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   Hrefna (DHC) (hrefna@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 20-Nov-2024 18:21:50 JST Hrefna (DHC)

   There's a difference between flagging membership and flagging safety or allyship.

   You can't flag safety in a meaningful way. Allyship is similar.

   You can _absolutely_ flag membership and this technique is very, very old and very, very powerful

   Both can be easily co-opted, but that's not the point. One puts your skin in the game in a way that the other does not. One says "this is who I am" the other says "this is how you should see me"

   I suspect many disagreements come down to this perception

   • Rich Felker repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Hrefna (DHC) (hrefna@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 20-Nov-2024 18:28:25 JST Hrefna (DHC)

     in reply to

     Where allyship can involve flagging support it usually involves something that puts your skin in the game.

     Showing up to an allies-welcome LGBTQ meeting, for example, can help provide cover for queer people who are at the meeting. Wearing a flag pin to show support can draw the same hostility that we would get.

     This is a complex topic, not always appropriate, and not one I want to get into except to point out: where aiming to provide cover, it's best done in coordination with the marginalized

     Rich Felker repeated this.
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     Hrefna (DHC) (hrefna@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 20-Nov-2024 18:32:37 JST Hrefna (DHC)

     in reply to

     Not "I am doing this on your behalf" but "I am being asked to do this because it might help."

     You can't wear a safety pin or a bracelet and say "I am a safe person." It doesn't work that way. You can't put hashtag-protect-trans-kids in your bio and expect it to matter or to even tell me anything particularly positive about your character (it tells me you know the words, not that you believe them).

     But you absolutely can wear a safety pin to communicate, say, membership in the punk scene.

     Rich Felker repeated this.
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     Hrefna (DHC) (hrefna@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 20-Nov-2024 18:36:15 JST Hrefna (DHC)

     in reply to

     This can be an in-code that's not widely known to outside audiences (handkerchiefs) or something blatantly obvious (wearing your red CWA shirt on Thursdays, wearing a union pin, etc).

     The point is that you aren't just being passive about it. You aren't saying how others should see you.

     You are saying "this is who I am."

     "Ally" makes for a pretty poor identity.

   • Embed this notice
     Hrefna (DHC) (hrefna@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 20-Nov-2024 18:43:18 JST Hrefna (DHC)

     in reply to

     I do think that a lot of people are quick to dismiss flagging membership and the value therein.

     People don't understand why people wear union pins all of the time, for example. We've also forgotten how this has been used historically.

     But on the other hand, I _also_ find that a lot of people think that they can put on a bracelet or slap "part of the Resistance™" in their bio and call it a day.

     There's a balance.

     https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-am-part-of-the-resistance-inside-nyarlathoteps-death-cult