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cross-posted from: https://discuss.online/post/12273255

I've only been on Lemmy a few days and I've already witnessed a lot of thinly veiled transphobia, anything from people dismissing the existence of trans people, to trying to claim we are predators. I've also seen people downvoted in the general communities for expressing trans support, or seemingly for no reason other than simply being openly trans or visibly queer. I know it's an ongoing effort to moderate transphobia on Lemmy, and the fediverse as a whole. We have to also address mentions of thinly veiled transphobia and transphobic users. Transphobia isn't just a differing opinion, it is a dangerous hateful sentiment which causes harm to vulnerable people and it needs to be addressed, at the instance and community level. We need to put in the effort to identify transphobic dogwhistles and language used by transphobes to eradicate this type of behavior from our communities and servers alike.

Some people will argue that the light stuff isn't something to worry about, but that's not true. This is a tactic they use to blend in with normies and make them think that nothing they are doing or saying is wrong. It's what transphobic right-wing YouTubers and Facebook users do to avoid being banned for hate speech. We are better than these corporations though, Fediverse is run by communities and for the users, we should not let these things slide as easily as Corporations do, they're in it to make money, we... We're in it to create a community for the users. Part of that means kicking out those who don't have all our best interests at heart.

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[-] vk6flab@lemmy.radio 52 points 1 month ago

I think it depends on where you go. I've seen lots of supportive behaviour across the fediverse.

[-] SorteKanin@feddit.dk 28 points 1 month ago

Everything on the fediverse really depends on where you go. That's kinda the whole point.

[-] vk6flab@lemmy.radio 6 points 1 month ago

It's true, but it's not obvious if you're new to the fediverse, since until now the closest we've had to decentralized communities online is Usenet and that's only familiar to you if you're been online for 30 years or more.

[-] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 9 points 1 month ago

Yeah I haven't seen any mods who are for it, granted OP is on discuss.online and I have defederated a lot of hate instances. People on beehaw, lemmy.world, and quite a few others have been if anything overly accepting than not. However, it's why I discourage browsing all and instead curating a list of communities.

[-] Blazingtransfem98@discuss.online 4 points 1 month ago

I only saw one Mod who was for it and he wasn't even using his mod powers to push it, he was just pushing transphobia apologia and happened to be a mod in a different community. He got banned quickly from the community he did it in by the way. Glad he did, I'm sure he would've kept going if they didn't. Though I do regret posting to his community. I might make a post addressing it later in !trans@lemmy.blahaj.zone so people know to steer clear of those communities.

[-] Blazingtransfem98@discuss.online 7 points 1 month ago

I have too, !mtf@lemmy.blahaj.zone, !trans@lemmy.blahaj.zone, and !asktransgender@lemmy.blahaj.zone are some really nice ones. Most of what I've seen weren't bad communities or even bad posts, it was users commenting under posts, sometimes their own, sometimes other people's. Some weren't even in communities related to LGBTQ, but it came up and they were talking about it. Most of the users had the @lemmy.world extension but a few were lemmy.ml, and a few others too.

[-] PugJesus@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It may be more effective to bring it up to the moderators of the individual communities where you've seen it. Also, generous use of the report button.

[-] Blazingtransfem98@discuss.online 11 points 1 month ago

I will definitely report it more often when I see it.

[-] PugJesus@lemmy.world 27 points 1 month ago

Speaking as a mod, even speaking as a mod who's terminally online, we can't have eyes everywhere at once. Somewhere, in the depths of the comment chains, we always miss something, or skim over it. Reporting isn't adding to our work load (generally), it's a great help. You shouldn't hesitate to report anything that seems like it breaks the rules/expresses bigotry.

[-] j4k3@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

This, and lay out the details like ELI5 and as an unemotional objective thing with detail.

I have received many flags to sort out that take more than a few minutes to figure out the tone and meaning. I strongly believe people have a right to be stupid, wrong, a bit rude, or to have a bad day. I need to know exactly why the comment is more than this in a well laid out fashion. If you think it is a pattern with the individual, prove it. If some subtle phrase carries more meaning than I may realize, say so. I want to make people feel welcome on all fronts with a Hippocratic framework of "first, do no harm." At the same time, a visible mod is a bad mod. I will read every detail. I will give the benefit of the doubt in every possible case. I won't be passive to bigotry, but I will allow an asshole that does no harm. I'm but one insignificant mod. I care a whole lot more as a person, but I act conservatively as a mod. When flagging something imagine the person on the other end is working on some big project, stopping their day, and taking a half hour to sort out the details, thinking them through, and taking action. It usually takes me longer to shift gears and do this in practice. I'll usually send a message explaining why I did or did not do anything as well.

[-] walden@sub.wetshaving.social 30 points 1 month ago

Block lemmy.ml and hexbear to start. I find their users to be quite toxic.

[-] PugJesus@lemmy.world 42 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Of all the stupid, bigoted dogshit flung around by Hexbear, outright transphobia generally is not one of them.

[-] osaerisxero@kbin.melroy.org 12 points 1 month ago

Generally isn't even a factor. Hexbears have some nuclear takes, but they are death on transphobia

[-] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 8 points 1 month ago

They do bad faith trolling though.

[-] Blazingtransfem98@discuss.online 21 points 1 month ago

Most of the people exhibiting the transphobic traits and behaviors I've mentioned had @lemmy.world extensions on their account. I saw only a few from lemmy.ml doing it, and essentially no hexbears doing it at all.

[-] ada 20 points 1 month ago

I have many issues with hexbear, but transphobia is not one of them. They are explicitly and aggressively trans inclusive

[-] Blaze@feddit.org 18 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Welcome here!

Please report such comments or posts.

If it's at the mod level, please document it on !yepowertrippinbastards@lemmy.dbzer0.com

We all try to fight against transphobia, but we don't have eyes everywhere

[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

This thread transformed from being about a serious issue on the fediverse into a pile of accusations on a personal level. I don't see this thread becoming any more civilized the way the comments are spiraling downwards. I'm keeping the post up because, as I said, this is a serious issue, but I don't think keeping the thread unlocked is doing any good.

[-] Blazingtransfem98@discuss.online 10 points 1 month ago

The downvotes on this thread might be a very good way for admins to identify transphobic people, most of them are likely either transphobes or bots run by transphobes. If you're not interested maybe still collect the names and send it to @ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone so she can use it to better clean up their instance from silent transphobia.

[-] Blaze@feddit.org 6 points 1 month ago

I'm surprised by the numbers too, why would someone downvote such thread?

[-] Blazingtransfem98@discuss.online 11 points 1 month ago

It's almost certainly transphobic people or bots run by transphobic people. Either way people who don't bring anything positive to the discussion and who bear hostility to the trans community, hence why I say the downvotes on the post can be used to find some of the more quiet transphobes and ban them.

[-] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I know it's not specific to the Fediverse, but I recommend you watch this video from Fran Blanche: it's eye-opening and a bit heart-breaking:

When Google calls you a slur

Fran Blanche is a genuinely kind person, a good engineer, and her career has been hobbled by rampant transphobia.

this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2024
59 points (100.0% liked)

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