Yoko's Asterisk 🏳️⚧The eight most wonderful words you can say on the internet:
" I don't know enough to have an opinion."
Since many people are responding to me from various instances:
I'm obviously not saying you should be neutral/apathetic on transphobia, climate change, or other hot button topics. I'm not a climate scientist, but I listen to climate scientists and let them shape my views.
But because I'm not a climate scientist, if there was a technical question about the mechanics of climate change, I would defer to the experts.
And to use a different example, I don't follow sports. So I don't have any opinions about sports. I also don't have any opinions about 99 percent of celebrities.
Nobody is harmed by me not exposing my ignorance on those topics.
And when it comes to marginalized/stigmatized communities, I listen to the members of those communities and avail myself of whatever resources they offer. I try to boost/support them however I can.
I don't lecture a member of a marginalized group about their own experience, especially if it's a marginalization I don't share.
My general rule of thumb is that marginalized people know more than I do about the challenges they are facing, and I should support them without drowning them out.
Tilly Bridges@charliejane I talked about this very thing in my recent essay on intersectionality, which is not only for cis allies but for us (it was partly spurred by all the racism I’ve found in the white trans woman community) https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTACnUKUY7oBzYTbGi87pOEV4Q5R48_eQ3FH0adQChovMP_J_4YeF9v1z0Q7s4gHVkMbMEwsQkRdysq/pub
System IV, Building K@tillybridges @charliejane And now I have the very useful “intersectionality” framework to proceed with, or more accurately: see things through. I did not have this yesterday, and now I do. Look what you did.
When I say I’m a cishet “ally-in-training” in my profile, welp, this is pretty much the content I’m looking for along the way. Endless gratitude.
@charliejane @goodthinking I’m so glad it was helpful! I’ve written over a hundred of these essays, all archived and free, and one of the main sections is entirely about allyship! if you want to check them out you can find them here 💜 http://tillystranstuesdays.com