Viral photos have been spreading across the internet of celebrities from Pedro Pascal to Charli XCX wearing this season’s surprising new trend: a plain white T-shirt carrying the slogan “Protect the Dolls.” The shirt, a product of fashion designer Conner Ives, is currently on pre-order for a lofty $100 with proceeds going to the crisis hotline Trans Lifeline.
The slogan comes as a response to the attacks facing trans people across the United States, which have only accelerated since Trump’s reelection. “Dolls,” as an affectionate term for transgender women and other transfeminine people, has its roots in the Black and Latina ballroom scene going back to the 1980s. Trans women of color, particularly Black women, continue to face disproportionate levels of violence and oppression today while the community as a whole has our civil rights challenged on a seemingly daily basis.
In a moment of intense scrutiny and repression, positive gestures like these in pop culture can mean a lot to people. The other side of that coin, however, is a real debate brewing in the trans community. All over social media, questions are being asked about the intentions of celebrities adopting the “Protect the Dolls” slogan and whether it actually meets the moment. Can wealthy artists and socialites actually protect the dolls or do we, the dolls, need to organize into a mass, collective fightback? Socialists strongly believe the latter. But how?
These times demand a fight that pushes back against all challenges to trans rights and everybody oppressed by Trump and this system. It’s not just “protect the dolls,” it’s build a working-class queer movement in the spirit of our community’s historic battles alongside the rest of the anti-Trump movement as a whole in rejection of division and right-wing attacks. It’s reclaim the historic tools of our community—protests, occupations, marches, walkouts, disruptions, and even strikes—to fight for what we need. It’s build solidarity with working-class people facing attacks on our unions and demand that our unions fight for our rights, in the spirit of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners.
We have the power to shake the foundations of this transphobic, capitalist society and demand a world free of violence, with the rights to free self-expression, self-identification, and access to housing and health care. Taking that power into our hands is about more than protection—it’s about organizing our community into a movement rooted in mutual solidarity and with the goal of radical, systemic change.