Update and apologies

 I need to take a moment and apologize to all of you for my absence and general lack of engagement the last few months. The year has been a bit of a challenge so far, this time of year is always a bit tricksy... but more than anything I do find myself a bit of an existential dilemma with regards to lockedinlace and the forced feminization genre and themes.

I do not engage in politics on LIL or here. I genuinely believe safe spaces include room for everyone. But...

It feels as if every day, there is some new weight, travesty or degradation put upon the transgender community. This is not new. I know this. It does feel worse now than it has been in a long time. I will admit it makes the 'forced' part of feminization a bit hard for me to wrap my head around at the moment.

In writing this, I do have to remind myself that the reason I started writing 'forced feminization' as a genre and the reason I created the community was to give a safe place for people to play with concepts of gender and submission. It was a place to hide and interact with others who were hiding, too. In the early days, not many people in this community were open about their gender exploration. I feel like, over time, that has shifted. While there are still a great many people at the LIL website (and that support here on Patreon) who are using this strictly as fantasy roleplay, I also know there are many of you in various stages of gender transition... some at the beginning and some living as their true selves.

The demonization and dehumanization of the current trans community in my country is heartbreaking, scary and maddening. I fear it will get worse before it gets better. I encourage you to take precautions and stay as safe as possible. For those of you using this as just a fantasy and a fun kink, I encourage you to please stand up for your transgender friends and neighbors. Put yourself in their shoes, be it fabulous heels or heavy boots and please recognize what a scary and frustrating time it is. There is an active effort to make transgender people seem evil, wrong and not-human. While this might be a fun and kinky little forced-fem narrative in a safe environment, the reality is all too real, and we all need to help protect those being targeted.

I apologize for the heaviness of this post, especially after a long absence. It makes me feel a small bit better to say this stuff out loud, and I want to remind everyone to find your safe spaces... find your community... and remember that while some will try to demonize you, some love and care for you as well. You all deserve to be happy. Everyone deserves to be their authentic self... to be safe, and to have the same rights and freedoms as everyone else. Regardless of your political affiliation, we are all human and deserve to be treated as such.

We have been here before. Just do not forget that you are not alone.