give us bread, but give us roses

war-lesbian:

closet-keys:

platovevo:

platovevo:

i wish more people understood that when you look at a law against gay sex that targets gay men and not lesbians, your conclusion actually shouldn’t be that lesbians didn’t/don’t face violent consequences for existing in those circumstances lol

like i think there’s a fundamental breakdown here where lesbians and bi women talk about how men and straight people just don’t acknowledge the legitimacy of womanxwoman sexuality, and gay and bi men hear this as “gay women don’t face consequences for their sexualities” but what they should hear is that in fact, any affirmation of our sexual identities is punished and trampled over precisely because we’re not afforded the agency to exist in this way. too many gay and bi men think we deal with homophobia lite, and too many straight women think we deal with womanhood lite, when in fact those issues coexisting is painful and shitty and we could use a little compassion every now and then.

^^^^ this is so important. Also when talking about facing violence for being gay— the violence lesbians and bi women faced historically (and today) is often minimized, forgotten, or not acknowledged as violent homophobia because it most often takes place within the context of an abusive relationship instead of in the context of being assaulted on the street. Lesbians and bi women have faced violence for their sexualities just as men have, it just hasn’t been seen as important significant violence because violence against women is never seen as ‘real’ violence the way violence against men is

anti-sodomy laws didn’t exclusively target men. there are no laws that target gay men and not lesbians because trans lesbians are considered gay men by these laws. it is true to an extent to say that the lives of men are regulated by the state while the lives of women are regulated by the family but this analysis is inadequate as soon as we consider the ways that trans women are considered both within and outside of both of these categories.

and the targeting of trans women was not an accident of these laws. trans women were the target. these laws were about trans women. homophobia has always been about trans women. fear of gay men has always been fear that they might not be men at all. your analysis is shit if you dont acknowledge that.

i have seen it said that sex between cis women was never legislated against because to do so would be to acknowledge that it could happen, that women who loved women existed. i dont know if that’s true. i dont know if you believe that’s true. but my point is this - they found a way to legislate against us without acknowledging that we existed. and you’re still falling for it.

this post is exactly what trans women are talking about when we say that cis lesbian tumblr’s inclusiveness of us is totally shallow. you are not actually thinking about us. we do not figure into your world view. the irony of @closet-keys​  bringing up the way violence against lesbians and bi women is erased and forgotten, while this post erases decades of violence against trans women is not lost on me.

like it just amazes me that you can both specify being against transmisogyny in your bios while continuing to use “lesbian” and “women” in ways that so obviously exclusively refer to cis women. that you could so totally forget about us in a conversation about legislated violence in a political climate where these same kinds of laws are once again being drafted and passed, except now they’re naming us specifically. it’s unbelievable. what a shameful omission.