So I Was Inspired By This Post On @manstrans Blog To Create A Flag For The Term Shikhandic. Here It Is:

So I was inspired by this post on @manstrans blog to create a flag for the term “shikhandic”. Here it is:

I’ll explain what the flag’s colours symbolize:

Blue: This colour is a nod to the colours of the transgender flag and the transmasculine flag. The name Shikhandi also means peacock feather, and those have tints of blue in them.

Red: The colour red has been associated with courage and rebellion, this is to depict how trans man and mascs have resisted against societal conventions and have fought to have their place.

Green: The meaning of green is also used in rebirth, this depicts a few things in the flag. Princess Amba was reborn as Shikhandi, and Shikhandi was sort of “given back” his life (because he was going to commit suicide) when he was allowed to have the body that he wants. Often when trans men/mascs discover their identity and who they are, they feel reborn as a new person.

Bow and Arrow: Shikhandi was a warrior and since the Mahabharata is set in ancient times, the common weapon at the time was a bow and arrow, so it is a nod to him and the story. This is also in line with my description of why I used red, to symbolize how trans men/mascs have battled for their rights as well.

Redesign and criticisms are welcome! I’m not a graphic designer, so I’m not sure if it looks that great. (If you will redesign it, please do give me credit).

Ironically, the same way trans men are erased, Shikhandi is erased in his own stories too. People either insist he was intersex, non-binary, or even a trans woman (in the traditional Mahabharata he is not). They either misgender him, or try to erase the fact that he was born female, by simply saying he was originally born male. I think that adds significance to the term as well.

Yes that is true, but like most conspiracy theories, it usually ends with people blaming “a secret group of Jews” or simply a secret group of ( for example the Illuminati) controlling the world. When someone calls another “transandrophobia truther” they’re bringing in antisemitic connotations to the conversation.

kind of seems like the main reason people dislike TME/TMA is because they don’t think transmascs have privilege over transfems (which. we do). kinda funny to hear all these people be like “listen to trans people when they talk about their experiences with oppression” because they mean “listen to transmascs when we say we experience transmisogyny” and not “listen to transfems when they say we don’t understand the level of transmisogyny they face their entire life”

You’re correct that people take issue with the idea transmascs have privilege over transfems, but the main reason people dislike tme/tma in my experience is that it’s an inaccurate binary. People have more complex experiences with transmisogyny than it covers. An intersex person afab who grows facial hair may not be the intended target of transmisogyny but most certainly isn’t exempt either. Nobody is really fully exempt from any system of oppression, so it’s just not accurate. I don’t have a problem with the term tma to describe people who experience abundant transmisogyny, it’s tme I take issue with because yeah, it does talk over other people (not just transmascs, many people including cis perisex and intersex folks) about their real lived experiences with transmisogyny. And it is used for exactly what you’re acknowledging here: to say that everyone “tme” has privilege over everyone “tma.” That’s not how it works. Transmisogyny is awful but so are exorsexism and transandrophobia, from which binary trans women are exactly as exempt as non-transfems are from transmisogyny. Trans people do not have gendered privilege over each other. That is why so many people take issue with tma being used to say that transfems have it the worst of all queer people. Whatever happened to not engaging in oppression olympics? Why are we measuring privilege not based on the reality we see (transmascs having similar negative outcomes to transfems in many areas while having unique issues in other regards) but on trying to apply cis man & woman dynamics to the complex trans community?

gilbert baker designed his flag with the express purpose of it including every single queer person. baker was so dedicated to making sure his flag was inclusive that he added another stripe in 2017, lavender, to represent diversity. the concept that it’s for white gay men came around later and needs to be changed.

can we please go back to associating the original flag, and ideally the modern rainbow flag, with inherent inclusion of every single queer person? instead of deciding that the original wasn’t good enough? personalized flags are important for representing those who have typically been excluded from the queer community, but reclaiming the original flag as a symbol of inclusion is important too.

Not disagreeing with the post or anything, but to my knowledge “truther” is associated with antisemitic conspiracy theories. At least that’s what I’ve read and heard many times. Just for future reference.

kind of seems like the main reason people dislike TME/TMA is because they don’t think transmascs have privilege over transfems (which. we do). kinda funny to hear all these people be like “listen to trans people when they talk about their experiences with oppression” because they mean “listen to transmascs when we say we experience transmisogyny” and not “listen to transfems when they say we don’t understand the level of transmisogyny they face their entire life”

You’re correct that people take issue with the idea transmascs have privilege over transfems, but the main reason people dislike tme/tma in my experience is that it’s an inaccurate binary. People have more complex experiences with transmisogyny than it covers. An intersex person afab who grows facial hair may not be the intended target of transmisogyny but most certainly isn’t exempt either. Nobody is really fully exempt from any system of oppression, so it’s just not accurate. I don’t have a problem with the term tma to describe people who experience abundant transmisogyny, it’s tme I take issue with because yeah, it does talk over other people (not just transmascs, many people including cis perisex and intersex folks) about their real lived experiences with transmisogyny. And it is used for exactly what you’re acknowledging here: to say that everyone “tme” has privilege over everyone “tma.” That’s not how it works. Transmisogyny is awful but so are exorsexism and transandrophobia, from which binary trans women are exactly as exempt as non-transfems are from transmisogyny. Trans people do not have gendered privilege over each other. That is why so many people take issue with tma being used to say that transfems have it the worst of all queer people. Whatever happened to not engaging in oppression olympics? Why are we measuring privilege not based on the reality we see (transmascs having similar negative outcomes to transfems in many areas while having unique issues in other regards) but on trying to apply cis man & woman dynamics to the complex trans community?

Unauthorized water

It’s not clear when General Electric started boobytraping appliances with DRM. I first encountered it in January when Shane Morris tweeted about his fridge refusing to accept the $19 generic filter he replaced the GE $55 filter with.

https://twitter.com/IamShaneMorris/status/1220367934947758080

The fridges use an RFID detector to distinguish original GE filters from generic replacements, and engage in lots of anti-owner trickery, like memorizing the IDs of previously used filters and refusing to accept them.

https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/unauthorized-charcoal-ge-fridges-wont-dispense-ice-or-water-unless-your-filter-authenticates-as-an-official-55-component/159552/41

Morris isn’t the only one ourtaged that his fridge is plotting against him. One (anonymous) owner was so offended that they created a site dedicated to warning off potential buyers and explaining to other suckers how to bypass GE’s lockouts.

https://gefiltergate.com/

There’s a good reason for the anonymity. Under Sec 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, showing how to bypass an “access control” to a copyrighted work (eg RFID-detecting code in the fridge) is a potential felony, carrying a 5-year prison sentence and a $500k fine.

This is quite the moral hazard. Manufacturers have learned that if they design their products so that any use that hurts their shareholders (like buying third party parts) requires bypassing DRM, it becomes a felony to use your own property to your own advantage.

Which is why we’ve seen DRM creep into all manner of devices, from insulin pumps to tractors to car engines to Iphone screens. “Felony contempt of business model” is the statute that every monopolist has dreamt of, and with DMCA 1201, they have it in their grasp.

Back in 2011, I wrote a short story about this for MIT Tech Review’s first sf anthology, called “The Brave Little Toaster” (in tribute to Tom Disch).

https://craphound.com/news/2011/09/28/the-brave-little-toaster-from-trsf/

The issue only got worse, and so last year I published “Unauthorized Bread” as part of my collection “Radicalized” (it’s being turned into a TV show by Topic):

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

The metastasis of DRM into every product category shows that when business apologists talk about the sanctity of property, they mean the sanctity of CORPORATE property.

If the manufacturer gets to override your decisions about the things you buy - and felonize any attempt to wrest control back - they property ceases to exist. We become tenants of our devices, not owners.

It’s digital feudalism, in which an elite owns all the property and we get to use it in ways they proscribe. The difference is that today, our aristocracy isn’t even human.

It’s the immortal, remorseless colony organism called the Limited Liability Corporation, to which we are mere inconvenient gut flora.

Yeah I actually hate this thing of people always saying that misogynistic men are secretly gay, please stop.