I am a literal biologist. "Sex" is an amalgamation of a bunch of different characteristics that usually, but not always, can be grouped into two major categories. I am not "biologically female".

https://twitter.com/Fzzyalien/status/1640717232945901573

What makes me "biologically female"? Is it my uterus? Because I'm having that removed. Is it my hormones? Because I have a male hormone profile. Is it my chromosomes? Because that literally doesn't matter in my day to day life.

"Can I ask a question in good faith? Why can't I just misgender you whenever I want? :(" This makes my blood boil, especially because this whole escapade started because Ana couldn't tolerate being referred to in gender neutral, anatomical language. She can't tolerate not having her gender be explicitly validated, yet she can't understand why misgendering is bad.

Let's be clear.
This is a cishet white woman trying to dictate who is allowed to be in community + the language a community SHE DOES NOT BELONG TO can use to describe themselves.
She is trying to demand the erasure + ostracization of trans, Black + brown people from the community JK Rowling doesn't get to decide what my joy is. JK Rowling is trying, just like the violent homophobes using it as a slur, to take my queer identity from me.
JK Rowling doesn't speak for us.

I truly believe that part of the reason the anti-trans "culture war" has found so much purchase in the United States is that meaningfully supporting trans people requires us to question current fundamental operations of how our society works. 🧵 The things that would benefit trans people will benefit all people not in power. It's important that we understand what these broader questions are, so that we understand what is really being debated.m

If you are cis and want to empathize with trans people with dysphoria, don't imagine yourself transitioning; instead, imagine yourself in a body with secondary sex characteristics that don't align with your perception of yourself. Imagine that everywhere you go, people treat you as a different gender than you are. Really sit with this, imagine it as vividly as you can.

If your support for trans kids only includes those with supportive parents, you are ignoring the most vulnerable. Framing trans children's access to autonomy and self-determination as a "parents' rights" issue benefits those with supportive parents only. It falls short. All trans children deserve our love and support. All trans children deserve to determine their own future and exercise bodily autonomy. All trans children deserve to be in charge of their own self expression. I fight for all trans children.

One of the biggest lies the anti-trans lobby is selling you is the idea that "trans rights" and "women's rights" are in competition. In reality, the things that benefit trans people uniformly benefit cis women as well. Short 🧵 Increased bodily autonomy, increased access to empathetic medical care, increased self-determination in presentation, legal institutions, etc, increased protections against gender and gender-presentation based discrimination. All of these benefit cis women as well as trans people

Just found out why my insurance denied my gender affirming surgery. Again.
I was required to get two letters from two different therapists, both with training in treating gender dysphoria. Both letters had to include deeply personal information about my dysphoria. I was required to prove that I was sane enough to make my own medical decisions. I was required to prove "long-standing evidence of gender dysphoria". I was required to be on hormones for at least a year.

A HILL I WILL DIE ON: Marginalized men also face gender based violence and should be included in discussions about gender based violence. ANOTHER HILL I WILL DIE ON: Trans people will always be treated as whichever gender is most convenient to our oppressors. Pretending that transmascs don't receive severe gendered violence just because they align with masculinity is absurd.

This whole saga isn't about Harry Potter. It's about trans people trying to calculate how many of you who claim to be allies will abandon us at the first inconvenience in the context of a global hate movement that is spawning multiple trans genocides going on currently. It's about watching how many people will spend money, even on a product that sucks, just because they hate trans people.
Things are escalating. Trans folks know it. What seems like discourse is trans folks removing ourselves from people who can't be trusted.

The amount of times trans people are forgotten by "allies" in supportive statements, even when trans folks are the current primary targets of the right's "culture war", is heartbreaking precisely because it's indicative of where priorities lie. "Love is love" no longer brings me comfort, because without explicit support in statements, how can we trust that trans people are being supported in action? If you won't even remember us in fluff text, what hope is there of you remembering trans folks in material supports?

It's been a while, friends. But in the time I've been absent, legislative attacks on bodily autonomy in the US have only been escalating, reliant on misinterpretations of science and violent rhetoric.
For today, I want to talk about matters of the heart. 🫀🧵 Many of you may be aware of the so-called "heartbeat bills", which are abortion bans that seek to ban abortion after an embryo develops a "heartbeat". But what does that really mean? What does this "heartbeat" entail? And how disingenuous is this rhetoric?
The short answer? Very.

Important to note that while supporting the Harry Potter franchise supports violent transmisogynist JK Rowling, and you should not do so for that reason, the new game's plot is also deeply antisemitic. Those reasons should be enough. Lmao to the edgelords replying here. I will block you and never think of you again. JK will never love you back, because she's busy being a billionaire engaging in the grift of culture wars for her own enrichment, just like all your heroes.

You know what? I expected twitter to simply stop functioning before I was ready to leave. I keep trying to leave, but obligation brings me back, over and over.
I wrote a long goodbye already, here.

https://twitter.com/AlexPetrovnia/status/1594005615680126977

It's long past time I start prioritizing and valuing myself, my time, and my peace. Continuing to post here, on a fascist billionaires' platform, which is increasingly putting my safety at risk and is having negative impacts on my life and mental health, is incompatible with that

Anyway, if pointing out obvious racism is the hill this account dies on, so be it. I don't regret it.
For those more "in touch" than me, I would appreciate head's up's on major developments against me, especially if there are risks of doxxing/safety.
I'm logging off now. Be well. Also relevant, I suppose. My mentions are, and have been, extremely selective for some time for my own well-being. If you don't follow me or I don't follow you, I won't see it.

Since making That Thread, I have been introduced to a side of the trans twitter community that previously, my whiteness has shielded me from.
To put it simply; I am disgusted. The criticisms and attacks on my character that have been levelled against me are nothing, I'm sure, compared to what trans PoC deal with in this "community" on the regular. There sure is plenty of rage reserved for those perceived as "race traitors".

Idea. A website that lets you type in a historical figure to quickly determine if they "owned" actual human beings. This is critical context. If this already exists (I hope it does!) please point me to it.
I would love to be able to run like, any person we are still quoting or praising from the 1800s or earlier.

I think some of the great misunderstandings about transmasculine issues come from trying to extrapolate from transfeminine issues as if transmascs and transfems are perfect opposites.
I want to pick apart one of the most common examples I see of this phenomenon. Short 🧵 Transfems experience incredible abuse and violence due to being perceived as "men" who move towards femininity. Transfems are punished for exhibiting feminine behaviors, because men are seen as superior to women and masculinity is seen as superior to femininity.

One last push to get 13 Black trans women in an incredibly hostile environment to safety!
Funds will go to rent and utilities for a shelter for trans women in rural Uganda, as well as beds, bedding, food and other supplies for the women.
We can do this.

https://twitter.com/ErinInTheMorn/status/1599800688946446338

Here's a thread explaining their situation

https://twitter.com/AlexPetrovnia/status/1599086242624593920?t=ClIigwhyEPxI37IZ_Vk_Kg&s=19

The original goal has been met, however that goal was the BARE MINIMUM for these women's survival. The goal has now been raised to allow for the shelter to provide basic services to trans women in rural Uganda. Please consider donating if you are able - this work is lifesaving.

https://twitter.com/AlexPetrovnia/status/1599086242624593920

The Pride for Youth Initiative is doing nothing short of lifesaving and revolutionary trans activism in a place where it is incredibly dangerous and hostile to do so. Please consider supporting their work. It's the least we can do to assist the fight.
gofund.me/bd4d26d2

Today, I want to tell you all a story. I tell a lot of stories, but this one is much more important. This story hasn't had the end written yet. And depending on how we act, right now, we could change and save lives.
If you care about Black trans women, please read and RT. 🧵 The fight for trans liberation is often seen as a purely western phenomenon, but this view does a massive disservice to those who are fighting to exist and thrive all over the world. These people matter, and their stories matter.
I want to introduce you to Richard.