this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2025
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...I could have told you that 🤷

Source: https://x.com/BriannaWu/status/1984574165643403370

Not my usual kind of source (Xitter), but I want any centrists out there who ask trans people to "just get along" / compromise with actual hate groups that want them eradicated to know that it doesn't work.

There is no such thing as a reasonable bigot, by definition.

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[–] LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone 95 points 2 days ago (4 children)

It’s sad she’s so close but still on ‘I want a middle ground on these issues’ really? Like…. She is okay with a little disrespect? A little discrimination?

[–] Lydia_K@lemmy.world 63 points 2 days ago

Just a little second class citizen, as a treat.

Taking the middle ground with Nazis is saying you want the holocaust to happen but only three million jews should die.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

She is desperate for a place that she can be considered "one of the good ones" with the implicit idea of "there are bad ones and they deserve to be treated worse than the good ones". She doesn't understand that the world builds rules on foundational ideas that are just straw men dressed in stereotypes - no one bothers with distinction.

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[–] eestileib@lemmy.blahaj.zone 77 points 2 days ago

First off, Brianna Wu is not my sister or comrade, so she can write that down.

[–] aramis87@fedia.io 64 points 2 days ago (1 children)

"The problem is, they are getting crazier and crazier."

They're not, they just don't feel the need to hide those parts of their goals any more, and you should have listened to us when we warned you about those goals.

And you should be listening to us now about their future goals.

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[–] lilmookieesquire@lemmy.today 59 points 2 days ago

Goldwater was absolute dogwater but he was right about republicans in 1981…

“On religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs."

"Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them."

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 51 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Even after all of that, she still doesn't get it:

I think many of our most extreme ideas are bad. But theirs are worse.

The problem is that "our" (using quotes as I'm only progressive, not LGBTQ+) most extreme ideas are only held by a minority of progressive people, and meanwhile the things she thinks are their "most extreme ideas" are the ones that she saw personally, while interacting with people who don't mind interacting with a trans-woman. Those aren't their "most extreme ideas." They're their mainstream ideas.

She's comparing our most extreme ideas against their mainstream ideas.

[–] traceur402@lemmy.blahaj.zone 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm not sure who she's referring to when she says our there but whoever it is would be insane to invite her in with that take

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 24 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Also, she doesn't say what our most extreme ideas are. The most extreme idea she mentions is allowing trans-women to compete in women's sports. But I think that's probably a mainstream belief, and also the one that is best supported by science.

(Meanwhile, the most extreme idea of theirs that she mentions is that trans-women should face non-stop violent rape if they go to prison.)

[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Also, she doesn’t say what our most extreme ideas are.

If I were to try to define the most extreme positions held by any in our community (in regards to trans issues), they might be:

  1. Bathroom access based on identity only. Very few people are actually like this. But some folks would say that all that is needed to switch bathrooms is identifying as a different gender. So it's perfectly acceptable for a person dressed in male clothing, with a beard, using a deep voice, etc. to use the women's restroom as long as they identify as female. Very few trans folks would be caught dead doing that. Most recognize that there is a certain give and take, a negotiation of social spaces. I imagine most would say you shouldn't have to pass in order to use the bathroom, but most would recognize that it's going to cause a ton of unnecessary friction and hate if someone fully masculine-presenting uses the women's restroom. I don't think people who can't pass should be banished from the bathroom that matches their identity. But I myself would be very uncomfortable sharing the women's restroom with an entirely masculine-presenting person, trans or not.

  2. Unrealistic/impractical pronoun expectations. Some folks confuse "gender is a social construct" with "nothing is real and nothing matters." Pronouns are a social construct. That doesn't mean they mean nothing; it means they have socially constructed definitions. If I invent a new pronoun tomorrow and start demanding others call me it, that isn't a social construction. That's just something I invented and am now imposing on others without their participation or consent. In order to socially construct something, there must be a meeting of the minds, a shared milieu of understanding. A pronoun, if you expect people to actually use it, can't be something you just invented. It has to be something negotiated among a large number of people. This is why the pronouns people tend to actually use are he, she, and they. Most others get little use beyond extremely online teenagers. Pronouns are meant to be shorthand for characteristics of your identity. If your pronoun is so unique that no one has any idea what the hell it means, you're not using a pronoun, you're just using a nickname.

  3. Sports based purely on identity with no qualifiers. I support trans women playing on women's teams and trans men playing on men's teams. But that's not just because of identity, but because I recognize that the science says that trans women don't have any advantages after a few years on HRT. I wouldn't however support trans women who still have male testosterone levels competing on women's teams. That's just about basic fairness. But, some would say that it's just sports, and that respect for identity matters more than athletic fairness, and that no one should have to seek out medical treatment they may not otherwise want. Fair enough, but I would disagree.

Still, these are extremes. The vast, vast majority of trans people wouldn't switch bathrooms before at least changing their presentation, use pronouns they can actually expect other people to use, and wouldn't expect to switch sports teams without altering their own hormones. If TERFs really were interested in compromise, these are the issues we could compromise on. So maybe we restrict bathrooms based on legal identity, but in turn we make it really easy to change your legal identity, say up to once per year. And we have clear social expectations about the rules of bathrooms. So it's OK if you don't fully pass, but you shouldn't be rocking a beard in the women's restroom. Or, we come to a compromise on pronouns. You can have your close friends call you whatever you want, but the only pronouns you should expect others to recognize are the broad and generic he, she, and they. We compromise by, for example, making it workplace harassment to not respect someone's pronouns. But in turn we trans people also don't demand that people learn hundreds of new pronouns or start referring to human beings as inanimate objects. Or, we regulate sports, but we don't try to ban trans people from sports all together. We follow the science that says trans women have no advantage after a few years on E. You can't change your teams based purely on self-ID, but we do give trans men and women a clear and open path to participate fully and equally in athletics.

If TERFs and other conservatives really were just looking for a reasonable compromise, these are the types of issues we could compromise on. But, as the post notes, you give these bastards an inch and they'll take a mile.

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[–] RamenJunkie@midwest.social 11 points 1 day ago

I would love to know what those extreme left ideas that are bad are. Like 99% of progressive ideas boil down to "stop treating other people like shit."

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 49 points 2 days ago (1 children)

"You know, I'm starting to think these ethnicity-critical Nazis can't be reasoned with."

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

"I am starting to feel like these face-eating leopards I allied with are eyeing my face with increasing hunger."

[–] hildegarde@lemmy.blahaj.zone 38 points 2 days ago (1 children)

In a negotiation its important to ask for more than you want. Compromise is what you reach during negotiations. If you start your negotiations from a pre-compromised position, you're just ceding ground to the other side.

Support the extremists. Support those who go too far and ask too much, as that's the only way to reach a fair and reasonable compromise.

[–] AppleTea@lemmy.zip 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Congrats, you have a better grasp of negotiation than a 6-figure-salary consultant contracted to the DNC.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago

Oh, they ask for more than they want.

[–] squirrel@lemmy.blahaj.zone 35 points 2 days ago (1 children)

For those who are not familiar with Brianna Wu: She has tried to be a left-wing grifter, before she discovered that it got her nowhere and thus decided to be a right-wing grifter instead. She tried to the right-wing's "good trans woman", agreeing with everything they said, until the above message. And yeah, she is already trying to spin this yet again...

And if you think that all of that is rather weird, she is also the creator of this masterpiece.

[–] 1985MustangCobra@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

what the hell was that last image

[–] waterbird@lemmy.blahaj.zone 35 points 1 day ago (3 children)

once again ignoring entirely that trans masc people exist and we are impacted by the bullshit she spouts as well. what impacts one of us affects all of us, and I am not your fucking sister.

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[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 30 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I just replied to another comment with this but I'll put it as a top level comment here because I think it's important.

I want MORE right wing idiots to realize they're wrong and join our camp. The more the better. Remember, these people are still our neighbors, they still exist and we will have to interact with them outside our homes. I want more reasonable people, so when we do have converts, please receive them with open arms.

Okay, you were a huge idiot, but welcome to sanity part 1. Of they're big enough to realize they were wrong (and they've had a LOT of brainwashing, it takes a lot for them to snap out of the crazy) we should be big enough to say bygones.

I understand the want for revenge because they were "the enemy". I understand, they were a huge asshole and now we have to play nice with them? That doesn't sound fair! But I think we have to, we want to welcome more idiots into sanity and reason. The less idiots out there, the better. And for what it's worth, there are people that listen to her, if they can now be on the side of reason, they can pull a lot more people with them.

If we don't we'll make it harder for people to move out of the right wing camp, and I want much much less people in the right wing camp

[–] Katana314@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Part of the problem is, this is not the first time this assault on minorities has happened; and many of the people who voted for Trump were previously thought of as allies who were reformed.

We can even scare our own allies by “making nice” with villains. I remember hearing out a very betrayed voter whose core issue of dismay was hearing Gavin Newsom get cowed by Joe Rogan into saying supporting Trans people was a mistake.

People like Joe Rogan have HURT them. I want you to picture having someone that ruined your life, and picture what it’s like to have them sleeping in your home, based on nothing more than “Hey, bud. We’re good now, right?”

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[–] CrystalRainwater@lemmy.blahaj.zone 28 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Is Brianna wu grifting to the left because she realizes there isn't a place for her on the right anymore? I'm a bit too cynical to believe this is legitimate since the right has been like this for quite a while. Just with the trump admin the center right position on the trans movement is not a profitable option for pundits anymore

If this truly is a come to Jesus moment, I'll believe it if she can back it up over time

[–] Azal@pawb.social 14 points 2 days ago

My attitude after the last election is trust no republican, they'll go back the second they can while crying to the left when they're being mistreated by their own.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I think a lot of the pickme's out there are like the rats on a doomed ship. They are sensing the coming shift before anyone else because they have less to lose and more to gain from becoming early adopters of the new "I was fooled" narrative that is going to absolutely sweep the right after Trump finally keels over.

There will be no successor, at least not of equal power and leadership who can hold Trump's infinity stone of stupidity, his base of fanatical loyalists who cling to his fetid authenticity like ticks on the back of a deer with spongiform encephalitis.

So when the pendulum of social discourse swings the other way, it will be like magic... every single Trump die-hard and zionist riding on the fact that their positions can hide behind the far worse things going on, will have up and just disappeared like farts in the wind. It will be a miracle, it will be like every nazi and trump sycophant just evaporated back into the shadows, and the grifters will have to suddenly race back into the overton window to capitalize on this temporary change in wind direction.

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[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 28 points 1 day ago (1 children)

A good compromise is never just halfway between two policies. It requires understanding both perspectives and addressing their actual problems. So the compromise here would be trans rights for trans people, and free mental health care for anti-trans people.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (4 children)

The Trans Athlete debate also never seems to address the fact that it's all unfair from the get go. Being born to a poor family? Being born with a birth defect? Being born into an unsupportive family/community? Being born at the wrong time of year?

It also shouldn't matter how well someone does in sports. No athlete is using their skills in the work place and students shouldn't need athletics scholarships to pay for school. It should just be for fun with nothing on the line.

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[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Wu is just the latest poster child for Reactionary Uncle Tom washouts. There's internet graveyards full of would-be pundits and ex-liberal turncoats who realized far too late that The Log Cabin Republicans and Blacks for Trump weren't going to protect them when fascists came knocking.

The thing you need to recognize about Wu - more than anything else - is that she comes from money. Look at my Porsche collection money. She's reactionary because that's where she eats. And pivoting her identity as a Trans Woman into an income stream as a reactionary poster is just the path failkids of the GenZ+ generations are trained into.

Brianna Wu is a product of her material conditions. In a better world, she wouldn't be able to horde wealth at her neighbors' expense. And she wouldn't have an economic incentive to fuck over her Trans peers in hopes of maintaining her precarious position among the wealthy elites.

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[–] Eloratatouille@retrolemmy.com 20 points 2 days ago

Not my sister.

[–] carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 2 days ago (4 children)

i like how she’s still worried about "our extreme ideas"

what extreme ideas??? that trans women should compete in women’s sports??? the extreme idea that trans women are women???

i’d say my most extreme idea is that trans kids should be able to start HRT when they (and their cis peers) start puberty. and that’s only an extreme idea if you believe that trans kids are less deserving of a normal puberty than cis kids.

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[–] grue@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

You don't move the Overton window in the direction you want by preemptively moderating yourself. You move it by taking a more extreme position perhaps even than you actually want, in order to normalize it.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 12 points 2 days ago

Make the middle ground billionaires are humanely executed.

[–] ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

We don't want compromise with the far-right. We want FULL POLITICAL POWER 💪🏼

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[–] WilloftheWest@feddit.uk 16 points 1 day ago

The problem with compromising for a “middle ground” is that, when the right decide to re-litigate the issue (if they ever stop litigating to begin with), your starting position is now that middle ground. Compromising for a middle ground simply moves the Overton window to the right.

[–] kadaverin0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 1 day ago

"I thought if I let the leopards eat a little of my face they wouldn't take it all."

[–] cows_are_underrated@feddit.org 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What The hell are extreme Position on "trans people" that come from trans people themselves? Such extreme stuff like "just let everyone life the way they want and dont be fucking dick?"

I seriously have no fucking clue what she could mean that might be somewhat controversial. The only thing I could think of is stuff like "chop everyone's dick off" but that's more like extreme feminism and not just "extreme trans".

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[–] MimicJar@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago

Importantly there is an immediate follow up tweet,

2/ I consider my business settled with all trans sisters. If anyone wants to reset things, unblock and move forward, I am happy to do that

I'm glad she was able to admit she was wrong, that's absolutely a step in the right direction, but it's just a step. I don't want to speak of behalf of "trans sisters", but I certainly wouldn't consider the matter closed. She's apologized, great, but there is A LOT more work to be done.

[–] TootSweet@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I feel like I'd rather die for having to much faith in humanity than too little. And on that metric, I can't help but think BriannaWu was doing something right approaching right-wing nutjobs the way she did.

But more importantly, I'd rather not die in either of the aforementioned ways. What she did was definitely done out of (perhaps admirable) naïveté. And she's clearly grown as a person from the experience.

All that said, I don't know that she's got the best positions on everything. She says she believes that "trans women don't belong in women's sports" and she wants a "middle ground on bathrooms", both of which seem... problematic (even if the right wing wasn't so maximalist and radical about things.) And that part makes me wonder if the rest of the tweet was made in good faith, honestly.

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[–] svcg@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 1 day ago

Here is what you should do, Brianna:

Delete your twitter and never post about trans issues again. When you have been so consistently wrong about about something for such a long time, it is the best thing for everyone to simply accept that you shouldn't be part of the conversation anymore rather than trying to claw your way back into it.

(I know she isn't actually reading.)

[–] BabyVi@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (10 children)

Me over here with actually somewhat radical positions.

All HRT should be available OTC. (Yes, including T.)

A parent denying a child access to puberty blockers should be required to pay reparations if the child continues to identify as trans into adulthood.

Require unisex bathrooms for any business larger than a bananna stand.

[–] medgremlin@midwest.social 21 points 2 days ago (10 children)

I'm going to push back on OTC HRT because of the health risks. Supraphysiologic estrogen and testosterone can both have lethal side effects, so correct dosing and monitoring for health complications are essential components of trans healthcare.

[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Both are already OTC in most of the world, specifically most developing countries.

More importantly, you are applying an insane and bad-faith standard when assessing medication. ANY medication can have lethal side effects. Down a bottle full of Tylenol and you'll condemn yourself to a slow agonizing death of liver failure. Yet you can buy that shit at gas stations.

You answered the wrong question. You asked, "can HRT be dangerous?" Any rational person trying to form an unbiased opinion about it would ask, "is HRT of comparable risk to existing OTC medications?"

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[–] Bennyboybumberchums@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Ah, Brianna Wu. Theres a name Ive not heard in a while. Always looking to grift off something or other for her own gain. I wonder what she needs money for this time...

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[–] RamenJunkie@midwest.social 10 points 1 day ago

Yeah, I have been so dissappointed after her turn in the past few years. Like WTF was she even thinking was going to happen. These assholes are not ever going to be anything but assholes.

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