• Mardoniush [she/her]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    The difference here is that an oppressed group is telling you, trans or ally, as a group, to boycott the game. Not because it'll reduce sales any real amount (though that would be nice), but for these reasons, the same reasons for many early pro-LGBT protests.

    1. We are at the point where someone wearing a Harry Potter T-Shirt is as threatening to a Trans person as a person with a 3%er shirt is to someone of a racial minority. Do they actually believe the bad things? Maybe, we don't know, maybe they found it in an op shop and don't know better. Are they gonna cause trouble? Probably not, but if they do, nothing good happens to the oppressed group. Especially if police get involved.

    By opposing this franchise publically and aggressively, we tell people who use Harry Potter as a dog whistle that if they fuck around, trans allies exist, and will surely make them find out.

    1. To normalise gay rights we had to start small. The right to use a bar without it being raided. The right to not seeing slurs and insults in a local newspaper. You might think getting a newspaper to use proper terms is a trivial battle, but more often than not it didn't just require boycotts and angry libs annoyed they can't enjoy things, but street battles and protests and people in jail. More importantly, those battles honed us, helped us organise for the bigger, nastier fights to come.

    2. Carrying on from 2. It lets us know who and where allies are, and how strongly they will support. If someone makes nice sounds and then loudly buys the game because no one can tell them how to buy their treats, they aren't cadre material. If they are quiet, they aren't cadre material.

    But those who support, well, they're capable of acting as a group, not an individual only concerned with individual moral sentiment. That's an ally, someone trans people can use, maybe even rely on. Taking stock of vocal supporters, and gauging the current strength of such support, has real value.

    This isn't any grand plan, mind, but if you lead people through why, slowly, these are the real, political reasons for this action.

    We know we can't fight every single battle. But we can choose a battle and fight it on our terms, on the terms Trans people choose collectively. The question is, will you join them when they ask?

    (ok, how do I remove or at least regularise the damn indents?)

      • Mardoniush [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Yeah but some won't and having them cut their teeth on something small is a good bit of practice. also makes the chuds rage which is fun.

    • wtypstanaccount04 [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      We are at the point where someone wearing a Harry Potter T-Shirt is as threatening to a Trans person as a person with a 3%er shirt is to someone of a racial minority.

      Are we seriously at that point? I find that hard to believe, but I've also tuned out of all Harry Potter discussions since the Shaun video on it. I've just stopped caring about this culture war issue.

      • Mardoniush [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        We are. Jessie Gender did a video on it, and another trans person makes a pretty affecting case for the damage done