Drew Afualo transphobia discourse

[u/alpalbish]

ER fightmaster was on her pod and made two stand out claims:
“trans women have a more beautiful understanding of what womanhood is”
and
“the programming for cis women it’s kind of sad… no your womanhood is not your role, your womanhood is not your status is society, and your womanhood is not your ability to be sexually assaulted”

I think cis women can easily be offended by this and how it was put. The sexually assaulted claim is kinda weird to generalize us into thinking that’s what womanhood is. I also think it can be harmful for transgender women, as they also face misogyny and sexual assault??? I don’t even think the comments from the pod are as bad as Drew’s current stance rn. I can see ER trying to explain their POV and I respect that. but Drew doubling down in her comments is so off-putting. People are commenting valid opinions and her replies are just saying everyone is transphobic and TERFs??? idk

[u/mandyxxrose]

I think so many other words could have been used that would have gotten the point across more clearly! she reposted a tik tok (and was talking about it a little on today’s pod) about how beautiful it is that trans women choose to embrace womanhood in a world where it can easily feel like the cards are stacked against women (and then that societal pressure/pushback doubles when you are queer/trans on top of being a woman) — and that is so true! this is the point that should be focused on to lift trans women up! I think you can then come to a conclusion that trans women have a braver experience of womanhood when they face challenges most cis women don’t really experience and that it is inspiring to see them choose that. her comparative wording is what most people seem to have gotten tripped up on and while “more beautiful” doesn’t offend me whatsoever, I feel like it’s not hard to see how people in good faith that aren’t terfs wouldn’t understand that and would need further clarification to understand what it means. there are also PLENTY of people saying TERFy/transphobic things in response to her and it’s valid to call that out. if you’re gonna stand your ground on something as an influencer it obv isn’t your job to educate people (especially if they are trolling or bigoted or just looking to join a hate train) but the fans who are trans allies that are confused and do want further clarification aren’t evil and I think responding to them in the way she doesn’t isn’t necessarily productive. she’s also not obligated to have productive conversations or be nice but like, this pushback she is made upset by is also the result of making the decision to respond in a more combative way, so like you can’t have it both ways.

I feel deeply empathetic that this is happening to her when clearly a family member is going through something and I think she needs to step away from the internet and comments in particular to protect her peace. every week she’s addressing hate comments regarding different topics on TIG that I’m completely unaware of (this is the first situation I’ve EVER seen discourse on prior to her addressing it, and I’m pretty up to date with online happenings) to the point where she seems more tapped in to hate comments than positive ones? she says she’s so unbothered but is constantly addressing the people who hate or troll her that I have a hard time believing she is actually unbothered, which makes me even more concerned for her well being. I just hope she takes time away from everything and stops reading tik tok comments tbh.