(no subject)

[sebastienne]

Dear Questionable Content:

Lay off on the transphobia and the biphobia, eh?

Thanks, but no thanks,

sebastienne

ETA: Oh, getting told to stop making things up for saying that transmen are men! This shit is golden.

Comments

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I'm not seeing it. OK, Dora's being less than precise in her speech, but trans- and bi- phobic? I think you're reading the comic with your Offense Goggles on, and twisting what's there into something much worse than it actually is.

And batmiles wasn't accusing you of making up the idea that transmen are men, he/she was accusing you of making up the transphobia and biphobia.

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

Yeah, people just choose to get offended. Rather than being automatically and viscerally hurt at feeling that their gender identity and sexuality is being dismissed, mocked or rendered invisible. You win sensitivity points!

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

*shrugs*

[mrkgnao.livejournal.com]

Now, now, don't be mean to pozorvlak, at least not in my vicinity because there will be bloodshed, he's a sweetheart and equally at liberty *not* to be offended, in whatever Metaphor Tailoring he chooses.

Also I have to say - although, again, completely supporting the right of people to feel however they want to feel about whatever they want to - I think there are times when, for the sake of one's own sanity, there are times when a sigh and a roll of the eyes is the best possible reaction. I mean, being offended is unpleasant and stressful and makes you feel shite - therefore (although, of course, being offended is not, per se, a choice) it is, perhaps, wise to *choose* your targets. But then I am a placid/apathetic sort of person so it's perfectly possible I jus't understand.

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

Thank you :-)

And yes, that's roughly what I meant, only rather more explicitly stated...

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

Of course people are at liberty to feel offended or not by whatever - that's pretty much what all these comments have been saying :) Not getting worked up about something is fine. Patronising Emma ain't.

[sir-rosealot.livejournal.com]

And also, "twisting what's there into something much worse than it actually is" does not mean "it's your choice to be offended, but I'm choosing not to be," it's "you're wrong to be offended because I say so."

[liminereid.livejournal.com]

You're nto seeing it. Fair enough. I'm not totally sure I see it either. But guess what? That's not because Emma's reading with offense goggles and I'm not, it's because she and I see and think differently about things. Thinking differently, particularly when it comes to interpretation fo a written text doesn't make you wrong. But accusing people of making things up does make you an arsehole. So does denying other people's readings of things flat out rather than debating why you see it differently.

[frank-snow.livejournal.com]

And you're writing this post with your Condescension Gloves on!

Seriously, it's hard to get more patronising than completely bypassing the idea that someone might actually have an opinion and instead just suggesting that their viewpoint is based on an arbitrary inability not to take offense at everything, represented by a "humourous" metaphor.

I mean what's next, are you going to suggest that these replies are all because someone left the Freezer of Livejournal Comments open overnight and now they've melted over the floor?

[sir-rosealot.livejournal.com]

How can you tell to which part of sebastienne's comment batmiles was (extremely rudely) responding to? It's totally unspecified.

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

I have a mystical skill, attained in the course of my years of study in the Occident, which I call "Reading Comprehension".

[sir-rosealot.livejournal.com]

Please don't patronise me. All that batmiles says is, "Stop making things up." How can you tell which "things" are being referred to?

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

Like I said, by reading the conversation in its entirety and comprehending it. You must admit that my interpretation makes more sense than sebastienne's.

I am now stepping away from this conversation for the sake of my blood pressure, and will not respond to any further comments.

[frank-snow.livejournal.com]

You certainly have a mystical skill, but however proud you may be of your mastery of a skill taught at primary school, reading comprehension is not it. Your talents lie far more in the "Patronising Jerk" arena of expertise.

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

Biphobia isn't an issue I see so much - I assume you mean "every straight male", unless there's character context I'm missing? Yeah, it's sloppy and invisibil...ising (er), but eh, I'm guilty of using 'straight' as shorthand for het-oriented so probably can't really complain there.

The trans thing, yeah, it may just be a throwaway comment rather than actively hostile but is nasty and dismissive. *hug*

[sir-rosealot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't quite understand the bi thing either, unless it's what Laura said (I also don't read QC very often so might be missing something). Although I don't think that not mentioning the existence of something is necessarily indicative of -phobia, maybe the writer just didn't think of it or thought it didn't scan well? I don't know. If that's even what you mean.

But yes, trans-phobic definitely. Am quite surprised, given that QC's readership at least among people I know comprises the sort of people who would really not want to see any of that crap.

[stronglight.livejournal.com]

I actually assumed she meant when you're done with het males, move on to pre-op MtF transpeople as they have penises.

That's still not a very hilarious joke to make, but didn't outright imply that transpeople can't have the gender identity that they want, simply that often they don't have the genitals they want. Which is sad, but true.

In terms of the "straight" men, I don't see that as biphobic, just ignorant. I imagine they're just forgetting about bi men - which is not good, of course, but not badly intentioned.

[sir-rosealot.livejournal.com]

I hate batmiles. Batmiles is a sneering, insulting piece of shit whose internet connection will be first against the wall when I invent the internet-zapper (well, maybe after the guy who wrote that article about women ruining science, for which the internet-zapper was conceived).

[wormwood-pearl.livejournal.com]

I don't think that you can call Jeph transphobic or biphobic: Dora is bisexual, and Raven is at the very least not averse to making out with girls. Tai is a lesbian, in the past has presented as a man, and is poly (or at least in relationships with more than one person, for some value of relationship).

As for today's comic, I agree that it's fairly insensitive, but I choose to read it as Dora, the character, slipping up and saying something that some people would find offensive, as people are prone to do in real life. I like to think that I'm accepting of most sexual identities (except those that involve non-consenting parties) and I still have to think and choose my words carefully to avoid upsetting people. If you find the comic offensive, then the probably the best thing to do is email the artist and tell him so.