Update on Spinster
Spinster statistics one week in:
-55th largest instance in the entire Fediverse (up from 58th yesterday),
-4,428 users (up from 4,250 less than day ago),
-82,586 status posts, making it the 8th most active instance in the whole Fediverse,
-1,615 peers,
-0 sandwiches made,
-Lots of pissed off misogynists.
I LIKED your OP. I just hope they keep true to its origins.
I hate corporate sellout as much as I hate domineering control.
They are creating this website to get away from all that.
I hope they keep their eye on the goal posts and don't start banning people willy-nilly for saying something/anything in disagreement.
They have just entered Zuckerberg's world if they do.
IMPress Polly (08-21-2019)
I enjoyed reading this. You are very clear and concise in what you say.
Consider me a long-time ally as my sister was always in your camp and she has always made just as much sense.
Though I do not understand the "terf" or "swerf" insulting terminology.
Could you indulge an old sailor with an education?
This way I can know its meaning if i ever see it again.
IMPress Polly (08-21-2019)
TIC Soon social media and gender issues will divide us into one million and forty five distinct entities and in order to feel at home and welcome, you will need to have tattooed on your forehead the symbol of your particular gender specific nomenclature. Stab at mine: married forever male liberal conservative photographer bicyclist semi retired slightly chauvinistic per my wife senior veteran well read always reading in bed by ten and up at five grandpop who loves quotes and words and the open road and american cars technician repair person loves his distinctly different grand-kids basically good soul dependent on definitions now indistinct and possibly changing.......
"Pascal feared that if men knew what each other thought of the other there would be no friends in the world." Eric Hoffer
"Men are so necessarily mad, that not to be mad would amount to another form of madness." Blaise Pascal
Navy Retired See here: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=TERF
Last edited by midcan5; 08-20-2019 at 08:18 AM.
Wanna make America great, buy American owned, made in the USA, we do. AF Veteran, INFJ-A, I am not PC.
"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it." Voltaire
IMPress Polly (08-21-2019)
Peter1469 (08-21-2019)
Thanks! I try to be anyway. I struggle with conciseness, but I try.
Anyway, "terf" and "swerf" are internet-invented shorthands for "Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist" and "Sex Worker-Exclusionary Radical Feminist" respectively. No one ever uses these terms to describe themselves except in sarcasm because they are clearly meant to imply that gender critical views are motivated by hatred and bigotry, which just isn't the case. Taking "swerf" for example, I am a survivor of prostitution myself. I oppose the prostitution of women because it is harmful to women, not because I just hate prostitutes.
Neither is my opposition to gender driven by contempt for trans-identified people. I'm all for trans-identified people being protected under hate crime laws and being allowed to participate in the military and all that. I'm NOT a hateful person that way like our current president is. But womanhood is not a state of mind and treating it that way is not only kind of insulting, but also has the effect of drastically reducing the rights and freedoms we (women) are afforded. Transgendering is also just harmful to the mental health of trans-identified people themselves, I believe.
What makes these terms distinct from say calling someone a "transphobe" or "anti-sex" respectively is the fact that these versions apply only to women (and by no means just actual radfems either) and, as such, there is an implied threat behind them.
Anyone (probably a guy actually) might be called say a jerk or an $#@!, but there's a clear difference between the magnitude of these terms and the term $#@!. No one fears being physically attacked following on the utterance of "jerk" or "$#@!". The female-specific version, $#@!, however, carries an implied threat of violence. I, and many, many other women in this world, am inclined to reflexively raise an arm to shield myself when I hear that word directed at me because the next thing that happens after that might be a blow or an attempt at strangulation. That's its purpose. It's intended to create not just offense, but specifically fear.
It's the same with terms like "terf". One who is called a transphobe might be offended, but they don't realistically fear being attacked either physically or in an online capacity (like in a cyber-attack). One who is called the female-specific version of the same insult, a terf, by contrast, has good reason to fear. There's an implied threat behind that term. Therein lies the misogyny of it.
Last edited by IMPress Polly; 08-21-2019 at 06:35 AM.
Retirednsmilin308 (08-21-2019)
You sound exactly like my dear sister.
She was progressive in the late 60's and now is considered a radical because she knows being a woman is not a state of mind you can change at will.
We both agreed a wig, dress, and makeup DO NOT make a woman.
Vanity Fair did not get that memo.
Not only do they not, they also trivialize women in general by telling the world this is all you need to be equal to any woman.
This lie seems to be the popular lie of the day right now.
Let's hope it passes and sanity returns at some point soon.
PS...I had no idea those insults are also generally followed by physical attacks.
That crosses a line in so many different levels.
When is your next scheduled march or protest.
I will start making a sign now.
...and wear my steel-toed boots.
IMPress Polly (08-22-2019)
Peter1469 (08-21-2019)