Conversation

So I had kind of an eye opening moment last night and I need to talk about it, because it's been weighing on my mind ever since. I know that if I bottle it up, it will just come up again later.

But before, I just want to mention that no movement should be beyond critique. Not even our own. Something I learned from being a lifelong Democrat, is that if you critique the party from the inside...you get cancelled. It's why I went GC...because I couldn't ask my fellow Dems questions without getting my head bitten off and labelled a heretic.

As a result, I promised myself that I would never silence myself for fear of backlash from those I called allies again. I told myself long ago that if I ever saw something off in the RadFem/GC community, that I would call it out too. Well this is a callout. I've seen a flaw that needs tending to. If I cannot stand up and point out the flaws that I see in the GC community, then I'm right back where I was with the Dems.

So here's my piece. I've seen a reoccurring theme from members of the GC community during my time here...and that has been a hatred for and a mocking of people that are autistic. Here's why that's a problem for the community:

A huge part of our political argument is that autistic boys and girls are being sucked into the gender cult and we all pour over how awful this is, (because it truly is). But what does that make us look like when we stand for autistic people against gender exploitation, but then turn around and exploit them for our own entertainment?

How can we pretend that we care about autistic people if we make jokes about them and call them retards online for fun? I realized that the optics are that some GCs are using autistic people as pawns to further their arguments, then throwing them under the bus when no longer useful to them.

If I noticed this, other people certainly will. Just think about it.

Think about the autistic men and women/boys and girls that are now trapped in the trans cult. What will they think when they go looking at what a "gender critical feminist" has to say and they come across a thread where we are calling them retards and mocking them? They certainly won't look any further. They'll know all they need to - that they are not welcome here.

And the same for those of us who are on the spectrum within the movement. I look around me and start to learn who I can trust and who I cannot with intimate facts about my own status as an autistic person when I see my GC sisters engage in these jokes. Where this prejudice comes from, I don't know and I don't care.

This isn't an attempt to censor or silence. It's just an ask to consider the effects of what may seem like a simple joke at the time and the effects it may have on the optics and intentions of our movement. We don't want to be hypocrites or bigots. We're supposed to care about our autistic sisters that have been sucked into the cult.

Do we REALLY care, or are they just a convenient stepping stone that we can use to get where we want to go? I want to know that we DO truly care, but actions speak louder than words. So just mull it over. Know that people ARE watching and there are people everywhere looking for any reason to discredit and hate us. Don't let them have it. Don't give it to them so freely.

It's kind of like the white feminist who has a black friend she says she loves, but the black friend overhears her talking about "n*ggers" behind her back to her white peers. That's what it felt like to me last night and every time I see autistic bashing....-that behind my back, there are those that see me as LESSER than them.

I'd just like to say that autistic people are not a blight on humanity. I'd rather be autistic than not, if being autistic means being me. I'm proud to be who I am and I know that there are a lot of people who like me for me. We need to remind ourselves that many of the loudest speakers on our side are autistic. Exulansic, Rex Landy, Vanessa Vokey, Emily Wier (Days of Boyhood) are all on the autistic spectrum and when you make a joke at the expense of an autistic person, you are making fun at the expense of them too.

I don't want to chastise anyone and I'm not seeking any apologies. I just want people to take a moment to think about and consider this. I want to be able to move forward and have a good day, week, month, and foreseeable future with all my GC friends. I truly love you all. I almost said nothing more, but again I knew that it needed to be said...I knew that if I said nothing for fear of backlash that I'd be heading down the same path I was with the Dems. Censorship and a growing grudg that would eventually pull me away.

We have to be able to speak without fear of being cancelled. If this gets me cancelled or blocked by anyone, that is no different than the left cancelling a Terf for wrongthink. We have to be above that. I say this all with good intentions and hope it is received the same. And that's all I have to say about it for now.

Public

Notices

Feeds