old-school-butch

[old-school-butch]

Manhood

Interacting with transwomen online is what convinced me that all men have fundamental attributes and interests in common.

[old-school-butch]

That trend fell away, probably because it's hard to pronounce. Indigo children, by contrast, is still going strong.

In a planet of 8 billion people, it's hard to understand who you are. Being exceptional - one in a million - still put you in a crowded football stadium of people the same or better than you in exactly whatever you are exceptional at.

Synesthesia was 2012s autism

[old-school-butch]

oc. 2024

[old-school-butch]

Completely agree, this is colonization 101 - change the language. Words are tools that your brain uses to think. Switch the tools and the capacities change.

“Here’s where things get intellectually very interesting. They are swept up by Catherine’s idea of a new Russia. 

So Catherine has this idea, which is very elegant. It’s also a classically colonial idea: that these lands that have just been conquered, these are virgin territories.

So the place is renamed. What’s now Southern Ukraine, where the Cossacks had had power, and the Crimean Peninsula, where the Crimean Khanate had had power, these places are renamed “New Russia”.

Now that word “new” is magical, right? Like with New England, or New South Wales, or New Caledonia. 

More than 200 years later, 300 years later, people are gonna be still drawn by this notion of New Russia. 

But when you say something is new, you’re not saying it’s yours, you’re saying that we want it to be ours, right? That’s the whole point. 

So Novorossiya does not mean something which is Russian, it means something that we’re gonna make Russia, we’re gonna pretend that nothing else is there. 

And how do you do that? 

Well, you send multiple expeditions of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences to Crimea to name everything, find all the species, map everything. 

Because science is one of the tools by which you gather imperial knowledge.

And then the naming — I mean, one has to admit this is quite brilliant on Catherine’s part. They rename everything. 

So all the Turkic names, the Muslim names, the Crimean Tatar names, are replaced. 

And what are they replaced with? Greek names or names that sound Greek. 

Like Kherson, that city that’s being fought over right now. Mariupol, sounds Greek sorta, right? That’s the whole idea.

They took the old names and then they replaced them with Greek names. And when they founded new places, they gave them Greek, or Greek-ish, Greek sounding, Greco whatever names.

And the point of this is to say that Russia is connected with the classical world. And in that we’re European. We’re in the enlightenment. 

Connecting Russia with the classical world, going back all the way 2000 years, means that you obliviate everything that happens in between.

So the Crimeans don’t matter, the Ukrainians don’t matter, it’s Russia here alone with its historical destiny, which goes all the way back to Greece. 

And so it’s New Russia, but it’s justified by this connection to the classical world.”

Source: Timothy Snyder: Making of Modern Ukraine. Class 11.Ottoman Retreat, Russian Power,Ukrainian Populism

[old-school-butch]

Read this in “stats & curiosities from HBR”

[old-school-butch]

[old-school-butch]

do you have advice for normie, non queer gender critical lesbians about like dating in this insane age? I really struggle with not being bitter over being single, bc everyone my age is either pro trans or transitioning or nonbinary. And the ones who disagree aren’t on dating apps bc of said queer insanity. I don’t know where to meet fellow like minded lesbians my age. Or if I ever will find a wife someday atp.

You might have to undertake your own radpill project, anon, and create that radfem wife you've always dreamed of. A surprising number of lesbians have misgivings about the insanity around us, even if we aren't vocal about it. I suggest dating anyway and then discreetly screen women for their views (or even the potential to entertain critiques of those views). If you start gently, in person, in a way that can't be screen capped or used against you at some point, you can venture a starter-pack of mildly gender critical opinions and see if they pick up what you are putting down with a minimum of risk.

And don't make those questions too open-ended like 'what do you think of the new UK rulings on gender treatment' because that will trigger the programmed response to be as progressive as possible to deflect attack. You could instead begin with 'we all have unpopular opinions that aren't politically correct. For example, I think my non-binary friend has confused having a personality with having a gender and just wants attention. What about you - what thoughts would get you burned at the stake?' and once she ventures her own Forbidden Thought you've created a shared confidence that can grow once you've established some safety to do so. The trick of course is to make this a mutual conversation, for your own social safety.

You can also wait before prompting this discussion, anon, because true gender believers talk about gender basically non-stop. So if you make it to the second date and she hasn't said 'but of course for transwomen...' then that's a good sign. And remember, every woman you meet on a dating app had to wade past a hundred brave and stunning TIMs to find you - that's something you'll have in common from the outset at least.

Also, some people are social convenors who will collect and connect people, so there's a good chance that once you encounter a single rad lesbian you will also connect to a local network of radfems, and your dating pool will deepen. You could try anti-abortion rallies or fundraising events for breast cancer and other women's causes etc. The fastest way to meet women is, and always has been, through her friends.

[old-school-butch]

When I think about it, men always practice separatism. When I was a child, only my brother could play with our cousins because he was a boy. When I was in school, football was an activity mainly for boys : they didn’t want girls in their team. In my study field, I was the only woman for two years. Now, we are two. The men always stay together. When I was doing an internship in electrical maintenance, there were no women. Whenever they can, men stay between them. Yet, when a woman expresses her desire to be around other women, she is irrational and she needs to be open about welcoming men.

[old-school-butch]

This is a key insight and is why you should never let political movements define your identity. Agreeing on topics is not the same as having shared values.

[old-school-butch]

Oh no, we're doing 'gay' wrong...

......

How is this a confusing or unexpected result?

Trans "men" are female. Lesbians are female homosexuals. Why is this fucked up?

[old-school-butch]

Friendly reminder that dads gain an average of 14 pounds during their partner's pregnancy, and they're not even making a human inside them. But sure, Kevin, it's her body that's the problem.

it is deeply abhorrent. imagine if all the women who are married to balding beer belly middle aged men spoke out like this

[old-school-butch]

Thinking about Maria MacLachlan's (PeakTrans) latest video and how she excellently described the process of a feminist left-wing women (like JK Rowling) becoming critical of the trans movement.

At first, you are basically in what she called a 'blissful ignorance'. Your opinion of the trans movement is "live and let others live". Then you start to notice little things that are just plain wrong, like men stealing trophies from women and lesbians being told they are not allowed to tell on a dating app that they are into females only.

So you decide to voice your opinion. You say something like, "I have nothing against trans people who just want to live their lives, but i find this [particular thing] harmful and unfair". You are assuming and fully expecting in your blissful ignorance, nothing more from it. Maybe a bit of debate, but mostly understanding since all these points you made are good points after all, and this is the self-proclaimed feminist LGB+ "be kind" brigade so the rights of women and gay people should matter, right?

Instead, you receive abuse. Not just any abuse, but misogynistic abuse, threats, doxxing, lies, twisting your words, and attempts to make you lose your lifelihood.

First, you are shocked, but then you start to feel angry. Angry and betrayed. You start to wonder how many others like you have been shut out and silenced by trans activists. You may start by looking up "that one woman" who you think was not entirely treated fairly, but you had earlier decided to accept the trans activists' version that she is just "a bigot".

You find out that despite trans activists vehemently claiming some things never happen, they do happen. They just willfully ignore them. You find out people criticising trans movement are feminists, LGB people, concerned parents, medical experts, and even trans people themselves. Trans activists just lie when they claim they are far-righters and conservatives. You find out they do not want trans people dead. It is the trans activists who send them death threats and show up to their events to "punch terfs".

And you become angrier, so you decide you will not be silenced. You decide to talk more and raise more awareness. The more you criticise and the more you share, the more abuse trans activists send to you. And the angrier you become.

Then the useful idiots see your anger and are convinced you are just a hater that should not be listened to. Why else would you be so angry?

[old-school-butch]

If I could get activists to listen to us about one single thing and nothing else, I would ask them to consider just how many of us perfectly fit the definition of “trans kid” when we were children. I would ask them to listen to those of us who, after getting help with body issues, internalized homophobia and sexual trauma, are now comfortable with the sex we were born as and wouldn’t be happy had we transitioned.

when gender non-conforming people say that we 100% would have believed we were supposed to transition if this movement would have been as big as it is now when we were kids, we fucking mean it. we’re not being dramatic or doing it to make you look bad. it does not come from a place of hatred, it doesn’t come from a place of wanting to deny you your right to bodily autonomy, it doesn’t come from the same place that homophobes come from when they say they think same sex attracted people are broken and should be subjected to electroshock therapy.

it comes from a place of genuine concern, it comes from seeing children and vulnerable young adults who remind us of ourselves being called “trans eggs waiting to crack,” medically transitioning, and then being blamed and ostracized for not knowing it wasn’t the right decision when that path ended up being wrong for them.

if you really want to do right by gay, lesbian, and gender non-conforming kids then you should listen to gay, lesbian, and gender non-conforming adults even if it challenges your worldview. we have the hindsight to know what we needed when we were children, and for most of us, the last thing we would have needed is to be told we’re actually the opposite sex and sold DIY hrt online by random adults.

you can hate our guts and keep sending us graphic murder threats if you want but truthfully the movement you’ve created is full of too much misogyny, too much homophobia, too many hurt people, too many contradictions, and too many unanswered questions to be sustainable. gender abolitionism is the only way forward.

[old-school-butch]

"Does your cat know about the feminist movement?"

Seen in Sheffield, UK

[old-school-butch]

[old-school-butch]

i have a LOT of respect for u for coming on here and not letting anyone change ur opinion, that takes balls.

I'm guessing this is about my view on the war in Gaza? There hasn't been much said to persuade me tbh. Actually, I'd say there was little effort to change my mind aside from a couple of rants that desperately needed fact-checking, and then just a trickle of 'fuck you' anons, because bullies are always cowards.

I have a rule about people who want to borrow money from me. I will lend someone money if my phone is nicer than theirs. To date, no one asking me for money has passed that test, which says a lot about both people who try to borrow money and my own purchasing habits, but it's been a solid test that has, at times, opened up some interesting conversations about handling money.

I am happy to debate and listen seriously to people's views on geopolitical and historical conflicts if they can draw a map of the relevant area on a blank piece of paper. It's the criteria I use, by the way, when I decide to have an opinion on something. The Balkans? yeahhhh... I've heard of the region, but I don't and won't hold an opinion about things happening there until I can confidently say I understand the region, the people and the history. I'm not an expert, but I like digging into the stories and figuring out how humanity gets into the conflicts we find ourselves in. The sheer levels of inaccuracy and outright misinformation passing my dash was the only reason I piped up to be honest.

It's easy to get swept up in a political moment, but your opinions - once formed - shape your world in subtle ways. They are tools and filters that you can develop or... someone unknown to you can shape them, someone that might not have your interests at heart. If people lack that fundamental curiosity about human nature and the human stories that relate to a conflict, then maybe it's better to not to venture an opinion about it.

[old-school-butch]

just wanted to say that following a butch older than 40 on here is SOOOO amazing like it blows my mind as a baby butch, it makes me feel like there actually is a future for me embracing being female AND being masculine. bc usually it's one or the other in today's "queer" circles. ppl have acted threatened of me being comfortable as a woman honestly?? like i can tell they just don't understand. a friend of mine even told me they (transmasc) just can't see me as a woman. i was like what do you mean? and they said idk i just can't, you just don't have the vibes. you feel so genderless. later i told them it hurt my feelings bc coming to terms with my womanhood meant a lot to me since i'm detrans, and they apologized and blamed it on their ex-girlfriend having had a looooot of internalized misogyny, and them needing to unlearn it. and now my brain is like... wondering if maybe that affected them identifying as nonbinary. idk. i still try to use they/them if ppl prefer it bc i try to be kind and i myself don't use my birthname and would be weirded out if ppl tried to use it for me. and from my history of dysphoria i know how painful (yet irrational) it can be. i'm just so aware that some ppl out there are identifying as nonbinary not bc they enjoy the identity but bc they're repressed and/or traumatized and have a lot of internalized bs. it makes me so, so sad. i want to help but if i say anything i'm a bigot, and i'm extremely scared of being seen as bigoted, it's a big source of anxiety for me. i'm living a double life right now, most of my friends irl are nonbinary but i have a radfem blog and i'm becoming very critical of gender. it feels like you just can't have a neutral conversation with someone about this. i tried with my nonbinary ex and they visibly started freaking out, and... not to be shitty but it really reminded me of how they acted when i saw them during cptsd episodes. it was like they were full of anxious energy, i couldn't say anything even slightly gender critical. there was a moment where i tried to pry a bit into their internalized sexism and they got this really harsh tone they had neverrrr taken with me in the 5 years we were together. they also regretted going on hrt and they had a moment of regretting top surgery too, but they pretended it never happened afterwards. anyways. it's just wild these days, and i worry about ppl who identify as nonbinary for the wrong reasons, for reasons that actually harm them. i hope there will be more resources for them over the years :/

Pretty interesting that your ex can keep a grip on control over you by ‘acting out.’ That’s not an irrational action, it’s effective. Which sadly describes the grip gender orthodoxy has on our community.

I completely hear you, I never told people I was trans and, if anyone asked had critiques of gender just kind of bubbling inside, but the reality was that other people told me I ‘must be’ trans. One said I was ‘a gay man trapped in the body of a lesbian’, so… I guess when I did something feminine I did it in a masculine way? Or, ya know, how I act is labeled in different ways because of reasons that have nothing to do with me and my existence as a woman.

Don’t beat yourself up about this - all the language and concepts were shoved down our throats. If women are people who identify as women, and if we accept that as true, what are the implications for our own existence and identities? The people creating this language didn’t care about us, and our silence trapped our doubts inside us.

Women won’t be free until we learn to care for ourselves as much as we care for others.