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INTEREST: Technical Glitch Reveals Virtual YouTuber's Real Identity

Hey guys!

Since there seems to be some confusion about it, here's why "trap" is a really crappy word and people are giving you stink-eye for tossing it around like it's hilarious. As if saying "trap" is just inherently funny or necessary to say over and over again, and adding any additional context for the label makes it any better.

First of all, "trap" originated on 4chan, from ye olde Star Wars Ackbar scene. The fact that it originated on 4chan might be enough of a red flag for some of you, but in case it's not for most of you, here's a very simple plain english breakdown for why women and LGBT folk see that word (and usually the context it's used in by the person who used it) and feel uncomfortable. This is specifically why it's a slur.

Calling a person a "trap" because they're a "biological man in women's clothing" is hurtful because by the word's very plain definition, you are reducing that person to a position of "sexual object if woman, mistake/problem for me if not." The implication is that by looking like an attractive woman, (it is only ever used for people who "pass," you may notice, no one ever uses "trap" for a clearly masculine man in a dress,) they are automatically a sexual option for you, that is their purpose, and if there's a dick under that skirt, you've been "tricked" and that's their fault. It's used as the punchline for a joke, but by cosplaying as a woman, in NO WAY did this guy invite your sexual advances or judgment, whether he's transgender or identifies as a man and just enjoys wearing women's clothing. It's especially not funny considering that the number of trans women or drag performers that have been harassed or murdered because men thought they were women and decided to be violent when they discovered they weren't is really really depressingly high.

Either way, the word is gross, unfunny, punching down, and unkind not only to the man in women's clothing, but also betrays a diminishing attitude toward women: If a woman is pretty, that means she exists to be sexualized by you. If she's secretly a man, that's apparently both your business and your problem. That's what "trap" means, all of that in one crappy little syllable. It's hurtful and shitty. It won't be tolerated here. Hopefully, you can see where we're coming from. If not, you can take it somewhere else.

So it was a G.I.R.L. (Guy In Real Life)