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auntysarahHi everyone, and welcome to ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
trans!
This is more-or-less like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
transgender, but I've taken the opportunity to do a bit of a spring clean and rationalise the community info page a bit. I've hopefully made the interests list a bit better with some additions and some deletions, but if anyone has any suggestions for that they would be greatly received. The "community rules" section has also changed a bit - the two biggest changes are probably the "don't delete stuff" rule, and the "Please be patient with newbies" rule. The latter, I think, is particularly important, so I'll quote it here and then talk a bit about the reason I put it in:
Please try to cut newbies some slack. Terminology is often a contentious issue amongst the transgender community, and those initially seeking help with their gender issues are unlikely to be well versed in trans politics. Members should not feel they have to bite their tongue in the face of offensive statements, but please remember that we all have to start somewhere and it is important not to frighten off those seeking help when they are coming to terms with a trans identity. On the other hand, those seeking to hide behind this rule when making a tone argument will not be treated sympathetically.
This is my attempt at balance. Intransgender, there were often complaints on one hand from those who felt that restrictions on expressing their anger at offensive posts and comments in the community were unreasonable, and on the other hand from those who felt that those seeking help for the first time with gender issues might be put off by what they saw as an "aggressive" environment. This is an attempt at balance - it's understandable that those who have not had much of an immersion in the trans community may be unaware of some nuances that some of us perhaps take for granted, and I would ask people to please be patient.
At the same time, this space should concentrate on the needs of trans people, and I think it's important that people who should know better, and those who possess cissexual/cisgender privilege don't have a "you must always be respectful" rule they can invoke as a tool to silence people objecting to transhphobic or other problematic remarks.
How well this works in practice remains to be seen, but I pray your indulgence while we find our feet here, and hopefully the community can evolve and build on what we have, and become a really nice resource.
Anyway, a community is nothing without content, so have at it!
trans!This is more-or-less like
transgender, but I've taken the opportunity to do a bit of a spring clean and rationalise the community info page a bit. I've hopefully made the interests list a bit better with some additions and some deletions, but if anyone has any suggestions for that they would be greatly received. The "community rules" section has also changed a bit - the two biggest changes are probably the "don't delete stuff" rule, and the "Please be patient with newbies" rule. The latter, I think, is particularly important, so I'll quote it here and then talk a bit about the reason I put it in:Please try to cut newbies some slack. Terminology is often a contentious issue amongst the transgender community, and those initially seeking help with their gender issues are unlikely to be well versed in trans politics. Members should not feel they have to bite their tongue in the face of offensive statements, but please remember that we all have to start somewhere and it is important not to frighten off those seeking help when they are coming to terms with a trans identity. On the other hand, those seeking to hide behind this rule when making a tone argument will not be treated sympathetically.
This is my attempt at balance. In
transgender, there were often complaints on one hand from those who felt that restrictions on expressing their anger at offensive posts and comments in the community were unreasonable, and on the other hand from those who felt that those seeking help for the first time with gender issues might be put off by what they saw as an "aggressive" environment. This is an attempt at balance - it's understandable that those who have not had much of an immersion in the trans community may be unaware of some nuances that some of us perhaps take for granted, and I would ask people to please be patient.At the same time, this space should concentrate on the needs of trans people, and I think it's important that people who should know better, and those who possess cissexual/cisgender privilege don't have a "you must always be respectful" rule they can invoke as a tool to silence people objecting to transhphobic or other problematic remarks.
How well this works in practice remains to be seen, but I pray your indulgence while we find our feet here, and hopefully the community can evolve and build on what we have, and become a really nice resource.
Anyway, a community is nothing without content, so have at it!