Community Profile

This community is for folks whose genders lie between or outside the commonly accepted male/female binary. This can include anyone who experiences or expresses their gender in a non-traditional way.

People who are not gender-variant (including family, friends, significant others, allies, and gender studies students) are welcome as well, but please be respectful of the fact that you are a guest in our space.

Similarly to LJ's genderqueer, this community exists as a forum for the support of gender non-conforming people, and for community discussion of gender queer issues and politics.

Rules:
A lot of things are acceptable and on-topic here, but there are several ways to get you warned, or banned from the communty altogether. These rules (although some of them may seem strange at first) exist so that genderqueer people from many different experiences can feel safe participating here. Links are provided, in some instances, for clarification. Anyway, here are the big "do"s and "don't"s.

1) Be respectful.
It might be more complicated than it sounds. This rule includes hate speech of all kinds, and prejudice against any group of people. In other words, no racism, misogyny, homophobia, biphobia, ableism, classism, or transphobia, no rants about how much you hate Christians, etc. in your posts to this community. It also means that you should keep your criticism constructive, even in the midst of heated debate, and avoid direct personal attacks.

2) Speak from your own experience.
Genderqueer people are a varied group, and not all of us experience our genders (or anything else) in the same way. Also, it's never cool to speak for groups that you're not a part of. Here are some examples:

A) Bad: Genderqueer people envision a gender free society!
Better: I, along with many other genderqueer people, am working towards a gender free society!

B) Bad: I don't identify as trans, but I think it's awesome how trans people break the binary!

3) Respect others' privacy.
If a post in this community is locked, don't post it elsewhere without the explicit permission of the original poster. This doesn't guarantee your privacy as a poster or commenter, so be careful with sensitive information such as your full name. Public posts to this community, including the comments to that post, may be linked to or posted elsewhere; posters and commenters should bear this in mind.

If something is not publicly available on the internet, it should not be posted here without the author's explicit permission. Don't repost e-mail exchanges between you and your transphobic cousin, and don't repost locked posts from others' journals/communities. It only causes drama, and is a violation of privacy. If it's published publicly, you're free to post it here for the community to discuss.

4) Be mindful of language.
Cuss all you want. But the language we use around gender, bodies, and sex is very powerful, so if someone tells you that you are using language that they find offensive or invalidating, listen. Maybe do a little research. At the very least, don't use the term in your posts to this community again. Or do so at the risks of mod warnings and flame wars.

If you are using a word in a reclaimed sense, make sure you are actually reclaiming it, rather than simply appropriating another group's identity and/or experience. This means that people who are not female-identified should avoid words like "bitch" here. It also means that people who are not trans feminine/women should use the word "tranny" at their own risk (here's Tobi's blog post on this subject).

5) Use cuts. If somebody asks you to put your post behind a cut, do so.
This would make life easier for everybody. When you use a cut, include an explanation of why it's being cut (for example "cut for family violence triggers"). Cuts should be used if your post contains any of the following:

A) long posts (40 lines or more)
B) anything sexually explicit
C) pictures
D) location-specific posts, such as for support groups or events
E) posts that may be triggering or upsetting to some readers (violence, abuse, etc.)
F) your trans-/genderqueer- focused research projects for school/work/whatever

6) Stay on topic.
Posts in should focus on gender-variant issues. Your post is not on topic simply because you are genderqueer.
Don't advertise for an unrelated community.
Don't spam. What counts as spam will be determined by the mods.
Don't ask for money or try to sell anything.

7) Don't screen or disable comments, or delete any one else's comments.
What you do with your own words (including your original posts) is your own business. But this is primarily a discussion community, and trying to silence other people is not okay here.

8) Use your common sense when deleting your own posts and comments.
Correcting spelling mistakes? Fine. Deciding later on that you don't want your picture/full name/location/humiliating story posted so publicly? Sure. Participating in a huge flame war and then deleting all of your inflammatory comments? Depending on the offense, a moderator will give you either a warning or--in extreme situations--an immediate ban.


Please don't hesitate to contact the moderator (transprose) with any problems, concerns, or questions about the community or its rules. He can be reached at a [dot] paper [dot] machete [at] gmail [dot] com.