I am scared of posting this. Of course I’m scared. Look at how violent these people are. I am, frankly, terrified. But I think it’s important that we be clear what is happening here, and we be clear that this is abuse.This abuse does not represent trans women or their allies as a whole. This represents a violent misogynistic group. To acknowledge their abuse no more “tars all trans women with the same brush” than highlighting the abuse perpetrated by violent men means that *all* men are violent. We don’t accept that we can’t highlight abuse from men for fear of unfairly maligning the majority who are non-violent, because we correctly recognize that protecting their victims from violence is more important. And we accept that saying *this* man is violent, does not mean that all other men are violent. This should be no different. All abuse is unacceptable, no matter who perpetrates it, and no matter against whom it is perpetrated. To position anyone who objects to this as “phobic” rather than rationally scared and angered by such horrific levels of violence being advocated against non-compliant women, is victim-blaming. It is victim-blaming of women who merely say, as I do in this post, I do not wish to identify with my oppression. This is not acceptable. And it is not acceptable to frame women who object to this, as irrational, hysterical silly-billy “little girls” who are making a fuss over nothing. Women should be allowed to name their oppression. Women should accept that other women can have legitimate political concerns, rather than hysteria and phobias. This is abuse. We have to be able to name it.
