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Authoritarian governments around the world are attacking the rights of trans and gender-diverse, normalising the strippi...
31/03/2026

Authoritarian governments around the world are attacking the rights of trans and gender-diverse, normalising the stripping of the rights of vulnerable citizens. Grief is growing but so is collective resistance.

US:
122 state bills restricting trans people's rights were passed (2025)

EU & UK:
- Portugal: three anti-LGBTQIA+ bills in March ’26
- Germany: had finally adopted self-determination in 2024, but last year the far right moved to repeal it
- Hungary: tightened its anti LGBTQIA+ legislation (2025)
- The UK Supreme Court ruled s*x as strictly biological (2025)

SOUTH ASIA:
- Indonesia: A new criminal code criminalises s*x outside heteros*xual marriage, disproportionately impacting trans and gender-diverse people without legal recognition (2022).
- Malaysia: A trans woman was legally persecuted (2026) for undergoing gender affirming surgery, the first case of its kind since the criminal law was enacted in 2020.
- Sri Lanka: Political pressure is building to restrict trans people’s access to Gender Recognition Certificates (2023–2024).
- Pakistan: A court ruling in 2023, struck down the right to self-identified gender, rolling back key protections under the 2018 law.

OTHER REGIONS:
- Georgia (2024): Parliament passed anti‑LGBTQIA+ legislation that prohibits gender‑affirming procedures and removing gender markers on ID documents.
- Kazakhstan (2025): A new law restricting “LGBTQIA+ expression and information” came into force on 1 Jan 2026.
- El Salvador (ongoing): Gender‑affirming care is banned under existing law, prohibiting healthcare needed for transgender transition.

INDIA:
As q***r, anti-caste, disability rights activists, and their allies protest, doctors, lawyers, and mental health practitioners among them are engaged in public consultations, solidarity statements, and pro-bono work. Several politicians have also spoken out against the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment, 2026

For trans and gender-diverse people, these attacks take a heavy toll on the mind and body. This is a long fight, and we need to use our energy wisely—resistance and rest are equally vital. ~

In comments, share your own examples of sad women in cutlure that align or oppose this aesthetic. Our post/article by .i...
27/02/2026

In comments, share your own examples of sad women in cutlure that align or oppose this aesthetic. Our post/article by .ifff cash.ifff look at the “SAD GIRL” aesthetic as paying little regard to what lies behind the emotion—melancholy, grief, horror, or rage—flattening and moulding all pain into something benign and pleasant to the patriarchal voyeur. We’ve been shown this version for so long that we’re conditioned to expect women to perform it in real life. No wonder they feel the pressure to turn their pain into something graceful, something benign that can be objectified. The authentic emotion has to be pushed aside and replaced by the version that looks better from the outside, feeding the misogynist claim that women’s pain is just an innocuous performance. The aesthetic tells us it’s fine to cry over a lost love, but not to rage against injustice. Raging or protesting would be madness, too ugly and dangerous. When things get unbearable withholding everything, women may die, though without a fuss and still looking pretty in rigor mortis.

[[This article looks at certain secitions of mainstream culture that have promoted this aesthetic. Sexism often goes for cute labels such as “sad girl” masking its violence, infantilising women, and normalising paedophilia. The term “women” is used in the post and article for analytical clarity and does not reflect an endorsement of the gender binary. We recognise gender as non-binary and expansive.]]

To read the full article by .ifff cash.ifff, please go to the LINK IN OUR BIO

In comments, share your own examples of sad women in cutlure that align or oppose this aesthetic. Our post/article by .i...
27/02/2026

In comments, share your own examples of sad women in cutlure that align or oppose this aesthetic. Our post/article by .ifff look at the “SAD GIRL” aesthetic as paying little regard to what lies behind the emotion—melancholy, grief, horror, or rage—flattening and moulding all pain into something benign and pleasant to the patriarchal voyeur. We’ve been shown this version for so long that we’re conditioned to expect women to perform it in real life. No wonder they feel the pressure to turn their pain into something graceful, something benign that can be objectified. The authentic emotion has to be pushed aside and replaced by the version that looks better from the outside, feeding the misogynist claim that women’s pain is just an innocuous performance. The aesthetic tells us it’s fine to cry over a lost love, but not to rage against injustice. Raging or protesting would be madness, too ugly and dangerous. When things get unbearable withholding everything, women may die, though without a fuss and still looking pretty in rigor mortis.

[[This article looks at certain secitions of mainstream culture that have promoted this aesthetic. Sexism often goes for cute labels such as “sad girl” masking its violence, infantilising women, and normalising paedophilia. The term “women” is used in the post and article for analytical clarity and does not reflect an endorsement of the gender binary. We recognise gender as non-binary and expansive.]]

To read the full article by .ifff please go to the LINK IN OUR BIO

Why don’t mainstream digital platforms stop online violence? Why can’t they be held accountable? And what choices do we ...
11/02/2026

Why don’t mainstream digital platforms stop online violence? Why can’t they be held accountable? And what choices do we have? In this dialogue, we explore how online abuse—accelerated by AI—is impacting liberatory expression, and reflect on what feminist digital infrastructures could look like. Mainstream social media platforms can amplify voices, but they can also intensify backlash, surveillance, and harm. What to make of activists attacking or canceling each other? We unpack how these spaces are structured and how their design shapes the expression of dissent.

Read the full dialogue on smashboard.org
LINK IN BIO

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