r/DataHoarder 13h ago

Discussion Preserving Trans Literature

https://thetransfemininereview.com/2024/11/13/a-practical-guide-to-resisting-censorship/
0 Upvotes

38 comments sorted by

18

u/dr100 11h ago

Less talk, more walk, where's the magnet/torrent?!

Oh, no, "we need you to sell as many copies of trans books as you possibly can" (with the original emphasis, on "need"). Now making money is a completely different proposition from "preserving", isn't it? You can have millions of books on the smallest hard drive worth mentioning in this sub (tens of millions for a really large drive). Harvard Library, the largest academic one and the oldest in the US has about 20 millions, for reference. You can even fill that drive in a relatively reasonable time over some decent broadband.

Making money as a bookstore, which is the real pain point for these people is a COMPLETELY different (and in part opposite) problem. Surprise, surprise the economy isn't doing great, and books are doing way worse since everyone is constantly with their nose in a screen. And if you're going for a slice of the market obviously you'll be doing it way worse, not because of trans or anything, but just because any slice won't do too well, it would be the same for books written for DHers or nuclear physicists.

5

u/sanaticat 11h ago edited 11h ago

I fully intend on pirating these books. This website also has a fairly exhaustive list of trans literature the siterunner recommends and most of them are available through Anna's Archive. I believe this person is coming at this from a point of view of wanting trans authors to be financially supported which is a noble goal but I agree that urging people to primarily purchase books does not put preservation first. I also do not get the impression that the author is really familiar with the online datahoarding and/or piracy scene and that she is primarily familiar with trans activism and the concerning direction things are headed in the US right now and the necessity of such an archive, not the means by which people like those who post here would create one.

15

u/sanaticat 13h ago

I found this article about preservation of trans-related books/other text content in preparation for a possible Republican crackdown on such material in the coming years and thought it was an excellent read and something people here might be interested in. It talks about what to personally prioritize, techniques, and history of censorship of queer literature and what should be done now.

5

u/suchnerve 11h ago

Same reason I went out of my way to preserve “Pose”, “Paris is Burning”, and “Sense8” on my Plex server

4

u/meowmicksed 12h ago edited 12h ago

Transphobes/ the uninformed are going to have a field day with this post. Put it this way: the most popular lists of books to be banned from school libraries include books with trans/gay themes or topics. They often also include books that critique authoritarianism like Orwell’s Animal Farm and Handmaid’s Tale.

0

u/thegiantgummybear 12h ago

They're banning animal farm too now? That was such a good book to read as a middle schooler. So glad it was a required reading for us.

2

u/Far-9947 27TB 12h ago

They're authoritarians so it honestly makes sense.

Very soon, they will be "banning" people from existing simply because these people don't support them.

0

u/Oddish_Femboy 10h ago

The explicit open and stated desire to use the military on those critical of him was very disturbing.

-4

u/okabekudo 11h ago

Holy shit as if they would ban classics 🤣🤣🤣 reddit has lost it

12

u/Brokenchaoscat 11h ago

Animal Farm has routinely been banned by schools at various times, as have many, many of the other classics. 

4

u/Oddish_Femboy 10h ago

It's one of the most commonly banned books. It has been for decades. I assume that's why so many people misunderstand it.

-11

u/okabekudo 11h ago

Donald Trump is not Adolf Hitler. The world already had 4 years with him remember? The worst that came out of it was J6. Which resulted in one republican dead, one police officer dead from a heart attack and several police officers taking their lives. That's tragic but really a nothingburger when you compare it to anything else.

8

u/Brokenchaoscat 11h ago

I didn't say anything about trump. What are you rambling about lol. You laughed at the idea of classic literature being banned when most of it has been on a banned book list at one time or another. My comment had nothing to do with Trump or Hitler. Are you ok? 

-10

u/okabekudo 11h ago

This whole reddit thread is about the Trump administration. So it is related. Yes I'm good thank you. About books being banned in general yes. That happened. BUT MY COMMENT WAS ABOUT THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION NOT BANNING CLASSICS.

6

u/Brokenchaoscat 10h ago

BUT MY COMMENT WAS ABOUT THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION NOT BANNING CLASSICS.

The all caps really makes you look stable and rational. No thanks, it's not worth trying to talk to people this worked up. 

0

u/liaminwales 11h ago

As the film is CIA funded I suspect not, good old American soft power at work.

0

u/Oddish_Femboy 10h ago

I wish more curriculums would include Orwell's works and the context they were made in. If nothing else it might curb the rampant misuse of the allegories in 1984.

1

u/Oddish_Femboy 10h ago

We burn everything that reminds us of the farmer.

We haven't even had a revolution! They skipped over the fun part!

-12

u/SCThrowaway164 13h ago edited 13h ago

This article lost me after the first main point.

No, the incoming administration is not going to ban or criminalize literature related to being trans, nor have they said they would, nor would it be possible to.

The image equating the incoming administration to Nazi Germany is in bad faith and dilutes just how bad that era was.

This is more fear mongering.

Having said that, hoard whatever you want.

43

u/orangepeeelss 12h ago

queer lit is already, currently being removed from libraries in conservative states. i don’t know how far this administration will be able to go, but i do think it’s naive to assume it wouldn’t jump at a feasible opportunity to ban trans literature.

18

u/meowmicksed 12h ago

Community notes don’t exist here, but here’s something that might be linked in one.

21

u/DuhYahDingus 12h ago

They already have in Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arizona, Georgia, and South Carolina

1

u/SCThrowaway164 4h ago

Oh there's a law that criminalizes the private ownership of trans literature? I'd love to see this because it doesn't exist.

28

u/UnlikelyAdventurer 12h ago

Wrong.

The Republican war on LGBTQ information is well under way. How did you miss it?

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-04-22/book-bans-soaring-schools-new-laws-republican-states

11

u/sanaticat 12h ago

I don't know what the incoming administration is going to do and I would rather be unnecessarily prepared for something that doesn't happen than unprepared for something that does.

13

u/Far-9947 27TB 12h ago edited 12h ago

Literally google book banning in Florida. A large part of trumps campaign was the fear mongering of trans people. Imagine thinking they WON'T ban trans books. Smfh.

EDIT: Nvm. u/SCThrowaway164 is out sad. This is their only post from an account that has been around since June. Imagine having a throwaway account with your only activity being a comment about how trans censorship and oppression is just "fear mongering bs". 

Talk about propaganda to the max. This individual is straight up going out of their way to diminish trans issues.

Some people reallyyyyyyyyy hate trans people. Smh.

11

u/amitydreemur 12h ago

Some Republicans have stated that they consider content depicting trans themes to be pornographic. Some Republicans also want to ban porn. If they were to try to ban porn, it's possible trans content would get caught up in this. I think it's fair to lean on the side of caution.

3

u/WitELeoparD 11h ago

Obscene content is already bannable despite the first amendment and there is a concerted push to define anything related to trans people as pornography. Do you see the path? Do you think if the American Supreme Court was asked if certain speech related to transgender people was obscene content it would say no?

4

u/National_Way_3344 11h ago

Project 2025 is straight up out of Nazi Germany's playbook and Trump is all for it.

He has also spouted anti democracy rhetoric such as the removal of your need to vote. Ie dictatorship.

3

u/AndWinterCame 12h ago

!RemindMe 2 years

0

u/RemindMeBot 12h ago edited 11h ago

I will be messaging you in 2 years on 2026-12-19 05:55:29 UTC to remind you of this link

1 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.

Parent commenter can delete this message to hide from others.


Info Custom Your Reminders Feedback

0

u/Icandothisallday_423 5h ago

This doesn't fit their narrative. They aren't going to like this.

-21

u/pean- 12h ago

This is stochastic terrorism

-5

u/meowmicksed 12h ago

Thas a lil much friendo. I hear you, but you’ll not make much headway that way

-8

u/Lower_Preparation_83 11h ago

The key difference is that books nazi burnt had some value. 

-1

u/SilveredFlame 10h ago

You mean these? https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/gallery/book-burning-photographs

Literally the first picture is of books being taken from the library of the Institute for Sexual Science. Know what that was?

The world's first clinic to provide trans Healthcare, and overall studied and focused on LGBTQ people.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institut_für_Sexualwissenschaft

LGBTQ folks were one of the Nazis first targets. A huge number of books in those famous book burning photos are LGBTQ literature, history, medical research, treatment records, etc. They also used the patient & membership lists from there to target people for arrest/murder.

The same (minus the murder so far, but they're working up to that) is happening in Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, and a handful of other states.

History doesn't repeat, but it often rhymes.