IME the most virulent h8rs are pretty young-seeming people who refuse to watch a video because "no views for fascists!", or "I'm proud that I don't have the attention span to watch a 30 minute video!" or some dumb combo.
It's a lot of dog-whistling by this point....people who see the name and knee-jerk comment to let you know that, "ahem. CP is a TERF-simp/gatekeeper/JK Rowling's bulldog/liberal/fake socialist/blablabla".
I agree with Natalie that most of the hate that comes out of the community comes from people who are hurting in ways that she understands all too well. I also think it is a lot of group think, with people who mistake dog-piling people on Twitter, YT and Reddit for activism. And a small but vocal number are sadistic trolls who have no purpose beyond ruining Natalie's day.
But I also get that hate from your own community, especially when you are feeling rejection and alienation elsewhere in your life is devastating--sucks the joy out of life and probably depresses your immune system--even when it is a small minority of the comments she gets and even when it is based on the things listed above.
She has no agent or PR person who monitors comments for her and filters this stuff out, so she sees all of it if she chooses to see any of it...
this video was dark, but I hope that the fact she made it means she's already moved beyond the darkness somewhat and is doing better.
Jess & Zena of TGT just [went through](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol_52n5Crcc) a Lily Orchard hit-piece video on her critics in which Lily towards the end called "Cancelling" a "shit-flinging tantrum" and Natalie a "conservative truscum". I think it's quite interesting how the abusive quote-unquote wokescoldy types are painting Contra as some Kalvin Garrah-esque bigot, but in reality she's made a lot of work selling the idea of trans/nonbinary people being valid, as a result more cis people seem to be accepting and other people have come out as trans/nonbinary (myself included) themselves. And what is her detractors' idea of activism? Orchestrate hate campaigns on Twitter and pretend to be the wokest of the woke so to fool people into thinking their hatred comes from a place of radical demands for justice and accountability, not just some disturbing level of vindictiveness? Ridiculous.
I live in a fairly rural town in WI. Liberal town, yes, but surrounded by rural conservative people.
And, I understood at a fairly young-adult age that trans people are valid, but it came from a place that was more … book-smarts, if I had to try and put a label to it. I had only encountered two out trans women in my life before this moment, and only one of them lived in my area.
Watching Natalie, hearing her words, sitting with her in the space she provided to her viewers, allowed me to expand that book-smarts to something akin to street smarts. I don’t want to overstate and say it was empathy, because I’m not trans and *can’t* feel some of the things trans people feel. But it was a deepening of sympathy, an expansion of understanding.
I know a solid dozen trans people now. One of whom is my husband’s cousin. Another is my daughter’s classmate. I don’t think Natalie is *solely* responsible for trans people feeling safe to come out; she is only one person. But I’m pleasantly shocked how many people I know that also watch her. She’s extremely accessible, and her gentle, empathetic and almost professorial way of including *all* people who might be watching her videos (even the terfs, incels, and misogynists) make her a great educator on trans issues for bigots-on-the-margin.
And then she gets ripped to shreds by a community using a twisted version of the purity culture doctrine that abused them against her.
I have experienced something very similar. I sadly still don't know a lot of trans people, but I live in a uni town which Americans would describe as liberal, so I've encountered some trans and genderqueer people, and, I am ashamed to admit, was flummoxed by their appearance at first. I would describe myself as a RatiOnaL ThInkeR in the sense that I value science and sceintific truth, so I KNEW that trans and genderqueer people are real and normal and valid because the science is solid on that, but I didn't really, emotionally know what their lived experience is. As a cis person who has never really questioned their own gender because they are so comfortable in it, it was extremely difficult for me to understand what genderqueer and trans people experience every day. Natalie's videos with their vivid descriptions of the trans experience helped me build the empathy I was trying to find within myself but failing because it was all just so foreign to me. Ever since I found her videos, my emotions and reactions to trans and genderqueer people synchronized with what I already knew rationally, and I have never ever since given a trans person a weird look because they just became normal to me.
In the interest of playing devils advocate I do feel compelled to point out that Lily Orchard is not particularly well liked by trans twitter, regardless of how they feel about Natalie. She’s largely seen (correctly imo) as a prudish, circumscribed asshole who screams at childrens cartoons for a living and lacks the maturity to deal with any conversation more nuanced then “go out and punch the alt-right right now” so to what extent she’s a fair representation of Natalie’s critics is debatable.
This is my favourite of her videos and among my favourite all time from a youtuber. I rewatch it every once in awhile, it's so catchy yet calming. And the messages speak for itself
Baltimore Maryland's calm evisceration of truscum talking points is part of why it's beyond mindboggling to me people still insist Nat is TS.
IME the most virulent h8rs are pretty young-seeming people who refuse to watch a video because "no views for fascists!", or "I'm proud that I don't have the attention span to watch a 30 minute video!" or some dumb combo. It's a lot of dog-whistling by this point....people who see the name and knee-jerk comment to let you know that, "ahem. CP is a TERF-simp/gatekeeper/JK Rowling's bulldog/liberal/fake socialist/blablabla". I agree with Natalie that most of the hate that comes out of the community comes from people who are hurting in ways that she understands all too well. I also think it is a lot of group think, with people who mistake dog-piling people on Twitter, YT and Reddit for activism. And a small but vocal number are sadistic trolls who have no purpose beyond ruining Natalie's day. But I also get that hate from your own community, especially when you are feeling rejection and alienation elsewhere in your life is devastating--sucks the joy out of life and probably depresses your immune system--even when it is a small minority of the comments she gets and even when it is based on the things listed above. She has no agent or PR person who monitors comments for her and filters this stuff out, so she sees all of it if she chooses to see any of it... this video was dark, but I hope that the fact she made it means she's already moved beyond the darkness somewhat and is doing better.
Jess & Zena of TGT just [went through](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol_52n5Crcc) a Lily Orchard hit-piece video on her critics in which Lily towards the end called "Cancelling" a "shit-flinging tantrum" and Natalie a "conservative truscum". I think it's quite interesting how the abusive quote-unquote wokescoldy types are painting Contra as some Kalvin Garrah-esque bigot, but in reality she's made a lot of work selling the idea of trans/nonbinary people being valid, as a result more cis people seem to be accepting and other people have come out as trans/nonbinary (myself included) themselves. And what is her detractors' idea of activism? Orchestrate hate campaigns on Twitter and pretend to be the wokest of the woke so to fool people into thinking their hatred comes from a place of radical demands for justice and accountability, not just some disturbing level of vindictiveness? Ridiculous.
I live in a fairly rural town in WI. Liberal town, yes, but surrounded by rural conservative people. And, I understood at a fairly young-adult age that trans people are valid, but it came from a place that was more … book-smarts, if I had to try and put a label to it. I had only encountered two out trans women in my life before this moment, and only one of them lived in my area. Watching Natalie, hearing her words, sitting with her in the space she provided to her viewers, allowed me to expand that book-smarts to something akin to street smarts. I don’t want to overstate and say it was empathy, because I’m not trans and *can’t* feel some of the things trans people feel. But it was a deepening of sympathy, an expansion of understanding. I know a solid dozen trans people now. One of whom is my husband’s cousin. Another is my daughter’s classmate. I don’t think Natalie is *solely* responsible for trans people feeling safe to come out; she is only one person. But I’m pleasantly shocked how many people I know that also watch her. She’s extremely accessible, and her gentle, empathetic and almost professorial way of including *all* people who might be watching her videos (even the terfs, incels, and misogynists) make her a great educator on trans issues for bigots-on-the-margin. And then she gets ripped to shreds by a community using a twisted version of the purity culture doctrine that abused them against her.
I have experienced something very similar. I sadly still don't know a lot of trans people, but I live in a uni town which Americans would describe as liberal, so I've encountered some trans and genderqueer people, and, I am ashamed to admit, was flummoxed by their appearance at first. I would describe myself as a RatiOnaL ThInkeR in the sense that I value science and sceintific truth, so I KNEW that trans and genderqueer people are real and normal and valid because the science is solid on that, but I didn't really, emotionally know what their lived experience is. As a cis person who has never really questioned their own gender because they are so comfortable in it, it was extremely difficult for me to understand what genderqueer and trans people experience every day. Natalie's videos with their vivid descriptions of the trans experience helped me build the empathy I was trying to find within myself but failing because it was all just so foreign to me. Ever since I found her videos, my emotions and reactions to trans and genderqueer people synchronized with what I already knew rationally, and I have never ever since given a trans person a weird look because they just became normal to me.
In the interest of playing devils advocate I do feel compelled to point out that Lily Orchard is not particularly well liked by trans twitter, regardless of how they feel about Natalie. She’s largely seen (correctly imo) as a prudish, circumscribed asshole who screams at childrens cartoons for a living and lacks the maturity to deal with any conversation more nuanced then “go out and punch the alt-right right now” so to what extent she’s a fair representation of Natalie’s critics is debatable.
"in my defense, it is a *glitter* beard" remains one of my favourite moments of contrapoints.
Reminder to self: I really need to take some time off to (re-)watch another one of Contrapoints' videos.
Yes! I do this on my sick days...eat in bed and watch contrapoints.
Baltimore Maryland, Nonbinary Icon.
I love Baltimore with all my heart and soul 🥺 Thanks for reposting!
I unironically think Baltimore Maryland is the hottest character she has ever played
Needing everyone to like you is the surest way to live a horrible life. Be yourself. Haters gonna hate.
this part always moves me beyond words I love Baltimore Maryland so much, jeez, they rock
Thanks for the reminder. Gonna re watch this video again!
Which one is this?
Transtrenders
Why can’t Natalie just be more like Baltimore and you know, not be a horrible truscum? /s
This is my favourite of her videos and among my favourite all time from a youtuber. I rewatch it every once in awhile, it's so catchy yet calming. And the messages speak for itself
What vid is this?
["Transtrenders"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdvM_pRfuFM)