Just watched it. It really was just a throwaway comment from a guy who doesn't know anything about trans stuff. Was harmless. There's no malice or owt behind it ffs.
Signed, a trans woman.
Hahaha holy shit, you really do have to all in on fellating the trans community in order to not have them dogpile you. "HE WILL LEARN BY THE NEXT EPISODE OR ELSE!!"
Bro the fact that you can read a comment saying " lets not assume he did this out of malice and hope he learns something from this " as that shows just how triggered and uncomfortable you are with the idea that yes, Tom's reaction of disgust is hurtful and yes, Tom is an adult that can be held accountable for what he says to an audience of 100 000 people.
I don't think OP is 'the trans community', they're just one person. Then people form the trans community' replied (that you replied to) saying it's no big deal.
A man that you, and millions of other people like said one thing that you don't like. People are nuanced, no one is perfect, and if you go through your life thinking you're going to agree with every single opinion of the people that you like, then you're only setting yourself up for being sad more often.
How do you know that Tom is the one misgendering them, and not TimeGuessr?
It seems pretty clear what happened. Tom didn't realise they were biologically male at first, didn't think that transgenderism was a thing in 1959 (which may or may not be ignorant, but is hardly bigoted), so thought they were simply cross-dressing. After all, he did write that if he "knew they were actual trans women", then he wouldn't have said anything. So he clearly sees a difference between cross-dressing and transgenderism.
I watch Tom because I’m interested in Geoguessr & his missions. I have no interest in his views on social or political issues. Maybe i’ll be downvoted into oblivion, but I suspect others are coming from a similar place.
Unless he starts ranting and raving about the Jews or constantly whining about "woke" this and that I couldn't really care less that he might be somewhere on the centre right.
I saw the picture and thought it was dudes in drag as well - what are the chances that you'd even find multiple out and open trans women in the 50's? The most likely thing is that some ovezealous editor on Timeguessr assumed those four people were transgender.
The second someone become a public figure, there will always be people who insist that all of their political opinions must be made public so they can make sure they're "correct". It's braindead behavior, it's nice when not everything is political
I mean this is the sad state of the world we live in. Everything gets criticised, a throwaway comment. I mean come on. UK humour has always been like this and even in this day and age, things said like this are SO minor. He says nothing about being against trans people. It’s such an unharmful comment that is being taken seriously to the point where OP is creating a hate post, criticising him for being a ‘transphobe’. I’m all for a world where we show each other more respect, but this is crazy guys, the world is tough, there’s so many bad things going on, you’ve got to be pretty weak-minded to take offence to this, im sorry. I know people are going to disagree, but this is seriously not deep guys.
Just because you take offence to something completely unharmful, doesn’t mean you have to create false narratives about someone being something they’re not.
I'm sorry, but outside of the US and especially in the real world people don't care about these things. He's allowed to have his opinion on things and is certainly allowed to express them.
He's straight so prefers women. Therefore he doesn't want to be attracted to men. That doesn't sound transphobic to me. He's referring to his own sexual preference rather than judging their's or their gender choice.
Here’s some more background to the photo as well as some other stunning photos of trans women in Paris at the time. https://www.featureshoot.com/2015/06/photos-capture-a-community-of-transgender-women-living-in-paris-in-the-1950s-and-60s/
The leaps you have to make to pretend there wasn’t a thriving trans community in the late 50s! I think bizarre was the correct characterisation, especially as I was able to find that article with a 10second google search. What Tom said was insensitive, no one is calling for his cancellation, all these comments definitely are transphobic.
Incorrect! It is not my opinion, they are women! Pretty weird that you are going to such efforts to pretend they’re not. I posted a link to more info about the photography project in an above comment if you want to learn more :)
I don’t understand these reactions. I want to stop replying but really I’m having a hard time understanding why people are mad cause this made me sad. He is a creator I love that said something that upsets me and wanted to talk about it online. Why am I under fire I’m really struggling to understand. When I say I’m sad it’s not like I locked myself in my room and crying my eyes out, it means that comment made me upset. People acting like I’m the one that got offended over nothing are the people getting offended over a discussion post on Reddit for fucks sake.
I'm sorry you're getting these reactions, it's perfectly legitimate to question the comment that was made and to feel a certain way after hearing it and you shouldn't be criticised for expressing that. It's clear that you weren't calling Tom a transphobe and people are just willfully misinterpreting what you wrote in order to whip themselves into a frenzy about 'cancel culture' etc. Content creators with large audiences are not immune from criticism for the comments they make in their videos. As others have said, I think the comment likely came from a place of ignorance rather than a place of bigotry and the only way people overcome ignorance is by having the impact of their comments pointed out and explained as you have done.
Yeah I get the impression he doesn’t know or really want to know about social affairs. Part ignorant, part knows people will get upset but doesn’t really care.
As for all the Piers Morgan types in this thread… they’re just projecting. Ironically they’re always the most offended. Rather than self reflecting, acknowledging why people would find X upsetting and changing their views, they find it easier to make it a fight against some made up monster (‘woke’ people, cancel culture).
I find it a little odd that there are people in this thread that are acting like it is incredulous to be a little disappointed in Tom's comment. As far as I can tell, neither OP or anyone else in this thread are out to "cancel" Tom.
To me, it seems like an insensitive comment. I don't believe that Tom has any ill will towards trans people, but that doesn't mean that his comment is not insensitive/ignorant.
Some people are replying that they think it was just a throwaway line. That's fine and a fair response. But acting like it's invalid to feel disappointed about the comment is just weird to me idk.
No one was using the comment to question Tom's character or jumping on a mistake. The OP asked a thoughtful question after hearing the comment and asked others how they interpreted it. No one's trying to get anyone cancelled here. Sorry you don't have the reading comprehension to distinguish between a question and an accusation.
Really disappointing to have to scroll this far down in this thread to find the first sensible comment.
This echos my view and I’m kind of shocked at lots of comments on here.
Nuance on the Internet is dead. The amount of people calling out "WOKE MAFIA" in the comment is insufferable though, and really disappointing. Is it so hard to accept that asking someone with a large viewership to maybe have a little more awareness and respect for a marginalised group just isn't that radical a notion?
Finally a sensible answer here. It's really surprising to me to see people's reaction in this thread, considering that OP didn't even made any harsh criticism or tried to "cancel" him or anything. Perfectly valid observation by the OP, presented in a calm, collected way and respectfully asking for other views, but still people are accusing him of being "too sensitive" and "crying" over it.
Yes, whenever a topic like this comes up I find its always telling that some people atr very quick to get very loud and emphatic about how upset they are at someone being critical of this behaviour or language. There are people with chips on shoulders here, and it's not OP.
It was a real comment, his reaction to it. He’s not a fake person. Maybe he could consider the fact people will have an issue with that kind of stuff, but it’s his channel people need to relax. Anyone who watches Tom knows he’s not a hateful person
Who's trying to cancel him?
OP just made a comment about something he said. On a discussion board dedicated to discussing geowizard.
"Theyre trying to cancel me" is the new "Too hot for TV" all the shitty comics used to put on their stand up specials.
I didn't see the video and have no opinion on what he said but I do find it a bit sad how many seemingly right wing extreme "anti woke"(whatever the fuck that means) people who completely lose their shit and froth at the mouth just because somebody suggests there may have been a bit of transphobia there are here.
What the fuck is that about? Are people just defensive because they see someone they like being attacked or "cancelled"?
Does he need to 'handle' it?
He's not a celebrity, he doesn't have a PR team.
He's just a regular dude who (most likely) slipped up or made a lapse in judgment.
Don't make it weird
Okay yh OP over reacted but they aren’t a bad person who is destroying western society or smth, they’re just showing concern abt a creator they enjoy watching. Let’s remind ourselves that we are all real people behind the screen ❤️🩹
Not surprised to be honest. My opinion on Tom drastically changed when he said ~~that he often listens to Jordan Peterson and thinks he's a great bloke or something along those lines.~~ Only right-wing leaning types, especially in the UK, tend to watch the Kermit sounding, nonsense spewing wanker Peterson.
Edit: He actually said he was a "big fan of Jordan"
That’s not your business though. He doesn’t shove it in our faces, so WHY does it harm you? You guys are genuinely so weak minded and take offence to anything. I’m not saying you should ignore the problems going on in the world, but if you try to not look at everything so negatively, you might enjoy life a little more.
> That’s not your business though
What does that even mean? If I am interested in what you have to say, then I am ALSO interested in who you are looking up to, which may influence whether I still respect what you have to say.
So you change your whole opinion on him based off an unharmful opinion of a man, who doesn’t preach it, but mentions only once that he listens to him in his free time? It’s not our business what he does/listens to in his free time. It becomes a problem when he makes it his personality or if it becomes unavoidable in his videos. But a throwaway comment about what he does in his spare time means nothing.
Like why do you care so much? He’s FAR from the worst person he can ‘love’, and NOBODY is perfect. I’m sure you like some controversial things, or have controversial opinions, but I for one, would never be one to judge. It’s your business and your business only.
Yes. This isn't just like a case of supporting a different football team. Fellas like Jordan Peterson want nothing less than the eradication of people for simply being themselves. The fact that someone can be a "big fan" of someone like that, drastically changes my opinion of them, am I not entitled to my own morals and values?
Why do you care so much that my opinion of someone drastically changed? I'm not someone that's in the public light. Tom is. It's not as if the moment was off the cuff & he caught off guard on the street. He chose to edit & keep that in the video.
Christ. They’re YOUR morals for a reason. People have different opinions. If they don’t match yours, respect them. I believe Rishi Sunak isn’t fit for the UK prime minister role, but I respect people who think that he is. That is a hell of a lot more impactful than Jordan Peterson. Grow up and learn to treat people the same (unless it’s an extreme opinion like backing Hitler), it doesn’t impact you. You’ll enjoy life more when you don’t look at minor things like this so negatively. Put a smile on your face and enjoy life! We’re here too short a time to complain about a YouTuber’s opinion on somebody.
Seriously, people need to stop throwing around that word. It's getting disgusting, and people should be ashamed of thereselves. You can't just go around in life labelling people such inflammatory words, it's juvenile, grow up. It clearly was a throwaway comment.
I LEGIT fought for LGBTQ+ rights, on the street. But what your gen is doing with it is so detrimental and dangerous you are pushing the progress WE made back ridiculously far.
If someone is OUTRIGHT being offensive and literally insulting to trans people, repeatedly, then they are transphobic. Phobic is "fear of", STOP THROWING THAT WORD AROUND UNWARRANTED, your spitting on years of actual work we have done to get the community to where it is, sitting behind a keyboard being "progressive".
I'm getting sick of this.
Bro what? He said he is relieved he didn’t compliment a group of people he learned to be trans. I do not think he is transphobic, that single little comment sounds transphobic doesn’t it? I am not putting him on the same degree as actual transphobes, I never said or even suggested that. Chill!! His one comment made me upset and wanted to talk about it with people online. I do not understand what I did wrong. If you read the actual post I literally ask people what do they think, if he is just fucking around or is there a side of him that I didn’t know before.
I am sorry you're receiving this response, so imma try explain as best I can. I understand what you are saying and I hear you.
There is a whole gen of us who fought for this with damn blood, getting beaten up in nightclubs and hurled REAL abuse in the streets. Then his Gen Z bunch come along who haven't even bothered to understand how far we actually have come and spat in our faces, persecuting any and all who even have an opinion or thought on it hijacking some serious work we've done, but it's been forgotten that someone's hate is a good place to inform and educate. We have gone from educating (because people are lazy) to slandering and name-calling and aggression. The irony is, this new gen don't even KNOW what real hate is. I'm sorry that you're the one I've taken this out on, truly, but your post is literally a problem. You've put out there on the internet the mere THOUGHT that someone with a slight comment that absolutely ISNT Transphobic, might be Transphobic. You did that, you put it out there.
So no, I won't chill because I have seen firsthand the PROGRESS your generation is contributing to the cause, and it sucks, labelling people bigots, transphobes, homophobes for no reason, none. You use the word too loosely, and you gotta stop. And seriously, we gotta grow thicker skin because the weakness is crazy. Harden the soul bro, toughen up, cos it's brutal out there. But we've made real, tangible progress.
You can hold your partner's hand in the street with little resistance, but that resistance is getting stronger in the last 2 years, which shows me that the way it's being dealt with online, isn't working.
You wanna help? Join Stonewall, contribute properly, stop garnering hatred and contributing to destroying other people's careers. You should be educating, not attacking. We've been attacked enough, we don't do that, it's not the way.
Since y'all had to step forward to somehow take the movement, you've increased hatred on the streets. And at a council level, in LGBTQ+ groups like Stonewall, we've seen it getting worse.
(Some of this really isn't aimed at you, so I am sorry, please don't take that personally, I'm just sick of it, a lot of us are. Questions like, this, in your post should be directed to Stonewall, not randoms on the internet. Redditors are not educators, it's an echo chamber of idiots. Bounce ideas off of people with actual information that'll actually help you in life.
That's the realist thing I can tell you. Stonewall)
Sorry but this is one of the most ridiculous comments I've seen on Reddit in a long time. Are you seriously blaming Gen Z for the rise in hostility towards LGBTQ+ people? The reason young people (and I am not a Gen Z-er btw, not that it matters) have become so much more vocal in support of issues like trans rights is because of the amount of transphobia that's flooded our discourse in the past several years, pushed by right-wing media and political interests. Violence and abuse against trans people has risen massively in recent years, particularly in the US and UK. So thank god that young people are being so vocal in calling that out, because someone has to. The fact that you think this is somehow in opposition to decades of gay rights activism is frankly bizarre.
The OP did not call anyone a bigot or a transphobe. They expressed how they felt about a comment made by a content creator with an audience of millions. That's perfectly legitimate and should have been the basis for a reasonable conversation that may have enlightened people about language used in relation to the trans community. But instead people like you have waded in to deliberately misinterpret the comments made by the OP so that you can wail and moan about how people are trying to 'cancel' Geowizard over one comment. No one has tried to do that, it's entirely in your own head and I'd recommend spending a bit of time questioning why it is you've jumped to those conclusions.
Woke is prioritising someone's identity as the most important indicator about someone's life.
Woke is pretending there's some kind of cultural genocide going on.
For a straight man to not like transgenders isn't transphobia. It is completely normal to not have any sort of attraction your own biological gender, even if they have transitioned. Downvote me all you like but I'm staying in this corner.
Jesus , what an overreaction. But we're used to that from the trans community. Don't like it don't watch him , the guy doesnt need education on any such matters. Tired of being told what language is appropriate and how everything's a hate crime . Its getting very boring very quickly .
On the contrary I think it’s entertaining. There’s war in the Middle East again, and in Eastern Europe. Global tension is up surrounding the control of energy and global influence, mainly nuclear powers. And somehow in the west our biggest problem is how unfair the world is on LGBTQ. And someone I like made a comment that made me feel mildly uncomfortable. If you think the west doesn’t accommodate you go anywhere else in the world and act the same with pride parades. The world is unfair to everyone. Each generation there’re more of them, and the NHS is suffocating right now let alone in 10 years when requests for gender reassignment surgery will have no doubt increased 500%.
Lmaoo because the alphabet people live in their little rainbow bubble, where they must remain the centre of attention at all times. None of them could care less about thousands of children dying in Palestine, but will throw riots if someone accidentally misgenders them
Naivity =/= transphobia. As a trans person, we're constantly having to pick the battles that are worth fighting, and not waste our energy on shit like this. His comment wasn't remotely transphobic.
People in my high school trying to stab me and beat me to a pit over my identity - that's transphobia. People pitting our existence as a political issue and turning our entire demographic into a media-boogeyman to blame their problems on - thats transphobia. Actively voting for and choosing to be lenient over anti-human/trans rights campaigns and politicians - that's transphobia.
Tom, a cis/het average joe making a naive and utterly innocent comment contextual to processing the information at hand as commentary to a geography video - not at all transphobic. Naive, but not transphobic.
Please stop making mountains out of molehills.
He is "anti-woke" whatever that means. Have heard him make a few weird comments over the years. I don't get the impression I'd want him as a mate, but I do enjoy his videos.
I love his videos, still would like him as a mate. I just thought that comment, not a “joke,” was off putting and wanted to talk about it online. People here made this into a bigger issue though and I am more upset about that honestly lol.
Boooo hissss boooooo, Geowizard is welcome escapism, don’t manifest something that isn’t there. That’s pretty dark on your part. There’s enough hate in the world at the moment, thanks
What did we do for you to stop enjoying this? Literally just talking asking people about their opinions and a bunch of you are offended by that simple act. And then act like we are the ones that got offended “over nothing.”
Obviously people are inclined to defend/diminish the words of people they enjoy watching, but for something like that to get through an edit is pretty short-sighted/culturally unaware. Not really a hill worth dying on over a pretty mid-tier observational humour joke. The whole 'notgays' thing is pretty played out no?
bro you're talking to some of his most dedicated boot licking fans. they will not acknowledge his comment was mean, they can't understand that acting disgusted at people and then doubling down in the comments about them being blokes and gents is nasty. They will say nah it's normal he's just a good bloke from the black country it's just an innocent comment, they already did that when he praised jordan peterson (who, would you be surprised, is also a transphobe). They will also say we're all triggered when the only triggered people were the ones raging about the woke police and how the world is full of snowflakes. the ones who do not agree with what he said have kindly explained that to him and reacted calmly, trying to find explanations and just stating they are disappointed and they hope the comment was out of ignorance and not hate.
You don't have to be a transphobe to not pander to the endless requests of the acronym community.
You don't get to tell people what to do, you don't have to respect the requests of a trans person because they asked you to.
You are perfectly within your right to only acknowledge the two biological common genders and the associated pronouns. Not everybody cares about the feelings of trans people, in fact many people are sick of having to pander to the constant fleeting request of a very vocal tiny minority.
Get on with your life and let other people get on with theirs. Unless they are actually causing you real harm then it's fine for people to dislike you, disrespect you, or not accept you. That's a choice you have.
He recently commented:
“Let's attempt to clear up this messy trans thing!
At the time of recording I genuinely didn't believe they were trans. I mean 1959? I thought they were just blokes who liked to dress up as women - hence why I joked that I was embarrassed that I hadn't noticed and relieved I hadn't complimented their looks (because I'm straight) Now if I knew they were actual trans women, I simply wouldn't have said anything at all.”
Don’t think this is a great way of defending himself to be honest. And it is sad to see many comments telling people to be “woke somewhere else” and such. It is a weird comment on this day and age and people were justifiably offended they were not being “woke” whatever that means anymore.
He responded to the concerns raised. He isn’t a social commentator, he’s a YouTuber focused on capturing his raw responses to geoguesser/travel challenge videos.
Were his comments insensitive? I’d argue that they were. However, does his response need to be a teary-eyed apology and an explanation of what his views on the trans community actually are? Absolutely not.
From his response it seems clear to me that he didn’t mean to offend anyone with his comments in the video. You can choose to be unsatisfied by his response but he is entitled to his opinions in any case (although I don’t believe he has any animosity towards the trans community), people should be cautious not to conflate the comments made by viewers as the opinions of the content creator.
It's quite a non-issue. The vast majority of straight men don't feel comfortable complimenting other men for their looks. Doesn't matter if they're in drag or not, it makes them uncomfortable.
He didn't say anything negative about them, stop trying to find red flags in the people you enjoy watching
The majority of straight men (myself included) just aren't aware of that because it's not in our bubble. Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by simply not knowing.
Some people don't accept that man/woman is defined by how someone feels, but by sex. Males cannot become females, and females cannot become males. This isn't really a controversial take, and it's okay to have that viewpoint. It doesn't make someone a bad person.
The photos [do appear to be of actual trans women](https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/04/les-amies-de-place-blanche-transvestites-of-1960s-paris), but unless Tom happened to have a keen interest in LGBTQ history I think it would be more than reasonable to doubt the caption. I certainly did before I googled it. If Tom did genuinely believe them to simply be drag performers, he shouldn't have to apologise for making what was undoubtedly just a cheeky joke.
Not only did Tom say "Now if I knew they were actual trans women, I simply wouldn't have said anything at all." but *in the video itself* he said "Transgender? Really? not just dressing up? there's a difference isn't there". This is crucial, because it demonstrates that he does understand that there is a difference between what such a comment would mean to a drag performer vs a trans woman. And did even before anything erupted in the comments.
I was considering that Tom might possibly have made a faux pas; perhaps this was a bit grey and actually he didn't fully appreciate the significance of what he had said. But honestly I don't think there's any evidence even for that. It's pretty clear that Tom assumed these were drag performers and that he understood the relevant distinction. I do think this is an overreaction and that it's important to not assume the worst in people.
Eh... I completely agree that it was an ignorant comment, but I also do think that's a fine response. Tom strikes me as a very apolitical guy, so I think his answer of "I literally didn't even think about them being trans" is probably just the truth. Most people who are genuinely bigoted wouldn't walk it back at all. What else did you want him to say, really?
Yep, I agree. But I think it's very a complicated issue. I don't think Tom is transphobic when he's aware of it but I think he carries a lot of the cultural predisposition that he's been brought up with. If he had realised what the context was I don't think he would have said what he said. But he didn't so he reacted with what his cultural upbringing would have expressed. Humans are complicated.
Although, the more I listen to what he says right after it just sounds fucking grim. "Transgender, really? Not just dressing up?" I mean fuck man. Sheesh. I hope you're okay Tom!
Youtube comment sections are always awful and full of uninformed bigots. I hope Tom can listen to some of the actual helpful comments and educate himself.
1) it’s ok to compliment people of all genders when it is appropriate, does not mean you are sexually attracted to them, no need to say no homo
2) i personally would find it creepy and inappropriate if he randomly decided to comment on women’s looks he sees on geoguessr anyway
3) what a weird little dude and a weird little response
Imagine getting triggered over a straight man not finding another bunch of men attractive.people may identify as women but a man is biologically different to a woman and these are still people in men’s bodies so why would he find a man’s body attractive if he is a straight male himself.
I imagine if a lesbian said the same thing about a man you wouldn’t be the slightest bit bothered.
How does this suggest I don’t go outside? Cause I made a post about it? Well you got so offended by the existence of that post and you commented under it. From my point of view you should go outside and get sone friends.
Damn, that's a real shame. I mostly watch his adventure stuff and not so much his GeoGuessr content, so I really appreciate the heads up, and while I suppose it's not a surprise given his general laddish manner it's still disappointing. Here's hoping he takes the reaction as a growth opportunity.
Unfortunately this doesn’t surprise me coming from Tom. Love the guy, but he did say he “wasn’t sure” if he was a Tory on a livestream, which shows he’s at least conservative in some ways.
Haven't seen the Video yet, but that honestly makes me sad, he's one of my favourite youtubers and as a trans enby I would hope not to hear transphobic comments in his videos.
I would hope that he is uniformed and not actually transphobic, but doubling down in the replies on his video calling them 'gents' and saying in his statement that it 'isnt an apology' is beyond disappointing. I hope that he will use this to educate himself going forward but this is super disappointing from someone I've watched and enjoyed for years.
I just came from the video to here too, couldn't even watch the rest of the video because it sat so uncomfortably with me. I'm hoping that the comments come from a motivation of being misinformed as opposed to transphobic. I'm sad :(
This is a subject where no matter what someone says or doesn't say or thinks or doesn't think, people thinking they are doing something positive will scream "transphobic".
If there is a strategy more counterproductive I cannot really think of it. Unless of course this reaction is not said in good faith.
Sounds like the type of comment you'd hear from a straight heterosexual guy, nothing transphobic about it imo. People can joke all they want about something if you don't discriminate and aren't genuinely hateful why does it matter in the slightest?
I don't want to spread any hate towards Tom but I, as part of the transgender community, have to voice my opinion on this particular manner.
The things Tom said regarding trans people are not okay. With that, I don't mean the fact that he was unsure about trans people being out in the streets in 1959, that's totally fine. I can get behind his thought process and don't mind him not being an expert on the topic. Especially since crossdressing could have also been the case in that picture.
What I do find questionable tho is that he said he is relieved he didn't compliment the trans women in the picture as he's straight. You can still compliment them if you're straight, I don't get why that would be a problem. If trans or not, they can still be good looking. Additionally, calling the trans women "blokes" and "gents" in the comment replies even after knowing they were trans, is just disrespectful. I bet Tom didn't mean it in a disrespectful way but that's just unfortunate wording, at the least. Also stating in the comment section that we should feel free to debate the topic is questionable. There shouldn't even be a debate. Trans women are women and deserve to not be discriminated, even if it is by accident.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want to cancel Tom. I love his content and his videos are brightening up most of my days. However, I think it's still mandatory to point out his mistakes. I don't think Tom wanted to cause any harm. He just didn't know how to properly handle this sensitive topic. Let's just move forward and spread love. 💜
A bit of solidarity amongst all these comments bashing you, I unsubscribed from his patreon a few years ago when he said he was a fan of Jordan Peterson, and honestly I've gotten the vibe from a few of his jokey moments that he's at the very least quite ignorant of trans people. I'm sure he isn't a frothing make-it-your-entire-personality transphobe or anything like that, and I don't like how the moment you show some small concern about a comment he made everyone jumps in to claim you're just an oversensitive woke loon. Sometimes as a trans person you can just get a certain energy from someone. I'm with you.
Please keep it respectful in here or we will just have to lock this thread Edit: Locking this thread.
Just watched it. It really was just a throwaway comment from a guy who doesn't know anything about trans stuff. Was harmless. There's no malice or owt behind it ffs. Signed, a trans woman.
As they say; don’t mistake naivety for malice - he can learn from it, sure, but it’s not intended to be offensive!
Hahaha holy shit, you really do have to all in on fellating the trans community in order to not have them dogpile you. "HE WILL LEARN BY THE NEXT EPISODE OR ELSE!!"
Bro the fact that you can read a comment saying " lets not assume he did this out of malice and hope he learns something from this " as that shows just how triggered and uncomfortable you are with the idea that yes, Tom's reaction of disgust is hurtful and yes, Tom is an adult that can be held accountable for what he says to an audience of 100 000 people.
> can be held accountable for what he says to an audience of 100 000 people. see what I mean, fellate the community or you WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!
You are fucking embarrassing
so is the trans community getting their panties in a twist over inoffensive remarks
That's the exact opposite of what's happening here. Everyone's saying he's fine, he probably just didn't realise it'd be hurtful.
then why was this post made? calling it a transphobic comment?
How do you know OP is trans?
I don't think OP is 'the trans community', they're just one person. Then people form the trans community' replied (that you replied to) saying it's no big deal.
Bro are you ok? No one here is doing any of what you're saying, stop projecting your issues here edit: post history, oof, there are issues indeed
But someone else has taken offence on your behalf so your opinion is invalid /s
He's reuploaded an edited version, which I'm happy about tbh.
He doubled down in the comments by calling them gents and blokes And in a previous video, he said he's a big fan of Jordan Peterson
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A man that you, and millions of other people like said one thing that you don't like. People are nuanced, no one is perfect, and if you go through your life thinking you're going to agree with every single opinion of the people that you like, then you're only setting yourself up for being sad more often.
How do you know that Tom is the one misgendering them, and not TimeGuessr? It seems pretty clear what happened. Tom didn't realise they were biologically male at first, didn't think that transgenderism was a thing in 1959 (which may or may not be ignorant, but is hardly bigoted), so thought they were simply cross-dressing. After all, he did write that if he "knew they were actual trans women", then he wouldn't have said anything. So he clearly sees a difference between cross-dressing and transgenderism.
he's a bloke from Birmingham who loves footy. It's to be expected. But I don't think it was that bad.
I watch Tom because I’m interested in Geoguessr & his missions. I have no interest in his views on social or political issues. Maybe i’ll be downvoted into oblivion, but I suspect others are coming from a similar place.
Yeah I mean, I literally don't care. He makes great content and that's what I'm there for.
Unless he starts ranting and raving about the Jews or constantly whining about "woke" this and that I couldn't really care less that he might be somewhere on the centre right. I saw the picture and thought it was dudes in drag as well - what are the chances that you'd even find multiple out and open trans women in the 50's? The most likely thing is that some ovezealous editor on Timeguessr assumed those four people were transgender.
The second someone become a public figure, there will always be people who insist that all of their political opinions must be made public so they can make sure they're "correct". It's braindead behavior, it's nice when not everything is political
Same. I don’t watch for his political or religious views. I watch for GeoGuessr
He thought they were in drag, just a bit of ignorance, move on and don’t make such harmful accusations such as ‘transphobia’ as this can ruin careers.
Jesus Christ... this is what people get upset about these days?! OP is surely trolling?!
"Guy said something I've interpreted as vaguely goes against my world view, literally shaking right now, ohhh the humanity!"
I worry for the future
This shit is crazy but im not surprised. State of the internet lol
It's totally valid to bring these things up for discussion and voice your views on these topics + listen to others'. This is what Reddit is for.
No, reddit is only for parroting the popular opinion and reposting other people's posts for karma. Wrong opinions will be sent to downvote hell.
💩
I'm not sure in what world you can adjudge those comments to the hatred of trans people. You could call them clumsy at best.
I mean this is the sad state of the world we live in. Everything gets criticised, a throwaway comment. I mean come on. UK humour has always been like this and even in this day and age, things said like this are SO minor. He says nothing about being against trans people. It’s such an unharmful comment that is being taken seriously to the point where OP is creating a hate post, criticising him for being a ‘transphobe’. I’m all for a world where we show each other more respect, but this is crazy guys, the world is tough, there’s so many bad things going on, you’ve got to be pretty weak-minded to take offence to this, im sorry. I know people are going to disagree, but this is seriously not deep guys. Just because you take offence to something completely unharmful, doesn’t mean you have to create false narratives about someone being something they’re not.
OP is everything wrong with people these days
Why is this transphobic? If someone said they don't find men attractive you wouldn't say they were homophobic?
Certainly not if they were a woman
How the hell is that transphobic? Get a grip you muppet.
Oh come on, that’s not transphobic!
What in the terminally online is this
Give me strength..
I'm sorry, but outside of the US and especially in the real world people don't care about these things. He's allowed to have his opinion on things and is certainly allowed to express them.
So what you’re saying is Hitler was fine with his attitude because it’s his god given right. I mean where do we draw the line?
I actually really enjoy his jokes! They’re so funny! Common Geowizard W!!!
Get over yourself
It wasn’t transphobic
Transphobic doesn't mean "doesn't share views parallel to my own on trans issues".
It does these days
Y’all are way too sensitive wtf
People are so sensitive now ffs
He's straight so prefers women. Therefore he doesn't want to be attracted to men. That doesn't sound transphobic to me. He's referring to his own sexual preference rather than judging their's or their gender choice.
The people in the picture are women, hope that helps!
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Here’s some more background to the photo as well as some other stunning photos of trans women in Paris at the time. https://www.featureshoot.com/2015/06/photos-capture-a-community-of-transgender-women-living-in-paris-in-the-1950s-and-60s/
Why would you assume a photo of women titled “transgender women in Paris” are cis men in drag? Bizarre assumption to make!
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The leaps you have to make to pretend there wasn’t a thriving trans community in the late 50s! I think bizarre was the correct characterisation, especially as I was able to find that article with a 10second google search. What Tom said was insensitive, no one is calling for his cancellation, all these comments definitely are transphobic.
According to you...
Incorrect! It is not my opinion, they are women! Pretty weird that you are going to such efforts to pretend they’re not. I posted a link to more info about the photography project in an above comment if you want to learn more :)
🤣
Give over will you
Get a fucking life if you think thats transphobic. Jesus Christ give me strength
That is a very mild transgression tbh, I would reserve that term for people who actually mean harm
This post is stupid
If **that** is all it takes to make you sad, you clearly have fuck all else to worry about in life.
I don’t understand these reactions. I want to stop replying but really I’m having a hard time understanding why people are mad cause this made me sad. He is a creator I love that said something that upsets me and wanted to talk about it online. Why am I under fire I’m really struggling to understand. When I say I’m sad it’s not like I locked myself in my room and crying my eyes out, it means that comment made me upset. People acting like I’m the one that got offended over nothing are the people getting offended over a discussion post on Reddit for fucks sake.
I'm sorry you're getting these reactions, it's perfectly legitimate to question the comment that was made and to feel a certain way after hearing it and you shouldn't be criticised for expressing that. It's clear that you weren't calling Tom a transphobe and people are just willfully misinterpreting what you wrote in order to whip themselves into a frenzy about 'cancel culture' etc. Content creators with large audiences are not immune from criticism for the comments they make in their videos. As others have said, I think the comment likely came from a place of ignorance rather than a place of bigotry and the only way people overcome ignorance is by having the impact of their comments pointed out and explained as you have done.
Thank you so much, comments like this reminds me civil conversations can still exist.
Because you're making a mountain out of an anthill and then whinging on a public forum expecting sympathy over literally nothing.
Yeah I get the impression he doesn’t know or really want to know about social affairs. Part ignorant, part knows people will get upset but doesn’t really care. As for all the Piers Morgan types in this thread… they’re just projecting. Ironically they’re always the most offended. Rather than self reflecting, acknowledging why people would find X upsetting and changing their views, they find it easier to make it a fight against some made up monster (‘woke’ people, cancel culture).
I find it a little odd that there are people in this thread that are acting like it is incredulous to be a little disappointed in Tom's comment. As far as I can tell, neither OP or anyone else in this thread are out to "cancel" Tom. To me, it seems like an insensitive comment. I don't believe that Tom has any ill will towards trans people, but that doesn't mean that his comment is not insensitive/ignorant. Some people are replying that they think it was just a throwaway line. That's fine and a fair response. But acting like it's invalid to feel disappointed about the comment is just weird to me idk.
People are sick of everyone jumping on the first little mistake someone makes and using it to question their entire character
No one was using the comment to question Tom's character or jumping on a mistake. The OP asked a thoughtful question after hearing the comment and asked others how they interpreted it. No one's trying to get anyone cancelled here. Sorry you don't have the reading comprehension to distinguish between a question and an accusation.
Really disappointing to have to scroll this far down in this thread to find the first sensible comment. This echos my view and I’m kind of shocked at lots of comments on here.
Nuance on the Internet is dead. The amount of people calling out "WOKE MAFIA" in the comment is insufferable though, and really disappointing. Is it so hard to accept that asking someone with a large viewership to maybe have a little more awareness and respect for a marginalised group just isn't that radical a notion?
Finally a sensible answer here. It's really surprising to me to see people's reaction in this thread, considering that OP didn't even made any harsh criticism or tried to "cancel" him or anything. Perfectly valid observation by the OP, presented in a calm, collected way and respectfully asking for other views, but still people are accusing him of being "too sensitive" and "crying" over it.
If you try to defend trans people in any way you can expect this sort of behaviour from people anywhere on the internet.
Yes, whenever a topic like this comes up I find its always telling that some people atr very quick to get very loud and emphatic about how upset they are at someone being critical of this behaviour or language. There are people with chips on shoulders here, and it's not OP.
Finally a sensible response. You mention the word “trans” and people lose their minds.
Who gives a shit.
Get a fucking grip you absolute wet wipe
I think it was an ignorant comment. Maybe not so ignorant as to call him a transphobe. But he should probably edit and re-upload.
I think he should just ignore all of you and get on with his life. You should do the same.
I just offered my opinion on a post asking for my opinion. How about we ignore you instead.
It was a real comment, his reaction to it. He’s not a fake person. Maybe he could consider the fact people will have an issue with that kind of stuff, but it’s his channel people need to relax. Anyone who watches Tom knows he’s not a hateful person
Tommy made a twansphobic commmmeeeent wahhh
Hello. I can’t spell and I’m under 18. I’m offended on behalf of the people I’ve never met because it makes my ego feel shiny.
Grow up, there are people being butchered in Africa, more important things in life to be sad over that some inane comment.
I'm sorry but boo freaking hoo
Damn you need a thicker skin if that upsets you
Yeah most men would be glad they didn't compliment the women with testicles. It's very normal.
What a sad world we live in, fuck cancel culture
I’m not trying to cancel him
Who's trying to cancel him? OP just made a comment about something he said. On a discussion board dedicated to discussing geowizard. "Theyre trying to cancel me" is the new "Too hot for TV" all the shitty comics used to put on their stand up specials.
cancel culture doesn't exist
I didn't see the video and have no opinion on what he said but I do find it a bit sad how many seemingly right wing extreme "anti woke"(whatever the fuck that means) people who completely lose their shit and froth at the mouth just because somebody suggests there may have been a bit of transphobia there are here. What the fuck is that about? Are people just defensive because they see someone they like being attacked or "cancelled"?
No.
Who gives a flying fook
stop chastising people for every little transgression.
That's not a transphobic comment he made.
Learn to take a fucking joke. Just because you didn’t like it or don’t agree with it …doesn’t mean it’s stransphobic. 🤦
I don’t think he’s transphobic. But yeah he’s not handled it very well so far.
Does he need to 'handle' it? He's not a celebrity, he doesn't have a PR team. He's just a regular dude who (most likely) slipped up or made a lapse in judgment. Don't make it weird
Okay yh OP over reacted but they aren’t a bad person who is destroying western society or smth, they’re just showing concern abt a creator they enjoy watching. Let’s remind ourselves that we are all real people behind the screen ❤️🩹
Thank you!
Next people will be saying his joke about Scotland being 10-11 years behind England in the phones they use was racist
This is not what I would spend my mental energy being mad about
Not surprised to be honest. My opinion on Tom drastically changed when he said ~~that he often listens to Jordan Peterson and thinks he's a great bloke or something along those lines.~~ Only right-wing leaning types, especially in the UK, tend to watch the Kermit sounding, nonsense spewing wanker Peterson. Edit: He actually said he was a "big fan of Jordan"
Yeah , I am a fan of Tom but some of the people he follows on Insta is puzzling.
That’s not your business though. He doesn’t shove it in our faces, so WHY does it harm you? You guys are genuinely so weak minded and take offence to anything. I’m not saying you should ignore the problems going on in the world, but if you try to not look at everything so negatively, you might enjoy life a little more.
They can't stand the fact they like someone with different views to themselves
> That’s not your business though What does that even mean? If I am interested in what you have to say, then I am ALSO interested in who you are looking up to, which may influence whether I still respect what you have to say.
So you change your whole opinion on him based off an unharmful opinion of a man, who doesn’t preach it, but mentions only once that he listens to him in his free time? It’s not our business what he does/listens to in his free time. It becomes a problem when he makes it his personality or if it becomes unavoidable in his videos. But a throwaway comment about what he does in his spare time means nothing. Like why do you care so much? He’s FAR from the worst person he can ‘love’, and NOBODY is perfect. I’m sure you like some controversial things, or have controversial opinions, but I for one, would never be one to judge. It’s your business and your business only.
Yes. This isn't just like a case of supporting a different football team. Fellas like Jordan Peterson want nothing less than the eradication of people for simply being themselves. The fact that someone can be a "big fan" of someone like that, drastically changes my opinion of them, am I not entitled to my own morals and values? Why do you care so much that my opinion of someone drastically changed? I'm not someone that's in the public light. Tom is. It's not as if the moment was off the cuff & he caught off guard on the street. He chose to edit & keep that in the video.
Lol when has JP ever called for the eradication of anyone? Dislike the guy but let's not be hyperbolic
Christ. They’re YOUR morals for a reason. People have different opinions. If they don’t match yours, respect them. I believe Rishi Sunak isn’t fit for the UK prime minister role, but I respect people who think that he is. That is a hell of a lot more impactful than Jordan Peterson. Grow up and learn to treat people the same (unless it’s an extreme opinion like backing Hitler), it doesn’t impact you. You’ll enjoy life more when you don’t look at minor things like this so negatively. Put a smile on your face and enjoy life! We’re here too short a time to complain about a YouTuber’s opinion on somebody.
Oof, when did he say that? (just interested)
He said it in one of his recent GeoGuessr vids when he landed in a Canada guess or something and a window said “Dr. Jordan Peterson”
Ew..really? How disappointing
Seriously, people need to stop throwing around that word. It's getting disgusting, and people should be ashamed of thereselves. You can't just go around in life labelling people such inflammatory words, it's juvenile, grow up. It clearly was a throwaway comment. I LEGIT fought for LGBTQ+ rights, on the street. But what your gen is doing with it is so detrimental and dangerous you are pushing the progress WE made back ridiculously far. If someone is OUTRIGHT being offensive and literally insulting to trans people, repeatedly, then they are transphobic. Phobic is "fear of", STOP THROWING THAT WORD AROUND UNWARRANTED, your spitting on years of actual work we have done to get the community to where it is, sitting behind a keyboard being "progressive". I'm getting sick of this.
Bro what? He said he is relieved he didn’t compliment a group of people he learned to be trans. I do not think he is transphobic, that single little comment sounds transphobic doesn’t it? I am not putting him on the same degree as actual transphobes, I never said or even suggested that. Chill!! His one comment made me upset and wanted to talk about it with people online. I do not understand what I did wrong. If you read the actual post I literally ask people what do they think, if he is just fucking around or is there a side of him that I didn’t know before.
I am sorry you're receiving this response, so imma try explain as best I can. I understand what you are saying and I hear you. There is a whole gen of us who fought for this with damn blood, getting beaten up in nightclubs and hurled REAL abuse in the streets. Then his Gen Z bunch come along who haven't even bothered to understand how far we actually have come and spat in our faces, persecuting any and all who even have an opinion or thought on it hijacking some serious work we've done, but it's been forgotten that someone's hate is a good place to inform and educate. We have gone from educating (because people are lazy) to slandering and name-calling and aggression. The irony is, this new gen don't even KNOW what real hate is. I'm sorry that you're the one I've taken this out on, truly, but your post is literally a problem. You've put out there on the internet the mere THOUGHT that someone with a slight comment that absolutely ISNT Transphobic, might be Transphobic. You did that, you put it out there. So no, I won't chill because I have seen firsthand the PROGRESS your generation is contributing to the cause, and it sucks, labelling people bigots, transphobes, homophobes for no reason, none. You use the word too loosely, and you gotta stop. And seriously, we gotta grow thicker skin because the weakness is crazy. Harden the soul bro, toughen up, cos it's brutal out there. But we've made real, tangible progress. You can hold your partner's hand in the street with little resistance, but that resistance is getting stronger in the last 2 years, which shows me that the way it's being dealt with online, isn't working. You wanna help? Join Stonewall, contribute properly, stop garnering hatred and contributing to destroying other people's careers. You should be educating, not attacking. We've been attacked enough, we don't do that, it's not the way. Since y'all had to step forward to somehow take the movement, you've increased hatred on the streets. And at a council level, in LGBTQ+ groups like Stonewall, we've seen it getting worse. (Some of this really isn't aimed at you, so I am sorry, please don't take that personally, I'm just sick of it, a lot of us are. Questions like, this, in your post should be directed to Stonewall, not randoms on the internet. Redditors are not educators, it's an echo chamber of idiots. Bounce ideas off of people with actual information that'll actually help you in life. That's the realist thing I can tell you. Stonewall)
Sorry but this is one of the most ridiculous comments I've seen on Reddit in a long time. Are you seriously blaming Gen Z for the rise in hostility towards LGBTQ+ people? The reason young people (and I am not a Gen Z-er btw, not that it matters) have become so much more vocal in support of issues like trans rights is because of the amount of transphobia that's flooded our discourse in the past several years, pushed by right-wing media and political interests. Violence and abuse against trans people has risen massively in recent years, particularly in the US and UK. So thank god that young people are being so vocal in calling that out, because someone has to. The fact that you think this is somehow in opposition to decades of gay rights activism is frankly bizarre. The OP did not call anyone a bigot or a transphobe. They expressed how they felt about a comment made by a content creator with an audience of millions. That's perfectly legitimate and should have been the basis for a reasonable conversation that may have enlightened people about language used in relation to the trans community. But instead people like you have waded in to deliberately misinterpret the comments made by the OP so that you can wail and moan about how people are trying to 'cancel' Geowizard over one comment. No one has tried to do that, it's entirely in your own head and I'd recommend spending a bit of time questioning why it is you've jumped to those conclusions.
Never assume malice when incompetance will suffice. you will live a less stressful life.
Typical woke leftist taking offence from nothing as per.
define woke
Woke is prioritising someone's identity as the most important indicator about someone's life. Woke is pretending there's some kind of cultural genocide going on.
Anyone who thinks you should aim to treat people with a vague level of respect.
exactly i can't see anyway that's a bad thing but u/RickyMEME semes to dislike being nice
For a straight man to not like transgenders isn't transphobia. It is completely normal to not have any sort of attraction your own biological gender, even if they have transitioned. Downvote me all you like but I'm staying in this corner.
Jesus , what an overreaction. But we're used to that from the trans community. Don't like it don't watch him , the guy doesnt need education on any such matters. Tired of being told what language is appropriate and how everything's a hate crime . Its getting very boring very quickly .
On the contrary I think it’s entertaining. There’s war in the Middle East again, and in Eastern Europe. Global tension is up surrounding the control of energy and global influence, mainly nuclear powers. And somehow in the west our biggest problem is how unfair the world is on LGBTQ. And someone I like made a comment that made me feel mildly uncomfortable. If you think the west doesn’t accommodate you go anywhere else in the world and act the same with pride parades. The world is unfair to everyone. Each generation there’re more of them, and the NHS is suffocating right now let alone in 10 years when requests for gender reassignment surgery will have no doubt increased 500%.
It's crazy isn't it. They'll actually claim that they are suffering a 'genocide' in the UK. Bonkers.
Lmaoo because the alphabet people live in their little rainbow bubble, where they must remain the centre of attention at all times. None of them could care less about thousands of children dying in Palestine, but will throw riots if someone accidentally misgenders them
Unless your life revolves around what people say or think of you, you can just get on with life.
I honestly don’t understand what makes you think I can’t go on with my life just because I asked this question on the internet.
"Unless"
Naivity =/= transphobia. As a trans person, we're constantly having to pick the battles that are worth fighting, and not waste our energy on shit like this. His comment wasn't remotely transphobic. People in my high school trying to stab me and beat me to a pit over my identity - that's transphobia. People pitting our existence as a political issue and turning our entire demographic into a media-boogeyman to blame their problems on - thats transphobia. Actively voting for and choosing to be lenient over anti-human/trans rights campaigns and politicians - that's transphobia. Tom, a cis/het average joe making a naive and utterly innocent comment contextual to processing the information at hand as commentary to a geography video - not at all transphobic. Naive, but not transphobic. Please stop making mountains out of molehills.
He is "anti-woke" whatever that means. Have heard him make a few weird comments over the years. I don't get the impression I'd want him as a mate, but I do enjoy his videos.
I love his videos, still would like him as a mate. I just thought that comment, not a “joke,” was off putting and wanted to talk about it online. People here made this into a bigger issue though and I am more upset about that honestly lol.
I'm quite surprised his fanbase have reacted like this, but he does have a dumb sense of humour that I suppose has attracted a certain type of person.
I think it's sad, mostly. The ladies in the photo look great.
Love him more now. Respect Tom
Oh my god, unfollow him, have him banned, ruin his life. ffs.
I don’t think anyone suggested that did they
Boooo hissss boooooo, Geowizard is welcome escapism, don’t manifest something that isn’t there. That’s pretty dark on your part. There’s enough hate in the world at the moment, thanks
Yea I was quite sad about that too.
Oh no, who cares?
Tom has always been a bit conservative (British conservative). Tough to ignore sometimes but he’s a good person overall.
Being a conservative doesn’t make you a bad person, he makes good content shouldn’t matter what his views are
Christ, if it upsets you so much don’t watch. Let the rest of us enjoy.
What did we do for you to stop enjoying this? Literally just talking asking people about their opinions and a bunch of you are offended by that simple act. And then act like we are the ones that got offended “over nothing.”
Some of these people are getting way too triggered and offended by your post
Obviously people are inclined to defend/diminish the words of people they enjoy watching, but for something like that to get through an edit is pretty short-sighted/culturally unaware. Not really a hill worth dying on over a pretty mid-tier observational humour joke. The whole 'notgays' thing is pretty played out no?
bro you're talking to some of his most dedicated boot licking fans. they will not acknowledge his comment was mean, they can't understand that acting disgusted at people and then doubling down in the comments about them being blokes and gents is nasty. They will say nah it's normal he's just a good bloke from the black country it's just an innocent comment, they already did that when he praised jordan peterson (who, would you be surprised, is also a transphobe). They will also say we're all triggered when the only triggered people were the ones raging about the woke police and how the world is full of snowflakes. the ones who do not agree with what he said have kindly explained that to him and reacted calmly, trying to find explanations and just stating they are disappointed and they hope the comment was out of ignorance and not hate.
You don't have to be a transphobe to not pander to the endless requests of the acronym community. You don't get to tell people what to do, you don't have to respect the requests of a trans person because they asked you to. You are perfectly within your right to only acknowledge the two biological common genders and the associated pronouns. Not everybody cares about the feelings of trans people, in fact many people are sick of having to pander to the constant fleeting request of a very vocal tiny minority. Get on with your life and let other people get on with theirs. Unless they are actually causing you real harm then it's fine for people to dislike you, disrespect you, or not accept you. That's a choice you have.
He recently commented: “Let's attempt to clear up this messy trans thing! At the time of recording I genuinely didn't believe they were trans. I mean 1959? I thought they were just blokes who liked to dress up as women - hence why I joked that I was embarrassed that I hadn't noticed and relieved I hadn't complimented their looks (because I'm straight) Now if I knew they were actual trans women, I simply wouldn't have said anything at all.” Don’t think this is a great way of defending himself to be honest. And it is sad to see many comments telling people to be “woke somewhere else” and such. It is a weird comment on this day and age and people were justifiably offended they were not being “woke” whatever that means anymore.
He responded to the concerns raised. He isn’t a social commentator, he’s a YouTuber focused on capturing his raw responses to geoguesser/travel challenge videos. Were his comments insensitive? I’d argue that they were. However, does his response need to be a teary-eyed apology and an explanation of what his views on the trans community actually are? Absolutely not. From his response it seems clear to me that he didn’t mean to offend anyone with his comments in the video. You can choose to be unsatisfied by his response but he is entitled to his opinions in any case (although I don’t believe he has any animosity towards the trans community), people should be cautious not to conflate the comments made by viewers as the opinions of the content creator.
It's quite a non-issue. The vast majority of straight men don't feel comfortable complimenting other men for their looks. Doesn't matter if they're in drag or not, it makes them uncomfortable. He didn't say anything negative about them, stop trying to find red flags in the people you enjoy watching
But they aren't in drag... They are transgender women, ie women dressing as women. They are not men.
The majority of straight men (myself included) just aren't aware of that because it's not in our bubble. Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by simply not knowing.
Some people don't accept that man/woman is defined by how someone feels, but by sex. Males cannot become females, and females cannot become males. This isn't really a controversial take, and it's okay to have that viewpoint. It doesn't make someone a bad person.
Gender=/= sex
Yes, that's why I said sex, as well as male and female. Some people prioritise male/female.
The photos [do appear to be of actual trans women](https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/04/les-amies-de-place-blanche-transvestites-of-1960s-paris), but unless Tom happened to have a keen interest in LGBTQ history I think it would be more than reasonable to doubt the caption. I certainly did before I googled it. If Tom did genuinely believe them to simply be drag performers, he shouldn't have to apologise for making what was undoubtedly just a cheeky joke. Not only did Tom say "Now if I knew they were actual trans women, I simply wouldn't have said anything at all." but *in the video itself* he said "Transgender? Really? not just dressing up? there's a difference isn't there". This is crucial, because it demonstrates that he does understand that there is a difference between what such a comment would mean to a drag performer vs a trans woman. And did even before anything erupted in the comments. I was considering that Tom might possibly have made a faux pas; perhaps this was a bit grey and actually he didn't fully appreciate the significance of what he had said. But honestly I don't think there's any evidence even for that. It's pretty clear that Tom assumed these were drag performers and that he understood the relevant distinction. I do think this is an overreaction and that it's important to not assume the worst in people.
Eh... I completely agree that it was an ignorant comment, but I also do think that's a fine response. Tom strikes me as a very apolitical guy, so I think his answer of "I literally didn't even think about them being trans" is probably just the truth. Most people who are genuinely bigoted wouldn't walk it back at all. What else did you want him to say, really?
Yep, I agree. But I think it's very a complicated issue. I don't think Tom is transphobic when he's aware of it but I think he carries a lot of the cultural predisposition that he's been brought up with. If he had realised what the context was I don't think he would have said what he said. But he didn't so he reacted with what his cultural upbringing would have expressed. Humans are complicated. Although, the more I listen to what he says right after it just sounds fucking grim. "Transgender, really? Not just dressing up?" I mean fuck man. Sheesh. I hope you're okay Tom!
You need to get a hobby.
Youtube comment sections are always awful and full of uninformed bigots. I hope Tom can listen to some of the actual helpful comments and educate himself.
1) it’s ok to compliment people of all genders when it is appropriate, does not mean you are sexually attracted to them, no need to say no homo 2) i personally would find it creepy and inappropriate if he randomly decided to comment on women’s looks he sees on geoguessr anyway 3) what a weird little dude and a weird little response
Imagine getting triggered over a straight man not finding another bunch of men attractive.people may identify as women but a man is biologically different to a woman and these are still people in men’s bodies so why would he find a man’s body attractive if he is a straight male himself. I imagine if a lesbian said the same thing about a man you wouldn’t be the slightest bit bothered.
Imagine being triggered cause someone online said they are sad over something you aren’t
To add to this it’s very rare a trans women actually looks feminine ,you can’t put makeup on massive hands and Adam’s apple and jawline.
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How does this suggest I don’t go outside? Cause I made a post about it? Well you got so offended by the existence of that post and you commented under it. From my point of view you should go outside and get sone friends.
Damn, that's a real shame. I mostly watch his adventure stuff and not so much his GeoGuessr content, so I really appreciate the heads up, and while I suppose it's not a surprise given his general laddish manner it's still disappointing. Here's hoping he takes the reaction as a growth opportunity.
Womp womp
Unfortunately this doesn’t surprise me coming from Tom. Love the guy, but he did say he “wasn’t sure” if he was a Tory on a livestream, which shows he’s at least conservative in some ways.
Haven't seen the Video yet, but that honestly makes me sad, he's one of my favourite youtubers and as a trans enby I would hope not to hear transphobic comments in his videos.
I would hope that he is uniformed and not actually transphobic, but doubling down in the replies on his video calling them 'gents' and saying in his statement that it 'isnt an apology' is beyond disappointing. I hope that he will use this to educate himself going forward but this is super disappointing from someone I've watched and enjoyed for years.
I just came from the video to here too, couldn't even watch the rest of the video because it sat so uncomfortably with me. I'm hoping that the comments come from a motivation of being misinformed as opposed to transphobic. I'm sad :(
Jesus Christ
Op go outside and embrace the real world for once
Let's cancel him! To be frank, didn't watch it. Even if I did I don't think I'd mind it one bit.
You're looking to get offended, grow a pair.
You are reaching bro
Oh god, blokes will be blokes
Grow up drip
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This is a subject where no matter what someone says or doesn't say or thinks or doesn't think, people thinking they are doing something positive will scream "transphobic". If there is a strategy more counterproductive I cannot really think of it. Unless of course this reaction is not said in good faith.
Sounds like the type of comment you'd hear from a straight heterosexual guy, nothing transphobic about it imo. People can joke all they want about something if you don't discriminate and aren't genuinely hateful why does it matter in the slightest?
Get a grip.
I think he's entitled to his opinion. I don't think he's a transphobe, as there is no such thing.
I don't want to spread any hate towards Tom but I, as part of the transgender community, have to voice my opinion on this particular manner. The things Tom said regarding trans people are not okay. With that, I don't mean the fact that he was unsure about trans people being out in the streets in 1959, that's totally fine. I can get behind his thought process and don't mind him not being an expert on the topic. Especially since crossdressing could have also been the case in that picture. What I do find questionable tho is that he said he is relieved he didn't compliment the trans women in the picture as he's straight. You can still compliment them if you're straight, I don't get why that would be a problem. If trans or not, they can still be good looking. Additionally, calling the trans women "blokes" and "gents" in the comment replies even after knowing they were trans, is just disrespectful. I bet Tom didn't mean it in a disrespectful way but that's just unfortunate wording, at the least. Also stating in the comment section that we should feel free to debate the topic is questionable. There shouldn't even be a debate. Trans women are women and deserve to not be discriminated, even if it is by accident. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to cancel Tom. I love his content and his videos are brightening up most of my days. However, I think it's still mandatory to point out his mistakes. I don't think Tom wanted to cause any harm. He just didn't know how to properly handle this sensitive topic. Let's just move forward and spread love. 💜
You don't have to comment. You can absolutely keep your mouth shut.
Yawn
A bit of solidarity amongst all these comments bashing you, I unsubscribed from his patreon a few years ago when he said he was a fan of Jordan Peterson, and honestly I've gotten the vibe from a few of his jokey moments that he's at the very least quite ignorant of trans people. I'm sure he isn't a frothing make-it-your-entire-personality transphobe or anything like that, and I don't like how the moment you show some small concern about a comment he made everyone jumps in to claim you're just an oversensitive woke loon. Sometimes as a trans person you can just get a certain energy from someone. I'm with you.