10.08.2024
so recently i've been looking at trans websites from Internet 1.0 and it's probably my favourite thing on the internet at the minute. the transmasc pride webring has a link to the original FtM webring which was last updated in 1999, which seems to be the median 'last update' date for the websites i've looked at.
SENSORY/PHOTOSENSITIVE SEIZURE WARNING: the FtM Pride ring has a very inaccessible layout (hard to read font, bad contrast between background and text) and could induce photosensitive seizures. there isn't a warning on the transmasc pride ring site but it is still a very real risk so i advise users with any degree of photosensitivity to avoid navigating to the site.
there's also a great article that talks about trans websites in more detail and gives some very important context for what trans people were dealing with at the time. **again, do take care when navigating!** most of the sites were either resource lists or personal sites, but nevertheless give a really good glimpse of how the trans community Used The Web. spiritually there's really not much difference between the personal websites i've looked at and a tweet from like 20 minutes ago. the language is kinda different, but then again i am more drawn to the earlier lingo as it were. it's a lot more frank and seems to encompass a lot more than today's terminology does at times. like for example if i were to say i had a gender-affirming haircut the other day, it doesn't really express how i actually felt about the haircut. you have to know what my gender is first, and then you have to know what it means for it to be ~affirming~. but if i said my hair was getting too long and i got most of it buzzed off and now i feel like a real person again, you're more likely to understand what's going on there.
i think what sticks out to me is the way the struggle hasn't really changed that much for 20 years. healthcare is easier to get hold of and there's a lot more resources out there. by all means it's easier to be trans now than it was then, but what's happening now is the progress we have made is under real threat. for young people it's already being legislated away. a lot of it's been mediated by The Bad App so i'd rather retreat to my own website where i have much more control and i'm not being fed radioactive sludge every second. the old web was it's own kind of respite before Big Internet took over and made it awful, so i guess there's different motivations but a very similar principle between me, 23 year old trans guy and the trans guys who were also in their early 20s when i was but a babe. or in some cases not even born yet.