And it is importantly worth noting that it is black trans women who get the absolute brunt of this -even unto death. Because among those followers may be men who are indeed attracted to us, sleep with us, but would sooner kill us than admit it to their friends. And so it goes. My best (usually unheeded) advice it to simply keep us out of your mouth. If you aren’t trans, we get that you don’t “get” us, often hate us, and often find us “icky.” But you don’t have to pile on. This is a hard enough road without seemingly otherwise reasonable people taking their shots, too. But when you ask them to stop, introspection gives way to ego 99 out of 100 times, and we are the unreasonable ones. Othering is too delicious to let go of, apparently. I wish staying in one’s own lane was as equally captivating.