Alli Coates and Signe Pierce made a simple little movie. Watch how the people react.
Don’t you dare be different in even the slightest, most inoffensive way!
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
I found the editing unwatchable in the first two minutes. Seemingly arbitrary slow-downs and stuttering video and sound was an immense turn-off.
Disturbing is exactly right. What the fuck is wrong with people.
Hate for the different plus mob mentality. Disturbing indeed. I was sincerely concerned for her safety after a while.
At 1:53, someone shouts: “It’s a shim!”
That person is correct. The subject of this video is, in fact, a shim designed to translate male-gendered API calls to female-gendered ones and vice versa. Poorly implemented, but admittedly a good implementation is probably impossible in this system. There’s a joke in here somewhere. I’ll show myself out.
When society can stop asking the question “Is that a man? Woman?” and instead say, irrespective of the answer, “Yes they matter. Yes they have value.” then that’s a society I’d love to live in.
Fuck this current status quo, though.
Serious transmisogyny trigger warnings for that video. I saw someone throw water at her while people laughed before I had to turn it off.
This person suffered and was humiliated by humanity for no other reason than to give them the opportunity to mock and deride. There was no big payoff for anyone, or a seat at the right hand of god.
Well done Coates and Pierce, for allowing these idiots to show their true selves. Now these common folk can watch their mockery of the Divergent One until they are near death, and even show it to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren if they wish. How proud they will be!!
…and to have that godly preacher shouting words of Christian hate at an innocent person who is actively being mocked and followed by a hostile crowd! ….classic!! This little film did what art should do sometimes….hold a mirror (in this case mirror-mask) towards the viewer and allow them to see themselves in a new way or as they truly are. In short, I liked it.
Jesus. People are just awful.
I think we all need to band together and fight against bad video editing.
The Mellow Monkey @ 6:
Juice of some sort was thrown too, you could see it stain. Unfortunately, that was not the worst that happens.
rghthndsd @ 9:
I think assholes who are unable to pay attention to a serious subject should refrain from making assholish comments.
The violence from women and girls around her was staggering, running past hitting her, throwing water, bottle and cans, trying to trip her up. There was that skeezy bloke pawing her at the beginning, but most seemed to avoid touching her even. Not to mention the horrible assault from that grown woman, on camera. Would be interesting if they had spotters and caught up with her to ask her just why. What in the world got her so angry, it’s incomprehensible. Don’t know if the injury to her knee was real at the end, but given the force she was shoved with I wouldn’t be surprised. Really awful.
Caine @11: Yes, because if you don’t like one thing, it means you can’t pay attention to anything else.
I interpreted the mirrored face as meaning, “look at this other person and see yourself.” Of course, no one could.
rghthndsd #13
You do seem more concerned with quality of the video than with the content.
rghthndsd @ 13:
In your case, that seems to be the problem, as you had nothing of substance to say about the actual content of the video. And you bothered to post again, to say nothing of substance once more. The failure mode of clever is asshole. That’s a good thing to remember.
rghthndsd @ 13
You chose to comment on the video editing instead of the content. People made a totally reasonable inference about your priorities.
rghthndsd
Except it’s not about you not paying attention, it’s about you distracting attention away and diminishing the content of the video with your snide-ass remark about the editing. Basically, you were stating that the bad video editing was more important than the horror contained in the video. Fuck that noise. You need to quit digging your little hole there.
Good old America. Land of the Free. Home of the Brave.
That sturdily built young lady was so brave the way she attacked boldly from the rear. Scott Lively will be most impressed…
http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/marriage-issue-time-for-pitchforks-and-torches/
Geebus, PZ, The Mellow Monkey is right, maybe a little warning before you drop evil transphobia in front of us? Fucking triggered as hell by that trip down memory lane. :/
And before anyone gets all righteous about how crappy the US is, you could shoot that same video in almost any city in the world, and it’d go the same way. I’ve encountered this kind of abuse in Canada, the US, the UK, France, Hong Kong and Thailand, also known as “every country I’ve been to since transition”.
Not a single person says wait, stop, that’s a person, why are you acting like that? Not a single police person on that whole street? My hands were shaking so badly I could hardly hold my phone. That was horrifying.
Holy fuck, I hate people.
Over and over again, “why aren’t you the right kind of woman? Why aren’t you fitting my fantasy?”
Such blatant selfishness at the heart of transmisogyny.
Not that it in any way justifies the behavior in the video, or is even related to it, but it reminded me of how I am bothered by other guys who wear mirrored sunglasses. It has always seemed to me that they are cutting off a primal mode of communication – that of seeing another person’s eyes. Am I primitive and unenlightened for feeling this way?
Ugh. This is why it’s hard not to roll my eyes when white guys in business suits say things like “Dare to be different.” People suck.
Just watched the film and I am still processing it. But I will say this, while I do not dress to call attention to myself and while I never had a crowd of people howling at me like that; I have heard everything shouted in that video shouted at me at some point.
Every single one.
As for the bullshit that rghthndsd has to say, I will say this; the editing, the stutter shots and the slowed down version of that rape anthem is all an attempt to show the disassociation that the person was feeling. When one is being yelled at and being assaulted, one sense of time and perception becomes distorted.
So, rghthndsd, all I have to say to you is this; blow it out your ass. You so far have nothing useful to say.
That was shocking. The first minute or so, I was mostly musing on the effect of putting a blank mask on someone in public, and the thing about the mirror, then tutting about the kids, mostly, acting like yahoos. Then the water was thrown and I was, like, “Who brought these kids up, fer pity’s sake?” And then the bottles. Shit. And then the madwoman pushes her over. (I’m using “mad” as a colloquial description, not as a medical or legal judgement.)
I couldn’t tell, myself, if the performer was cis or trans, and it’s not relevant, I guess, except as a minor issue of whether the yahoos were frothing over nothing or less-than-nothing. I still wonder how much of the reaction was down to the performer being unable to make eye contact with the crowd, and how much down to them acting up for the “camera-lady”. But even if those were huge proportions of it, there’s still that bit that’s due to the transphobia. Shit. What a bunch of non-gendered reproductive organs.
Still, the nature of this kind of thing is that you’re going to see all the idiots, and not notice the ones who didn’t make a fuss. And the guy who went to check on her after she was pushed didn’t seem like a complete asshole.
Fair witness, that mask served a number of purposes. It gave her more ambiguity while also helping to make her stand out even more. and, while it was not probably planned this way, it has to help mask the fear she must have felt, especially after she got pushed. She could not have known if the assault (And it was an assault.) would continue.
“I interpreted the mirrored face as meaning, “look at this other person and see yourself.” Of course, no one could.”
See yourself as the masked person, or see what you look like as you harass and assault this person? Kinda works either way.
NelC, the transphobia started at the 45 second mark when you can hear a woman yell at the propositioning man; “That’s a man, sir!”.
NelC @28:
I think a lot of it was down to Pierce committing the unforgivable sin of looking confident while being different. I’m in awe of the courage that took.
Janine,
I didn’t know if that piece of shit was going to come running back to hit her more either. I was cringing and covering my eyes after that point.
And look at the various people smiling and recording. This crowd is no different from the ones that came out to watch and participate in lynchings.
What impressed me most was the bravery exhibited by the person in the mask. To put yourself in that position, to sexualize yourself with the short dress, heels, and stripper dance moves in front of a crowd of baying yahoos took a lot of courage. I can easily imagine her having gotten assaulted more violently than she did. The mob mentality can, and usually does get out of control.
I kept thinking of what happens when you drop an ant from a different colony amongst another colony. It literally gets torn apart.
I found it strange that the crowd kept politely making way for the camera woman, while taunting the person she was filming. And I wonder how long she would have lain there before someone actually tried to assist her.
This is what it takes to make change happen. Step by incremental step. Kudos to the courage of the person in the mask.
I once heard (I don’t know where) that if you captured a monkey and dyed it green and released it back to its troop the other monkeys would try to kill it. And some people pride themselves that we are “higher” than the “animals.”
Ironically, the mirror was the only thing about the victim that I found unsettling. I have a minor mirror phobia, so that’s not shocking.
But I wonder if everyone would have acted the same way if they could have seen her face? I’m curious whether the mirror hid her humanity enough that they could justify their monstrous behavior in ways they normally wouldn’t.
Read the thread. A couple of trans women have already told you this is not uncommon, and I assure you neither of us was wearing a mask when it happened, over and over and over.
Remember that your shock is the marker of your cis privilege; trans folk don’t get that advantage, to find this shocking. We have to live with this shit all the time, any time, any place.
Now, stay woke, and speak up next time you hear any of this.
It was also pretty amazing that her girlfriend was filming, how she didn’t run to help her when shoved over I don’t know. Her Twitter is here (The mirror mask woman that is) -> https://twitter.com/sigggnasty
This is fucking harrowing.
I haven’t watched the video, I read the comments and don’t think I could handle it. Does that make me “close-minded” according to Richard Dawkins? Should I have to expose myself to ‘ideas’ like trans-hatred in order to be worthy of University education? Maybe y’all are being close-minded for thinking what happens in the video is “bad”. How dare anyone ask for a trigger warning for that video!
CaitieCat @37, even so, I pray that experiencing that much overt transphobia in such a short period is very, very rare. (Better, of course, to not experience it at all.)
Janine @31, it hadn’t occurred to me that she wasn’t cis until that point, and even so, for several moments I assumed it was just said to unsettle the guy (cis privilege on my part, I know). Now, my monkey curiousity is aroused, but I’m not going to satisfy it, because it’s not really any of my business.
It is not rare.
NelC @ 41
So despite being told it’s not rare by people in a position to know far better than you would, you’re going to continue to believe it’s rare because reasons. Stop this shit.
What a horrifying video. She’s lying on the sidewalk and it seemed like forever before anyone even tried to check on her well-being. That knee injury did look real. Probably faster to heal than.
Goddamn it. I hope afterward she was surrounded by friends.
The video editing was pretty jarring, but… in the context of an abusive mob, it worked.
The introduction to the section titled Transgender Victims of Sexual Assault on the Department of Justice website:
Statistics documenting transgender people’s experience of sexual violence indicate shockingly high levels of sexual abuse and assault. One in two transgender individuals are sexually abused or assaulted at some point in their lives.1 Some reports estimate that transgender survivors may experience rates of sexual assault up to 66 percent, often coupled with physical assaults or abuse.2 This indicates that the majority of transgender individuals are living with the aftermath of trauma and the fear of possible repeat victimization.
And that’s just sexual assault. Not common every day assaults.
It goes on to say:
Sexual assaults can be perpetrated by any individual; however, it is particularly startling when professionals who are in “helping” roles abuse their power and sexually assault individuals they are supposed to be serving. Fifteen percent of transgender individuals report being sexually assaulted while in police custody or jail, which more than doubles (32 percent) for African-American transgender people. Five to nine percent of transgender survivors were sexually assaulted by police officers.4 Another 10 percent were assaulted by health care professionals.5
Very disturbing, on multiple levels.
Two things I noticed in particular. One, was the (for me) unexpectedly cruel and violent action of the women. The people who seemed the most emboldened for physical contact and attack were other females. I’m not sure what was going on there.
Another thing that chilled me was the repeated warning “Don’t go to jail for her, don’t go to jail for her.” I can only assume this referred to the fact that the person in the mask was being filmed and therefore the friend would be caught if they assaulted her –which is what they were going to do, in public, because — .
This film reminded me a bit of that video of the young woman walking through New York (?) and experiencing numerous catcalls and comments. While the subject of this film was deliberately drawing attention to herself with the spooky mirrored mask and the dance moves, the over-reactions were escalated. Sheer hatred, contempt, and violence.
Had I been there, would I have done anything and told people to knock it off? Said something nice, like “That’s a beautiful dress?” Called the cops? I like to think so, but I don’t know. I’m assuming that this question on the part of the other audience — us — is also something the film is trying to provoke.
Seven of Mine @43, I’m not skeptical, it’s just a long way from my experience as a cis-man to even see such vitriol. It’s shocking to see the video and contemplate the statistics on assault and murder of transpeople and difficult to link that with what I’m being told into a cohesive narrative. I don’t disbelieve anyone on this.
What I find particularly fascinating is that in the comments nobody seemed to recognize that this was a staged event. The people in the video knew that the masked person was being filmed with a camera. It could have been filmed with a hidden cellphone but it was staged as a filmed event that people referred to “the camera lady”. This is particularly important in the assault footage which was filmed right in front of the camera. Thus when the masked person fell down, the crowd could still see the camera person filming the event calmly and not providing assistance. So the real question is how much of the action in this video was a consequence of it being a staged event and people behaving in ways to participate in the filming?
Yes, that’s the real question…
I do wonder if I would’ve been brave enough to break up the group. Would I have called the police? Or would I have sulked to the side, making clear to anyone with me that nothing of what’s happening is acceptable? In a world where the police weren’t as flawed as they are, I’d perhaps have liked to be one. To have angrily stepped in and dispersed the crowd, my blue uniform as a shield? Well, none one of this is about me, sitting at a desk, thinking of how heroic I might’ve/mightn’t have been. Transmisogyny like this is too common, needless to fucking say.
zoniedude #48 wrote:
Maybe not the ‘real’ question, but I’ll agree it is a question. And if the action was provoked partly because of staging, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the transphobia, misogyny, or abuse is less disturbing. In some ways it might even be worse.
This is how we need to perform for an audience, this is what we need to do when we know we’re being watched, this is what I am expected to do because there is a camera and this is clearly a target against which I must show my bravery, my normalcy, my outrage, my wicked sense of humor. Showtime!
Egads.
“Maybe they only acted that way because they were on camera”
Bullshit. Why would someone be more likely to commit the crime of assault when they know someone is recording video evidence? If they used a hidden camera this thread would have people claiming they only acted that way because they thought nobody was watching.
“Maybe the mirror mask made them uncomfortable”
Yah that’s gotta be why they were nasty and violent, the mask. Human beings just go apeshit whenever they see a mask. That’s why every single Halloween ends with a bloodbath in the streets.
All we need is “Maybe it’s because she wore a short dress” and we’ll have a trifecta of shitty excuses.
Telling that, with a camera rolling, so many showed off their transphobia, and so little showing of compassion. Doesn’t anybody even want to look like a decent human being, on camera?
georgewiman,
They think they are being decent people, just like the huge crowds that gathered to torture and kill black people in public despite being seen in broad daylight and being photographed. That’s why I made that lynching comparison. That’s how fucked up society is with respect to trans people.
Yes, zoniedude, the event was staged, just like any other event filmed with a film camera in plain view.
And yet the people there felt free to show of their hatred and their fear. And that woman felt free to assault the woman being filmed.
And I will add this, as a trans woman, I have had everything except for being pushed to the ground done and said to me.
@48 A camera can be a powerful instrument in dehumanizing someone. You’re describing the bystander effect – where when a person sees others not helping they feel less inclined to help – but this can’t be used to excuse vile behavior. After all anyone can hold a camera, and can even claim to be a ‘friend’ or to be ‘staging’ something… Just because it’s being filmed doesn’t mean whats going on is ‘safe’, ‘under control’ , or ‘right’. Just because a camera might help ‘prime’ a crowd doesn’t mean we can dismiss the crowd’s actions.
Particularly when you’ve got people on this very thread saying its happened to us, with no cameras around. If anything, its worse. I’ve been pushed, punched, slapped, chased, and a couple of times beaten for proper. And this largely in nice, friendly, safe old Canada.
Stop making fucking excuses for these people, and listen to the cis people right here saying g they don’t think they’d speak up. They probably wouldn’t. No one, EVER, has spoken up for me when it’s happened. I’ve not bothered with the police, either, because they just love a chance to put someone – something, usually – like me into the men’s side of the jail, until the court tells them otherwise. You may use your imagination how that goes.
It’s. Not its. Stupid autocorrect.
I “liked” (in a grim sort of way) how after the assault the masekd lady in blue was able to chase the crowd away by just walking towards them in a seemingly confident manner and slapping her shoes together. Scurried off they did. Such fear and hatred and all-around primitivity in these people. Herd mentality at its worst.
I feel the video is a reminder that civilisation is a fragile thing, and that we cannot depend on its achievements. Let this shit continue unchallenged for just a few decades, not even more than a single generation, and we are truly back in the middle ages.
Other observations/thoughts:
– I think it is probably true that the presence of the camera lady had some sort of effect on the crowd, in that sense “Zoniedude” @#48 perhaps has some sort of a point. It is still hard to discern exactly what effect though. It is of course possible that a few people were confused and thought that the assault was part of the act, and that they remained passive because of that. But still none of the behaviour where the masked lady is directly targeted for verbal or physical abuse can be excused away by that.
– It would probably be natural, and not necessarily a problem, that a person dressed and masked and moving around like our mirror faced heroine might attract attention and perhaps an audience in a busy nightlife neighbourhood like that. If people had inquired about the mask or the act, or complimented her on her appearance or her moves, or even asked her to pose with a friend for a picture, that would all have been acceptable. The raw, contagious hatred on display though…
– The guy checking on the masked lady after she was pushed to the ground appeared to be really concerned. If he was not part of the crew, at least he did walk with her a little while after she got up. Seemed quite scared of the crowd himself, so that was brave to do what he did. At least that was the impression that I got.
Sastra #46
Women are themselves disenfranchised members of society. So if they see someone they could hurt with impunity and if they are so inclined they will do so eagerly. It’s not just women either – any disenfranchised group acts this way when they can.
It’s like that old joke:
When a slave is not a slave?
When s/he is a slave-master.
If you don’t believe me, read up on the wives of slave owners in south USA. They were reputed to be (in most cases, there are always exceptions) much more vicious to the slaves than the real masters were. You’ll see it in many reports as a casual mention with various reasons given (for example, jealousy of slaves raped by her husband), but it was a common event.
re Staged Event:
I debated for a while whether to make a comment about this side element. I’ve often seen group reactions to this type of performance art where someone “distances” themselves from the public by wearing odd, somewhat inhuman costumes such as this mirror mask and wig in this case, (but I’ve seen it in people sprayed in silver, or dressed in rat suits, or in mummified sack-cloth etc.), and move and respond in ways outside reactive norms, that people respond in weird and hostile ways. There’ll initially be uncomfortable “What’s that? What’s s/he doing? God, that’s weird. I don’t like that. It’s weird. Ooh, I don’t like that.” When the performer moves slowly and doesn’t seem to react to his/her environment, the group often gets into a “what’s going on? I dare you to talk to it. No, you talk to it. ‘hey, what are you doing’. Oh, my god! I talked to it! That was so fucking creepy! ‘Hey, you! What are you!’ Oh, my god, I’m going to poke it with a stick! Do you dare me to poke it with a stick?”
This seems to be an extension of that and much more violent than typical. The “it’s weird for a guy to wear dress like a girl” is a huge, and really discouraging part of this performance. But in all, this confused mob reaction is typical and an extension of the an-alien-has-been-plopped-in-front-us-I’ll-poke-it-with-a-stick-just-because-I-don’t-know-what-else-to-do response.
I’ve actually never understood and always disliked that response and and this one, heightened to violent transphobia, is particularly nasty.
It’s interesting to see how the violence escalates. First it’s questions, then rude insults and demands. Then the girl runs past her–“I missed!”–gauging what the reaction, what the response would be. With no impediment, she steps it up with physical contact. People move in closer, the first water bottle gets thrown. Shortly after, the second. The bar for impressing the crowd, for transgressing boundaries, keeps getting raised, and the fear changes more and more clearly to hostility. First it was all “don’t come near me,” then it’s “why you runnin’?” though she hasn’t actually changed her walking speed. Then it’s thrown bottles instead of just their contents. Someone mentions that if she gets tripped, she’s going down, and shortly thereafter a teenage girl tries to trip her. And then comes the running push.
It’s the perfect microcosm of mobs that exist online or in real life, where similar acts of violence and transgression are rewarded by the community, and where the bar is being continually raised, from saying harassing things to making threats to tracking down personal information to sending SWAT teams to your house.
woozy @ 60
That’s not a wig. Signe Pierce has long blonde hair.
That’s not part of the artist’s performance. She’s a woman in a dress.
Sastra @46
“Two things I noticed in particular. One, was the (for me) unexpectedly cruel and violent action of the women. The people who seemed the most emboldened for physical contact and attack were other females. I’m not sure what was going on there.
Another thing that chilled me was the repeated warning “Don’t go to jail for her, don’t go to jail for her.” I can only assume this referred to the fact that the person in the mask was being filmed and therefore the friend would be caught if they assaulted her –which is what they were going to do, in public, because — .”
I was thinking about this at lunch. Why was it more women than men? One would “expect” the men to be more aggressive, for a number of reasons.
I don’t think the women in the crowd were actually responding more negatively than the men. I think the men were holding back. It means something different, culturally-speaking, when men attack compared to when women attack (especially if we’re talking about a mob mentality). Women attacking someone doesn’t seem as “serious”: Men are “supposed” to be fighters. If the men had started attacking the person in the mask it would have been nearly the equivalent of someone drawing a weapon. It would have escalated things to a much more violent level.
That brings me to: “Don’t go to jail for her, don’t go to jail for her.” The men wanted to attack. The mob wanted to bust out the “big guns”, but it didn’t, because someone was there with a camera.
What would the men have done if no one had been filming?
Oh. Okay.
Oops. I meant to write it was “a really discouraging part this reaction“. Not sure why I typed “performance”.
@Goblinman & Sastra:
Also, the audience was decidedly uncertain about whether the artist was, in fact, trans.
One of the things holding them back may very well have been uncertainty about gender. When one is convinced that a person before you is “a man in a dress” one is quite likely to respond with naked hostility, even aggression or violence. When one is not convinced, the conditioning not to hit (someone else’s) woman becomes a check on potential violence.
Notably, women don’t have the same “don’t hit a woman” conditioning. We have conditioning not to be violent at all, or save in certain specific circumstances, but here the ambiguity as to the sex of the artist doesn’t provide any extra check to women considering violence.
I was viciously physically attacked in middle school for the crime of merely wearing plain “boy’s” clothes, even though I was quiet, timid, kept to myself — and had very long hair and otherwise identified as a girl. Based on the recurring hatred I experienced, I can’t even imagine the level of hatred trans people must suffer (I largely stopped wearing my comfortable “masculine” clothes because of that incident…and others). This video is a sneak preview of the hatred. But my point is to refute (as others have already done) the claim that the woman’s harsh treatment was due, at least partially, to her “standing out”.
Furthermore, considering the context (beach night life), the woman’s ostentatious outfit and demeanor don’t even scratch the surface of unusual — and even if they did, it’s irrelevant — so I don’t feel like she was really drawing attention to herself in extraordinary ways.
How would anybody even know she’s trans (or not)? Why do they even care? I can’t understand why people felt like they had the right to even guess at (much less publicly announce said guesses!) the makeup of this woman’s genitals, past or present or future or imaginary or whatever. It just shouldn’t matter.
The video is terrifying, and I felt afraid even though I wasn’t in danger. I hope that I can have the strength to be an ally if I ever witness such violence. The confidence and courage of the masked woman, even when faced with a gathering mob, is utterly inspiring. I stand in awe of her strength. (I apologize if I come across as rambling…I can’t really explain my visceral response…and typing on a phone doesn’t help.)
*I’ll also mention that while the boys gladly verbally ridiculed me, the physical attacks were from girls. I think Crip Dyke is spot-on with her analysis.
making that point was clearly in the videographer’s mind when lingering on the man dressed as an axe-murderer with fake gore all over his face and clothing and contact lenses that made his pupils seem to be slits against a larger-than-usual background of eye-whites. It’s about 3 min in, maybe a little less.
You can’t see that and then realize that the only thing out of the ordinary at all was the mirror-mask AND then think that the mask-wearing was disproportionate to the environment, especially such that wearing a mask would be expected to inspire harassment and violence.
Besides, you’d have to ignore what the crowd says was driving them. Although 3 min in I had heard a couple “take off the mask”s, you didn’t have anyone trying to steal the mask (at that point) but you DID have someone trying to hit the artist’s crotch [while sprinting past the artist] to do a violent version of a “panty check”. Twice, in fact. There may have been more, but I didn’t watch past that. There are near-constant questions lobbed about sex/gender. The disgust in voices that occurs during some of the sex/gender harassment is simply not present in the “remove the mask” heckling. It was qualitatively different. There should be no doubt as to what drives the harassment and violence here.
The attention was on sex and gender. To the extent that the mask was at issue, it was likely because people thought that removing the mask would remove ambiguities and to sex and/or gender.
That’s a great point, Crip Dyke. I had noticed the focus on the ax guy and wondered why they focused on him so much. Everything you’ve said makes perfect sense.
I think I saw a random boob-grab.
A young woman has turned her head to watch the mask-person and a man going in the other direction gropes her.
I’m out of booze so I don’t think I can watch it again.
Yup, that was disturbing, alright. I mean, what is wrong with people? I could see giving a person with a mask a wide berth if suspicious about the intent of the person masking themselves or maybe gawking and saying things like “this is different; what’s going on, here?” That kind of reaction is just… malicious. And, of course, there was only one person with the moral fortitude to tell the crowd off, and only after it looked like Pierce had been K.O.ed.
My faith in humanity is further diminished. Everything else I had to say has already been said better.
Others say they had to stop watching, I couldn’t watch with the audio on.
No one dared say a word about a imposing looking white man carrying a lethal weapon (who was probably part of the set up), they only looked at him with fear. But dare to wear a dress, long hair and hide your face, well, you lose any right be treated as a person. The ax-wielder was one of the few (if not the only one) who didn’t say anything insulting.
This video also says a lot about having confidence, being fearless and the cowardice of harassers and violence. At the end she turns back to face them, and they run. Mobs and bullies grow in confidence when they know their targets can’t or won’t stand up to them, cowering when they do (see: Chase Culpepper’s recent victory and success in getting a driver’s license).
The anonymity of being faceless isn’t limited to just this video. There are zentai communities online and they talk about their experiences going out fuly covered. People’s posts mirror those of the film, from bizarre reactions to unwelcome comments to rare instances of violence. The key difference with zentai wearers is the lack of gender ambiguity.
By the by, does anybody know where I can buy one of those masks?
I’d forgotten about the axe-murderer cosplayer (or whatever he was) just because he seemed like an accidental encounter not having anything to do with the main “performance”. If he was part of the set-up, I’d’ve expected a little more to be made of the contrast in reactions to someone dressed as a Hollywood psycho and someone dressed as a Sorayama gynoid.
I just want to slip in an apology here for my earlier comments: I was trying to be sympathetic, and plainly failed mightily. I’m sorry.
During the first few moments of the video (I left the sound off), I thought to myself, “Oh, that’s a pretty dress – lovely color for her. Wish I had legs like those! Wish I felt as free with my body as she seems to feel with hers.”
Soon it all fell apart into a chaos of abuse, denigration, and rejection. It seemed unimaginable, that people would be so blatantly cruel to a person just for walking down the street.
But it is not “unimaginable” — as I’m learning, this is reality for most trans* people.
People like me — a white, cis, suburban, privileged person with a relatively easy life — need to watch this film. I need to watch this so I can understand what our trans* neighbors must endure just to exist, so that I can make better choices about how I behave, and how I model behavior for others.
It would have been bad enough if the bystanders had “only” ignored the walking person. But many actively harassed, abused, beat, and molested her, and everyone else either did nothing, or cheered on the abusers. It’s the combination of apathy and egging on that really struck me and made me angry, frightened, and very, very, sad.
Dear trans* friends, my heart aches for the pain and rejection you have endured. I am so sorry.
I pledge that I will acknowledge you, and greet you, and honor your personhood.
I will speak up for you, and speak out against bigotry and violence against you and against other marginalized people.
I will vote for people who pledge to acknowledge you and support you in leading a fulfilled, healthy life, and I will vote against people who refuse to acknowledge your personhood, and who try to limit your life through denial of healthcare and opportunity.
I really believe that is only because of little quirks of biology that each of us is born gay, or straight, or trans*, or anything in between. And that makes us all equal.
Why do you assume Signe is trans?
From a comment on her Tumblr:
This is horrifying. Terrifying. I keep having to pause – I wish I could somehow reach into the screen and protect her. Why are people so easily cruel?
I’d like to be a person who would step in. I’ll try to be that kind of person.
Usernames! (ᵔᴥᵔ) @76:
I don’t know about the person in the film, and I don’t see anything in my post showing that I was trying to assign gender status to this person, so I’m not sure what your concern is.
My entire comment at @75 was, in large part, a direct response to the experiences related by many commenters in this thread, who said that, for many trans* people, this is what life is like.
Here’s the full statement from my post, from which you quoted:
I suppose that in order to be really, precisely, exact, I should have said “as I’m learning from the comments in this thread.”
Haven’t watched this yet (at work), but it sounds harrowing.
One comment for the people up-thread who couldn’t believe this could happen so easily/often – It’s always uncomfortable to have your privilege-inspired assumptions shown up for false, but we have to try to see what’s really out there, since real people are having to see this so very much too often. As a straight, white, cis, man, I know I’ve got a lot to learn, I have to listen to those who know about it first hand.
Knowing about this sort of thing makes me appreciate how much it means when a trans* person feels comfortable enough to bring this up in conversation. When my trans* friends can talk about their lives in a social situation without fear and be heard for who they are, I figure I’m around some decent people.
Sweet Christ. That’s a truly amazing mix of open, guileless, but incredibly rude curiosity, street-harrasment and transphobia. There was a real mob thing going on at some points, and some little fucker through dink all over her. Disturbing is about right.
John Pieret (#35): I once heard (I don’t know where) that if you captured a monkey and dyed it green and released it back to its troop the other monkeys would try to kill it. And some people pride themselves that we are “higher” than the “animals.”
Theodore Sturgeon wrote a story about that: “Affair with a Green Monkey.” I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s online somewhere.