Showing posts tagged transgender
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medusalaughs:

As a queer transperson who lives in an urban, low income environment, it is difficult to fully express my identity and do as I please without opening myself up to danger. My friend has used me as a subject for her Visual Anthropology class. Here is the finished product. 

(Reblogged from medusalaughs-deactivated2011111)
allthechocolatesinthebox: sexisnottheenemy: DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary  » Archive  » Transmen …is she still receiving death threats over this comic? Really though, I always felt that she was making fun of herself in this strip, and that its overall meaning was misinterpreted. I completely understand why the comic is triggering and, at least in the first four panels, fetishizes (white, thin, able-bodied, FTM) transgender men, but the last two panels show a certain awareness of her own cis-gender privilege and point out the problem of fetishizing “transmen” pretty directly. I could be wrong, and I don’t remember what she had to say about this comic after the backlash, but overall, I don’t think she gets enough credit… View high resolution

allthechocolatesinthebox:

sexisnottheenemy:

DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary  » Archive  » Transmen

…is she still receiving death threats over this comic?

Really though, I always felt that she was making fun of herself in this strip, and that its overall meaning was misinterpreted. I completely understand why the comic is triggering and, at least in the first four panels, fetishizes (white, thin, able-bodied, FTM) transgender men, but the last two panels show a certain awareness of her own cis-gender privilege and point out the problem of fetishizing “transmen” pretty directly. I could be wrong, and I don’t remember what she had to say about this comic after the backlash, but overall, I don’t think she gets enough credit…

(Reblogged from allthechocolatesinthebox)

Leslie Feinberg: freedom to write novel--not to appropriate my identity, or claim me as "family"

leslie-feinberg:

[please reblog]

Catherine Ryan Hyde—one of three estranged biological relatives—has written a new young adult novel that is “transgender” themed.

Her young adult novel is not my issue.

Since the book is about a transman, I leave it up to those fierce individuals whose oppressions she writes…

(Reblogged from leslie-feinberg)
“
I apologize for saying transgender is “a type of birth defect,” not because I didn’t mean it the right way, but because I should have known how easily it could be misinterpreted. It’s actually something I heard a transgender person say, and I may have quoted it badly. What I intended to say is that a person like Frank, who wants to transition into being male, feels his body is in error, not his inner self. It’s the fact that he was born female that’s the “defect,” not the person.

Um. What “right way” is there to say “transgender is a type of birth defect”?

You can read the rest of Hyde’s bullshit response to Leslie Feinberg here: http://www.catherineryanhyde.com/blog/2011/1/14/in-response-to-a-recent-issue.html

Leslie Feinberg: While a hostile relative re-writes my life: ‘Who is, and is not, my family’

“
The murder of women, especially transgender women, has been on the rise following the June 28, 2009 coup. According to the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission, prior to the most recent murders, there have been 31 deaths of LGBTI people in Honduras in the last year and a half.
http://vivirlatino.com/2011/01/13/violence-targeting-transgender-women-in-honduras-continues.php (trigger warning: extreme violence and assault)

Transgender woman to be sworn in as a judge

pansexualpride:

On Tuesday Victoria Kolakowski will be sworn in as asuperior court judge in Alameda County, CA. Kolakowski is a transgender woman, the first out trans person to become a judge in the US. She was elected this past November.

Having a trans woman in this position is important, for visibility and recognition and also for the treatment of trans folks under the law. The legal system often fails to treat trans folks justly, or to even accept our gender identities as real and worthy of respect. Kolakowski spoke to what she will be able to do in her new role in November:

“No, I am not going to be able to get you out of things,” she said jokingly to an audience of transgender advocates on the Transgender Day of Remembrance, two weeks after her upset victory over deputy district attorney John Creighton in November.

“But if you come into court and they call you names or the wrong pronoun, then that’s something we can take a look at,” she told the crowd …

Instead, she said she finally found the opportunity she had been waiting for. “I had a chance to serve. If my being visible helps a community that is often ignored and looked down upon, then I am happy. If not me, then who?”

Congratulations to Vicky Kolakowski on her historic victory!

(Reblogged from anarchofeminist)

What not to call trans people:

projectqueer:

fuckyeahgenderstudies:

queersecretssucks:

Avoid: transman, transwoman, trans-man, trans-woman, etc.
Instead, use: trans man, trans woman, etc.
Why?: The one-word “transwoman” and hyphenated “trans-woman” imply that trans is a gender different from woman. The space indicates that it’s an adjective describing a woman, such as “Asian man” or “fat woman”.

Avoid: a transsexual, an MtF, an FtM
Instead, use: transsexual person, trans people, trans woman, trans man
Why?: These words (and all their variations) are adjectives, not nouns. Using them as a noun reduces to their identity and only their identity. The initialisms (MTF, FTM) are offensive when used as nouns because they ungender trans men and women by implying that they are a different kind of man or woman (similar to “transman” above).  Many trans men and women don’t identify with these acronyms at all (even as adjectives), while others believe that they accurately describe their identities.

Avoid: T-girl, boi, tranny, she-male, he-she, it, trap, dickgirl, cuntboy, best of both worlds
Instead use: dont’. Just, don’t.

But wait! I self-identify with these terms! Many people self-identify with these terms.  For example, some trans men and women may choose to identify as a “transwoman” or “an FtM”. Using these terms with these specific people is not offensive, but these terms should not be generalized to all people. Other terms, such as “T-girl”, “boi”, and “tranny” are very common for self-identification, but can be very insulting and triggering to others.
In summary, self identification is wonderful, but generalizing is not.

Thanks for this. As they say, live and learn: i have been guilty of the trans* one-word amalgam. Whoops. 
This is a fabulous post. Thank you. Twice. 

Yesyesyes to that last paragraph. Oftentimes, people are confused when I call a certain label derogatory, because they may know someone who identifies with that particular label. On the flip side, people will also tell me I’m being inconsiderate when I describe a particular person by the potentially offensive term they choose for themselves, not realizing that some people identify positively with these labels.

Back in high school, I wrote an essay on the word “queer” and why I identify with it, and I remember being asked over and over why I would choose such a derogatory label to describe myself, because people weren’t familiar with its use in more positive contexts (which was actually pretty depressing to me). When a word that common (at least to me) is so readily misunderstood, I can’t imagine how often some of these labels are misused.

(Reblogged from projectqueer)
This photo is from last week’s Pride parade in New York. Everyone is always pretty friendly in allowing me to take their photo at these events — it’s one of the only times people are that gracious about having a stranger stick a camera in their face, and it’s one of the things I love about NYC Pride. I also love that it’s one of the most racially diverse queer events you could ever participate in. Not every state is that lucky. What I hate about Pride, though, is that like any queer-related event, the focus is still on very homonormative goals and values. This year, there was a lot of focus on DADT and on marriage, as there was last year. Don’t get me wrong, when I decided to sneak into the march last year, I ended up walking with Marriage Equality NY - and they were lovely people! But the emphasis on “gay marriage” is problematic for a number of reasons: it ignores the fact that not everyone who wants a same-sex marriage is gay, and it also prioritizes marriage (something that mainly affects gays and lesbians) over issues that affect the other letters in our acronym, such as trans-inclusive hate crime legislation. Last year, I was at an LGBTQ conference with other colleges in the Northeast, and we were asked to state our opinions on a number of issues affecting our community by standing in various boxes ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. When marriage came up, 95% of students strongly disagreed with Prop 8. When HRC’s actions concerning ENDA came up, 95% of students stared blankly at the man asking us questions, as they had no clue what he was talking about. Let’s think about this for a minute: a bunch of students living on the east coast were up to date and very much concerned with a law in California concerning marriage, yet none of them knew about HRC lying to the trans community and pushing for a non-inclusive ENDA, an action that probably set our community back a good decade. They’ve since apologized, but it’s still troubling that this doesn’t quite register as a big concern within the LGBTQ community.I also saw a lot of “born gay” signs this year, a phrase that annoys me more and more every time I hear it. I think it’s one of the worst approaches to homophobia our community has ever created. Besides the fact that it (absurdly) singles sexual orientation down to this one so-called “gay gene,” it assumes gender by suggesting that biology predetermines our attraction to gender. If we understand gender to be biologically innate (rather than a social construct), the “born gay” standpoint further complicates the LGB relationship with the trans community, and we have enough tension there to begin with. “Born gay” is an easy comeback to the argument that homosexuality is unnatural as well as the religious argument, but it’s more problematic than anything else, and completely ignores the fluidity of sexuality.In addition to the born gay posters were signs that appropriated the language of the Civil Rights Movement. I believe I’ve posted about this before (one one of my blogs, at least), but I’m bothered by it so much more after Prop 8. As it is, offending the black community by equating our struggle with the Civil Rights Movement does nothing to help our relationship with people of color, but it’s especially offensive after we blamed black and Latino voters for the outcome of Prop 8. And that was only after opponents of Prop 8 did not go into communities of color to appeal for their vote in the first place…I still love Pride events, and I always enjoy myself in the craziness of it all. But we’re not immune to homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, or racism just because we are a fairly progressive community. As a community so focused on our own oppression, we should be more conscious of the prejudice within our own community and the voices we silence in favor of the ones more marketable to heteronormative society. (cross-posted on my main blog) View high resolution

This photo is from last week’s Pride parade in New York. Everyone is always pretty friendly in allowing me to take their photo at these events — it’s one of the only times people are that gracious about having a stranger stick a camera in their face, and it’s one of the things I love about NYC Pride. I also love that it’s one of the most racially diverse queer events you could ever participate in. Not every state is that lucky. What I hate about Pride, though, is that like any queer-related event, the focus is still on very homonormative goals and values.

This year, there was a lot of focus on DADT and on marriage, as there was last year. Don’t get me wrong, when I decided to sneak into the march last year, I ended up walking with Marriage Equality NY - and they were lovely people! But the emphasis on “gay marriage” is problematic for a number of reasons: it ignores the fact that not everyone who wants a same-sex marriage is gay, and it also prioritizes marriage (something that mainly affects gays and lesbians) over issues that affect the other letters in our acronym, such as trans-inclusive hate crime legislation. Last year, I was at an LGBTQ conference with other colleges in the Northeast, and we were asked to state our opinions on a number of issues affecting our community by standing in various boxes ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. When marriage came up, 95% of students strongly disagreed with Prop 8. When HRC’s actions concerning ENDA came up, 95% of students stared blankly at the man asking us questions, as they had no clue what he was talking about.

Let’s think about this for a minute: a bunch of students living on the east coast were up to date and very much concerned with a law in California concerning marriage, yet none of them knew about HRC lying to the trans community and pushing for a non-inclusive ENDA, an action that probably set our community back a good decade. They’ve since apologized, but it’s still troubling that this doesn’t quite register as a big concern within the LGBTQ community.

I also saw a lot of “born gay” signs this year, a phrase that annoys me more and more every time I hear it. I think it’s one of the worst approaches to homophobia our community has ever created. Besides the fact that it (absurdly) singles sexual orientation down to this one so-called “gay gene,” it assumes gender by suggesting that biology predetermines our attraction to gender. If we understand gender to be biologically innate (rather than a social construct), the “born gay” standpoint further complicates the LGB relationship with the trans community, and we have enough tension there to begin with. “Born gay” is an easy comeback to the argument that homosexuality is unnatural as well as the religious argument, but it’s more problematic than anything else, and completely ignores the fluidity of sexuality.

In addition to the born gay posters were signs that appropriated the language of the Civil Rights Movement. I believe I’ve posted about this before (one one of my blogs, at least), but I’m bothered by it so much more after Prop 8. As it is, offending the black community by equating our struggle with the Civil Rights Movement does nothing to help our relationship with people of color, but it’s especially offensive after we blamed black and Latino voters for the outcome of Prop 8. And that was only after opponents of Prop 8 did not go into communities of color to appeal for their vote in the first place…

I still love Pride events, and I always enjoy myself in the craziness of it all. But we’re not immune to homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, or racism just because we are a fairly progressive community. As a community so focused on our own oppression, we should be more conscious of the prejudice within our own community and the voices we silence in favor of the ones more marketable to heteronormative society.

(cross-posted on my main blog)

“
When trans women are told that they need to stop being assertive and strong because it is a sign of male privilege - invariably by “feminists” who, of course, encourage cis women to be assertive and strong - that’s transmisogyny.

When trans women are told that they need to stop being assertive and strong because it is a sign of male privilege - invariably by “feminists” who, of course, encourage cis women to be assertive and strong - that’s transmisogyny.

When trans women are pressured into being silent, rarely offering their opinion, and refusing leadership roles for fear of being seen as male or accused of having male privilege, that’s transmisogyny.

When trans women are told that they are politically ignorant when they object to trans men “reclaiming” a derogatory term that has been used specifically against trans women and not against trans men, that’s transmisogyny.

When “women and trans” space allows everyone on a transmale spectrum to attend unquestioned (because even if their trans status is not respected, they would still be welcomed as a woman) yet people on a transfemale spectrum are subjected to scrutiny and those who are not “trans enough” are asked to leave, that’s transmisogyny.

When those same “women and trans” spaces, or even the ones that don’t police entrance, are attended by a dozen or so trans men yet zero or only one or two trans women, that’s transmisogyny. (It obviously indicates that they don’t feel welcome, don’t trust the organizers, or weren’t outreached to.)

When queer women’s spaces have trans women inclusive policies, yet any trans women who attend are generally ignored or not included in discussions, that’s transmisogyny.

What Transmisogyny Looks Like | The Bilerico Project

(via rotundlr, ourcatastrophe, faketrain, clitorisaurusrex)

(via genderqueer)

wow this is powerful

(via whyweneedsocialjustice)

Great post. There is a lot of transmisogyny (and racism, classism, etc.) within mainstream feminist rhetoric that I find problematic. It’s always helpful to remember, even when talking about oppression, the privileges we do have. Cis-gendered privilege in particular is something we don’t talk about often enough, especially in the face of “womyn born womyn” policies.

(Reblogged from whyweneedsocialjustice)