Diana wrote this on her blog on Saturday and it needs repeating here on Monday.
Fluff
That is what the readers want.
A couple of weeks ago I posted about Fantasia Fair… I set a record for visits to my blog!
When I write about a trans woman being beaten with a 2x4… 30 or 40 hits.
When I write about a Connecticut politician trying to strip health insurance from us… nothing.
When I write about a bill to prevent trans children from transitioning… again 30 or 40 hits.
When I wrote about Fantasia Fair… 1200 hits!
People, one day you are going to wake up and find that it is now illegal for us to go out in public. Get your head out of the sand. Hate crimes against trans people are skyrocketing! Laws against us has turned into an epidemic! Dozens and dozens of laws have been introduced not only in red states, but also in blues states. Courts have ruled against us in housing, employment and in public accommodations.
They don’t care if you only crossdress on weekends, they don’t care if you have transitioned. All they care about is that they hate your guts and want to see you dead! Dead! Dead! The murder of trans people this year is on its way of setting a record for our murders.
Harvey Milk, at speech given on Gay Freedom Day (1978-06-25) in San Francisco said,
Gay brothers and sisters, you must come out. Come out to your parents. I know that it is hard and will hurt them, but think about how they will hurt you in the voting booth! Come out to your relatives. Come out to your friends, if indeed they are your friends. Come out to your neighbors, to your fellow workers, to the people who work where you eat and shop. Come out only to the people you know, and who know you, not to anyone else. But once and for all, break down the myths. Destroy the lies and distortions. For your sake. For their sake.
It was true then, it is true now.
You upset their 1950 view of the United States; they do not like you if you are different from them whether it is your skin color, your religion, your sexual orientation, your gender identity – you are different from them and they hate feeling “uncomfortable.”
You can’t hide, it is time for action.
Get out and be an activist just by being yourself.
[/RANT]
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| Wearing Madeleine |
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| Femulate reader Sue Richmond during a trip to Kew Gardens in London. Click here to visit her blog. |
FWIW, I think there are things you can do without being completely out. Feeding back to news organisations, writing to your political representative, politely challenging colleagues/friends around trans matters; all of that helps.
ReplyDeleteI might argue that just by being out in public - particularly if it's an everyday situation - that can help too.
Being out can be done and it's possible to make a difference if it's not safe for you to do so.
Yes, you are right!
DeleteBefore I transitioned I hide the fact that I was trans when I called my legislators. As a matter of fact it make a greater impact on the legislators hear from our allies.
As one friend says, "If you hear mean, intervene."
That's a lovely turn of phrase at the end, Diana. I feel that's going to get some reuse 👍
DeleteAmen
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
ReplyDeleteI get the same response - Important, challenging post maybe a 100 views. Anything about heels and lingerie 1000's of views. You ares so right - "wake up" we must and we have the responsibility to keep ringing the bell.
We write the fluff so the will also see and maybe read the the important stuff.
Thank goodness I live in the U.K. Not in the land of the free!
ReplyDeleteI think that a likely reason for the "fluff" vs "serious" views is that most people come for an escape from the stress of everyday life in which one is bombarded by strident voices from every side on every issue and simply just want to tune it out for a bit.
ReplyDeleteIt is unrealistic to expect everyone to share one's views as to the importance of the subject of a post and the views are a barometer as to why people actually visit so I agree with Rhonda's approach: "We write the fluff so the(y) will also see and maybe read the the important stuff". Otherwise, people will just tune it out entirely...
Oh how true this is. Last week I blogged about governments and the dishonest ways they deal with issues that may be of vital importance to some sectors of the population ... and I got 30 views, my lowest ever. But talk about lingerie and see the hit rate rise into the hundreds or thousands. I call it the Droolometer!
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting my photo and link to my blog, Stana. Best wishes
Sue x
J.K.Rowling became a billionaire by writing escapist fiction for children. Nobody becomes a billionaire or anywhere close to it by writing factual books, least of all political books. This is simply human nature in action. Most readers of this excellent blog come here for inspiration rather than activism. For some readers the vicarious pleasure of seeing Stana's pictures and reading of her exploits is the nearest they get to femulating. I suspect most political activists of every shade of politic opinion feel the same frustration as Diana.
ReplyDeletePenny from Edinburgh.
Dear Stana , You said --" When I write about a bill to prevent trans children from transitioning… again 30 or 40 hits. " Well that's the key which has created all the prejudice against T-girls who just want to live in peace and go out enfemme when they desire . I knew this would happen when adult activists got into interfering with other people's kids . Now a Can Of Worms Has been Opened !
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify, "You said" is incorrect. Today's blog was what Diana wrote on Saturday; I did not say anything today. However, I agree with Diana 100%.
DeleteSorry , my mistake
DeleteDiana , You said --" When I write about a bill to prevent trans children from transitioning… again 30 or 40 hits. " Well that's the key which has created all the prejudice against T-girls who just want to live in peace and go out enfemme when they desire .
DeleteA person under the age of 18 is a Child and should never be proselytized in school or online into accepting a trans identity when they don't even know who they are .
Besides , We All Know It's a Mortal Sin ! to Crossdress so I resist
DeleteI'm going to wade in here - as someone who absolutely knew who they were before the age of 18 (no proselytising required) and who shut that closet door when no support could be found (Section 28, look it up) - I'm now much much older. No one ever convinced someone in their teens of a fundamental part of themselves that wasn't already manifesting. That's not... that's not how any of this works.
DeleteI'm a Christian (not alone either) and, hey, guess what - plenty of people tried to convince me I wasn't the right type of Christian before I was 18. They had about as much success as anyone else in that regard.
That's it, that's all I have to say.
Joanna , you are someone aquainted with the Bible and you Know the Bible which is God's Direct Word says the " Effeminate CANNOT enter the Kingdom of Heaven " so you have chosen the joys of Transfemininity over Heaven and that's your right I will defend .
DeleteHey Anon,
DeleteNever read that translation. I'm NIV myself. If the effeminate cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven then it must follow that all effeminate people (which, I assume, includes women) can't enter. You'll have to direct me to that referenced verse, because I'm not seeing it.
I shall add this coda, however: God doesn't make mistakes. God created me and others like me. God created my 'transfemininity' as surely as He created the Universe. God accepted me long before I accepted myself. And God spoke to the people that wrote the Bible, who were still people of this world rather than of God's Kingdom, which is kind of the point of the Bible.
Your condecension is noted, thank you. :)
Joanna ,
DeleteWell after thinking about it again , what the Effeminate means in the Bible , I might be wrong , but I think it refers to mainly to dealing with actual sexual acts because I myself have always had transfeminine feelings that I resist the best I can . ( so far ?)
Joanna ,
DeleteAnother thing is as mankind moves through centuries, genetic damage happens generation after generation and keeps happening and also the DES drug used between 1940 to 1972 has caused much suspected genetic damage causing some sons to have a feminine brain patterns ( look it up ) in desires and I am a DES son . But of course alcoholics inherit genetically a genetic ability to consume alcohol and just keep drinking and that's their handicap they must resist .
This is so true, especially when even liberals like Bill Maher and his guests he has on his show "rant" about us. Yes, Mr. Liberal has been on a roll these past few weeks and really in recent memory. And, no, Bill Maher, just because you say you aren't trans phobic doesn't mean you don't like or get or EVEN want to understand who we are. Some might say, well, he's just defending free speech and Dave Chappele and all comedians to have the right to make fun of whomever they want when they want under the disguise of free speech and his job as a wannabe comedian. In full disclosure, I've not seen the Dave Chappele special but I do know that Maher regularly lampoons Caitlyn Jenner and Chaz Bono under the umbrella of comedy to get a cheap laugh at our expense. However, what he fails to see is that other people, who are "less" liberal than he is will see this and say, well, if he, as a flaming liberal is against it, then I, as a fear-mongering conservative, am REALLY against those who are "unlike" me. (And thank God we are...) When he spoke with the two guests in a recent eppy, both of whom were also liberal, I was appalled that they readily agreed with him. And your reasoning that you've just got used to people being gay doesn't exonerate you from the thin veil you hide behind in your justification to unabashedly dis those of us who are trans.
ReplyDeleteI never liked Maher. He strikes me as a wise guy and I stopped watching his show years ago. His anti-trans stance comes as no surprise.
DeleteMaher and Chappele are not the only transphobe comics. Michael Che on SNL has made jokes on SNL at our expense and recently, he would not call out Chappele when the ladies on The View asked him about it.
i can't help but wonder if a century or so ago the pankhursts and their fellow suffragettes had similar problems in rousing women to fight for their rights, instead of just worrying about their foundation wear being tight enough to allow them to squeeze into their new gown?
ReplyDeleteDiana ,
ReplyDeleteIt's this kind of radical rhetoric interfering with minors , that's created a very bad situation for real ( used to be happy ) adult T-girls who just want to live in peace and now many us have been driven deeply into a Dark closet .
Great Authors Great Dough
ReplyDeleteJames Michener
William L. Shirer
Tom Clancy
Allen Drury
Michael Crichton
Are all authors, that did fiction but closely followed truth and reality and did it so well that they made Millions!
Tom Clancy was said to be a SPONGE �� whenever he talked to anyone in the know. He filed away any tidbit for future deep researches. He got so very good at digging out information from the Federal Haystack that according to two interviews, he was contacted by both the FBI and DoD investigators in relation to how he got many bits of information that he used in his tomes.
It can be done, but is rare, hard and takes a large amount of the Authors efforts.
I have seen that Bible passage translated as "male prostitutes".
ReplyDelete