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  • mccmcc@mastodon.social
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:06 PM

    There's one other thought I had, that I couldn't make fit into Bluesky's 300-character boxes.

    I wrote this post, with intentionally provocative language, before the election. I think this frame is still useful. "Wedge strategies". What we saw last night was that Republicans failed to use trans people as a wedge against Democrats. But they *succeeded* in using trans minors as a wedge against trans people in general. (1/3)

    I'm gonna try to word this carefully.

    Republicans and conservatives like "wedge strategies". They want to ban gay marriage, but John Roberts says, no, not while I'm king. So they go after the trans folks. They hate all of the LGBT, but they know fewer people will defend the T than the LGB. The trans folks are a "wedge". You attack sharp, at the weak point. They go further. They go after trans *children*. Some people know trans adults and would stand up for them. But the idea of a trans *child*? That makes cis people feel icky somehow. Transgenderism feels *sexual*, somehow, children shouldn't be sexual right? Trans children are a wedge of a wedge. They go further! Some people might get upset at hurting children. So they focus on "transgender in children's sports". A wedge, of a wedge, of a wedge. The one thing NOBODY will defend, a dirty hateful Y-chromosomal tranny, having the audacity to play SOCCER! Three levers at the same time, applying tons of targeted force to crush this single child. And then Texas Children's Hospital opens a "detransition clinic", and even Democrats howl "oh, so you want BOYS in GIRLS SPORTS??" when you want to talk about how things are getting.
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  • mccmcc@mastodon.social
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:07 PM

    We can't, ever, abandon trans children. We can't accept the Democratic Party compromise of "ok, you trans freaks can do whatever it is you're doing, but you can't have childhoods".

    But we also shouldn't let transphobes claim a bigger win than they actually got. Especially not in our own heads.

    They did this via a cheat. A trick. They distracted the cishets by talking about "kids" and "sports". They can't go about what they want openly yet, not quite. That's important. (2/3)

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  • mccmcc@mastodon.social
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:09 PM

    It's important both to stave off the giant looming despair but also because there's a potential strategy here. We can *convince* the cishets they were tricked. Think about how people reversed themselves so fully on gay marriage when the wind started blowing the other way. It is actually possible to get the cishets into a place where six years from now nobody will admit they supported the 2026 anti-trans ballot initiatives.

    It would help if the NYT went out of business. (3/3)

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  • margotemaytch@mastodon.social
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:03 PM

    @mcc it's been really weird here because everyone is elated except for literally every trans person i talk to

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  • Jordanjrose@belkadan.com
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:07 PM

    @emaytch @mcc oh. I remember that from 2008 in California. (Obama elected and gay marriage outlawed on the same day.)

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  • Rr@glauca.space
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:03 PM

    @mcc

    > a Democratic party which is getting better at direct constituent contacts

    is this actually true?

    my fedi bubble is almost entirely just "SMS spam, and can't even remove deadnames" and my offline/parents-generation bubble is almost entirely "local problems not even visible because they're not discussed in english"

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  • mccmcc@mastodon.social
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:04 PM

    @r It's mainly true of the newer, younger constituents who are using social media. Ignore the SMS spam, that's not actually being done by the constituents, that's a separate organization. "Mothership" or something.

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  • Rr@glauca.space
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:07 PM

    @mcc thanks for that context!

    what platforms are these people typically using? the usual centralized corpo ones?

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  • mccmcc@mastodon.social
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:11 PM

    @r Mostly the corporate ones, mostly instagram and tiktok. Some of them are starting to do primary blogging on Threads or running mirrors on Bluesky, which is space for them to step out of the corporate shadow.

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  • mjrmadjohnroberts@mastodon.social
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:22 PM

    @mcc anecdata and related to your bsky post about framing: I've had success convincing family that these ballot measures are 'gross and weird' by taking the angle that the state has no reason to see what's under a child's clothing. The framing 'it's about fairness in sports' is surprisingly effective but it is equally effective to change that framing.

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  • Rr@glauca.space
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:28 PM

    @madjohnroberts @mcc the thing i still haven't managed to understand is _why_ "fairness in sports" even works at all (e.g. why is it better than nonsense about toilets? _is_ it better than nonsense about toilets?)

    the best i've got so far is that "sports" seems to be a weird cultural mythology that i'm just not a part of due to my upbringing

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  • Rr@glauca.space
    Nov 4, 2026, 10:01 PM

    @mcc @madjohnroberts okay, that thread ("embodied being" etc) makes me wonder *even more* how much of this is actually secretly "i (a normie cishet) don't get bodily autonomy (probably don't even know that word), but these trans people suddenly do? that is both 'not fair' and also terrifying and cognitohazardous"

    which is a phenomenon i've been quietly observing for a while now (see e.g. peptides jumping from silly valley over to normie women with disposable income)

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  • Rr@glauca.space
    Nov 4, 2026, 10:15 PM

    @rakslice @madjohnroberts @mcc right, i was interested in _how_ you would come to have superstition like that (and why it feels *so* foreign to me)

    the entire "culture of physical activity" quoted in the other thread branch is not really something i've ever been exposed to

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  • Rr@glauca.space
    Nov 4, 2026, 10:20 PM

    @rakslice @madjohnroberts @mcc or, more precisely, i've always been exposed to a *different* one

    the culture _I_ got was that organized sports (*well* into the TV-including-cable era) was entirely about obscure meta-game, non-organized grass-touching sports didn't matter because i didn't have friends, and e-sports were not acknowledged by anybody. but this isolation meant that an individualistic "do whatever you want" self-determination wasn't scary at all (see other thread branch again)

    this clearly doesn't appear to be what other people got though, and the differences are probably important for adjusting the framing

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  • mjrmadjohnroberts@mastodon.social
    Nov 4, 2026, 10:47 PM

    @r I don't think it's complicated, people (in general) don't think about it very deeply. The bills say they "restore fairness in school sports" oh that sounds good, everyone wants a fair chance! I think that's as deep as most people get, and proponents can push trans scarecrows that simply don't exist since most people don't know a trans kid and don't empathize with what they don't know. And considering second order effects takes practice/training.
    @rakslice @mcc

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  • mccmcc@mastodon.social
    Nov 4, 2026, 10:49 PM

    @madjohnroberts @r @rakslice it hurts because i want to like direct democracy but all we ever seem to get out of initiative systems is these bills with feel-good toplines that do something horrific if you actually read all the way to the end

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  • Rr@glauca.space
    Nov 4, 2026, 11:12 PM

    @mcc @madjohnroberts @rakslice yeah i'm probably overthinking it, i'm just trying to figure out _how_ i am

    i know about the US's slogan-based elections, but i still don't expect "fairness" to emotionally resonate so strongly (to me it's *far* weaker than a slogan like making america great again)

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  • mjrmadjohnroberts@mastodon.social
    Nov 4, 2026, 11:35 PM

    @r @mcc @rakslice I agree it's not compelling. Clarifying what I said above, the surface argument is for "fairness" and the compelling counter arguments ("we shouldn't hate trans folk" aside) point out logical consequences of these bills. Deducing consequences is the step I think people don't do, so "fairness" wins. At some level, this is an outreach problem and transphobes do more of it. It's a problem when people hear of these bills for the first time when they open their ballot

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  • Fluffy Kitty Catfluffykittycat@furry.engineer
    Nov 5, 2026, 12:09 AM

    @r @mcc @madjohnroberts @rakslice I mean I don't get how looking at little girl's genitals it's supposed to be interpreted in any other way than invasive and creepy. Like this is the actual result of transphobia taken to its logical conclusion that it's fucking horrifying. Transphobes should be made to answer for this at every turn. If they propose some transphobic law then we should throw this initiative in their face. Ask them if this is what they want? Because this is what we get when we humor them even slightly. It's an indefensible position and we need to hammer it home and every opportunity this is what they will do to your children given the opportunity, it's not mere rhetoric we have hard proof now

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  • Rr@glauca.space
    Nov 5, 2026, 12:29 AM

    @fluffykittycat @mcc @madjohnroberts @rakslice the problem i am seeing is that "health care provider" is able to trigger a *different* set of counteracting brainworms

    "logical conclusions" is already a somewhat weak move, so I don't see this rhetoric as a guaranteed slam dunk

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  • Xerz 💗xerz@masfloss.net
    Nov 5, 2026, 12:51 AM

    @r @rakslice @madjohnroberts @mcc because you've grown to learn men are tough and big and aggressive and muscular and violent

    women are soft and gentle and fragile and not very well fit

    and sports are the celebration of ability, of maximized genes, which in this mindset, men are inherently endowed with

    it's pretty much perfect soil for transphobia to grow from

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  • NetzblockiererNetzblockierer@tech.lgbt
    Nov 5, 2026, 8:45 AM

    @rakslice @r @madjohnroberts @mcc yeah, cuz remember:

    • Binary Gender Segregation in Sports only exists so men don't have to loose face and run at risk of loosing against a woman.

    It really is that simple.

    • Any sport that actually cares about fairness uses actual metrics of advantage like weight, height, age and espechally qualifying skill levels as well as certifications to make it fair.
      • That's why you won't see cars race against motorcycles with simultaneous starts or a boxing match of a 18yo featherweight against a 50yo super-heavyweight: OFC a Hayabusa will outrun a Lamborghini and the latter one has the risk that someone gets seriously hospitalized by accident.
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  • Fluffy Kitty Catfluffykittycat@furry.engineer
    Nov 4, 2026, 11:45 PM

    @r @madjohnroberts @mcc I think it's brainworms about competitiveness as well as the fact that if children Sports is seen as a Hail Mary attempt to elevate your class status by getting a full ride scholarship. It's not a reliable way to get college paid for but some people pursue it because it's their only option

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  • Alex M. Dunne (he/him)alexmdunne@mastodon.social
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:32 PM

    @madjohnroberts @mcc

    Agree. Here in Washington, it's not about "protecting girls in sports". If so, wouldn't it be more effective banning men as coaches, referees, and trainers? Nope, it's instead about Brian Heywood's weird fixation on girls.

    His #i638 initiative seems illegal on its face (because it demands different rules by gender). I fully expect this initiative will die in the courts. But we still need to educate the folks who backed it on why it's bad, so so bad.

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  • tekheddtekhedd@byteheaven.net
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:35 PM

    @madjohnroberts @mcc We didn't really have a proper discussion in the publics about this one, did we?

    "It's about fairness in sports" is easily countered with "sports are defined stupid you're just lazy." But seeing my ballot is the first I heard of it TBH

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  • Jason Petersen (he)jason@logoff.website
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:37 PM

    @madjohnroberts @mcc I generally have a belief if someone says they’re protecting kids, “preventing child trafficking”, etc., in a public way, they’re a child abuser, domestic abuser, or at the very least defrauding people. This is essentially always correct.

    Somehow normal people buy the “protecting kids” shit and it drives me nuts.

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  • Purrbiscatsilver_buttercat@kolektiva.social
    Nov 5, 2026, 12:15 AM

    @mcc

    NYT, as it exist now, needs to retire. They, as a publication, forfeited their position of relevance many years ago. It's time for the NYT to go away, since they obviously became a mouthpiece for the fascist regime. Better yet, legally force them to become employee-owned. Many NYT reporters and lower editors still support free and accurate journalism. Let them run the news org and kick the shareholders and other money-grubbers out !!!!

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  • MaddieM4MaddieM4@raphus.social
    Nov 5, 2026, 12:20 AM

    @mcc As someone with a pretty expansive view of who my peers and comrades are, it is exhausting to see some of the people under my duty of care be successfully othered within my people due to blatant propaganda from the group we all know is the enemy.

    No! You don't have to hand it to them! You don't have to find an across-the-aisle compromise! No, they don't have a point, except the one they're stabbing into our most vulnerable pack members! The people who "came for" in any "first they came for" are never the good guys, never your friends, and never worth your ears.

    I'm exhausted, and tired of tempering my feelings about this to look less insane to people who have drunk the centrism flavor-aid (and still not questioned where THAT got them).

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  • Kristian Haapa-ah0)))eryops@dice.camp
    Nov 5, 2026, 1:15 AM

    @mcc I am so angry with this WA initiative right now. I feel the biggest issue is there are exponentially more creepy men who want to watch girls high school sports with their hands in their pockets worried about being gay.

    If this were about children, why is the language for trans girls only? I wonder what would have happened if it included boys having to line up and have their dicks yanked on to prove they're attached?

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  • fabiosantoscodefabiosantoscode@mastodon.social
    Nov 5, 2026, 5:35 AM

    @mcc this! It's incredible how normies just follow the media and culture. If the wind blows the other way they start going with it.

    In my own country we're seeing a reversal on the topic of housing, and I think it's because the protests we're doing look good on TV.

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  • tekheddtekhedd@byteheaven.net
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:22 PM

    @mcc Yeah that caught me off guard. :(

    I thought "for the children" was the ultimate trump card but "Sport!" apparently pushes some tribal-gambling-nostalgia nexus in American brains and they turn into gibbering idiots.

    In retrospect, the TV in every bar in the world should have been a clue.

    Yeah I'm pissed. And I don't even LIKE sports.

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  • Fluffy Kitty Catfluffykittycat@furry.engineer
    Nov 4, 2026, 11:49 PM

    @mcc this is an essential truth that we need to realize and make a part of our political agenda: children are an oppressed class of people and abuses against them are used as a beachhead to go after everyone else in short order. The worst people in the country are asserting that they have the right to mistreat children, especially LGBT children and we cannot allow them to have that

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  • NetzblockiererNetzblockierer@tech.lgbt
    Nov 5, 2026, 8:51 AM

    @fluffykittycat @mcc EXACTLY THAT!

    Judge a society on how it treats (multiple-) marginalized people.

    • may it be minors,
    • May it be queers,
    • may it he the disabled,
    • or those seeking mental- and physical (that includes abortion ofc) healthcare.

    If a society treats i.e. a queer minor with disabilities seeking help like trash then that society is garbage and needs to be removed as well as replaced with a better one!

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