Helen Boyd Kramer's journal on gender and stuff
I hate being anything like essentialist about gender, but the misogyny coming out of the Republican party just pisses me off.
That said, if you have a vagina you may not be female, and if you don’t have one, you may be. But either way, you probably know and respect someone who has one, so tell these guys to STFU, already.
During Mitt Romney’s tenure as governor of Massachusetts, his administration blocked the publication of a state anti-bullying guide because it used the terms “bisexual” and “transgender,” new documents obtained by the Boston Globe and interviews with former state officials reveal. At the time of the delay in 2006, Romney aides said that the document required further review. But an email from a top-ranking Department of Public Health official said that “Because this is using the terms ‘bisexual’ and ‘transgendered,’ DPH’s name may not be used in this publication.”
Especially while his cohorts are busy telling women not to say “vagina” around women.
These guys are a mess.
Here! #TransforObama
As I did last time around, I’m looking for bloggers who would be willing to write about the Trans United for Obama volunteer effort. Since the bloggers themselves might not see this post, I’d love for anyone who does to recommend blogs and people who they think would be great.
I’d like trans people of course, but also allies, family, friends = you name it.
Thanks.
She was speaking out against a bill that would limit abortions.
“Finally, Mr. Speaker, I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no,'” Brown said Wednesday.
You really have to wonder about a group of lawmakers who are so uncomfortable with women’s bodies that they can’t abide the word “vagina” but who feel comfortable telling women what to do with their bodies.
I strongly recommend a filibuster with The Vagina Monologues.
But Bellifemine should have left well enough alone. After the episode aired, someone on Twitter wrote to him, “Dude you made out with a dude.” He responded: “hahaha nah I didn’t. It give me a kiss on the cheek.”
You don’t refer to human being as “it”. Ever. For any reason. That is not specific to trans people or people with unidentifiable genders.
Is this really that hard? Stop being assholes, people.
A young trans guy out on Long Island gets called a “girlboy” by some young gay men at Pride.
Why am I not surprised?
Because the ignorance within the LGBQ about trans identities – and even basic etiquette – is often just as bad as it is in the rest of the world.
It makes me tired and sad.
So here are some simple rules to remember:
Okay, that’s all for now. Although reading yesterday’s post – about how to be a good ally within a movement in which you may have more privilege than others – say if you’re a gay white man, perhaps, for instance, at pride – isn’t a bad idea, either. Continue reading “Trans People @ Pride”
My friend Dylan found this article on what it means to be an ally – and therefore given more power & privilege than the group you’re working for, and I find it echoes a lot of my experience.
These four points especially:
- We don’t *need* the movement: we can leave at any time. This means we are more free to piss people off etc
- Outsiders to the movement will reward us more. We’ll be seen as more generous, heroic etc for our efforts in the movement, and probably given more respect, airtime and resources as a result. Sometimes this results in really tangible benefits like research grants, book deals, employment.
- Insiders in the movement will reward and value us more, knowing that outsiders will value us, and that therefore we’re useful spokespeople and a legitimising presence. This means that sometimes we can get our way by threatening to leave. Even without threats, people will be eager to appease and placate us.
- Because we’re usually still able to access the various kinds of support and resources open to us outside the groups we are allies to, that means we have two areas to draw on, whereas non-ally activists have only their own communities’ support and resources.
Very, very good thoughtful stuff, and unlike many other articles on the subject, it actually provides useful ways of defeating, or subverting, those kinds of power.
A huge congratulations to the LU Class of 2012!
For pride month, I thought it might be cool to put up some of my favorite internet queer; although I’ve got links in the right column of this site, I haven’t always said something about the site.
So first up is the Sugarbutch Chronicles, which are, according to author Sinclair Sexsmith, “an online writing project (aka “blog”) which explores sovereignty, healing, and communication through the personal examinations of sex, gender, and relationships, while celebrating queer sexuality, gender, culture, and identity in ways that are expansive rather than restrictive, liberating rather than limiting.”
You can read more about Sexsmith, of course, but the reason I thought to post about Sugarbutch was this hot little story about the 3-minute game. Some of Sexsmith’s stories get a lot heavier than this one – which you’d expect from a self-described “kinky queer butch top” – but this one was just so sweet, wasn’t it? It might be a nice way to indulge your partner’s desire for something you don’t always love doing, or to suggest something you’ve always wanted to feel but haven’t ever asked for.
We both have stories in Tristan Taormino’s Take Me There, which just happened to win itself a Lambda Literary Award (or Lammy) for best trans fiction.