Response to a Local TERF
JK Rowling came out as a Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist (TERF) yesterday. TERFs make completely wrong claims that contradict scientific facts about the trans community. And it seems Rowling has emboldened other TERFs to come forward proudly. One of these, a person who runs Spinster, a fork of Gab specifically for TERFs, was fired last summer as a result of her TERF blog. I worked with Mary Kate (MK) Fain at PromptWorks for about six months. I considered her a friend. I was confused and hurt when I found out that she had been hiding her true opinions, ever so carefully, since we met.
Yesterday, she published another blog post, calling out her former coworkers by name and painting herself a brave victim. I didn’t read the post, though I was sent a screenshot of one paragraph where she talks about me. I will attach a PDF version here so that you can read it if you’d like, but I don’t think that TERFs should be validated or given a platform. They are wrong. That’s why I recommend using the PDF to view the article (which is transphobic and may be triggering). I don’t want the author seeing more clicks on her published post as evidence of how popular her terrible opinions are.
I’m writing this to the community because I don’t want trans folks to think that there are a bunch of secret TERF or TERF supporters out here in Philadelphia. TERFs exist and they continue to spout dangerous and misinformed opinions. That said, while they are a loud and awful minority, they are a minority. Myself and many others are here to fight for and support the trans members of the community.
There are a few specific things I would like to address, since she has violated my privacy by publishing my name and former workplace in a public blog post that it is filled with false claims about my beliefs. MK makes three very bold claims. First, she says that I told her I wanted no more contact with her after her TERF blog post was published and she was subsequently fired from her job. I actually wanted to have a conversation with her because I feel it’s a responsible thing to do. I never got to the point where I felt that I could, but the door was open. Communication is a two way street. Had she contacted me, I would have answered.
Secondly, she claims that I edited her article. I did read it before she posted it. I had a lot of questions, all of which she ignored. I was shocked when I found out that she had published it without making any changes (“Oh, I ran it by my usual group for edits so I feel confident about it” — read: her “gender critical” reddit group). Because she was my friend, I rationalized what she was saying. Surely she didn’t mean to claim that non binary people are confused when they identify themselves? She couldn’t possibly be that arrogant. I was very, very wrong.
Lastly, she says that I agree with her views. There are things that I agreed with her on. We became friends as a result of shared anti-capitalist opinions. I do think that capitalism is terrible. I do think that we can create a better world where the lives of human beings are held in higher regard than the profits of shareholders. I believe that unions can give workers a voice and that every worker should have a union and a good paying job. I am a Marxist, a socialist, a communist. I will always fight for solidarity. Bringing violence to the trans community is not solidarity. It is a sick rupture.
I didn’t know this at the time, but MK was dog whistling me the whole time I knew her. Sometimes she would say things that would confuse me. She “accidentally” used the wrong pronouns for trans people close to her often enough that it stood out to me as odd. She also displayed distaste for her one particular non binary person’s chosen name. She once asked me if I thought that TERFs are as bad as Nazis, to which I replied, “yes.” She mentioned not trusting anyone online with an avatar as a profile picture, claiming that she assumed they were all men.
I do not understand that mentality. Why would you fight so hard just to be shitty to a whole group of people? What is the point? Their claims are absolutely bonkers and conspiratorial. MK’s posts are disturbing on many levels. Most importantly, they are disturbing because she has garnered an audience and those people may use her arguments to rationalize doing physical and/or psychological harm on trans people — a group that is by and large already at huge risk for being li-ter-al-ly murdered for their existence.
MK’s post was clearly a revenge piece. I’m sure that she will continue to try to stir things up in our community and wherever she can find a voice, as she seems to compulsively seek out intense confrontation in her life. For some reason, she thinks that we won’t fight back. We will.
