Helen Boyd Kramer's journal on gender and stuff
It’s a heartbreaking story of a young woman who decided to take the rap for a murder for her older brother because they both thought she was young enough not to be executed for it.
She was.
But the question the GenderBlender blog has asked is important: why haven’t we heard about it? Why doesn’t your news media cover stories like this? Why should anyone give a shit about the Kardashians?
What bugs me about this NPR story about a Civil War soldier is that the people who live in the town Albert Casher, nee Jennie Hodgers, are embarrassed by who s/he was:
Dina says some residents believe that embracing the story of Jennie Hodgers will help bring tourists to town. “Other people, I think, frankly, would rather everybody not know we had a cross-dresser in Saunemin,” she says.
She fought from start to finish in the Civil War. She went on to live as a man for the rest of her life, having gotten used to the freedom, the income, & the friends she made as a soldier.
“The women who went to war,” she says, “who disguised themselves as men and carried a gun, were overwhelmingly working-class women, immigrant women, poor women, urban women and yeoman farm girls.”
Surely not! Women couldn’t have chosen to live as men because the rest of their choices sucked!
So this Memorial Day I’d like to honor all the transgender people who fought in their nation’s wars: the trans guys, the trans women pre-transition, the crossdressers of all genders.
Thanks to MHB boardie Viva Zoya, I’ve found Map the Fallen – an online tool to track where the soldiers who have died were from.
There’s also a cool Twitter campaign in honor of the recently fallen.
Today’s Feministing “Ask Professor Foxy” column is from a trans woman who can’t find good sex resources for her. I’ve made a few suggestions, but maybe you all know other good places to check. So far I’ve recommended:
With your input, I can put a bigger list together.
The Fisher-Price “Little People” turned 50 this year. I didn’t even know they were still around, but I probably didn’t recognize them if and when I did see them in stores.
I loved ’em. The castle was my favorite, with the groovy carriage & the trap doors & the hidden spot behind the staircase, but I loved my Main Street and the garage & the carousel too. I remember many happy, peaceful hours playing with them, telling myself their stories.
So which ones did you have?
(via NPR)
Jude suggested an LOL Cat treatment of the photo below? Any takers? You don’t have to do the graphics – just provide the text.
Yes, Aeneas is the one with the heart condition, and he tends to startle easily.
Please sign this petition in favor of domestic partner protections for Wisconsin! It looks like they will be voting on it toward the end of the week.
The Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) has been passed by the Assembly and has enough support to be passed by the Senate. Get on the phone and call the lead Senate sponsor Tom Duane and your Senator to tell them that you want them to bring GENDA to the Senate floor and pass it. It is vital that they hear from you.
You can reach Senator Tom Duane at (518) 455-2451 and you can find your State Senator’s Albany phone number here.
GENDA would amend the state’s human rights law to include anti-discrimination protections based upon gender identity and expression, providing crucial civil rights protections for transgender New Yorkers by banning discrimination in housing, employment, credit, public accommodations, and other areas of everyday life.
With more than half of the Senators indicating their support for GENDA, we know that we have enough votes to get it passed in the Senate if it comes to the floor for a vote. So now is the time to call Senator Duane and your State Senator!
Talking Points:
Do it! Don’t just Twitter it!
My dad turns 81 today, & this is some of the stuff that he listened to, & that I loved right from the start (Hampton) or had to learn to love over time (Sinatra). I grew up in a family where the radio was always on, usually on WNEW AM (& because my mom insisted on not only listening to the old stuff, WNEW FM, too, where I grew up as well on Vin Scelsa, of all DJs). My peers’ parents were usually a little younger, the first wave of Boomers (born in the 40s & 50s), & my parents were born in the 20s & 30s, so the music I grew up with was significantly different. Honestly, I’m glad: I missed all that hippy crap.
Do bi do bi do is highly preferable poetry, no?