my thoughts on Twitter, tagging, subtweeting, & blocking

I joined Twitter back in 2011 and, for the most part, I've appreciated the experience – it is the social media platform that I spend the most time on. It's a great place for me to get the word out about my writings and music, and to find/follow/read other people's work. But over the last few years, Twitter has become far more difficult to navigate.

For me personally, the primary reason has been the anti-transgender backlash we've been living through the last few years. Not that long ago, trans people were not in the public eye so much, and while trans-haters definitely existed online, they were not very organized. But nowadays, they are far more vocal and coordinated in their efforts. Often they will swarm transgender people's (and allies') feeds expressing hatred and misinformation. Increasingly, they've resorted to mass reporting to get trans people suspended from the platform for relatively benign things.

Then there are the usual aspects of Twitter that most of us have engaged in at one time or another – e.g., quote-tweeting articles & tweets that we disagree with (thus enabling/encouraging our followers to comment upon them as well); tagging/@-ing other people into conversations that they'd rather not be a part of. While not always done in a mean-spirited manner, these things can also make Twitter somewhat inhospitable at times.

As a writer, I am quite used to being criticized. And I understand that social media is now the new public forum where ideas will be shared and debated. While I am always open to listening to sincere constructive criticism, far more often than not, the negative comments I receive on Twitter these days are either thinly veiled (if at all) attempts to smear or dismiss transgender people and perspectives, or more general complaints about "liberals," "feminists," "SJWs," and the like. In some cases, these individuals may simply be "letting off steam" or "getting something off their chest," but the end result (whether intended or not) is that other people who are fundamentally opposed to my perspective & existence will likely find that comment and flood my feed, thus creating a hostile environment for both me and my followers.

So long story short, I have become very liberal with blocking accounts.

my first patron-requested post on Patreon!

As you may (or may not) know, last year I joined the crowdfunding site Patreon. People who support me there (for as little as $1 per month) can read almost all of the posts, which include behind-the-scenes updates, polls on what I should write about, plus unpublished writings & recordings. People who pledge at higher levels may be eligible for rewards, such as free e-books and/or signed copies of any of my previous books (depending upon the level) - more details can be found here.

At certain pledge levels, I offer the reward of writing a blogpost about any subject of a patron's choosing (within reason). Well, today I published my first ever patron-requested post - it's on the topic of passing and employment post-transition. It's a public post, so even if you're not a supporter, you can read it via the link.

If you appreciate it and/or my writings more generally, please consider supporting me there!

Activism, Language, and Differences of Opinion (a compilation of essays)

[note: The essays compiled here were written between 2012–2016. My more recent writings on these and related topics are collected in Call-Out Culture, Identity Politics, Political Correctness, and Social Justice Activism: essays and a new lecture.]

Activists of various stripes will often disagree with one another (as well as with the mainstream public) regarding what ideas and strategies are useful and productive, versus which may be self-defeating or destructive. Notably, many of these debates tend to be centered on language—for instance, is the word or phrase in question liberating, or acceptable, or anachronistic, or problematic, or downright derogatory.

While most people who participate in these debates champion a specific cause (e.g., being “for” or “against” a specific activist tactic or terminology), I have become increasingly interested in understanding the underlying standpoints and reasoning that lead people to adopt these disparate positions, and chronicling how rigid one-size-fits-all stances on these matters may erase or exclude the voices of many people who have a stake in the issue.

I have written extensively about this subject in my 2013 book Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive (the linked-to page includes excerpts from the book). Here, I will compile some of my subsequent essays related to this topic (with links when available). They are organized into the following sections:

I’m discontinuing comments on my blog. Here’s why...

So as the title plainly states, I plan to deactivate the comments section of my blog posts moving forward. (Previously posted comments will remain intact.) While I don’t feel obligated to offer an explanation—after all, it is my blog, and I am free to format it any way I choose—I thought that it might be worthwhile to share my reasoning as to why.

Regarding "Political Correctness" (my first post on Medium)

Those of you who have read my book Excluded (particularly the last chapter, "Balancing Acts") know that I have long been concerned with the ways in which activist language and strategies are sometimes employed in ways that are counterproductive, or which have the effect of silencing other disenfranchised individuals. My goal in doing this is to foster more robust, thoughtful, and inclusive conversations and communities.

However, in the last year, there has been a rash of mainstream articles about this phenomenon, often framing it under the rubric of "political correctness." For the most part, these are one-sided short-sighted attempts to condemn "language policing" without giving any thought to how we might balance that with the concerns of marginalized groups.

So I have just written a response to one of these recent articles - it's called That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore (and it’s not because of “political correctness”). If you click the link (and please do!), you will notice that I have posted it to Medium. I did so because I am hoping that it gets some attention outside of the "activist bubble" - which it will, provided enough people "recommend" and "share" it.

So I encourage you to read it! And if you like it, please "recommend" and "share" it! Thanks! -j.

on returning to blogging...

Since I am now re-entering the so-called "blogosphere" with my new blog, I figured that it would be worthwhile to briefly mention why I took a hiatus from blogging in the first place, and what my hopes are for this new blog.

So from 2007 through 2009, I was a semi-regular blogger, mostly on my old LJ site, sometimes on the Trans Group Blog, and as an occasional guest poster on Feministing. Blogging is a wonderful medium for getting thoughts, ideas and essays out there quickly, which I definitely appreciated. Also, during that span, I was introduced to the work of countless amazing writers and activists blogging on other sites. So in many ways, my relatively brief foray into blogging was a rewarding experience.

However, there were also negative aspects to that experience as well.

blog-born-blog

in april 2007, when I began "blogging" this was my first post ever:

my blog identifies as a “Blog-Born-Blog”. This means that it is was born and socialized as a blog, unlike your blog. While your blog may identify as a blog, live as a blog, and may face the same anti-blog discrimination that my blog faces, my blog believes that your blog isn’t nearly as oppressed. After all, your blog may call itself a “blog”, but it never had a bloghood like mine had. You should know that this is a “blog-born-blog”-only webspace, which means that my blog doesn't want so-called pseudo-“blogs” like yours around. But rather than say this to your face, my blog will instead insist that this webpage was always meant to be a place for other “blog-born-blog”s to get together and reminisce about our bloghoods - a bloghood that your blog unfortunately was not unfortunate enough to have had. However, don’t you dare accuse my blog of being prejudice against your blog, because if you do, my blog will claim that “blog-born-blog” is a legitimate webpage-identity. That way, if your blog challenges the policy, my blog will accuse your blog of disrespecting its identity, and then it can retaliate by disrespecting your blog’s identity as a “blog”. Face it, it’s a lose-lose situation for your blog...

the beginning of the end...or the end of the begining?

since 2007 or so, my first (and until now, only) blog has been on Live Journal, which now, as we speak, is dying a slow and steady death. spam robot vultures have been preying on my old posts. no one has been reading to my newer posts. LJ is dead. long live LJ...

so now, I am re-starting my previously semi-ongoing blog here, on this new (blog)spot. over the next few weeks, I will be transferring over some of my more precious previous posts. after that, it will be mostly new posts...

sounds exciting! let's get on with it!

-julia