Trans woman here, thank you for saying this. Definitely something SGum should take to heart.

Well said. The shift to the new commenting platform seems to have brought in a fresh batch of commenters both desirable and undesirable (though some of the folks who were not giving outright hate speech but instead ‘just asking questions’ etc have been doing that shit for years). I do want to give Stereogum credit for their coverage in the sense that the pieces have been written in a way that doesn’t mince words about transphobia. I reported whoever attacked Rachel for being too woke and advised getting a different woman to write for Stereogum – purely sexist. She was right on the money with how she assessed it in her article. However, if Stereogum can’t moderate these comments sections maybe it’s better not to cover. Surely the Macy Gray story did not *need* to be covered though it was somewhat big this week, absolutely there was no necessity to cover Bette Fucking Midler. We all know these kind of stories are comment section pot-stirrers, and I don’t think it’s responsible to stir the pot and then leave hate speech standing in the comments.

Back when we had a downvote button those kinds of comments used to get quickly downvoted and hidden behind the “click here to view” button. Now that their comments get to stay unhidden side by side with non-hateful comments, it feels like the balance has shifted. It also feels like there’s more TERFs in these comment sections than their used to be. Or at least in the ones I saw this week.

If any of the trans commenters are reading this, I truly hope you feel welcome and supported and aren’t run off by some terf assholes. I probably don’t even know who all of you are. All I can think of off the top of my head is Phospho, who I haven’t seen around in a while but who I always enjoyed seeing comments from. <3 Bless

I’m sorry but if a grown ass man hopped into a 17 yr old girls DMs asking for her to hook him up with her older costar…that would be the highest level of cancellation lol. Try not being creepy Doja.

Now that I know this, what do I do?

TERFs suck, all my trans homies rule. That’s all.

hello, i’m here to be the resident wet blanket.

i’m a bit surprised with the choice to lead off with those phoebe bridgers tweets this week given all the vile comments about trans people that are still up untouched in the two threads regarding transphobic musicians this week. the choice to leave hatespeech up in your comments reads like a tacit endorsement of those points of view, regardless of what screenshots you throw up in the end-of-the-week post – surely i’m not the only one who’s noticed that most of the trans stereogum commenters don’t post here anymore. i understand that you are short staffed right now, i’m not saying someone needs to delete these comments the moment they go up, but even using the new “Report” option doesn’t seem to work. i would encourage you to reconsider your comment moderation strategy at a time when right wing rhetoric is on the rise all over the country.

or in other words, my feeling while reading the stereogum comments this week:
https://twitter.com/Iron_Spike/status/1531049781824524288

HEY EVERYONE!
 
I asked my folks about all The Number Ones from last week. Here’s what they said.
 
BELIEVE:
 
Mom: “10. TEN. Shout out to the middle aged women making dance music”  
 
Dad: “I’m not quite the fan Mom is, I’d give it a 6”
 
Katy the Cat liked it too.
 
NO SCRUBS:
 
Mom: “Erm. I give it a 6, never was a big TLC fan. It’s fine.”
 
Dad: “I liked it, good rhythm, contrary to what some might believe I actually like TLC. I give it a 7”
 
LIVIN’ LA VIDA LOCA:
 
Mom: “I give it a 9, it’s very fun. That is all” 
 
Dad: “It’s a fun song, very upbeat, I’d give it a 7, it’s lively and exhilarating” 
 
Please tell us what you think, and stay tuned for more.

in the summer of 1999 me and my mum moved 200 miles away from where I was born, to a small town in the middle of nowhere. It was a bit disorienting for a 7 year old, and I was a bit lost for a while. There was a camp-style programme at the school opposite my house where my mum insisted I go to try and make some friends, but I found it very difficult and snuck home early most days. On the last night we had a barbecue – one of my favourite things – so even if I was lonely I could sit in the corner with my burger happy enough. The instructors put the radio on speakers, or possibly a Now CD, and this song came on. All the other kids started throwing shapes in that weird way kids do when unable to avoid how infectious a tune is. I really badly wanted to join in but just couldn’t do it. Until another girl came over and fully dragged me by the shoulders into the melee. It was great fun, like I probably knew it would be, and me and the girl have been best friends for more than 20 years now. So thanks Ricky!

Chris, Scott, Tom, Rachel, I have to chime in and say that this week revealed a problem with a combination of the comment system and which stories are reported and how. It’s been stated explicitly from political actors that their strategy is to exploit discomfort with trans issues (i.e. bias) to achieve their greater agenda. Reading the Bette Middler post, there were a multitude of long posts from accounts that had never posted to Stereogum before and were repeating talking points and “debating” people.

I think you have to look at why Trump was ascendant and Kanye stayed famous after the music declined: They were able to manipulate the modern media content apparatus that rewards poking hot button issues and offending people to get people worked up, more clicks, more comments, rage adrenaline and dopamine. The news was always saying, “Guess what awful thing Trump said…” and feigning horror/disgust, while making sure that they talked about him and those hot takes all the time.

If you want to uplift the trans community, uplift trans artists and musicians who are creating culture and give them a platform, not Bette Midder, when she’s being taken in by propaganda and repeating it, or other more toxic trolls and propagandists.

Trans/non-binary communities are a major part of the counterculture and artistic/musical subcultures these days. It’s not hard at all to feature and promote their music. You can let them frame their own issues or just talk about other aspects of their life where they can describe their experience or celebrate aspects that aren’t about oppression (a common thing that people tell me, we don’t want to see only stories about our people being victimized/oppressed, there is more to our experience.)

The Goon Sax Break Up
Panda Bear & Sonic Boom—”Go On”
Goon—”Emily Says”

Is it goon week or something?