Helen Boyd Kramer's journal on gender and stuff
She’s being sentenced today, & her supporters have shown up at the courthouse – and are overflowing it, again. I’m only there in spirit, and glad to hear so many have showed up in person to support her.
Here’s hoping she gets the least possibly sentence, considering she should have never been arrested in the first place.
Radfem Sheila Jeffreys has been barred from speaking at RadFem 2012, a radical feminist conference in the UK.
She complained about it to the Guardian.
She is writing a book on the hurt caused by transgenderism. You can read about it here, but here’s the blurb:
“Transgender describes those who seek recognition as the opposite sex or gender on a long-term basis. The idea and practice of transgenderism now affects legal systems, schoolteachers, parents, wives and partners, and the politics of gender in profound ways. Gender Hurts examines the wider social and political context and implications of the phenomenon of transgenderism. Jeffreys and Gottschalk propose that gender in western culture is socially constructed as the basis of male domination and that the concept of gender has the potential to hurt many. They argue that in transgenderism the hurt can take several forms; psychologically, physically and socially. This book explore how the phenomenon is affecting people’s lives from exploring the implications for the children and adults who are diagnosed as having gender identity disorder, to the survivors’ movement who claim to have been misdiagnosed, and the impact on the partners of transgenders. This controversial book is a must read for all students and scholars of the politics of sexuality, women’s studies, gender studies, queer studies, transgender studies and cultural studies courses.”
Same hateful bullshit.
If anyone said the same stuff about women that radfems say about trans people, it would be called sexism. It is sad to see the amazing potential and significant contributions of radical feminism becoming mired in anti trans rhetoric and now research.
If you’d like some interesting historical contrast, Stephen Whittle’s piece “Where Did We Go Wrong?” discusses how his transition was accepted and even encouraged by the radical feminist group he belonged to at the time, but which changed with the publication of Raymond’s Transsexual Empire in 1979. So there is prior, pro trans radical feminism out there to build on, even if it’s 37 years old.
I have to say that this is kind of amazing: Sports Illustrated has taken on the topic of trans athletes.
For transgender men and women, the physiological traits that distinguish them as male or female don’t conform to how they feel about themselves. Some have undergone sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy to make their biological and gender identities match. Others, such as the 28-year-old Godsey, have not: He was born as a female and therefore competes as a female, but he identifies as male. Imagine a body, especially one as finely tuned as an elite athlete’s, feeling inescapably foreign—as if it were intended for the opposite sex. “I take a lot of pride in the fact that I have a good amount of muscle mass, and I’ve done it naturally,” says Godsey. “But in some ways, this is the last body I would ever want.”
. . .
Consider something as simple as going to the bathroom. When using men’s rooms—his preference—Godsey usually tries to conceal his chest; in women’s rooms he accentuates it by wearing what he calls tight “girl shirts.” Still, he has been escorted out of an airport ladies’ room by security, interrogated at restaurants and once had to flee a group of snarling men at a truck-stop bathroom in Nebraska.
The world is a-changing. Maybe not fast enough, but faster than I expected.
There are so few articles about sissies; there really should be more. But Brianna Austin gives us a little bit of a rundown:
The sissy, however, doesn’t see himself as a women; in fact he is firmly rooted in the reality that he is not a women, nor can he every truly become one, but no longer a man either. In many instances the sissy sees women as the superior species, and is happy to simply elevate themselves to their highest possible feminine representation of female.
To that end, the sissy acts and dresses as frilly and feminine as possible, but never in a mainstream way. They love ruffles, satin, and lace in yellow, white and pink, anything that accentuates femininity – usually garters & stockings, high heels, and costumes. But it can also include baby girl and little girl attire and actions as well.
Their goal is not to assimilate; thus the frills are both an adoration of feminism, and a reminder that they’re merely emulating that which they can never actually be.
It is then no surprise that most sissies are usually submissive in nature, a soft demeanor that earns to serve. Often when you come upon social profiles of sissies, they are seeking a “strong master or mistress” to train them. This is yet another way of saying, “bring out the girl in me and suppress the male … PLEASE!”
Is being a sissy then really about being and looking feminine, or is it really – at the root – about power, the lack of, and/or exchange of it?
I’m fond of them myself, as is Dan Savage. As I’ve often said, some of the strongest, bravest people I’ve met are sissies, and yes, this is for you PettiPie. 🙂
Thomas Dolby’s kid transitioned, and Dolby wrote a song about it.
It is taking me much effort to resist a ‘binded him with science’ joke.
Good luck to them all.
A cool exhibit of photographs of the trans women of 1960s Paris starts today at the ICP.
It’s open until September 2. I hope I make it. I’m glad Christer Stromholm took them.
You don’t really have to wait even a minute for an example of the kind of victim-blaming that Slutwalk is all about, but this one is particularly horrific, as the young woman died in a fire on Saturday and the coverage of her death appeared in The New York Times. The journalist quotes someone who calls her a “he”, comments on the men she invited to her apartment, and describes her curvaceous body.
As if any of these things had anything to do with her dying in this fire. Pathetic reporting, pathetic culture we live in.
Other folks, including GLAAD, Janet Mock, and Autumn Sandeen are calling out this incredibly offensive and dangerous article as well. You can let the New York Times know you’re sick and tired of their victim blaming and transphobia by writing to them here or tweeting @NYTimes. Update: GLAAD also recommends tweeting @NYTMetro, the paper’s Metro Desk, which might get to the reporters more directly.
Please speak up.
A couple of nights ago, National Geographic TV screened an hour long special on trans experience. Here’s the preview:
I haven’t found the full version online yet, but if you do, let me know.
I’m happy to report that Aetna is now covering Beth Scott’s mammogram, but honestly, does it have to be like this?
Ms. Scott underwent the mammogram in June 2010 at her doctor’s recommendation. Aetna denied coverage for the mammogram on the grounds that it fell under her policy’s exclusion for treatments “related to changing sex.” As a transgender woman, Ms. Scott was assigned male at birth and developed breasts after undergoing hormone therapy. Aetna refused to alter its position throughout the lengthy appeals process.
Aside from the fact that men get breasts and develop breast cancer, I am so tired of hearing about insurance companies getting in the way of care that a doctor ordered. Still, congrats to TLDEF and to Ms. Scott.
There are many reasons I work in and for the trans community. This is one of them.
If you don’t know who CeCe McDonald is, and/or you don’t know who Leslie Feinberg is, find out.