Why I’ve decided to start responding to hate mail.

A man in a Guy Fawkes mask and hoodie sitting on what looks like a black pipe reading a burning newspaper.

In my last post, I responded to a particularly disgusting individual. In case you didn’t read it, she said that there was nothing wrong with my body. Then she started listing all the things about my body that she thinks make me less of a woman. You may have also noticed that it is part one in a new series on this site. Well, that is for a reason: I am going to be responding to hate mail.

Why respond to hate mail?

A man sitting in a warehouse holding a burning newspaper.

My goal is to educate and to encourage trans people to love and accept themselves for who they are. How does responding to hate mail further that aim? Furthermore, am I not distracting the purpose of this website by responding to the idiotic words of bigots?

My rationale for responding to hate mail is three-fold. Firstly, I figure it’s better to respond here on yay.ee as opposed to on the sites I get the hate mail on. Secondly, I’m doing something I choose to do. Thirdly, I want to have fun with it in order to show how ridiculous the transphobic positions are.

Firstly, better here than there

I know that responding to trolls and bigots one on one has a return of virtually nil. They aren’t going to change their behaviour and they are unashamed of their speech. However, if I take down their ridiculous and idiotic arguments here, I can more effectively link to resources with better information. It will also give me inspiration for future posts in debunking transphobic nonsense.

Additionally, sites like Quora and Facebook have community standards and terms of service that they inconsistently enforce. Typically, trans people and other marginalized groups get the short end of the stick when these things are enforced badly. Quora is a little better but not by much. Working on an epic response seems a bit futile if it eventually gets taken down by Quora Moderation.

Secondly, I choose to respond to hate mail.

Secondly, I’m doing something that I choose to do. While responding to bigots isn’t exactly the most comfortable way to be spending my time, I still feel some sort of gratification in taking down their nonsensical claims.

I accept that I have a higher tolerance for other people’s bullshit than a lot of people do. So, I figure that it’s better that they get their hate boner off with me than with a person more vulnerable to their hateful bullshit.

Thirdly, I want to play

A clown sitting in a chair in a dilapidated building with fake cobwebs everywhere, carrying a single red balloon.

Thirdly, I want to have fun with it. I remember reading the hate mail sections of sites like Normal Bob Smith with glee. I figure that I can not only take down their idiotic arguments but have fun doing so.

Objectively speaking, these people are clowns. And hopefully by so thoroughly taking down their terrible arguments, I can show them for the clowns they are.