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19 days ago
You see mysterious strangers in the night. Leaning against unlit doorways, engaged in hushed conversation. A shadowy cabal exchanging looks, whispering in dark alleys and unmarked locales. A radical cell conspiring against the state -- and perhaps even against man and woman. Was that a secret handshake? What’s going on? Who are these secretive people? How will they accomplish their sinister and world-altering goals? And most importantly -- are you one of them? You could be. Maybe you forgot...
"No superiors can relieve me of my duty, you bulldozed them all to a mass grave for trying to free humanity."
I've mostly stayed the fuck out of this struggle session, but i think i unfortunately need to pitch in at this point. I do not think the general gist of the outrage directed at that statement runs along the lines of "a mod made an intentionally hurtful statement to misgender trans comrades, question the femininity of women and accuse POC comrades of being white on the inside". That would be a far-fetched, malicious and inaccurate conclusion. I believe it is a much more common perception, and also my perception, that your statement showed certain ideas you have internalized, and have not reflected upon properly. This is why people ITT accuse you of a nonpology - you go for the "i was misunderstood and actually meant something else" line instead of confronting your subconscious bias.
As trans people, we've all grown up in a deeply and disgustingly transphobic, exorsexist, cishetnormative and gender essentialist society, and like the cishet people around us, we have all internalized some of that. Upon cracking, we can begin to realize this and build a new framework for how we understand gender and sexuality, but that is not done within a day, it is a process. And with a lot of the fellow trans people on this site, i see that they are struggling with reactionary artifacts in their attitudes that they have not yet questioned and debunked for themselves. Hexbear is generally what i consider to be a safer space for trans comrades, i know i am welcomed, represented and protected here, but unfortunately our trans community isn't as radical about gender as many of us want to believe. It's not as bad as trans reddit, outspoken transmeds and enbiephobes are rare and quickly get the hammer, and we've had a lot of learning with the heavier use of CWs in the trans mega and the discussions around Julia Serrano and enbiephobia, but a lot of work still remains to be done.
A part of that work, and where my criticism of your statement comes into play, is the field of gender essentialism. I understand your critique of the tanks, the comm does show aspects of the site culture that i am personally not very comfortable with. I view this site mostly as a safer space and a place of community that helps comrades with personal growth, offers them assistance and acts as a bullwark for marginalized comrades who need a break from the liberalism in other safer spaces. A place where you can, for example, be both openly trans and openly Marxist-Leninist. Others view it as an unapologetic dirtbag hive. A place where you find community in a shared rage at the conditions we live under, were we are free from insincere demands for civility and decorum and can revel in tearing into reactionaries without restraint and mercy. Were we can enjoy the rare feeling of being, as was a popular quote on the old sub, "numerous and beligerent", an infamous and dreaded shitposter brigade. These are the two faces of hexbear.
When you claimed that this second face of hexbear gave off "white cishet man" vibes, you made a gender essentialist assumption: That being coarse, uncouth, aggressive and loud is a trait of hegemonial (white and cishet) masculinity. Women are described as "hysterical" and "b_tchy" and "hormonally imbalanced" when we exhibit such traits (i've been on the receiving end of all of that a lot over the last years). Queers are slandered as "shrill" and "drama queens" when they do. Transfeminine people in particular are attacked with the concept of "male socialization", a common Terf strategy to silence us when we speak up. POC, especially black people, are constantly policed for signs of aggressive behavior and demanded to be calm and collected to not upset the whiteys, threatened with disproportionate, sometimes lethal, responses when they show any signs of agitation.
The "cishet white man vibes" line is not a callout of privilege. It is securing the privilege of white cishet men that reserves uncivility for them and only them. I get that wasn't your intention. But that's besides the point here. You need to confront which effect your statement had, understand the hurt it caused and demonstrate the introspection that is needed to overcome this kind of sentiment.