Rabies Pride
Rabies Pride or rabiespunk is a movement by and for autistic transgender individuals to embrace their identities and reject forced conformity. It is especially for those treated as if due to their autism and/or transness that they're diseased, inhuman, contagious, or "too much."
The term is most famous for its satire use and parody as "rabiosexual" with the original intent often overlooked.
Definition
- Rabies Pride: A movement for Autistic trans people] treated like they were contagious or had a deadly disease ... just for being “too loud” “too hyper” “too close” “too much” due to having autism and being openly trans. [...] Rabies pride is a movement to accept yourself and find others just like you who agree that you shouldnt have to act like a “normal person” to be able to be yourself.[1]
- Rabiespunk: An alternate name for Rabies Pride[2]
- Rabiosexual (satirical): Someone attracted (usually sexually) to rabies, its symptoms, those infected with rabies, or the idea of being infected with rabies, or someone infected with rabies who feel it impacts their attraction
- Rabiosexual (reclaimed): A person who identifies as rabid in the context of Rabies Pride and/or who feels their being rabid (transgender and autistic) impacts their sexual identity
History
Creation and Meaning
Rabies Pride was originally created in 2017 by a group of transgender autistic college students as a label to feel confident and valid as themselves. After discussing ideas for the name, including "feral" and "cooties," "rabies" was decided on due to most of the group being furries.[1] The label reflected the treatment of many transgender autistics as diseased and contagious animals--rabies is a deadly disease largely transmitted through the bites of feral animals.[3]
According to its creator, prior to the term taking off as a meme, it was used by "only a handful (maybe 30)" people, and was exclusively a term for transgender autistics to express pride in nonconformity.
Controversy, Memes & Appropriation
Soon after, Tumblr user rabidloving/rabidrick, AKA Spencer, created a satire post about his desire to contract rabies and identifying as rabiessexual which went viral. The blog continued posting for months, continuing the virality of the meme, which was picked up by many online often without looking into the context. Spencer created his own rabies pride flag on or before July 27 2018.[4]
The more the meme was shared and gained traction, the more the original meaning was lost, perhaps exemplefied by a video by YouTube creator STRANGE ÆONS posted August 13 2018 on the rabies label. Throughout the video, the original meaning of Rabies Pride is never mentioned, and its not clarified in the video nor pinned comment that rabidloving was confirmed satire.[5] According to the Rabies Pride creator, Spencer was not contacted during the making of this video.[1] The video, which has over 2 million views, likely hugely contributed to the spread of the meme and disinformation on Rabies Pride.
Reclamation
Rabiessexual and the similar term rabiosexual were reclaimed by many in the Rabies Pride community. However, very few people identifying as rabid earnestly identify as rabiessexual, and even less--if any--experience any legitimate desire to contract rabies.
Rabiessexual and rabiosexual pride were also separately reclaimed by some individuals identifying as on the virussexual spectrum who were seemingly unaware of the original meaning of Rabies Pride. However, the reclamation of rabiessexual by people outside the Rabid Pride community (transgender autistics) is generally frowned upon by the Rabid community.
On April 27 2021, a rabies pride flag and the term rabiespunk was created by Tumblr user neopronouns. Rabiespunk was specifically coined "to distinguish this term from rabies in general and to match with many other terms related to reclamation of queer and neurodivergent identities/stereotypes."[2]
On November 9 2021, an anonymous user coined a second rabid pride flag for the Rabies Pride movement through genderheaven on Tumblr.[6]
Related Terms
See Also
Gallery
Flags
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Satire rabies pride flag by randomaesflags
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Rabies pride flag by rabidloving
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Rabies pride/rabiespunk flag by neopronouns
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Rabies Pride flag by anonymous via genderheaven
randomaesflags's flag
The first known rabies pride flag was coined by Tumblr user randomaesflags on or before July 20 2018 as a flag "for when you're LGBT and have rabies." The flag was clearly satire and no meaning to the stripes were given.[7] The blog has been deleted since.
rabidloving's flag
A second rabies pride flag was created by the confirmed satire blog rabidloving on or before July 27 2018. The flag meaning is as follows:
- Black: Represents death, something a lot of rabiosexuals struggle with the thought of.
- Grey: Represents decaying meat and rot, as well as the animal most typically associated with rabies (raccoons).
- White: Represents teeth and biting. The white also symbolizes how anyone can be rabiosexual, and rabies can affect all genders.
- Red: Blood, disease, and the transmission of the disease. It’s red like a tongue since rabies is passed through saliva. It’s also the opposite of blue [sic] which is the color of water, something a lot of rabios are afraid of.
"The white and red are also placed in such a way that it looks like a set of teeth and the inside of a mouth!"[4]
This flag is most likely satire, but has been reclaimed by many in the Rabies Pride movement.[1]
neopronouns' flag
On April 27 2021 Tumblr user neopronouns created its own rabies pride flag specifically for the original intention of the Rabies Pride movement. It attributed the following meaning to the flag:
- blue, pink, and yellow all represent the trans aspect of rabies pride (blue for male/masc/etc. trans people, pink for female/fem/etc. trans people, yellow for nonbinary/neutral/etc. trans people)
- red, pink, and yellow all represent rabies (red for blood, pink and yellow to represent someone foaming at the mouth)
- blue, green, and brown represent nature (blue for the sky, green for plants, brown for dirt and fur)
- green, red, and yellow all represent the neurodivergent aspect of rabies pride
- brown also represents neurodivergent trans people of color
Alongside the flag, he also coined the term rabiespunk.[2]
anonymous's flag
On November 9 2021 genderheaven posted an anonymous artist's Rabies Pride flag. The meanings were described as the following:
- Gold: autistics, value
- Red: autistics, strength, blood
- Black: alienation, dehumanization
- Charcoal: community, nonhumanity
- Light pink: neutrality/androgyny, xenic identity, enthusiasm
- Red pink: femininity, love, resistance
- Blue grey: masculinity, community
"Red and gold triangles represent the autistic a, with the triangles together resembling an “A” and red and gold being autistic pride colors. Blue, red-pink, and pink are the trans flag changed to be more red to reflect the influence of autism on transness and specific rabid identity."[6]