#baeddelism

[baeddel-txt]

#baeddel #baeddels #baeddelism #transandrophobia

[thee-radio-host-is-a-kookaburra]

Actually, speaking of the tags on my last post, you guys get so violent over online queer discourse and it’s honestly really fucked up.

I’ve seen baeddels talk about how they want to misgender and beat up “transandrophobia truthers”. I’ve seen people say they’ll kill fellow queer people who use the “toothpaste” ocean mlm flag. I’ve seen exclus talking about sending gore to mspec monos.

You guys seriously need to go outside and maybe get therapy if you have such violent tendencies towards fellow queer people. Like you honestly sound insufferable if you act like this. Where’s this energy towards the politicians killing us? Or do you just hate other queer people who aren’t queer in the way you like?

#like jesus fucking christ #critinclus #baeddel #baeddelism #mspec mono #mspec lesbian #mspec gay #transandrophobia #ocean gay flag #queer discourse

[nothorses]

Let's Talk About Baeddels.

An (updated) retrospective on Tumblr's movement to make gender essentialism trans-friendly.

This post contains excepts from a longer article on Medium. If you have the time, please read the full article! I also request that you link the longer article if you use this as a source.

All links have been updated with archived versions of posts that have since been deleted (and otherwise might be deleted or lost sometime in the future). I have revised some sections, and included more context and examples, in order to clarify and strengthen arguments.

Disclaimer

Transmisogyny is real, and requires much more acknowledgement than it currently receives. The trans community is very much capable of transmisogyny, and often does enact or enable it; likewise, trans people also often enact and enable transphobia against other parts of the trans community. Trans women suffer at least as much as the rest of us, and trans women — as a class — are not privileged, and do not hold the power to oppress anyone else.

If you take only one thing away from this post, take this:

Trans people all need to work on being better allies to each other. None of us can gain anything without the rest of us.

Establishing an Ideology

The first post on Baeddelism was by Tumblr user @unobject, on October 2nd, 2013:

The post was quickly liked by @lezzyharpy, also one of the first to call themselves “Baeddels”.

This post first provided the name and defining ideology of the Baeddel movement. The implication of the post was, essentially, that because the root of the word “bad” was “baeddel”, and because “baeddel” referred to intersex people and “womanish men”, this old English slur was proof that transmisogyny was the worst form of bigotry; and even, perhaps, the root of all bigotry. (It’s worth noting that this interpretation of the etymology has been problematized.)

While @unobject was the first person to make this connection, @autogynephile (“Eve”) eventually became, in essence, the figurehead of the movement. Of the other Baeddels, some of them were explicitly aware and supportive of the ideology behind Baeddelism, some of them were young or newly-out trans women seduced by the personalities involved, and some of them were tangential enough to the movement that their understanding of it was wholly different from the understanding those at the core of the movement held and promoted. Baeddelism was a sort of trend, for a time, and many participants wore the name without entirely knowing what it meant.

It’s important to acknowledge that as much as there were dedicated members of Baeddelism, and as much as there was a unified ideology behind it, there were also individual Baeddels who did not understand — let alone support — the ideology.

The Ideology

Baeddels essentially built upon the foundation of @monetizeyourcat’s ideology that had been gaining traction on Tumblr in the years prior, with some additions that ultimately defined their movement:

Transmisogyny is the form of oppression from which all (or most) other forms of oppression stem.

Privilege is granted on the basis of assigned sex. (“AFAB” or “Assigned Female at Birth” vs. “AMAB” or “Assigned Male at Birth”)

These fundamentals of Baeddelism were essentially a rebranded form of Radical Feminism. In particular, they drew from the Radical Feminist idea that misogyny was the “primary” form of oppression; that which all other oppression stemmed from. Baeddels only tweaked this idea to replace “misogyny” with “transmisogyny”, which led to the rest of the conclusions Baeddels drew:

There is no “transphobia”

All “transphobia” stems from transmisogyny first, and transphobia as it impacts non-trans-women (or, sometimes, non-transfeminine people) is incidental.

There is no “Trans”

If “transphobia” isn’t real, what else is left of the transgender identity?

While this is by no means the dominant understanding of transgender identity or community, the equivocation of oppression to identity is, in many ways, core to Baeddel ideology (and we see the lasting impact of this in still-widely-used “TME/TMA” termingology). By this logic, if transphobia doesn’t exist, neither does trans identity or trans community (though they obviously believed that transmisogyny, and subsequently trans women, do). Therefore, there are no “trans men”, and belief in the existence of “nonbinary people” is highly contingent on whether an individual believes in the oppression of nonbinary people.

“AFAB Privilege”

The idea that within the queer and/or trans community, people who were AFAB/CAFAB (Assigned Female At Birth) receive unique privilege and positions of power that people who were AMAB/CAMAB (Assigned Male at Birth, a counterpart to “AFAB” and “CAFAB”) do not.

Trans Lesbian Separatism

… was what the movement was ultimately defined by, as the logical conclusion of their other beliefs (much like Lesbian Separatism was the logical conclusion of Radical Feminist beliefs).

Baeddels believed that only trans women can understand, or be truly safe for, other trans women; therefore, contact with anyone who was not a trans woman was deemed “dangerous” and highly discouraged.

Trans Men

… also played an important role in Baeddel ideology, and the resulting treatment of trans men is what is often remembered today. Baeddels generally believed the following, either explicitly or implictly:

Trans men are not oppressed, or experience so little oppression that it hardly matters.

Trans men do not experience misogyny, even prior to transition.

Trans men have access to male privilege, or trans men have an easier time passing, and frequently go “stealth”; thus benefiting from male privilege as well as cis privilege.

Trans men are often (or always) misogynistic and transmisogynistic, and are not held accountable for this.

Trans men oppress cis women.

Trans women enacting violence on trans men is “punching up” at oppressors, and therefore not only permitted, but encouraged.

Trans men are inherently violent, or become aggressive and violent when they go on testosterone HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy)

The impact of this ideology is often discussed among transmasculine people because of the depth of harm it caused, directly and indirectly — and it was very much intended to. Harm caused to transmascs was not only permitted or excused, it was often actively celebrated.

Nonbinary People

… are often overlooked when summarizing Baeddelism, but Baeddels did have plenty to say about them. Baeddel ideology relied on the idea that privilege was granted on the bases of assigned sex, and nonbinary people’s genders were thus treated as irrelevent; they essentially did not believe nonbinary people truly existed.

CAFAB nonbinary people are either trans men attempting to invade women’s spaces, or cis women pretending to be trans.

CAMAB nonbinary people are actually just trans women who haven’t accepted it yet. They must transition, or they are transmisogynistic.

Intersex People

Intersex experiences, and intersex history, were often co-opted and erased by Baeddelism. This was often more a byproduct of their beliefs than an overtly-stated idea, but most notably, the term “Baeddel” itself is likely more applicable- if not exclusively applicable- to intersex people, rather than trans women. Making their reclamation of it as a “transmisogynistic slur”, or their claim that the word’s existence means that “transmisogyny is the root of all oppression”, incredibly ignorant- if not actively harmful misinformation.

Notably, Baeddels also believed that intersex people- being “more androgynous” (a harmful misonception)- were able to pass more easily as the opposite assigned sex, and that intersex people (even within transfemme spaces) had “intersex privilege”. Some even believed, and openly claimed, that intersex people were “hermaphroditic”; a slur against intersex people, and typically implying that the individual has both sets of reproductive systems simultaneously.

Trans Women

… did not receive universally positive treatment, either. Baeddelism was very much a cult-like group built around the firmly-held conviction that they were absolutely correct, and that anyone who disagreed with them was The Enemy. Trans women who disagreed with them were generally seen as brainwashed and self-hating, and trans women who did agree with them were expected to subjugate themselves to the ringleaders of the movement.

Within Baeddel circles, trans women were most frequently victimized by the abusers allowed to run rampant because “trans women do not, and cannot, harm anyone else.” — including, apparently, each other.

“They were also bad shitty abusive people in general. “… a bunch of them passed around a pile of smear campaigns and false rumors about virtually any trans woman that they had a even the slightest animosity for. Including the victim of the kinkster rapist. They’ve done other fucked stuff, like chased two twoc off this site for trying to make a zine, but yeah. That’s like, just some of it. I’m not up for going over the messy details of the whole shitparade. “Full disclosure, I made a lot of excuses for these sacks of crap, even while they were out there spreading false crap about me […] I wasn’t aware of the worst shit they were doing until much much later.” - @punlich

Inside the Movement

Though individual Baeddels often existed in vastly different social circles from each other- particularly offline- those who lived through the movement highlight commonalities in their experiences.

One interviewee recounts the manipulation present in their initial involvement with the movement:

“It came to me at a point where I was very quick to weaponize anything anyone told me about their experiences, because I was always a fighter. I’ve been an activist for a long time, you know, and when these trans women would come to me with their experiences I would believe them. I wanted to. But the way they acted didn’t add up when compared to what they were saying. I felt really lonely there, and stupid all the time. I felt like I was being a bad trans person.” […] “Online they were more willing to say things that were, for lack of a better word, stupid. They would say things that lacked any kind of logical sense. But in person, they would go into this kind of toxic femininity- this weaponization of weakness. And I think that’s because online they were often in these echochambers, but in person they had to rely on much more subtle manipulation.” - Vera

It seems at points that the environment created within this movement- and the social circles that composed it- was almost cult-like in nature and in need for control.

“It was very isolating. I didn’t see my friends for a while, I was kind of just living with them, cooking and cleaning for them, starving myself, and slowly growing crazy. I was just being consumed by this weird academia and theory that had no basis, because everything was online and Tumblr-based.” - Vera

Perhaps most chilling, however, are the patterns in their attitudes toward sexual assault. One interviewer recounts being subject to sexual assault, and upon posting about their experience to a Facebook group, being met with hostility from Baeddels present in the group- who quickly used their social influence to have them banned from some of their only support systems at the time.

“I ended up with pretty much no one to talk to about the experience at a time when I was already really, really struggling, and it’s one of several factors that led to me dropping out. “The Baeddel who got me banned also messaged me directly at some point during all of this, and I tried to get her to understand the pain she was causing me. She basically laughed it offand said it was my fault. She seemed to find a lot of joy in how much it hurt me, and blocked me soon after.” - Anonymous

Another recounts sexual consent violations from a friend-turned-Baeddel:

“[My ex-friend] had previously been fetish-mining me for her mommy kink. I was freshly estranged from my own mum, and she stepped in to be like, “I’m your new mum now,” and would pester me to call her “mum” in Welsh- as at that point she was going by a Welsh name. I played along, but it transpired that she was basically using that to get off, and she had a thing for infantilising transmascs and being this mum/mom figure.” - Luke

And yet another interviewee discusses verbal sexual harassment during interactions with another Baeddel:

“I had one [Baeddel] directly tell me that I’m beneath her as a trans man, and that I should “Shut my smelly cooch up” and only use my voice to uplift trans women. I was a minor at the time. “She then sicced her followers on me, and they bombarded me with messages telling me I’d “never be a real man”, that I needed to “sit on the side and allow them to have the spotlight”, and even telling me to kill myself- because I was inherently toxic to them. I was 16 years old, pre everything, and I couldn’t even pass at the time. They didn’t seem to care that I was a minor, or a newly hatched egg.” - Anonymous

While Baeddel ideology itself does not explicitly condone or excuse sexual assault, it’s striking how common these stories are; especially considering how small in numbers actual Baeddels were.

It was, in fact, this exact problem that would eventually cause the movement to dissolve.

The Downfall of Baeddelism

Sometime between the group’s formation in 2013 and their downfall near the end of 2014, @autogynephile (also “Eve”), the defacto “ringleader” of the Baeddel movement, began what Baeddels referred to as a “transbian safehouse”.

This was apparently intended as a place for unhoused trans woman lesbians and trans women who, in general, had sworn off contact with men; the ultimate goal of the lesbian separatist ideology at the core of the Baeddel movement. It was thus also referred to as a “commune” by some, and as a “cult” by others.

One occupant of the “safehouse”- Elle- later posted to Tumblr that they had been raped by Eve during their stay, and detailed their experiences.

The Baeddels, rather than believing the victim and ousting the rapist from their movement, chose to close ranks around Eve instead.

Various reasons were given for this:

The victim must be lying

The victim- and anyone who believed them- was simply transmisogynistic.

Anyone who disagrees with the Baeddels is an Enemy Of The Movement, a “carceral thinker”, and a danger to trans women as a whole.

Trans women are incapable of sexually abusing anyone.

“Standing with Eve” was the ultimate sign of loyalty to the movement, and thus a mark of pride and honor.

It was okay to keep being a Baeddel no matter what, because Rape Accusations Should Be A Personal Matter.

(You can read more about Eve’s own denial of these events here and here.)

Years later, even people involved in the initial group have spoken out against the movement and actions of those involved:

“I was in ~the Baeddels~ for years and like… we straight up did horrible shit. “We harassed anyone that disagreed for any reason, our politics were terrible, our isolationism made an environmental ripe for abuse that I have firsthand experience of, there is nothing in that group worth salvaging or defending. “Also acting like people are just bringing this up out of the blue is silly like… it’s being brought up because people are still trying to defend the shit we did instead of fucking recognizing that it was wrong. “Creating this myth that hate on the Baeddels is just a way of keeping trans women in line is a tacit defense of the horrid shit we did.” - @lezzyharpy

“like I’m sorry but I served my time in shitty awful Baeddel group in early mid 2012s and it fucking sucked ass.” “… Like it’s straight up cult-like the way you build this self-reinforcing network wherein ayone on the outside looking in with any criticism is unsafe, not to be trusted, only there to hurt trans women, and the only people you can trust is this self-selected group of trans women.” - @lezzyharpy

Why It Matters, and Why Baeddelism Never Really Fell

Baeddelism itself has seen multiple attempts at resurgences by various individuals, including documented experiences with self-proclaimed Baeddels as recently as 2018- well after the movement first “fell” in 2014.

Most proponents of “Baeddelism 2.0”, a revival of the original movement, argue that the abuse that occurred within the original movement was either completely fabricated by detractors (sound familiar?) or, at minimum, not actually inherent to the ideology.

And, of course, there are some original Baeddels still active on Tumblr today.

Baeddelism never actually went away.

“Baeddelism” was only one name for a set of beliefs that existed long before the specific term did, and hasn’t gone anywhere since the original Baeddel movement died down.

What the Baeddels did was put a name to the ideology @monetizeyourcat was cultivating before them, and what Cat did was popularize, centralize, and justify a way of thinking that had existed before she ever made her blog.

This ideology has since been referred to, loosely, as “TIRF-ism”: Trans-Inclusive Radical Feminism.

It is rare that anyone actually refers to themselves as a “TIRF”, and there is no real centralized TIRF movement; rather, a loose collection of radical feminist beliefs circulates various transgender spaces. The validity of these beliefs is generally taken for granted: of course (trans) women are The Most Oppressed People; of course (trans) women are Inherently and Unequivocally Victims In All Situations; of course (trans) men are Inherently Oppressors; of course (trans) men are Dangerous and Evil… and so on.

Like Radical Feminism, and subsequently Trans-Exlcusive Radical Feminism (TERF-ism), those ideas are fundamentally dangerous.

The defining tenants of radical feminism are that misogyny is the root of all oppression, and that rather than misogyny being an issue of power and control on a society-wide level, it is instead, or also, a matter of oppression and privilege on an individual level: men are always oppressors, and women are always victims.

These beliefs fundamentally exclude and erase the experiences of other marginalized people.

Namely, people of color and indigenous people, who’s experiences with and concepts of gender do not fall within the strict and rigid lines that white, western, colonialist people’s do.

Radical feminism is not a redeemable ideology. It cannot be reshaped into something good. It is fundamentally broken, and the movements born from it- lesbian separatism, political lesbianism, TERF-ism, TIRF-ism, and Baeddelism- are proof enough of that. They each promote only surface-level variations of what is fundamentally cult-like thinking: only the in-group can be victimized. Only the in-group is safe; the out-group is inherently and universally dangerous. Only the in-group understands you. All members of the in-group are, fundamentally, incapable of abuse.

We cannot allow these ideas to be perpetuated within or without the trans community.

Learn the Signs & Prevent Harm

Here’s what we can do to prevent this from happening again:

Learn what Baeddel ideology and TIRFism look like, even detached from the name.

Learn what radical feminism looks like, even detached from the name. Even from people who claim to oppose radical feminism.

Act on dogwhistles. Call them what they are.

Do not allow people to downplay the harm all forms of Radical Feminism have caused. Remind each other that Radical Feminism is not a redeemable ideology, and seek out other branches of feminism instead.

Remember the harm that has been caused. Remember that it will be caused again if these things are allowed to go unchecked.

Listen to and uplift marginalized people. Allow them to speak to their own experiences, identify their own needs, and name their own oppression.

Remember who the real oppressors are, and do not pit marginalized people against each other. The people perpetuating and benefiting from transphobia are cis people- and more specifically, cis people in power.

Build solidarity with other marginalized people. One group of trans people cannot gain liberation without liberating all trans people, and one group of trans people cannot be targeted without the rest of us suffering as well.

Remember that there is no group or identity incapable of enacting abuse, violence, harassment, or other harm against another. Victimhood should not be determined based solely on an individual’s identity.

Remember that there are no acceptable targets for violence, cruelty, harassment, and abuse.

For more context and a list of red flags, read the rest of the article here:

#baeddelism #baeddel #baeddels #transgender #transunity #transmasc #transandrophobia #transfem #nonbinary #non bianry #transphobia

[trans-androgyne]

Cw for transphobia from other trans people

She goes on to sincerely argue that there is nothing inherent about manhood, so being a man (including a trans man) is a choice.

Comparing trans men transitioning to someone choosing to be a prison guard is so. interesting. This was the second post down in the transmisogyny tag. First reblog I saw:

Welcome to team baeddel.

#I don’t even know what to say about this #I sincerely would never call some random trans woman a baeddel but. baeddel ideas are clearly not as dead as people claim #doing it ‘in response’ to anything doesn’t make it okay #transandrophobia #baeddelism #transphobia #androphobia #intracommunity issues tag #mine #needs id

[anarkittyuwuuniverse]

At this point I'm actually a bit confused as to what a "baeddel" and "baeddelism" even is. From transunists it seems to be some sort of trans femme focused radical feminism that replaces bio essentialism with gender essentialism but I also feel like a lot of people I see who call themselves baeddels are just people who...acknowledge the existence of transmisogyny? Or is it just some sort of transfemme separatist contingent? Does it mean different things to different people? Why are so many baeddels also anti-civ? Does it have any relation to Baedan? The queer nihilist journal? 'Cause I've read that and it didn't seem gender essentialist to me at all or to have any of the ideological traits that I've heard associated with baeddalism. Anyone who knows more about this? I'm asking genuinely and in good-faith, I would like to learn more.

#baeddel #baeddelism

[a-polite-melody]

It would be nice if people criticizing transmisogyny within discussions of transandrophobia or coming from people speaking on that subject could do so without lying in order to make it seem worse than it is? Just presenting the facts should be enough. If there’s transmisogyny present it should speak for itself, yeah?

So why exactly are people pretending that the transmascs throwing around the term baeddel are transmisogynistic for digging up a thousands-of-years-old slur?

I will 100% agree that there are transmascs being far too blasé about the use of baeddel, and that this contributes to transmisogyny.

However the reason this term is being used isn’t because transmisogynistc transmascs went looking for a slur to use and found an ancient slur, it’s because there was previously an online group of trans women who tried to popularize a trans woman inclusive version of radical feminism which was particularly hostile towards trans men and mascs. And there are people actively reviving this ideology today and call themselves baeddels.

I agree that people shouldn’t go around calling trans women they don’t like baeddels and that that is an unfortunately common phenomenon right now, but also, when someone is calling themselves a baeddel and someone points that out and points out the baeddel rhetoric being used… that is an entirely different situation, which is being lumped together with the hasty labeling of any trans women someone doesn’t like as baeddels.

If you have to lie about the situation going on in order to make your point about it, I don’t trust that your activism is actually about benefiting anyone, because it seems more focused on tearing down someone by any means necessary instead.

#my post #transmisogyny #transandrophobia #baeddel #baeddelism

[cyberatioum]

How can you be a trans woman and use a terf-like talking point to justify the exclusion on transmasc from gay male spaces ?

#transandrophobia #anti transmasculinity #baeddelism #trans #transmasc #transmasculine #transphobia

[redditreceipts]

I think tme/tma originated from a mtf movement called male ''baeddelism'' to addeess how 'afab' people oppress transwomen

There's this article written by a self-identified baeddel, which explains their ideas in detail.

"Let's talk about baeddelism":

https://medium.com/@gfgfgf/lets-talk-about-b%C3%A6ddelism-67050054b8f0

The person seriously used ''gynocentrism'' (a term often used by MRAs) to criticize the fact that feminism is centred around natal female lol.

(tme is short for "trans misogyny exempt")

lmao I already know a culture that is about centering men, and the culture is called "western civilisation".

so name me one example of a person "exploiting transmisogyny". how would anyone do that? and how do people "benefit" from "transmisogyny"?? what benefits have I received as a transmisogyny-exempt person? ah, here we have an example:

me when I really want to be oppressed and am reaching for straws

Okay, I'm gonna engage with your points and refute them:

there is no oppression based on identity, because people don't know what you identify as when they oppress you. so your identity literally doesn't matter

there are four main reasons for why trans women are oppressed: 1. people think that you are an actual woman and are being misogynist (regular misogyny), 2. people think that you are a gay man and are being homophobic because you don't pass to them (regular homophobia), 3. people think that you are mentally ill and not well-adjusted (regular ableism) 4. people find your appearance off-putting because you dress like an anime girl as a grown adult male (lookism I guess). None of these reasons is some kind of new mystical oppression that only trans women face.

the entire trans movement already focuses on you. trans men get almost no coverage, not in the positive and not in the negative. nobody is speaking over you. you only feel like that is the case because males think that women are talking more than them when women actually talk less than them.

please name me one single example where women have profited off of transmisogyny on a structural level

#radical feminism #radblr #radical feminists do interact #radical feminists please touch #gender critical #terfblr #feminism #baeddelism #baeddel #gender critical feminist #gender critical feminism #material feminism

[imhoser]

Instead of calling baeddels TERFs, I think it’s better to add one more letter in—TMERFs.

Transmasc Exclusionary Radical Feminist.

That’s who they literally are, they deny any discussion on how transmascs are affected by misogyny by stating we experience “male privilege.” That’s denying us a chance to better our lives through feminism, as they deny the effects of misogyny on our lives after we begin to transition. They repeat the same tactics as TERFs, whittling down every complaint of ours as us simply being men who want to butt into their space.

The exact same abuse so many transfemmes face, some turn it around on us because people don’t inherently “learn” from suffering. Suffering people can perpetuate further abuses onto others.

#lgbt discourse #baeddel #baeddelism #transandrophobia #anti transmasculinity #tmerf

[ratgxrl-extraordinaire]

when half the baeddel compound is littlespacing and you have to make sure they don't sit too close to the communal crt so they don't get square eyes

#baeddel #baeddelism #theory

[baeddel-txt]

#baeddel #baeddels #baeddelism #transandrophobia

[thee-radio-host-is-a-kookaburra]

Why do you believe transandrophobia exists

Because I’ve faced it.

I was there when the Baeddelism “movement” took Tumblr by storm. I didn’t have an online presence then, but I watched it all happen from the outside. If you want more information on Baeddelism I recommend checking out @/baeddel-txt for both testimonies from former members and many, many examples of the harassment they perpetuated.

The whole “transandrophobia doesn’t exist bc nobody hates masculinity” is bullshit. Talk to ANY butch lesbian ever. Talk to ANY black man ever. If you belong to a minority, your masculinity is a threat. It’s dangerous. It’s used against you.

The “transandrophobia implies ‘androphobia’ exists!” is also bullshit, because we’ve changed it so many times and yet it’s never good enough for people. Even saying “anti-transmasculinity” gets you shit. Hell, that post I made where I didn’t even use the word “transandrophobia”, just “transphobia against trans men”, got me an angry anon calling me a horrible transmisogynist.

Also, it’s a combination of “trans” + “andro” + “phobia”, not “trans” + “androphobia”.

Even if this isn’t all enough for you, you have to acknowledge that discrimination among minorities does very among gender because the patriarchy effects everything.

Conclusion is that discrimination doesn’t follow “rules”.

Real life experiences are more creditable than your “rules”.

#last thing i’m saying on this topic #i’ll delete any other anons #transandrophobia #transandromisia #anti transmasculinity #baeddelism

[nothorses]

Hello there, I found on my tl this post presenting a different view on "baeddelism" from the perspective of a trans woman that claims that she was actually there when the og group existed and explains why the word has become somewhat of a transmisogynistic slur. And I wanted to ask you If you might have any thoughs on this reading of the subject matter?

www.tumblr.com/euniexenoblade/741692501713387520/anyways-baeddel-is-a-slur-against-trans-women

I mean, I think there's merit to the idea that calling people "baeddels" when they don't actually claim to be one themselves is at best counterproductive. The term refers less to A General Ideology, and more to a very specific movement- or, more accurately, two unrelated-but-similar movements that happened in the early/mid 2010's.

There's a term for what folks are usually talking about when they call some random trans woman a "baeddel" when she says she believes trans men oppress trans women: "TIRF", or trans-inclusionary radical feminist. It's a term that was coined by people who call themselves by it, and it's a lot more broad & generally useful here. It doesn't come with ties to a group that dissolved because of sexual assault allegations & rape apologism, and it isn't rooted in an Old English slur, which means it's a lot less charged. It's less likely to get people to shut down or laugh your whole point off because of how clear it is that you aren't listening to or engaging in anything they have to say with good faith.

So yes, I agree, calling random people "baeddels" is not in good taste. Don't do it. "TIRF" exists, it's more accurate, and it's less likely to hurt your argument anyway.

That said.

I take issue with the implication that:

a) Baeddels were tiny and utterly non-influential (therefore all references to them at this point are malicious exaggerations and bogeymen), and

b) Everyone self-describing as a "baeddel" today is actually just reclaiming a slur, exactly like people do with "tranny" and "faggot".

Baeddels (on Tumblr; again, there was a "baeddel" movement on Facebook at the time as well, but it was unrelated and ideologically distinct) were not so small that they had no impact, and to characterize them as widely unpopular- or, worse, influential only in that everyone hated them so much that alt-right bigots immediately revived "baeddel"s original meaning as a slur to in order to victimize all trans women- should immediately ping some alarm bells.

Baeddelism's core ideology centered around the idea that trans women are the most oppressed group, that transmisogyny is the root of all oppression, that trans women are always victimized, never safe, never understood, except around and by exclusively other trans women. This sucks, because there is very real oppression and trauma being preyed on here; trans women are encouraged to be paranoid and distrustful of anyone different from them, and their own experiences with oppression are weaponized against them in order to do so. This should remind you of the recruitment tactics cis radfems use.

That aside, there are some places where baeddelism's influence has been documented: @baeddel-txt is one example. Note that a lot of the posts archived there are recent. Here's one of the original crew, still active and spewing the same shit. Baeddelism has been experiencing something of a renaissance in recent years, too. Here's one of the original (ex-)baeddels talking about it as recently as 2021.

This is not "reclaiming a slur", these people are referring very explicitly to the original ideology & the desire, or observed desire, for that same movement to be brought back in the present day.

Does that make every TIRF-y trans woman a baeddel?

No!

But it is incredibly, and suspiciously disingenuous to deny the harm they caused, the influence they had, and the admiration people still hold for their ideology. And it is downright ahistorical to claim that the term is now, or was at the time that the group was most popular, used genuinely as a slur (sources, I am begging you).

Do not call people "baeddels" unless they're claiming the word for themselves. Do not allow anyone to make you think, even for a moment, that transfeminine people are The Enemy; they do not oppress us, they do not benefit from our oppression, and the vast majority of them are not interested in any kind of lateral violence against us in the first place. They are our allies. Do not forget that they are our allies.

Forgetting that trans people are each other's best allies is what lead to baeddelism in the first place. We need each other. Things can only improve for any of us if we fight for each other. Don't let resentment sabotage you- or hurt our trans siblings.

#baeddels #baeddelism #transunity

[boot2004]

You might have seen a post or two talking about “baeddels”, and how it’s a new word people throw at trans women. How it’s from a thousand years ago dug up just to insult trans women. This isn’t the full story.

Baeddels didn’t get their name from, for example, some transmisogynist digging up an old slur to really get at trans women. It comes from a trans woman on this website who had the word “baeddel” in her blog name. Why is this important, and why was this specific woman chosen? Because she posted tons of massively anti-transmasculine things all the time, and spread transandrophobia with her pretty popular posts. The people who followed her and believed in what she was saying (usually trans women, as she would also post about cis men and women in a negative light) would be known as “baeddels” due to her name. Think “Trekkies” because of Star Trek.

Why am I even making this post, really? I think that we, as trans people, should stop infighting over petty bullshit. No, it’s not ok to call random trans women “baeddels” because you think they’re annoying. No, it’s not ok to call random trans men “transandrodorks” for talking about their lived experiences. Making shit up also isn’t good. Defending parts of our community that divide us further is a mistake. We should work together to fight transphobia and other injustices in our lives, like racism or sexism, rather than hurting our already fractured community. Talk to each other. Learn about each other’s experiences. Become stronger together, and we can stop the injustices thrown against all of us.

#baeddelism #baeddel #transandrophobia #transmisogyny #transphobia

[craycraybluejay]

Why is every popular transfem on Tumblr a neobaeddel.

Like yes! Transphobia sucks. Yes! Healthcare is a human right. Yes! Capitalism bad. No! Transmasculine people aren't "not oppressed" or "exempt from transmisogyny" nor should they be referred to by their "birth sex" or extremely othered by queer communities. Wtf.

Yes yes yes no.

Like. Can you people please be normal about trans men and transmascs for like. One second.

#transandrophobia #intersectionality #baeddelism #trans masculinity #anti tma and tme #'you don't experience transphobia' #girlie you are being transphobic at me and ppl like me rn wtf are you talking about #people try to uplift themselves without putting down another group of people challenge (impossible) #it is not that hard not to throw people under the bus #disabled people are cool except for those with disabilities i dont like or that i think garner more sympathy #trans people are cool except for those i dont like or i think garner more sympathy #just say you don't care about people even mildly different from yourself and go #stop trying to sow division you are indistinguishable from a government plant hope this helps

[cyberatioum]

You can explain this phenomenon without including the idea that transmisogyny is the fulcrum of patriarchy (and therefore that anti-tmasculinity is a secondary oppression that will only be abolished with the abolition of transmisogyny). Positioning transmisogyny as the root of patriarchy is, i'll repeat it again, a fundamnetal idea of baeddel belief system.

Here we go again with attempts at coercion - "it's the only solution" - no it's not. The other solution is to recognize the interrelated and convergent relationship between anti-tmasculinity and transmisogyny without rehabilitating the idea that one oppression is more serious, more important while the other is secondary (that's what "transmisogyny as a fulcrum" theory does) and simultaneously opposing bioessentialism. You know, it's possible to not hierarchize transfem and transmasc oppression, it's possible to develop a theory that doesn't frame one of them as the fulcrum of the other or of patriarchy. I'm sick of this level of dishonesty.

You are misrepresenting our alternative solution(s) to terf radicalization when you claim that we propose the idea transmisogyny and anti-tmasculinity are opposed to each other and based on ASAB (when we insist that they are connected and mutually reinforce each other and are based on how you are gendered by your environnement). It's another misleading description of our solution(s) that is intentionally made to push us to embrace the baeddel alternative (''transmisogyny as the fulcrum'').

#transandrophobia #anti transmasculinity #antitransmasculinity #baeddelism #transmasc #baeddel #trans #transmasculine