Red Flags, So Many Red Flags

Fuck, I love being a trans woman on the internet in Musk’s America.

Have you ever heard of the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention? Were I a gambling woman, I’d bet you either haven’t or you’ve seen a post about one of their alerts and went, “…yeah of course that’s a genocide.”

This was going to be a single piece, however, it has ballooned to such a degree I’ll certainly have to do two. This first one is going to focus on debunking the irrational claims made by the Lemkin Institute’s anonymous poster, while the second will be focusing on the organization and it’s general lack of substance, merit, and justification to speak for minority groups without consulting them. And yes, that is what you’re doing when you make statements about our genocide and it’s reasoning without consulting us.

For a good synopsis of the events of February 14th that avoids getting as bogged down in the minutiae as I soon will, I recommend Elizabeth Helene Levick’s write up.

For those who didn’t read it, on February 14th, 2025, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention issued one of their Red Flag alerts covering the ongoing genocide and epistemicide of US trans folk, in particular trans women. These alerts are, in theory, announcements of an ongoing genocide or the beginning of one. The Institute uses a wider definition of genocide than those laid out in the 1948 Genocide Convention and treats a genocide as an on going process rather than a series of singular events. Though this distinction doesn’t seem terribly important as they don’t actually seem to do much material good with the alternative benchmarks.

Ok, so why did I use that opening line?

Oh, well, that’s because the alert they posted to BlueSky as their first ever post on the site (saved on the internet archive here) included this fun line from the alert:

Screen caps courtesy of Ravel Glossmoth

Readers whose minds haven’t been drained of reading comprehension* will understand the quoted sentence props up the claim that trans women are in fact men and maintains both that misandry is a real systemic force in our modern world and that it effects trans women. Just to cut any pedants off at the pass who argue “also” makes it a separate thought, no, you are wrong, shut up. Firstly, also literally means In addition. It’s purpose is to connect two ideas. This is the same reason children are actively discouraged from writing run-on sentences when they’re first learning to write so they don’t accidentally connect ideas they felt were separate.

*Note; This issue and the increasing levels of functional illiteracy (those who can physically read but can’t comprehend or learn new words) in the US are the only reason I don’t outright call this paragraph a fascist dog whistle. I believe they did not intend the two ideas to be connected and that intent is obscuring their understanding of the words they actually penned. Frankly, it’s the same reason I have trouble editing my own work. They’re still wrong in thinking misandry is an actual issue, and they chose to defend that point of view by attacking the minority group they claim to support, but I rather doubt their intent was actually to call trans women men. Of course that incompetence isn’t a mark in their favor. 

So yeah, that is literally fascist rhetoric filtered through a seemingly trans positive veneer, and us trannies on BlueSky have had A LOT of practice spotting that shit and called them out instantly. Most of the calls for a retraction, editing, or anything of the sort were largely ignored until sometime late on the 14th or early on the 15th; at which point, whoever was running the Institute’s BlueSky page seemed to get rather annoyed that trans women did not like being called men, and began trying to shout down more recent commenters. Sorry, trans commenters, the few cis folks and a swedish enby who generally agreed with them, those they listened to.

So, let’s get debunking. First up before the firing squad, Misandry! For those not aware, misandry does not exist nor is it a driver of systemic power in our modern world. The popular understanding of terms like misandry, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, and racism is “hatred of members of a group because they belong to said group”

But that’s not what any of those terms actually mean. They describe a socio-cultural norm that serves to keep certain groups subservient to whoever holds the reigns of power. In our modern world, particularly in the “West” as we so weirdly refer to ourselves, that means rich white cis het men. The beneficiaries of an imbalanced power structure CANNOT be systemically oppressed unless the power structure itself is removed. Misandry does not exist because men are not systemically oppressed for being men. Black men are oppressed for being black, not for being men. Trans women are oppressed for being both trans, itself a fundamental rejection of a position of systemic power, and women, not for being men.

This is important to stress because one of the points the Lemkin Institute still refuses to recant, is that misandry is a fundamental part of “Gender Criticals'” perspective. 

They’re right, and wrong. They’re right, because GCs are fascists, plain and simple. Just so I don’t have to repeat myself later in this work, when I say fascist going forward, I am referring to Gender Criticals, TERFS, the GOP, Musk, and oligarchs in general. They are all fascists, it is actually that easy. And Fascists push misandry as a concept because it allows them to pretend they’re trying to balance the scales. For men who have done nothing of worth with their lives, or those who have been beaten down by the nightmare of capitalism we all have to live through; being told “it’s not your fault, you are actually oppressed” is a great pitch. It’s the same school of thought that gave us “men lose custody battles all the time”

In case I have to say it, that is also a lie. Men, often with credible evidence of child abuse, are still regularly given full or partial custody. Sometimes even using the lasting mental and emotional damage their abuse afflicted onto their wives as proof those same women are unfit to care for the children. See also Lindsay Ellis’s entire video on Yoko Ono, which covers not just Ono being blamed for her own abuse by the public, but Amber Heard, Courtney Love, Meghan Markle, Brittany Spears, Monica Lewinski, Paris Hilton, Pamela Anderson, and Whitney Houston experiencing the same.

They’re wrong because misandry is a fascist confabulation to justify a return to “tradition” which ALWAYS means strict gender norms that place men at the top and women barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. There is, of course, the argument I saw at least one person make that, “Oh, well, all these men work as OBGYNs at a battered women’s shelter I work at and they aren’t abusing women.”

Choosing to not use one’s systemic power over others, does not prove the systemic power doesn’t exist. In truth, it highlights that it is not the standard. I can link to a dozen different sources of male OBGYNs violating their patients. Similarly, I can also cite the Missouri case against Starbucks. If you haven’t look into that, the suit alleges that despite 70% of Starbucks’ employees being white men, that remaining 30%, 40% at retail locations, split between all minorities they employ, is in fact unbalanced and too non-white and too non-men.

Second major issue, after whoever was running the Institute’s BlueSky page went mask off they also dropped a nugget about how they take fascists at their word and believe that said fascists only say things they truly believe to be true. This itself is a falsehood as fascists groups’ beliefs are mercurial, they change when they meet a reality they can’t contend with. They are confabulations, false narratives and beliefs provided to others to justify their actions.

The specific point the Institute representative was focused on was the fascist claim that they see trans women as men. Which Lemkin then correlated with GC women, whom they try to separate from male fascists, who claim to be afraid of men. Drawing the further connection that those women fear trans women because they perceive us as men.

1. They do not fear men. Donald Trump has been credibly accused of sexual assault by at least 26 different women at time of writing, and white women overwhelmingly voted for him, Twice!

2. Misandry is not a real systemic force in the world today

3. Fascists regardless of gender do not treat trans women as they treat men or women, despite what they claim

4. Fascists beliefs are mercurial, they are not bound by reality. They do not need to abide by the truth, because truth is inflexible and is allowed to disagree with them. They change their stated beliefs at a whim because the only thing they care about is maintaining power over others.

Fascism and Nationalism are foundationally about pride and a return to a prelapsarian version of reality that in fact never existed where men were men and women were happy and had easy lives free of the drudgery of labor. It of course ignores that homemaking is one of the most back breaking acts of labor one can perform, aside from being pregnant and giving birth. They both require that the family unit be one of the most ubiquitous structures as it gives every man his own little fiefdom to do with exactly as he chooses. He works, he earns the money, he serves the Fatherland. Thus, he is entitled to the sweat of his brow, a roof over his head, a wife to fuck whenever he wishes who can’t say no, and a family who will do as they’re told. And he should be allowed to do anything he deems necessary if they don’t obey.

From that world view women have only two uses.

1. Breeding Stock/Sex Objects: Often the sex isn’t even that important to them, you can see in this older HBomb video how proto-fascist movements like 20 teens nationalism and “pick up artists” don’t even seem to particularly enjoy sex. They see it as a means of control and a demarcation of their stature when compared to other men. Having sex with women can be pleasurable, but the important part for them is that their social standing amongst men is raised and the blood line continued. You can also see this with Musk’s vile habit of literally asking women he meets to carry his children. Those who accept are artificially inseminated, for a series of reasons I truly wish I didn’t know. The point being, from a fascist perspective, women serve to elevate a man through conquest, and through child bearing.

2. Child and Home Care: Of course, once the woman is pregnant, a man has her under his control, and yes, this is why anti-abortion advocacy is also fundamentally fascist. First, she is more vulnerable physically and emotionally while pregnant. Once the child is born, obviously someone needs to care for it, and the man has to be the head of the household, far too busy for his own children. And thus does the cycle start, more children for the fatherland just happens to also keep the woman continuously vulnerable. And then there’s her children. Her man may care nothing for his progeny. But they are another weapon to hold over her. Doubly so with any daughters. They’re disposable, they don’t carry on their father’s name. To him they are deadends, only useful as barter with their fellow men or to be used as an example before her siblings and mother. What mother will step out of line, much less run for her own safety when she knows her own children will pay the price?

Now, do you see the issue with trying to include trans women in this dynamic? I’ll bet you can see a few, but the issues are rather multitudinous. 

We from first principles reject manhood, it’s trappings, and the power it conveys. The fascist ideology does not understand rejecting power for any reason rather than threat of bodily harm, much less for self-actualization. While we reject being men, one could argue that as people who may or may not have penises and testes we are still able to perform that same biological functions as men. I would invite those folks to look at the watery ejaculate most trans women can produce and tell me we’re getting anyone pregnant, but I’d rather not accidentally give them a new fetish.

We also cannot fill either of the roles they prescribe for women. We cannot get pregnant (because the 2012 edit to the Montreal Criteria banned us from having uterine transplants with no scientific evidence, and there have been at minimum 2 studies every year since proving that there was no legitimate ethical or scientific justification besides cruelty) and if we can’t get pregnant, no direct means of controlling us. 

We can at least be sex objects in their eyes, merely disposable ones. 

Despite their claims fascists do not see trans women as men or women, but a third sex, a eunuch or “failed man” sex. One whose only intrinsic value is as a hole to fuck and a screaming body to torture. This is not unique to North America or Europe, I recommend Talia Bhatt’s work on this matter, and her discussions of the Hijra, an almost ubiquitous third sexing that includes trans folks, non binaries, and intersex as though they are all the same.

Before anyone asks, “what about trans men?” trans men are seen as women by fascists. While they cannot understand one relinquishing systemic power, they do understand wanting more of it. Fascists see trans men as a perfectly rational response to women’s place in the social hierarchy. They grok that people do not want to be oppressed. But they also still see trans men as women, just women who need to be beaten and raped out of their delusions.

So yes, trans men do suffer under the systemic oppression of misogyny because those holding the reigns see them as women. Trans women do not suffer misandry because misandry is a confabulated construct. What we do experience is transmisogyny.

A curious point Lemkin repeatedly made, or more accurately two matryoshkaed points, were that they were not attempting to speak for trans women, and that they had spoken with trans women and non-binary folks about this Red Flag alert. Key issues with that, as you can see bellow (screen shot to follow later) that was a lie of omission. They said they had spoken to trans and non-binary folk, but that’s just it. They have spoken with trans folks before, but not about this statement. Which they later also admitted. Which in turn means, yes, they were attempting to speak for us. One cannot speak for a minority one does not belong to, much less from a place of authority. When a trans woman tells you you have misunderstood her perspective, no amount of flippantry will suddenly make your point about her correct.

Speaking of which, the other point the anonymous Lemkin poster tried to make was that many of their members, who are unpaid volunteers, are the parents of trans children and therefore have the best interests of their children at heart. 

Without knowing who the poster was there is no way to outright debunk that claim, though I will note that Lemkin does not have a listed Social Media Manager. They do have a social media & research intern, and two communications interns listed and named on their site all of whom are undergrads so pardon me if I take that with a grain of salt. But the parents of trans children do not have our best interests at heart. They may think they do, but they are not trans and do not know our struggles, only their own perception of that strife.

The first time I came out, I was 5. I told my father nervously but excitedly that I was a girl. He beat me. He left me with permanent tinnitus. He was, at the time, a left wing political columnist for the LA times. That was his love, he thought what he did was best for me. He was wrong then, Lemkin is wrong now, and I even have this fun little screenshot of that too.

I bring up that he was a left wing political reporter for the LA times because that’s just it, I was in Southern California, the liberal safe for minorities state. The parents of trans children are almost always our first abusers. They CANNOT be allowed to make decisions for our future. That mealy mouthed shit is how we ended up giving puberty blockers to the extremely lucky trans kids who get support instead of hormones. 

Shut your fucking mouth before you even try to correct me.

Yes, trans kids deserve Hormone Replacement Therapy. They are OWED the right to go through puberty like every other kid, the correct puberty for them. Making us suffer two puberties is wrong, but so is making a trans girl sit through middle and high school knowing who she is but denied the medication to let her be that person while watching her classmates change around her. That is the level of unfathomable cruelty that comes from allowing parents to dictate the lives of their children as though they are property.

If you take away only one thing from this piece, let it be this. If you have a trans child, you owe it to them to get them hormones. And if you know you have a trans child and give them puberty blockers instead of getting them hormones, you are abusing them. Yes, I know doctors won’t prescribe them. They often won’t prescribe them to adults either. But you’re the adult, you chose to have a child. You have a moral obligation to give them the care they need. DIY hormones are safe and while I will not link to them here for info sec reasons, they are not hard to find, relatively inexpensive and both masculinizing and feminizing are available via DIY paths.

I’ve started working on the second part of this monster focusing on the organization itself, but let me leave you with this final note. 

When trans women offered corrections, editing services, and asked the org to reach out to them so that we could work together to fix the statement, including this impressive thread by TS_Elliot, we were ignored. Cis folks, including this fun little account that was created only 2 hours before the the Red Flag alert was deleted (they notably have not referred to it as retracted) weren’t ignored. Though, it did help that most simply agreed with the misandry point. This account in particular I find amusing because the only posts she has made were about her disappointment the alert was deleted, to attack myself and two other trans women, and then to point to a hitherto unmentioned trans wife who, once again, unable to speak for herself, had to voice her displeasure with the uppity trannies through her wife… sure, Jan.

Oh, and lets not forget that Lemkin has deleted their BlueSky account. Meaning the only evidence of their vitriolic tone towards trans women are the screenshots many of us took. They maintain a presence on X, yeah the site formerly known as twitter owned by a known foreign agent and the defacto fascist dictator of this country, where they proceeded to claim many of us weren’t trans women, but plants to make them look bad. Hey, Lemkin, if you want, you can go check my Fansly for proof I’m a trans girl, pretty sure there’s even some pics for free since you kept saying you have no money. If you want help with that, maybe the problem is that your mission statement, y’know, of preventing genocide, is cheapened when your site opens and tries to sell me a fucking $35 tote bag instead of telling someone how to PREVENT A GENOCIDE!

Thank you for reading, a reminder that everything I do is supported by readers like you, so thank you to all my Patreon and Ko-fi subs as well as folks who support me here, please consider tipping or subscribing.

Screen shots have been labeled individually, but thank you again to TS_Eliot and Ravel Glossmoth for taking them and giving me permission to include them.

Thank you as well to April and Juliet for being my editors and first readers every time, I love you both, and to Hailey and Steph, you are my home and I love you to bits.

Also, you can join my discord server if you’d like to get notified when I post or stream and meet with the goofy community I’ve built up after almost a decade of content creation.