leinir @leinir@computerfairi.es

This is one of the really cool things about online community, actually. You are whoever you say you are.

Your profile says poledancer42? Do you know how to dance? Do you even own a pole? Does it matter? You're poledancer42. That's what I know you as and that's how I'll interact with you.

Show up as a guy named James? Okay. Hi, James. Nice to meet you. We're you AFAB? Were you AMAB but named Ashley? I don't know and I don't care. You're James to me.

There's a reason so many of us trans folks come out online first. We can dip our feet into social transition without the risk that coming out to in-person friends and family often entails.

It's also why conservatives are so often focused on "real" identities online. They want to take away that safety and bring all the risk of in-person interactions to the Internet. They think that will make them (conservatives) safe because they can be all threatening and shit if they know your legal identity. They are often also weirdly obsessed with the idea that people have a single true identity and it's the one they were assigned by their parents.

But none of that's true. We are all of us different people in different contexts. The anonymity of the Internet simply allows that separation to be more complete.

And I think that's a good thing. If you're James in my discord then you're James to me. Why should I go hunting for other identities when you clearly want to be James to me?