cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/15223477

We need more transmasculine people (and people in general) on here. If you know a transmasculine person please get them to check this place out. Spread the word!

  • Of the Air (cele/celes)@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    4 months ago

    We think the primary problem is that transmasc people are not often encouraged to get into tech and it feels unsafe for them because it is.

    Tech is dominated mostly by cis men and trans femmes. Cis women and trans masc people are excluded and not encouraged towards such spaces or interests most of the time, partially because the structures are not built for them, partially because of the rampant misogyny that exists and partially because people who tend to run tech but especially open source tend to be very ideological and don’t like to consider alternative views.

    Basically what we are saying is that in order to have more transmasc people here, a lot of stuff in these spaces and society needs to change.

    • Borger@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 months ago

      How are trans men excluded from tech?

      (Not trolling, genuinely asking. N.B. I am a stealth trans man in tech.)

      • dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        3 months ago

        I assume they are referring to the perception that some (most?) trans men are raised with the social pressures & expectations put on girls and women, and thus whatever social forces that discourage cis women from being in tech also discourage trans men from being in tech?

        There’s a lot to unpack there and plenty of ways it paints an inaccurate picture, but I assume that’s the gist of it.

        • Borger@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          3 months ago

          Thanks. Yeah, I don’t think their comment is entirely accurate.

          If anything, at least in my case, being a “tech nerd” almost acted to validate my gender when I was a kid, and vice versa. I would have had a harder time had I been into something more traditionally feminine, because my family/other transphobes would point at it as evidence that I’m not “really” a guy.

          The original comment is probably well-intentioned, but it honestly doesn’t feel very far removed from just using “AFABs” to refer to a social group, which makes my skin crawl. I and many other trans guys’ upbringings are quite different from cis women’s.

          • dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            3 months ago

            Yeah, transfem folks get the same sort of treatment whenever “male socialization” is brought up, as though somehow trans women are still really men because they were socialized to be men.

            It’s hard to communicate generally while still being sensitive to the nuances.

            I do think some behaviors can be influenced by social and cultural factors, and while this doesn’t prove the “male socialization” myth that transphobes appeal to is right, it is still a relevant factor in other contexts.

            The cultural attitudes about gender can be like invisible walls that shape our social environment, it informs what we feel we can or can’t do, and while we all have to navigate that, its trans people who are forced to transgress those social boundaries and thus we should be familiar with them.

            I agree the comment was probably well-intended, but I also understand how anything remotely close to implying sameness between trans men and cis women is ick.