Okay, I've given this whole CherlD thing a moment to settle and for me to think this through and I have some shit to say about this BS. Yes. It is BS.
This is going to be long but I beg you to read this all the way through. Please. You don't have to engage, you can block me after, I don't give a shit. Please, just read this.
Heya, I'm Oaks. I'm the collective's main identity expert. Identity has always been a special interest of mine. I'm heavily autistic and have ADHD, identity has been one of the only consistent things in my life. That is how much it means to me. I've been active in several identity based communities for over 10 years now and before that I was thinking about these things on my own.
I started joining communities when the body was 13-14 and the body is 24 now. This topic means everything to me and I can confidently say that I probably know more about identity than anyone. In part because I identity as everything and in part because it just is what I do. I learn. I educate. I am even working on an educational server on discord (yes, this is a small teaser for an upcoming project) because I love helping people find themselves.
Labels like the TransID ones have allowed me to help people find important parts of themselves they never even thought to explore, always wanted to but didn't know where to start or knew they had a certain identity but always thought they were alone or weird.
These labels have changed lives. Suddenly, people have a community, a name for their feelings, a connection that is about something deeply personal. It is a miracle that is so rare on this earth. This coin is fucking with that beautiful miracle that should be treasured and nurtured. I am actually shaking right now. But I can't keep quiet anymore.
This shit hits on a very personal level but I'm not taking it as an attack on me or who I am. I see this as people not seeing the harm behind their actions.
I understand the need for a term that "normies" would feel more comfortable using but pushing away a gigantic part of the TransID community is just plain exclusionary BS. Even though they might also have preferred the alt term.
There is clearly a want for this label because alt terms and spite coins to this coin are already flooding the web. I keep my ear to the ground and I hear a huge amount of buzz. A very angry buzz. Like a wasp nest.
We should be doing better than this coin is doing and if you ask me, we are. Keep standing up for what you believe is right.
Not to mention that this is ammunition in the hands of antis. It's fracturing our community. If an anti points at this and goes "look, they don't even like each other. They divided even further", it will just delegitimize the TransID community further. And the community was already fracturing because things like the TransHarm spec are apparently controversial.
We need to unite, not divide further.
The original CherlD coining is TranslDmedicalism, which I didn't even think was possible, and thus exclusionary and gatekeeping by definition. Excluding the TransHarm spec is bad but calling labels like TransTime, TransPlural, and TransFamily frivolous and non-serious is not just rude, it is incredibly harmful. These labels are genuinely important to people, even if it's just for fun, and are very legitimate categories of identities.
Let me give some personal examples:
I'm TransFamily. Due to trauma I feel like my biofamily should be an adoptive family instead. I have a chosen twin who should have been my real twin. I see my chosen "adoptive" family as my biological one. I did not choose these identities, they chose me. I just chose the people. Not the identities. They came after. On their own. And they're incredibly important to me. This is my FAMILY.
I'm TransPlural. Due to trauma, we're a traumagenic system but we collectively feel like we should have been endogenic. We're not sure what kind of endogenic but just that it shouldn't have been traumagenic. TransEndo is a label we use because it helps us cope with that.
Honestly, fuck the coiner for calling this frivolous and non-serious! Fuck. Them. They actually make me sick.
I'm TransTime because I identity as belong outside of the concept of time. I was the deity that created time. Maybe it's a delusion, maybe I actually am. I don't care. This life is a limitation. I should not be subject to the whims of time. This label, again, helps us cope.
I'm TrisHarmed. I use a lot of cis, trans, tris, and other Harmed labels to cope and to help me process. I am TransHarmful for a lot of things I'm CisHarmed for to help with coping.
I did not choose these labels, they are what I am. And they mean everything to me. I have a hoard, sure, but they're all authentic to me.
Calling this frivolous and non-serious is a stab in my gut. It feels like it goes against everything I stand for. And the call is coming from inside the house.
This community means everything to me. I've never been accepted anywhere but here. Here, I'm myself and for once I'm not rejected, I'm accepted. Embraced.
This coin is fucking up the peace and I am pissed off. Please do not support this label. Keep making alt and spite coins.
I'm serious.
This hurt really deeply...
- Oaks