ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the bad epistemic behaviors of "allies", approached from a trans* perspective. One common form of bad behavior is that when "allies" are confronted with their bad behavior, they use their identity as an "ally" as a defense; other times, people will do so on an '"ally's" behalf': "Dave couldn't have behaved that badly, he's an ally!" The chapter describes gaslighting as an instance of epistemic injustice - more specifically, as an instance of testimonial injustice. In many cases, "allies", when listening to a person's testimony, privilege their own first-hand experience over the testimony of the person they're supposed to be supporting. Probably, the "ally" suspects that the affected person isn't properly epistemically situated - perhaps they're not suitably objective - to properly assess the situation. Maybe the "ally" thinks the person is expecting to see harassment, so they perceive harassment when it's not really there.
