It’s telling that whenever a prominent transfem content creator does something wrong (and I do mean something actually wrong, like Contrapoints’ self-centered Zionist apologist Reddit post) she gets more backlash than she would were she any other identity. It was a disproportionate response, considering she did not share an opinion that is uncommon among content creators her size; it was the avarage liberal opinion on the subject. Yet every leftist YouTube channel, usually one run by a white cisgender man, though not always, remained fixated on the issue for a few weeks before they let it die.
And so, regardless of whether or not a trans woman’s action are objectionable and deserve criticism (and in this case I’d argue they very much did), the criticism she recieves is often heavier and more persistent than the criticism her peers recieve, for the simple fact that she is a trans woman, and continued stalking and harassment, consciously or not, is seen as more acceptable to the general public.
This is not a defense of Contrapoints, I don’t think there is a universe where a defense of Zionism, to any degree, is acceptable. And this is an old controversy, the last thing I want to do is to add fuel to a fire that was already extinguished months ago. But it is something I couldn’t stop thinking about, considering how common this attitude is, even from progressive communities, how continuously it happens (it was not the first time most of these channels talked at length about transfem creators they found objectionable, while staying silent about other, arguably worse, creators in their sphere), and how it makes it nearly impossible for trans women to talk about their issues because inevitably they get driven out of most communities they participate in for not having the perfectly correct opinion 100% of the time.
It’s exhausting. I am exhausted of seeing this happen time and time again in every online space I frequent. I am not a trans woman, but if a comunity isn’t welcoming to them, then I don’t want to be a part of that comunity, because then I know there is something rotten in its center and I want no part in it.