On the recent events with Contrapoints.

[numb3r_5ev3n]

I was trying to think of what to say, but these two Youtubers said it better than I would have, anyway:

"Dear Buck Angel" (Watch on YouTube)

"A Fair And Constructive Criticism Of ContraPoints" (Watch on YouTube)

I am ENBY. I came out as ENBY in 2005, back when we were calling it Genderqueer (before "queer" became a term we apparently aren't supposed to be using anymore.) I literally feel like I am both genders and can't legitimately say I am one gender over the other. I am squarely in what Pigpuncher refers to as "The Rocky Horror Generation," so much so that I was even on a Rocky cast in the late 90s, when The Rocky Horror Picture Show was still considered a seminal work of queer counterculture, and not problematic trash to be cancelled.

And, full disclosure? Before the Alt Right came out of the woodwork, I used to hate cancel culture. I mostly left Livejournal for Tumblr around 2011 because at the time, LJ was so rife with cancel culture (way before it was even called that) that Tumblr felt relatively free of it - until Tumblr became ever so much worse. One of my biggest hot buttons is being told I'm not allowed to like something, even after writing the memetic "five page essay for Tumblr" about the thing and to acknowledge that it is problematic. Of course, now that there are fucking Nazis everywhere, I am like "hell yes, let's deplatform all these goddamn Nazis."

Natalie Wynn, aka Contrapoints, may seem like an older Transperson to someone like these two Youtubers, but to me she was a gateway to understanding younger Transpeople and the language and mindset of the younger generation.

But Buck Angel has been a gatekeeping asshole for more than a decade now. He doesn't think people like me are valid. He directly attacked one of my heroines, Lana Wachowski. He did it on more than one occasion. Natalie has said that she will explain in a future video, and a Reddit post (which I can't find right now) with someone trying to take the heat by claiming that they recommended him to her was circulating around Twitter. Maybe she didn't vet him. Maybe she didn't know about his history. I guess we'll all know soon enough.

Comments

[sabotabby]

I'm cis and feel like I shouldn't weigh in here, but I hear you. I really hope that Contrapoints apologizes or something because I love her channel. i know there was a context of her going through some stuff but I don't know the full story.

I don't know that there was ever a time where the left didn't just eat itself but it certainly hasn't been during my lifetime.

[numb3r_5ev3n]

RIGHT?

Chuck Windig sort of goes into it here, and flamingsword (below) linked this:

https://www.dailyxtra.com/why-are-queer-people-so-mean-to-each-other-160978?

But yeah. I'm sick of the left eating its own when we could be eating FUCKING NAZIS.

[sabotabby]

Oh yeah, that second one got circulated around my IRL friends circle and everyone was like, Y U P.

[finch]

I'm not familiar with Contrapoints but it's been long enough since I've heard anybody talking about Buck Angel that I could maybe believe someone hadn't heard anything about him but it fucking sucks. I hope there's a good explanation.

[numb3r_5ev3n]

Yeah, me too.

[lb_lee]

Wait, people think ContraPoints is OLD? She's a baby! She's tiny! *checks Wiki for her info* ...omg she's my age. But she only started transitioning a couple years ago, so I guess to me she's still super-young.

Also I'd managed to not hear the news about Buck Angel because I hid under a rock to avoid the constant cycle of, "trans person rises to prominence, gets put on pedestal, is found out as anywhere from Flawed to Evil and thrown to the wolves, shiny new baby trans rises up who's going to be perfect this time..." The moment I heard about ContraPoints, I was like, "Welp, she's going to get burned in effigy in a year or two and I don't want to be around to watch it happen."

But even though I didn't transition THAT long ago, my primary trans resources were offline, so I'm still in the '90s perception of "transgender is an umbrella term, not just the new word for transsexual, and it covers everything from gender non-conforming 'cis' people to Harry Benjamin Syndrome hard core 'True Transsexuals' who think the rest of us make them look bad."

--Rogan

[jamesovei]

I had to look it up out of curiosity and she only began transitioning in 2017? That's interesting, as I knew about her almost a decade ago.

[lb_lee]

Maybe the citation is wrong? It's also possible my perception is totally distorted since I only started hearing about her a year or two ago, and she looks so young to me. I thought she was in her twenties!

[numb3r_5ev3n]

Contrapoints started out on Youtube as an Atheist Rationalist around a decade or so ago, but only came out and started transitioning about a year or so ago.

Relevant article is relevant

[flamingsword]

https://www.dailyxtra.com/why-are-queer-people-so-mean-to-each-other-160978?

"In the crucible of queer community, under the constant pressure of systemic oppression and violence, our fight-flight-freeze instincts are on overdrive. We perceive danger everywhere, because it is everywhere; and to compensate, we demand uniformity and perfect cohesion from our fellow community members. Deviations and dissent are perceived as threats to our collective body — this is why we are flooded with adrenaline and cortisol (stress hormone) when someone says that problematic thing in the political workshop or when we see our friend post a “bad take” on Twitter. Our threat management systems come online, categorize problematic behaviour as a threat — and frequently go on the offensive to neutralize the perceived danger."

Re: Relevant article is relevant

[numb3r_5ev3n]

That's a great article. Thanks for linking it!