Welcome to Gaia! ::

Oh dear. Please inform us which mule she's on, so we can send an invite

I'm confused. O_o

Oh, ok. For some reason I thought you guys meant banned from the guild, not from Gaia. sweatdrop Gawd, that's terrible.

That email...completely malfunctioned, and there's nothing, anywhere, in it.

I've been emailing them, but I'm vaguely thinking that inquiry@gaiaonline.com is just a way for them to ignore the questions of people who have been banned.

It might, actually, be for my involvement in a petition, supporting the right, on gaia, for people to discuss taboo topics. Honestly, I think whoever banned me just misinterpreted something I said, or something like that, but I can't know until I can contact them.

I'm getting frustrated with the "tolerance as long as you don't offend anyone" sorts of stuff going on here.

If I refer to someone who is transgendered as the wrong gender, they get up in arms, or if I mention that a person who says their sexuality is X may simply be still figuring things out and not totally fixed in their sexuality, I'm accused of hating trans people and acting like I'm being homophobic.

It's pissing me off that I can't even DISCUSS the basic ideas of people who MAY be confused when I'm automatically slammed for being "sexist" or "intolerant".

Ad-homs make Oni cry.

Oni, in all honesty, I think the things you say often come across as more inflammatory than you intend.

Calling someone who is transgendered the 'wrong gender' actually does seem a bit opposed to transpeople, or like you don't respect their having identified as a gender opposite to their sex. If you think about it, the word 'wrong' implies that something about their gender identity is incorrect, and if they are transgender, and their being the 'wrong gender' is based on this, then you seem to be implying that the 'right gender' is the one that matches up with their sex.

And, honestly, even though I understand that a person may not be completely solid in their sexual identity at any point, but, nonetheless, there is nothing more irritating than having a person claim they know more about your sexuality or gender identity than you do.

I know this as an asexual, who often experiences people telling me they don't think I'm actually asexual, or that I 'just haven't found the right person', or that sort of thing. It is particularly frustrating, because I have lived large portions of my life feeling (and claiming) that I had to be of some sexual orientation. But, truth be told, I wasn't exactly any sexual orientation, even though I wasn't particularly opposed to sexual situations. I just generally lack the desire to engage in sexual activities, unless I can find some benefit for me.

While it is without a doubt that people may be confused about their sexuality and gender identity (the fact that anyone may seem to experience these changes suggests that they are), it is a rather personal attack to label any person specifically as 'confused' about these things. If you were just saying that it is possible for a person to be confused about their gender identity and sexual orientation, then I doubt anyone would be offended. I'm guessing that you were referring to specific people as being currently confused about their state of gender and sexuality, rather than just giving a general statement about confusion.

It's really a matter of presentation, and, honestly, I think you should be able to notice these things. I doubt you are having problems discussing the basic possibility of some general, conceptual person being confused about their sexual orientation and gender identity, but rather with discussing the problems of confusion that you think a specific person has, despite what that person says.

Of course people will take offense at that, and of course they will respond negatively.

Also, I'm not so sure that it's an ad hominem if they aren't using it to discredit your argument, which, if they are just telling you the implications in the way your words are coming across, they are not.

Hey friends! Guess who else got banned?! xd It's Spicey Cognac by the way. Don't worry, it was my own fault, but I've decided to quit Gaia all the same; it'd just take too much time trying to rebuild everything. I think it's for the best since I believe I've been too glued to the Internet anyway, but that also means no Anti-Prommies Guild. Sorry! Anyway, you guys were great. This was the only place on Gaia I truly enjoyed. You can IM me on AIM at Killer N The Sky if you want. Otherwise, take care and thanks for the great times!

December 3rd...