"You look so pretty!"
*Did they mean that or did they clock me and they were just being nice?*
You know you can just choose to believe them, right? And even if you can't, someone choosing to be nice to you because they clocked you is not a threat or an insult. Take the compliment and enjoy it, because after a lifetime without, you deserve it today.
Edit: didn't think I needed to say this explicitly, but realized I probably do-- You can easily be clocky and still be pretty. Trans is beautiful.
@aisling thanks for making me aware, and I don't feel picked on, but if it seems like I'm directing this at something or someone specifically, I'm not aware what thread you're referring to (or full on discourse?). Apologies if you felt attacked (or that I was attacking someone else? I'm unclear).
I've honestly not been paying attention to my feed much lately, so if there's discourse going on that I missed, my apologies.
Moreover, though, it wasn't meant as an attack at all, just addressing something I view as unhealthy and self-defeating that I've seen frequently for years in all online trans spaces, and usually less so here than other spaces, and I was trying to address it in a way that was honestly meant to be empowering, not aggressive.
So, I'm happy to listen. Can I ask how I could have approached this better from your perspective? Because I'm at a bit of a loss.
@revoluciana my apologies if it was a coincidence
Not relevant to what you said above then, but — as a general IMO — if someone sees something from another poster that they both feel critical of and feel merits discussion on a more generalised scale, so don't want to write as a reply or explicitly quote and copy in the OP, I feel like they should:
a) not quote it directly or paraphrase it in a way that the OP or others immediately recognise it
*and*
b) leave it a while til the dust has settled on any conversation in the replies to the OP — if it's an important point for a general discussion rather than just criticising the OP now, it'll still be an important general discussion in a couple of days
@aisling thank you for this. And for the private message to clarify. I reached out to the person you were concerned about since I know them and all was well, no worries.
But I still appreciate you letting me know in case it truly had been an issue.
Revoluciana
Ashie