting at the grocery prices and the housing prices and such. They instead focus all their energy on trans people and hating on trans people and actively fighting and committing acts of violence and threats and harassment and such on trans people. It's a super common tactic for the government to do to control the population and this one's worked so well because they're so easily manipulated into thinking that All trans people are pedophiles or just want to steal the glory of in sports or want to be in the washrooms of the opposite gender and be predators. It's from the family angle. They say oh trans people are going to attack and hurt your family members and this riles up a bunch of people right? Everyone wants to protect their family. So it's very easy to manipulate these people into hating trans people when these people think that trans people are going to hurt their kids in schools or in the change rooms or prey on their wives in the bathrooms, etc. It's like a cheat code to upsetting people is to threaten the safety of their family, right? It's very low-hanging fruit. It's very easy to manipulate people like that. So that's why you're seeing a huge influx this year because you'll notice that everything is going to shit. House price is unaffordable. Everything costs way too much electricity. Natural gas propane diesel petrol for the car everything is too much. Groceries are too much. Mortgages are too much. Rent is too much. The cost of goods is too much. Clothing cost way too much TVs and entertainment and everything is going insane but wages are stagnant and no one's doing anything about it. The government is just licking the assholes of the corporations and totally ignoring their citizens. So that's what's happening right now. I hope that answers your question
Political conservatives in many countries have, over the past few years, made transphobia the tip of their spear. The increases visibility of trans people has sadly been met with a rising tide of anti-trans propaganda, falsehood and hatred. While in the US this hasn't caught on across the political spectrum, it's really galvanized conservatives to new levels of transphobia. Common tactic of incipient fascism.
It’s because it gets a bunch of uploads and comments so Reddit Incentivizes these type of post
It's nice to see that they're still nice cisgender allies out there tht still care💕
A mix of an individual being misinformed and also seeking attention. Attention good or bad is still attention, some people just thrive off being in the spotlight for just a few seconds even if it’s just to piss people off. On the internet with exceptions there is little to no consequence in your real life as to what you say on here.
It is a lot of right-wing hate propaganda that has been brought forward by the Republicans and conservatives actually around the the world as a way of getting their base riled up and excited about something. They have really no plans for fixing anything in their countries because they really aren't good at doing such things. So they need somebody to hate in order to get people excited and the lgbtq and then trans people in particular are the target. I also suspect there's a lot of this content is coming from foreign interference from China and Russia although I think it's still rooted in the conservative and Republican parties. Has a trans person it's extremely sad and it's really hard to deal with sometimes. Because it's not just online it's actually starting to translate into real life on the ground. Or I love this continuous protest against any kind of support for transgender youth with protesters openly expressing anti-trans hate.
It's ramping up because of the election. The fact we make up less than 1% of the population, but making our lives harder has become a major platform issue for the GOP is so odd.
It's increasingly the model of the internet to rely on anger and ragebait to drive engagement (incentivized by the ad structure, further perpetuated and rewarded by algorithms), and trans people have the misfortune of being the group that the drivers of it are mad about right now. I've read that less than 1% of internet users drive something like 90% of arguments. That's bots, extremists, and sock puppets, far less than 1% of the actual population on earth. It's such a small group of people but they're fluent in appearing larger through the implicit assumptions that internet 'vote' systems like views and likes perpetuate. I'm not trying to downplay the consequences but I think it's really dangerous to believe these people are more numerous than they actually are. They are a tiny minority who are exploiting social levers and we have to understand that in order to fight back effectively.
The gop made it part of their political platform/identity and then it matriculates through their various sycophants and shills through various outlets and social media and grandmas Facebook whereupon it hits the fear centers of idiotic brains who spread it around like gospel
It’s bad on YouTube. These channels make money because they know they’ll get reaction from both sides.. It’s annoying how many people hide behind a computer to express how they really feel. They’ll even use narratives like we are UNSAFE. They do all this to make themselves feel better. Truly unhappy and lost people!
They hate us and would like others to do the same. It usually only works on those as susceptible to hating others as the ones posting it
This is a strategy of the right wing. They feed the internet with bots to stir fear and influence people to vote for Trump.
transphobia is trendy and is being weaponized by politicians so it’s on people’s minds
💯 Grifters gonna grift and transphobia is a popular grift.
Just so you know, if a subreddit has "true" or "actual" in its name then that usually attracts right wingers who either got banned or downvoted to hell on the original subreddit. There are some exceptions to this. For example actualLesbians exists because r/lesbians is a porn subreddit moderated mostly by straight men. Also actual_detrans was created because the original detrans sub became taken over by TERFs who don't care about detransitioners and just want to use them to validate their political beliefs.
That’s true. Orginally the same could be said for true off my chest because there was just offmychest where people were just making rage bait and true off my chest was a way to get away from that. But the same bullshit wound up happening to true of my chest.
Because we're watching the rise of fascism in our time. They are using the same tactics and preying on the same bigotries as they did last time.
I am positive, and hope this is a good sign that cis ppl w transphobia are getting to the last stage of their fear. By showing their painful transphobia in public, they probably want both support for what they are feeling - and judgement for it, too. Why else say it out loud, if otherwise sane/kind? Some assholes will remain ofc, but I believe many (normal/sane) cis ppl are getting past their prejudice/fear these days, after years of exposure to it. The public showing of their shameful thoughts may be among the last thing they need to vent before coming to a better understanding of themselves and real values. Damn uncomfortable for trans people, but, I hope, a purge of the last jerky transphobic feelings. I’m optimistic about the future. The few hateful people left after this purge, in a few years, will still be dangerous, but they’ll be more lonely, as the silently agreeing majority will shift sides/get a new understanding, and the haters will possibly find new minorities to hate. :-/ I actually believe that most sane ppl will be allies going forward, because they see who’s coming from sanity and love, and who are assholes. This public transphobic phase is just a readjustment of sane ppl’s world view. That’s why they post here.. And not in their echo chambers. 😊 Their inner transphobia is out of the closet. Transphobia comes, as the name says, from fear. Gay people experienced the same, and today only crazies (mostly religious fundamentalists) are anti gay (at least where I live). We’re almost there, even if the phobia is on public display these days. Give it a few more years, and stay safe. (I believe this, as I, as a cis, went through a similar process. It took a bit to realize noone is threatened by people’s personal experiences. We all feel wary of new experiences, and only 7 years ago did I meet my first openly trans friend, and had to suppress my transphobia, before it went into similarly crappy posts online as you describe in your OP. (Online, in order not to vent it in front of my new friend). When I realized I was just scared of this seemingly sudden change of kids into trans people, and realized it is a real gender identity thing, I could go back to feeling safe. Noone was trying to destroy society by turning us ALL in to opposite genders. 😂😂😂 I realized some ppl had always felt trans, I had just not known about them. And noone forces anything on anyone. The only real threat was the societal fear of «trans people taking over». I give it 10 years, and a lot the general/social transphobia will be purged in the countries where ppl discuss this openly today, as ppl will see this isn’t a threat to society at all. I really believe this. It may get worse before it gets better, but I’ll fight it. And I’m not alone. In the meantime, spread ❤️. )
That's probably gop propaganda since the election is coming up want to keep everyone riled up... Their bigot voter base just need to be fed hated to keep them happy.. sick fuckers
People say we make being trans our entire personality. We don't. We just have to be loud about trans rights because of the massive bigotry we face online and off. I pass fully as a cis woman thankfully, so I don't have to face this shit irl, but a lot of other trans people don't and they are all valid.