I spent like 3 years in that subreddit without really believing I was transgender. Around 2021 I shocked myself when I responded to a bigoted comment and automatically wanted to say "we" when describing trans people. I was so immersed in trans culture and felt such an affinity for them that I was already thinking of myself as a transfem before I was ever consciously certain. Simply not knowing I wanted to be a woman held me back for my entire childhood, but because of r/traaa, I could finally graduate from ignorance to denial.
r/egg_irl had a big impact, but if hadn't spent so much time in r/traaa, then the egg memes would've scared me off. If I haven't spent so much time there, then I might not have cracked and finally gotten to experience actually living for once. If not for that safe space, I might've never been able to disarm all the internalized transphobia and gatekeeping that can be all too common in more pickme trans spaces. A big part of why blahaj.zone is so important to me is that it reminds me of that place which no longer exists.
I clicked here wanting to share how I spent years in r/traaa before I would acknowledge the possibility of me being trans (because obviously being trans is only for real trans people who definitely know they're trans and the feelings I'm having are different to that and I'm definitely not trans still cis btw) and then see you already wrapped up what I wanted to say with a neat little bow.
I'm glad we still have our unapolagetically queer, safe and cozy spaces online, despite everything. Thanks blahaj, thanks beehaw, thanks queer admins and mods for all your hard work