Saeran @kaminohana@plural.cafe

What do you call a plural system with a math degree?

A system of equations!

ah? ah? get it

short info:

Possibly related to plurality: Has anybody heard of Scanners (in terms of people)?

A Scanner is "someone fascinated by so many areas she can't settle for only one."

I'm not a big fan of labelling here, but it actually helped a lot of people. Barbara Sher coined the term and wrote a fair bit on it.

more details:

"To Scanners the world is like a big candy store full of fascinating opportunities, and all they want is to reach out and stuff their pockets."

"It sounds wonderful, doesn't it? The problem is, Scanners are starving in the candy store. They believe they're allowed to pursue only one path. But they want them all. If they force themselves to make a choice, they are forever discontented. But usually Scanners don't choose anything at all. And they don't feel good about it."

i've seen a lot of these terms used in porn, and some of them even used innocently, so i'd like to make a list of terms that most of us won't like.
obviously, i don't speak for all trans women, let alone all the people who would be personally offended by these terms. some of them might not offend others, and i might miss some.

with that being said, unless you've been told by the person you're referring to that it's okay, NEVER refer to us as:

- he, (s)he, "she", it, he/she
- shemale, ladyboy, dickgirl
- tgirl (in a vacuum, this is just an abbreviation of "trans girl", which is fine, but the connotations and context it carries make it very bad)
- tranny
- chick with a dick
- ___ with a surprise/something extra/a party trick/a trick up her sleeve
- trap (we're not "trapping" people into having sex with us...)
- futa, herm, hermaphrodite, gender bender
- "the best of both worlds"
- faggot/sissy

those are some of the worst ones. i'd also recommend that you don't say:
- "transgender" as a noun (i'm not a transgender, just like your fridge isn't a cold)
- (born/trapped) in (a man's/the wrong/a male) body
- male to female (this one is more accepted than the other ones on this list, but many, including myself, don't like it. just say "trans woman" or something.)
- "you're so brave for choosing to do this" (we don't have a choice. we didn't bravely choose to be trans. many of us see being called "brave" as belittling.)
- "when's the surgery?" (calling it "the surgery" implies that it's something of extreme importance, a rite of passage we must all go through to truly be trans. it's not. many of us don't even want "the surgery". i'd recommend you call it "SRS" or "GRS" instead, if you must refer to it, but don't ask people about what surgery they're having)
- "what were you born as?"

so what can you say, then?
- first, think: is the fact that i'm trans relevant here? it really only matters in a few circumstances. your friends at a dinner party don't need to know. just as you wouldn't say "cis woman" unless it was relevant, you needn't say "trans woman" unless it's relevant. but if you're sure it's relevant:
- trans woman, trans girl (binary people)
- transfemme, non-binary girl, enby (non-binary people)

if you absolutely *MUST* disclose the sex originally printed on our birth certificates (and this should rarely ever happen. one of the few examples is talking to a surgeon.), then say "AMAB", or "assigned male at birth".

why are there so many terms we can't use?
- many of these terms have highly sexualised connotations
- some of them insinuate that we're "actually" (or "used to be") male
- some of them were invented with the explicit intent to be slurs
- being trans is something that's quite hard to understand, and there's a lot of nuance to it

if you have any questions about why some of these are bad, reply to this post and i'll do my best to explain. please act in good faith.

*sees something strange* are my eyes trolling me right now??

"Welcome to Magic School. Here is your schedule."
"Thanks! But..."
"Yes?"
"This is just 'Ethics' and 'Human rights' and things like that."
"Correct, that's the first year curriculum."
"Do we have to learn all this?"
"Of course! What do you think this is, software engineering?"
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories

If there was a plural goose, you would have to call it System of a Down.