Personally I don’t find the TME/TMA labels to be that great it’s just another gender binary to try and shove nonbinary people in and a lot of people use it as a way to shit on (specifically) trans men without repercussions since allegedly they can oppress trans women despite both of them being dirty trannys to any cis republican and I also just find defining yourself based on oppression and suffering to be counterproductive damaging to your self image and a way to get really competitive with your fellow trans people instead of forming solidarity.
Acting like it makes you quote “sick in the head” for subscribing to it is gross. I find most TMA/TME users to be obnoxious yeah but it doesn’t make them mentally ill???? We are stumbling ass backwards into reallt dangerous rhetoric because it means we can make fun of Salem and his ilk more and if you say anything about that you’re apparently Salem on an alt account instead of idk, a normal person who thinks that parroting homophobia and transmed stuff in 2026 because this guy you don’t like is a weirdo with kids and also *gasp* cringe is weird parasocial and damaging to anybody who comes across your BULLSHIT.
this is a beautiful essay, anon
i dont want to repeat myself too much, but i dont think everyone that uses tme/tma is knee deep in discourse. im pretty sure most people saw it explained in a half assed manner on some post, and then decided to use the term. this may seem unlikely, but you have to remember how often people will use memes/lingo that have alt right or racist origins. so many people will hear a word, not understand what it means or where it came from, and will use it. its how you get people appropriating/misusing AAVE
theres also some people who understand the nuances and criticisms of tme/tma, but they just use it as a shorthand to describe their own experiences.
honestly, i feel weve come a full circle. agab has become such a "problematic" term for reasons similar to what you outlined. some people actually use those terms in a normal way to describe themselves, and then a bunch of other people use those terms to recreate the gender binary. you see this with how often people shit on "theyfabs" or any feminine person thats afab + trans
its so exhausting. i think we should stop making up new labels or terms unless its necessary. im so sick of the constant "this term is valid" "no, its actually evil and bad." that i see 24/7 in lgbt discourse. im pretty sure the english language is vast enough to describe most experiences without all these terms or labels anyway
