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Why this journal doesn't allow comments
Aug. 9th, 2012 02:22 pmYou may have spotted that comments are disabled on all entries in this journal. This post goes into the reasons for that.
I am transgender, and trans people are very poorly understood by the society around us. We are also a small minority who are decades behind most other minorities in the organisation and politicisation necessary for achieving a weighty, widely audible voice. The effect of that situation is that ignorance about who and what we are is so complete in society that even when we speak up for ourselves, we are drowned in an overwhelming tide of people who just don't see why their assumptions should have to change. The complacence and narcissism of that enrages me.
So, reason one: you can't comment on these entries because this is my voice, telling you how it is for me. You get to shut up and listen to what I have to say. If you want to think about and comment on what you've read, post in your own blog - and thanks for the free publicity.
Reason two is that there are groups of people who tend to concentrate on the Internet who really don't like transsexuals. Radical feminists, for one. I could waste days' worth of time and energy arguing with and being hurt by people who fundamentally don't want to believe that I exist, and I shouldn't do that. As a trans person it's hard to have self-respect - but even I manage a little more of it than that.
Reason three is that I don't like conflict. Never read the bottom half of the internet, especially not if you're trans. I know some of you would be supporting me, and I love you for that, really I do. But there would also be a lot of morons, bigots and trolls. And I just don't have the energy to deal with them every day. I can write well and I can explain things well, so for what it may be worth I'm putting some of my thinking out there for others to use; I just can't be a person who has enough mental energy to fight every minute of every day.
I am transgender, and trans people are very poorly understood by the society around us. We are also a small minority who are decades behind most other minorities in the organisation and politicisation necessary for achieving a weighty, widely audible voice. The effect of that situation is that ignorance about who and what we are is so complete in society that even when we speak up for ourselves, we are drowned in an overwhelming tide of people who just don't see why their assumptions should have to change. The complacence and narcissism of that enrages me.
So, reason one: you can't comment on these entries because this is my voice, telling you how it is for me. You get to shut up and listen to what I have to say. If you want to think about and comment on what you've read, post in your own blog - and thanks for the free publicity.
Reason two is that there are groups of people who tend to concentrate on the Internet who really don't like transsexuals. Radical feminists, for one. I could waste days' worth of time and energy arguing with and being hurt by people who fundamentally don't want to believe that I exist, and I shouldn't do that. As a trans person it's hard to have self-respect - but even I manage a little more of it than that.
Reason three is that I don't like conflict. Never read the bottom half of the internet, especially not if you're trans. I know some of you would be supporting me, and I love you for that, really I do. But there would also be a lot of morons, bigots and trolls. And I just don't have the energy to deal with them every day. I can write well and I can explain things well, so for what it may be worth I'm putting some of my thinking out there for others to use; I just can't be a person who has enough mental energy to fight every minute of every day.