Anonymous asked:

did some kinda drama happen with markiplier and trans women?

Oh, Anon.

The short answer is: Yes. And Mark handled it poorly, and the community handled it worse. And thus far, Mark is ignoring it, or possibly even pretending nothing happened.

I really, really HATE calling it “drama” because trans women existing, and speaking up about problematic things, is not “fandom drama.” It is their lives. It is commentary on how dangerous our society is to them, to the point that (statistically speaking) many trans people will not live to see their 30th birthday. [X] [X] [X] Trans people, and in particular women, deal with so much hatred and prejudice and violence on a social scale already [X] [X] [X], so having their struggles reduced to “drama” is so, so awful because it recategorizes it as something trivial and worth dismissing. Even celebrity trans women have to put up with a ton of absolute crap from people. [X] [X]

The long answer? This will take a bit. Seriously. Take a bathroom break, grab some water, and get comfy, because if you want to check everything out, you’re going to be here for a while. I spent most of a day getting this post and all the links together, and it is far from comprehensive.

Okay, are you back and ready to go? Alright. Here’s some ground data about trans people, and trans women, to start:

Trans women are socially disadvantaged, all the way from familial support up to medical malpractice, homelessness, and mental illness. Trans women are an oppressed and marginalized group of people .



. Trans women experience a unique form of oppression. It is called transmisogyny . Trans women are the only authority on what is and isn’t transmisogynistic . If you are not a trans woman, you cannot determine what is and isn’t offensive to trans women. Additionally: the nature of offense is that it stems from some form of oppression. If a behavior or word or phrase is identified as offensive, chances are that it alludes to or relies on actual oppressive factors in the present and/or past. Oppression and offensiveness are not interchangeable. But they are related, in that things that are found to be offensive, are identified as such due to some aspect(s) of an existing system of oppression.

. . If you are not a trans woman, you cannot determine what is and isn’t offensive to trans women. Additionally: the nature of offense is that it stems from some form of oppression. If a behavior or word or phrase is identified as offensive, chances are that it alludes to or relies on actual oppressive factors in the present and/or past. Oppression and offensiveness are not interchangeable. But they related, in that things that are found to be offensive, are identified as such due to some aspect(s) of an existing system of oppression. Prejudice exists against them, so severely that “ trans panic defense ” [X] [X] [X] has been a real thing that was (and sometimes still is) used in courts of law to try to justify trans murders and excuse their murderers. There really are people out there that think trans people deserve to die because they don’t conform to either of society’s favored genders (cis man and cis woman).



” [X] [X] [X] has been a real thing that was (and sometimes still is) used in courts of law to try to justify trans murders and excuse their murderers. There really are people out there that think trans people deserve to die because they don’t conform to either of society’s favored genders (cis man and cis woman). Part of what contributes to the ongoing societal attitude that hurts trans women so much is the existence of stereotypes, tropes, myths, jokes, and misunderstandings surrounding what it means to be transgender. [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] None of these positively affect trans women’s lot in our society, and many actively contribute to their ongoing plight. I’m going to highlight a few very relevant ones here:



surrounding what it means to be transgender. [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] None of these positively affect trans women’s lot in our society, and many actively contribute to their ongoing plight. I’m going to highlight a few very relevant ones here: Crossdresser



Creepy Crossdresser



Incredibly Conspicuous Drag



Lady Looks Like a Dude



Trans Equals Gay



Transsexual (Painfully Ambiguous Application and Understanding)



We are Taught to Laugh at Trans People [reddit discussion]



Okay. Now, moving on to specifically what happened with Mark:

August 2012: I’m adding this section only because it has become prominent in discussion (as of May 5 2015). When Mark first began YouTube, he was much less aware/careful of his language. He used to use the t-slur, notably during Drunk Minecraft episodes. The main two episodes this occurred in were #6 and #7. Markiplier-CW has a few posts about it, as well as links. To date, Mark has never formally acknowledged that he understood why the t-slur is hurtful, nor apologized for using it. It does seem he stopped using the word, which lends credence to the fact that he has listened to feedback in the past and adjusted his behavior. Several people note the lack of acknowledgement and apology make it seem this shift was made more to avoid additional criticism than to express apology. There are still fans who would appreciate his formal acknowledgement and apology.

July 18 2014: Mark posted his Impossible Let’s Play: Makeup Challenge. [X] A notable quote from Mark, made for laughs, is in reference to a character from Silence of the Lambs. [X]

July 31 2014: Mark responds to someone calling him ugly with pictures from the challenge. [X] As of today (April 25 2015) the original poster’s blog is empty - presumably bullied and/or harassed to the point of deleting their blog’s content. The URL was left, likely to avoid someone taking it for themselves to continue mocking and degrading them. IF YOU KNOW THE NEW BLOG, DO NOT HARASS THEM. I can’t believe I have to even say that.

April 21 2015: Several trans women saw Mark’s response, presumably for the first time (which isn’t unlikely, considering how rapidly his community grows and that there are literally millions of new fans of all genders who were not subscribed in July 2014, myself included). A few identified his response as transmisogynistic, and some identified his behavior in the video that way, too. They made an effort to explain at first, and then had many, many ignorant and rude people continue demanding these trans women and their allies justify themselves. Do not, under any circumstance, BECOME one of those rude people. The following links are for reference only, and are not exclusively from trans women. Some accounts may belong to minors.



From artsytransgirl: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] URL no longer in use



URL no longer in use From translesanimefeels: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X]



From maria-the-nerd: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X]



From me: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X]

From markiplier-cw: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X]

From joshnewberry: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X]

From dollmace: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X]

From archangel-silver: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X]

From actualaster: [X] [X] [X]

From princessnellancholy: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X]

From others: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X]



From the 21st to the 24th, swarms of people (presumably Mark’s fans, as this discussion took place almost exclusively in the #markiplier tag) took to harassing the trans women and their allies who spoke up. Harassment ranged from: demands that trans women and their allies drop everything to explain themselves over and over (shoutout to TiA for not knowing what “demands to be educated” meant! I believe in you and have high hopes for your improved reading comprehension skills!); to justifications and excuses in Mark’s defense; to speaking over the trans women about transmisogyny; to being intentionally obtuse and avoiding the point; to anonymous hate and suicide encouragement. Mark himself contributed (see next point). This is only what was received and published from the most-active blogs that got involved and received negative attention: (AGAIN, do not, under any circumstance, use these links or posts as an invitation to harass these people. They are for reference only)



On artsytransgirl: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] URL no longer in use



URL no longer in use On translesanimefeels: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X]



On maria-the-nerd: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X]



On me: [X] [X] [X] [X]

On joshnewberry: [X] [X] [X]

On archangel-silver: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X]

On others: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X]



A NOTE: these links are provided solely for providing context to the interactions that occurred. Posts unrelated to the topic that are not linked here are not sufficient grounds to erase these interactions from the record. I have been made aware that people take issue with translesanimefeels for certain posts, speech, and behaviors outside of the posts linked. This does not alter these posts’ relevance. And as I have already stated: DO NOT use these links as a vehicle for harassment or antagonism.

April 21 2015: At least two people attempted suicide as a result of the bullying, harassment, and death-encouragement. I cannot relocate their posts or blogs at this time, so it is possible they deleted as well. I will keep looking. At least one other blog was deleted to escape harassment.

April 21 2015: Mark took to twitter in a first response to the criticism, re-posting the video with the comment: “ I feel the strong need to share this video today because it’s easily one of my favorites that I’ve ever made.” (and YES it was in response and did not happen first [X])

April 22 2015: Mark posted a condescending and sarcastic message on tumblr in response to the trans women’s criticism. It reads:



Priority One Alert

Emergency: People on Tumblr overreacted to something they didn’t fully understand.

In other breaking news water still wet. Scientists baffled.

Live and let live, today was a good day :)

<3 Markimoo



He continued this with one more short twitter update, reading “My sass cannot be contained.”

April 22 2015: A great many fans chose to “take back” the tag with selfies. This spam silencing campaign was launched with the professed purpose of “spreading positivity,” but also coincidentally had the effect of pushing all trace and discussion of the issue, the harassment, AND the suicide attempts out of easy reach. It is also worth noting that the origination of this effort came from blogs that were very active in trying to shut down trans women and their allies while discussion was still occurring. Even now, to post about a concern in the tag is to invite the ire of one of Mark’s white knights into your inbox.

April 24 2015: Mark’s most recent twitter update as of my typing this, easily relates back to this situation, after several updates regarding his usual content. This newest update reads: “Even people you hate deserve opinions. And sometimes they’re gonna have better ideas than you. Keep an open mind to everyone.“ I’m sincerely hoping this could mean he’ll be addressing the situation. I’m going to avoid reading too much into it, because there are a lot of different “yous” he could be addressing; each sentence could easily be directed to a different “you.” And frankly there are some pretty bad ways to read into it.



A few personal closing notes: I’m cis and strive to act as an ally. I did my best to stick to only what I’ve heard from trans women on the subject. I spent the better part of 12 straight hours putting this together, so there may be some overlap in the links I included. I’m fairly certain I didn’t use any duplicate links, however.



And again: DO NOT under any circumstances use the links as a vehicle for sending hate or harassment. The majority of blogs who contributed to discussion ARE from the MOGAI community and deal with plenty enough already.

EDIT 4/26 10 PM EST: some links are no longer working due to deleted content and/or blogs.

EDIT 4/26 11:25 PM EST: link added to 4/21 twitter post clarifying times.

EDIT 4/27 4:00 AM EST: link to Buffalo Bill wikipedia page added to 7/18 video info.

EDIT 4/27 8:30 PM EST: NOTE added after reference links regarding extraneous posts as excuse to discredit these receipts. Excuse does not stand.

EDIT 5/3 6:50 PM EST: Added August 2012 Drunk Minecraft and t-slur info and link regarding Mark’s past use of the t-slur, since that has been brought up a great deal lately, as well.

EDIT 5/6 3:45 PM EST: Elaborated on oppression and offensiveness; terms are not interchangeable, but are related.

EDIT 6/2 8:12 PM EST: Mark has made an apology post here.

EDIT FINAL: tumblr officially discontinued support of “master post” content and many qualifying posts had their link data erased. This post is one of them.