I really hate that Twitter claims to have a rule against targeted misgendering, because they don't enforce it but its existence gives conservatives and transphobes the ability to claim we are a special protected class on Twitter.
Here's an example of such a claim. Twitter actively preserves this myth by having the rule, and this myth stokes hatred of trans people, which Twitter then does nothing to protect us from.
If you look at the Twitter reporting architecture, there's not even a menu branch that lets you report targeted misgendering. You have to report it as hateful/abusive, and hope the report is read by someone who makes the connection.
The bigotry being compared in the QTed article is anti-Semitism, which suffers the same problem. Twitter's moderators aren't trained in recognizing it and will let slide, for instance, death threats couched in references to the Holocaust.
Now you'd think "death threat" (something already against Twitter's terms!) and "Holocaust" would make it more likely that they take action, but references to it are just written off as nonsense or obvious hyperbole.
In short, this is a problem that exists with all of Twitter's rules and enforcement. Even where a rule that is theoretically zero tolerance exists, the people enforcing it feel free to ignore cases that don't match their expectations, experience, or world view.
Which means even a group that theoretically enjoys protection of the rules can be left to fend for themselves.
If you're not paying attention, you might think your group is uniquely in that situation, but we're all in that same deliberately sabotaged boat.
If you're not paying attention, you might think your group is uniquely in that situation, but we're all in that same deliberately sabotaged boat.
