Sunday, October 11, 2009
Posting this on behalf of others, so I am not one of the 'we', though I know some of them and support all of them:
London trans activists call for boycott of sham demo on October 17th
We are a group of trans activists who wish to make known our concerns about a demo, claiming to support the depathologisation of trans people, in London on 17th of October. The facebook group for the demo can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147494409183
The description of the event reads:
"Being transgendered is not a mental illness. We are simply part of the diversity of humanity. Gender Identity Disorder is therefore not a valid diagnosis. Homosexuality we removed as a mental health diagnosis diagnosis in 1987. For us to achieve true liberation and recognition we need to throw off this unjust stigma. We are not ill, just different"
A large number of people were invited by the demo organiser, a non-trans man by the name of Dennis Hambridge, and some of us were initially concerned by the rationale for the demo. In particular, we were worried that campaigning for the removal of Gender Identity Disorder as a medical diagnosis without proposing an alternative mechanism by which transsexual people would be able to access medical transition resources was premature and dangerous, especially in a climate where NHS primary care trusts need only a minimal excuse to deny funding for our hormonal and surgical procedures. We do not support the labelling of our gender identities as disordered, and realise that our relationship with the medical community is far from ideal, but do not wish to support a movement which may give the impression that we seek complete divorce from the medical community.
These concerns were put to the Facebook group by a number of trans activists. Rather than address them, Mr Hambridge entrenched his position, making claims that gender dysphoria was an artefact of society and the medical community, and that removal of any form of classification of gender dysphoria by the WHO was "non-negotiable".
In moves more reminiscent of the actions of transphobic radical feminists than supposed allies of trans people, Mr Hambridge started deleting some of the comments from those trans people who were concerned about our future access to hormones and surgery. Subsequently he banned a number of those trans people from the group, silencing them in that space.
To reiterate - Mr Hambridge, who is organising a demo which is allegedly supporting the rights of transsexual people is using his position as a group organiser to silence and shut out the voices of the very people he claims to support.
In light of Mr Hambridge's intransigence and refusal to listen to the voices of actual transsexual people, we are calling on all activists who support the concept of transsexual people having a say in our own medical care to boycott this demo. We further call on Mr Hambridge, who is not trans himself, to stop claiming to speak on our behalf when he is ignoring our protestations and silencing our voices, and to call off his demo.
Please spread this open letter widely.
Roz Kaveney has more information here and Aunty Sarah here.
London trans activists call for boycott of sham demo on October 17th
We are a group of trans activists who wish to make known our concerns about a demo, claiming to support the depathologisation of trans people, in London on 17th of October. The facebook group for the demo can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147494409183
The description of the event reads:
"Being transgendered is not a mental illness. We are simply part of the diversity of humanity. Gender Identity Disorder is therefore not a valid diagnosis. Homosexuality we removed as a mental health diagnosis diagnosis in 1987. For us to achieve true liberation and recognition we need to throw off this unjust stigma. We are not ill, just different"
A large number of people were invited by the demo organiser, a non-trans man by the name of Dennis Hambridge, and some of us were initially concerned by the rationale for the demo. In particular, we were worried that campaigning for the removal of Gender Identity Disorder as a medical diagnosis without proposing an alternative mechanism by which transsexual people would be able to access medical transition resources was premature and dangerous, especially in a climate where NHS primary care trusts need only a minimal excuse to deny funding for our hormonal and surgical procedures. We do not support the labelling of our gender identities as disordered, and realise that our relationship with the medical community is far from ideal, but do not wish to support a movement which may give the impression that we seek complete divorce from the medical community.
These concerns were put to the Facebook group by a number of trans activists. Rather than address them, Mr Hambridge entrenched his position, making claims that gender dysphoria was an artefact of society and the medical community, and that removal of any form of classification of gender dysphoria by the WHO was "non-negotiable".
In moves more reminiscent of the actions of transphobic radical feminists than supposed allies of trans people, Mr Hambridge started deleting some of the comments from those trans people who were concerned about our future access to hormones and surgery. Subsequently he banned a number of those trans people from the group, silencing them in that space.
To reiterate - Mr Hambridge, who is organising a demo which is allegedly supporting the rights of transsexual people is using his position as a group organiser to silence and shut out the voices of the very people he claims to support.
In light of Mr Hambridge's intransigence and refusal to listen to the voices of actual transsexual people, we are calling on all activists who support the concept of transsexual people having a say in our own medical care to boycott this demo. We further call on Mr Hambridge, who is not trans himself, to stop claiming to speak on our behalf when he is ignoring our protestations and silencing our voices, and to call off his demo.
Please spread this open letter widely.
Roz Kaveney has more information here and Aunty Sarah here.
Labels: demonstrations, NHS, transgenderism, transpersons, transphobia
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
A transsexual from Nottinghamshire has warned she will end her life if she is refused hormone treatment on the NHS.
Debbie Davies, from Rainworth, is seven days into a hunger strike, and said she cannot afford to fund her treatment. Ms Davies, who was born as Richard in 1966, has been living as a woman for the past 18 months. Nottinghamshire County PCT has urged Debbie to stop the hunger strike and is currently reviewing its policy for patients who want to change gender.
Oh, BBC? You're missing a word from that first sentence.
Debbie Davies, from Rainworth, is seven days into a hunger strike, and said she cannot afford to fund her treatment. Ms Davies, who was born as Richard in 1966, has been living as a woman for the past 18 months. Nottinghamshire County PCT has urged Debbie to stop the hunger strike and is currently reviewing its policy for patients who want to change gender.
Oh, BBC? You're missing a word from that first sentence.
Labels: health, transgenderism, transpersons, United Kingdom
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Derailing for Dummies: A simple, step-by-step guide to derailing awkward conversations by dismissing and trivialising your opponent's perspective and experience.
[via Questioning Transphobia.]
[via Questioning Transphobia.]
Labels: arguing, humour, transgenderism, transphobia
Friday, April 24, 2009
Julie Bindel on What Makes Men and Women!
I'm Glad I'm a Boy! I'm Glad I'm a Girl! [via As Above]
I'll be here making cheap-shots all weekend. Enjoy the tofu veal.
I'll be here making cheap-shots all weekend. Enjoy the tofu veal.
Labels: sex/gender, transgenderism
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
It would seem Oxfordshire PCT are being toerags.
< scrobbled from other places >
For people in the UK:
Oxfordshire PCT has decided that just having gender dysphoria and demonstrating the criteria that any other PCT would need to start treatment isn't enough. Exceptional circumstances are needed, and other illnesses have to have been caused by this condition. The bar is set very high, far higher than it is in other UK areas. There's a detailed paper on this here but in (very brief) summary:
* Oxfordshire PCT has decided to classify this illness as merely a low priority 'psychological state', which needs not have treatment funded until it has caused other severe health problems. These actually disbar surgery, so if you get a referral then you won't get the surgery.
* It is unlawful to make this kind of policy decision as it effectively bars transsexualism from treatment (as per The Parliamentary Forum on Transsexualism)
* Other PCTs in the region do not require "exceptional circumstances" to be proved before authorising treatment for this.
So this effectively amounts to instituionalised transphobia. Please take a moment to read this petition on the subject. You do need to be in the UK and give your name and address to sign it, but that is a standard part of all official UK e-petitions: Petition at number10.gov.uk (oh, and it can take a while for the signature list to be refreshed, so don't panic!)
FOR EVERYONE:
Spreading this far and wide will help the cause, so please feel free to link to this post or cut/paste bits into your own journals and blogs.
For people in the UK:
Oxfordshire PCT has decided that just having gender dysphoria and demonstrating the criteria that any other PCT would need to start treatment isn't enough. Exceptional circumstances are needed, and other illnesses have to have been caused by this condition. The bar is set very high, far higher than it is in other UK areas. There's a detailed paper on this here but in (very brief) summary:
* Oxfordshire PCT has decided to classify this illness as merely a low priority 'psychological state', which needs not have treatment funded until it has caused other severe health problems. These actually disbar surgery, so if you get a referral then you won't get the surgery.
* It is unlawful to make this kind of policy decision as it effectively bars transsexualism from treatment (as per The Parliamentary Forum on Transsexualism)
* Other PCTs in the region do not require "exceptional circumstances" to be proved before authorising treatment for this.
So this effectively amounts to instituionalised transphobia. Please take a moment to read this petition on the subject. You do need to be in the UK and give your name and address to sign it, but that is a standard part of all official UK e-petitions: Petition at number10.gov.uk (oh, and it can take a while for the signature list to be refreshed, so don't panic!)
FOR EVERYONE:
Spreading this far and wide will help the cause, so please feel free to link to this post or cut/paste bits into your own journals and blogs.
Labels: gender dysphoria, health, petitions, transgenderism, United Kingdom
Monday, November 10, 2008
Labels: Julie Bindel, Stonewall, transgenderism, transphobia, YouTube
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Had several fun and exciting days, so much so that I'm just about ready to head back to work so I can relax for a bit. On Thursday was the demo outside the Stonewall Awards at the V&A, Aunty Sarah has more here and here. A fun time was had by all, except Ben Summerskill and Julie Bindel. I have emailed Stonewall to see whether they are now more open to discussing how this sort of situation might be avoided in future. They were presumably too busy nursing hangovers on Friday to reply so that's something to look forward to in the coming week.
Julie responded to events on Saturday in her usual way, a column in the Guardian. In a national newspaper she misrepresented every fact she possibly could, slagged off more people and then demanded to be left alone. She seems to take a view of separatism that allows her to make full use of what society offers but doesn't allow society to talk back to her. Luckily that's not how it tends to work. The comments thread for her article is heartening in that her fanclub didn't really get themselves motivated to post defending her, so it consists mainly of people telling her how foolish she is being. I posted twice in the comments and also sent a letter to the paper, they really need to stop enabling her like this, it's also terrible that the one person they give space to talk about transgender issues is someone ignorant of the facts and who is virulently anti-transgender. And anti-gay. And anti-kink. And anti-lesbian.
And then, yesterday evening to the Ravenscourt Park fireworks display over in Hammersmith with friends and a friend of friends. Seeing a proper professional display like this makes me wonder why anyone buys fireworks and does them on their own in the back garden, the two events cannot compare and back garden Dad has just wasted far more money than taking his family to a professional event. Every couple of years I go to proper events but this was the biggest and best event I've seen, despite the drizzle and the inflicting of bad music (David Gray, an awful new version of Van Halen's 'Jump' with a disco beat and, oddly, 'I Want to Ride my Bicycle' by Queen) it was a spectacular display, finishing with a carefully choreographed series of explosions that seemed to fill the entire sky with colour. Then back to the FOAF's for gin, food and arguments about 11/09/01 conspiracy theories before trudging to the tube station for the journey home.
Today we're off to the cinema to see Quantum of Solace. Should be fun!
Labels: Flickr, Julie Bindel, London, Stonewall, The Guardian, transgenderism, transphobia
Friday, November 07, 2008
Stonewall Demo at Victoria and Albert Museum
Stonewall Demo at Victoria and Albert Museum
Stonewall, despite naming itself after an event in which trannies took part, has never made any bones about being an organisation that does not represent transsexual people. However, for it's 2008 awards it decided to accept a nomination for best journalist for Julie Bindel, a writer with a history of transphobic opinions and writing.
So a group of about 150 pissed-off transsexual people and their allies held a fun and trouble-free protest outside of the Stonewall Awards at the Victoria and Albert Museum on the evening of the 6th of November 2008 to remind them of what they seemed keen to forget or ignore.
Stonewall should never allow itself to be an organisation that champions bigotry in any form. What is especially short-sighted is that they are trying to see transpeople as just that, ignoring that they can also be lesbians, gays or bisexuals. A nomination for Julie Bindel is a nomination that is also for hate against gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
She didn't win in the end :-)
So a group of about 150 pissed-off transsexual people and their allies held a fun and trouble-free protest outside of the Stonewall Awards at the Victoria and Albert Museum on the evening of the 6th of November 2008 to remind them of what they seemed keen to forget or ignore.
Stonewall should never allow itself to be an organisation that champions bigotry in any form. What is especially short-sighted is that they are trying to see transpeople as just that, ignoring that they can also be lesbians, gays or bisexuals. A nomination for Julie Bindel is a nomination that is also for hate against gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
She didn't win in the end :-)
Labels: demonstrations, Flickr, Julie Bindel, Stonewall, transgenderism, transphobia
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
So, if you're not busy tomorrow evening and in or near London, why not come and demonstrate with us outside the Victoria and Albert Museum? Stonewall are having their awards ceremony and some of us are going to demonstrating at their total lack of trans-awareness. The flashpoint for this was the nomination of Julie Bindel as journalist of the year. Bindel has had a visible presence as a transphobic lesbian feminist for around four years now, a position she maintains to this day. However, Stonewall have decided that at they are not an organisation for trans-people they do not need to show any concern about validating people who are against the trans-community, conveniently overlooking the fact that they may have many gay, queer, lesbian , questioning or bisexual supporters who... also happen to be transpeople too. Stonewall have consistently claimed that the awards were decided and couldn't be altered but have also avoided answering the question of what would happen if they were faced with the prospect of giving an award to someone who was on record as being racist or sexist?
There is a Facebook Group set up to discuss this where, if you look through the threads, you will see Bindel troll, claim she will sue people, ask for a discussion and then clam up when people start talking to her, all the fun of the fair. (Friend_of_tofu on LJ has more specific links here).
This is not, as Bindel and her supporters have tried to claim, homophobia. This is not even directly about her (though it's sad if a prominent lesbian journalist uses her position to promote hatespeech). Stonewall have, in emails and phone calls, suggested that Bindel was not going to win the award. The target of this demonstration is Stonewall themselves, for allowing this situation to come up like this. In the past Stonewall put out leaflets describing what transphobia is and what should be done to stop it. And while they may believe that they have nothing to do with the transcommunity, it was that community that helped start the campaign for gay equality that is still not over today, that makes up a proportion of their numbers today and that by ignoring that community they only diminish themselves and set their cause back.
Oh yeah, and we'll probably go to a pub afterwards too!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location: Outside the Victoria & Albert Museum
Street: Cromwell Road SW7 2RL.
Nearest Tube: South Kensington.
There is a Facebook Group set up to discuss this where, if you look through the threads, you will see Bindel troll, claim she will sue people, ask for a discussion and then clam up when people start talking to her, all the fun of the fair. (Friend_of_tofu on LJ has more specific links here).
This is not, as Bindel and her supporters have tried to claim, homophobia. This is not even directly about her (though it's sad if a prominent lesbian journalist uses her position to promote hatespeech). Stonewall have, in emails and phone calls, suggested that Bindel was not going to win the award. The target of this demonstration is Stonewall themselves, for allowing this situation to come up like this. In the past Stonewall put out leaflets describing what transphobia is and what should be done to stop it. And while they may believe that they have nothing to do with the transcommunity, it was that community that helped start the campaign for gay equality that is still not over today, that makes up a proportion of their numbers today and that by ignoring that community they only diminish themselves and set their cause back.
Oh yeah, and we'll probably go to a pub afterwards too!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location: Outside the Victoria & Albert Museum
Street: Cromwell Road SW7 2RL.
Nearest Tube: South Kensington.
Labels: demonstrations, Julie Bindel, Stonewall, transgenderism, transphobia
Monday, October 13, 2008
Stonewall, the organisation that does so much for gays and lesbians but not so much for bisexuals, is having a party, complete with trinkets. At the moment, up for 'journalist of the year' is Julie Bindel. Yes, that Julie Bindel. She's not won anything, yet, she's just up for the award. The fact that Stonewall, who let's not forget, even if they pointedly don't campaign for transsexuals rights must by the law of averages have transsexuals amongst their gay, lesbian and bisexual community, are willing to offer the possibility of a nod towards La Bindel has annoyed people. People with blogs and emails.
At the moment, emailing Stonewall at info@stonewall.org.uk just gets you something that they've been cut'n'pasting a lot over the last few days:
Thank you for your email.
Julie Bindel was shortlisted for a Stonewall award in recognition of her journalism during the last 12 months which often brings a lesbian perspective into the mainstream press.
The awards nominating panel are not endorsing everything she has ever written. A nomination in any category does not mean that the awards panel agree with all of someone’s opinions. Stonewall recognises that some people may disagree with shortlisted nominees.
Boy, does that make me feel included. I've just emailed them back to see if they know any other songs. To be honest, I'm not expecting anything here, they don't include trannies and they've pretty much whitewashed them from their version of history and they do pretty much nothing for bisexuals, who they do claim to be a voice for, but as the prospect of a Tory Government returning comes ever closer it might be nice if we can kick Stonewall into some sort of shape before we get there.
At the moment, emailing Stonewall at info@stonewall.org.uk just gets you something that they've been cut'n'pasting a lot over the last few days:
Thank you for your email.
Julie Bindel was shortlisted for a Stonewall award in recognition of her journalism during the last 12 months which often brings a lesbian perspective into the mainstream press.
The awards nominating panel are not endorsing everything she has ever written. A nomination in any category does not mean that the awards panel agree with all of someone’s opinions. Stonewall recognises that some people may disagree with shortlisted nominees.
Boy, does that make me feel included. I've just emailed them back to see if they know any other songs. To be honest, I'm not expecting anything here, they don't include trannies and they've pretty much whitewashed them from their version of history and they do pretty much nothing for bisexuals, who they do claim to be a voice for, but as the prospect of a Tory Government returning comes ever closer it might be nice if we can kick Stonewall into some sort of shape before we get there.
Labels: bisexual, gay, Julie Bindel, lesbians, Stonewall, transgenderism, transphobia
Sunday, September 21, 2008
This Will be Both Anticlimactic And Brief
Apologies, work has been crazy-busy this past week and yesterday was Open House 2008 so I've not had as much blogging opportunity as I might normally have.
Following on from here..., Miss Andrea said:
All oppressed groups have one thing in common: their desire to be treated with all the respect and rights which should be given to all humans.
But the desire to be treated as a gender is not what all other groups demand -- doubly important when considering that gender itself contains unequal power dynamics. By demanding to be treated as category of gender, transsexualism is significantly divergent from the norm, who all seek full humanity.
I'm asking, "if the demand is fundamentally different, then how is it possible that the way society approaches transgenderism should be identifical to how society approaches all those other groups?"
And the only reasonable answer is: it shouldn't.
Btw, I'm not "erasing the transsexual's existence" and have no wish to do so. I understand that the need to switch genitalia and/or gender roles is a NEED of certain individuals. I am merely pointing out that the way transfolk would have society frame the entire issue is not accurate.
I'm asking you to think about how an accurate framing would effect society's approach to transgenderism.
And unsurprisingly I disagree. Transwomen (and with Miss Andrea it is always male-to-female transsexual women, except when it's sometimes some small subsection of that) wanting to be seen as a gender being completely different from all other oppressed groups only works if you consider 'female' as having absolutely nothing to do with the sex of the body, the sex of the mind, the role of the body in society and the rolls of different genders in society. No-one is talking about theoretical shapes that exist only in ideaspace here (though I've sometimes felt I'm a isosceles triangle in a man's body) so trying to pretend as though we are is not useful.
Following on from here..., Miss Andrea said:
All oppressed groups have one thing in common: their desire to be treated with all the respect and rights which should be given to all humans.
But the desire to be treated as a gender is not what all other groups demand -- doubly important when considering that gender itself contains unequal power dynamics. By demanding to be treated as category of gender, transsexualism is significantly divergent from the norm, who all seek full humanity.
I'm asking, "if the demand is fundamentally different, then how is it possible that the way society approaches transgenderism should be identifical to how society approaches all those other groups?"
And the only reasonable answer is: it shouldn't.
Btw, I'm not "erasing the transsexual's existence" and have no wish to do so. I understand that the need to switch genitalia and/or gender roles is a NEED of certain individuals. I am merely pointing out that the way transfolk would have society frame the entire issue is not accurate.
I'm asking you to think about how an accurate framing would effect society's approach to transgenderism.
And unsurprisingly I disagree. Transwomen (and with Miss Andrea it is always male-to-female transsexual women, except when it's sometimes some small subsection of that) wanting to be seen as a gender being completely different from all other oppressed groups only works if you consider 'female' as having absolutely nothing to do with the sex of the body, the sex of the mind, the role of the body in society and the rolls of different genders in society. No-one is talking about theoretical shapes that exist only in ideaspace here (though I've sometimes felt I'm a isosceles triangle in a man's body) so trying to pretend as though we are is not useful.
Labels: feminism, men, transgenderism, women
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
OK, Miss Andrea posted this, to which I replied thus, to which she then replied via my comments thasly (posted here because comments on my blog disappear after time has passed):
I know lots [of transpersons], oh way more than that, no more than that even.
I don't talk about transmen because it appears that transwomen are much more vocal.
It isn't really about transfolk at all, from my perspective, though I am concerned about the level of harrassment suffered by transgendered. The whole situation is frought with anxiety for them and I really do sympathize. But there's only so much space and time for discussion, and the transfolk are handling the harrassment issues on their blogs so I really don't need to use my blog space for that.
It's mostly about any non-trans man being able to acces woman-only safe spaces merely by claiming to be trans. But there's also a minor annoyance to me personally because (since I do know so very many) that no matter how long they've transitioned, they never quite "get" the horror of sexism. The internal conflict just isn't the same and it can never be -- no matter how young a transchild starts her journey, her primary conflict will always be about being accepted as her gender, whereas a born girl's conflict will always be about running away from gender roles. Not sure what the transfolk assume I mean when I say that, it's just a simple observation of fact.
So now that I've answered your questions I hope you'll answer mind because there's a few things I don't understand and I'd like to. Pardon, probably not going to ask this the right way.
How does the desire for gender recognition equal the desire for full humanity? Many transfolk seem to think those two are the same and I can't figure out why.
I must admit, I don't understand this. I don't understand why the 'desire for gender expression' should equal the 'desire for full humanity' and who says it is or isn't. Part of my bafflement is based on a view that through reading her blog I have of how Miss Andrea views the transgender community that has no relationship to how I view the community. I don't know if this has something to do with her picking which parts of the community she wants to talk about or maybe I just lack the smarts to understand what she is saying. It seems to me that part of the argument is that while she as a female-born-woman chose a lifepath that (and here we have a gross simplification to avoid getting sidetracked into a seperate semantic argument) is not 'stereotypically female' (and I'm airquoting wildly here) she sees some male-born-women choosing to present as closer to that 'stereotypically female' (airquotes) role and she thinks that's bad. It's the burqa argument basically, while women in most of the world seem to think it's a symbol of oppression that needs to be cast off, there are some British Muslim women who are reported as saying that they are taking to wearing it because they see it as a symbol of freedom.
I hesitate over the any non-trans man being able to acces woman-only safe spaces merely by claiming to be trans bit because I doubt I can formulate an answer that doesn't make me look uncaring about the value of safe-spaces for women. There is the issue of what that woman-only safe space is and why the man is trying to access it, miss Andrea and her friends have tended to go for this 'non-trans man' being an abusive husband, people on the other side of the argument have tended to go for pre-operative rape or violence victim. I would suggest that any place that isn't actually able to tell the difference is probably not a very safe space for anyone. I get to be glib about safe-spaces because I'm a white middle-class straight-acting male and of course I know that it's not the case for everyone else. I'm just dubious about whether there's a real likelihood of a man wearing a frock in order to try and get access to his wife who's in a battered woman's shelter and whether it's worth trying to linking this to trans-women's access to women-only safe spaces. You might as well say that the man used a car to drive to the shelter so let's ban cars, or he eats shredded wheat so let's put Ian Botham on trial as an accessory to violence.
But there's also a minor annoyance to me personally... that no matter how long they've transitioned, they never quite "get" the horror of sexism. As though 'the horror of sexism' is a universal to all female-born-women of all countries in the world that, should they get together in one big meeting, they'd be able to agree on an exact definition that satisfied everyone. As though the definition of a woman is 'a unit of flesh for the dealing with the horror of sexism'. And there's a contradiction in what I see as Miss Andrea's argument, that transwomen are both trying too much and too little to be like 'real women' (airquotes!1!).
OK, that's enough airing of my misunderstandings and misapprehensions, so I'll leave it there for now. I welcome comments to educate me where I misunderstand things, I will just say that if anyone posts comments I will probably reply to them by seperate blog entries later on. If you don't want that then best to communicate with me by email which I'll assume is private unless you say otherwise. Abuse will be either ignored or posted to be laughed at, no matter how it arrives.
I know lots [of transpersons], oh way more than that, no more than that even.
I don't talk about transmen because it appears that transwomen are much more vocal.
It isn't really about transfolk at all, from my perspective, though I am concerned about the level of harrassment suffered by transgendered. The whole situation is frought with anxiety for them and I really do sympathize. But there's only so much space and time for discussion, and the transfolk are handling the harrassment issues on their blogs so I really don't need to use my blog space for that.
It's mostly about any non-trans man being able to acces woman-only safe spaces merely by claiming to be trans. But there's also a minor annoyance to me personally because (since I do know so very many) that no matter how long they've transitioned, they never quite "get" the horror of sexism. The internal conflict just isn't the same and it can never be -- no matter how young a transchild starts her journey, her primary conflict will always be about being accepted as her gender, whereas a born girl's conflict will always be about running away from gender roles. Not sure what the transfolk assume I mean when I say that, it's just a simple observation of fact.
So now that I've answered your questions I hope you'll answer mind because there's a few things I don't understand and I'd like to. Pardon, probably not going to ask this the right way.
How does the desire for gender recognition equal the desire for full humanity? Many transfolk seem to think those two are the same and I can't figure out why.
I must admit, I don't understand this. I don't understand why the 'desire for gender expression' should equal the 'desire for full humanity' and who says it is or isn't. Part of my bafflement is based on a view that through reading her blog I have of how Miss Andrea views the transgender community that has no relationship to how I view the community. I don't know if this has something to do with her picking which parts of the community she wants to talk about or maybe I just lack the smarts to understand what she is saying. It seems to me that part of the argument is that while she as a female-born-woman chose a lifepath that (and here we have a gross simplification to avoid getting sidetracked into a seperate semantic argument) is not 'stereotypically female' (and I'm airquoting wildly here) she sees some male-born-women choosing to present as closer to that 'stereotypically female' (airquotes) role and she thinks that's bad. It's the burqa argument basically, while women in most of the world seem to think it's a symbol of oppression that needs to be cast off, there are some British Muslim women who are reported as saying that they are taking to wearing it because they see it as a symbol of freedom.
I hesitate over the any non-trans man being able to acces woman-only safe spaces merely by claiming to be trans bit because I doubt I can formulate an answer that doesn't make me look uncaring about the value of safe-spaces for women. There is the issue of what that woman-only safe space is and why the man is trying to access it, miss Andrea and her friends have tended to go for this 'non-trans man' being an abusive husband, people on the other side of the argument have tended to go for pre-operative rape or violence victim. I would suggest that any place that isn't actually able to tell the difference is probably not a very safe space for anyone. I get to be glib about safe-spaces because I'm a white middle-class straight-acting male and of course I know that it's not the case for everyone else. I'm just dubious about whether there's a real likelihood of a man wearing a frock in order to try and get access to his wife who's in a battered woman's shelter and whether it's worth trying to linking this to trans-women's access to women-only safe spaces. You might as well say that the man used a car to drive to the shelter so let's ban cars, or he eats shredded wheat so let's put Ian Botham on trial as an accessory to violence.
But there's also a minor annoyance to me personally... that no matter how long they've transitioned, they never quite "get" the horror of sexism. As though 'the horror of sexism' is a universal to all female-born-women of all countries in the world that, should they get together in one big meeting, they'd be able to agree on an exact definition that satisfied everyone. As though the definition of a woman is 'a unit of flesh for the dealing with the horror of sexism'. And there's a contradiction in what I see as Miss Andrea's argument, that transwomen are both trying too much and too little to be like 'real women' (airquotes!1!).
OK, that's enough airing of my misunderstandings and misapprehensions, so I'll leave it there for now. I welcome comments to educate me where I misunderstand things, I will just say that if anyone posts comments I will probably reply to them by seperate blog entries later on. If you don't want that then best to communicate with me by email which I'll assume is private unless you say otherwise. Abuse will be either ignored or posted to be laughed at, no matter how it arrives.
Labels: feminism, men, sexual assault, transgenderism, women
Friday, August 22, 2008
Kate Bornstein has a blog. I have yet to work out whether she also has a posse but I wouldn't be surprised.
Labels: blogs, sex/gender, transgenderism
Monday, August 11, 2008
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to urgently review the way LGBT asylum seekers are treated.
Labels: asylum seekers, bisexual, gay, Government, homophobia, immigration, lesbians, LGBT, petitions, transgenderism, transphobia
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Oh dear. This probably won't end well.
Still, I will look on this as a learning experience, it's not every day that I find someone with a more extreme position than Julie Bindel, but then it's not everyday that I find Julie Bindel either, the Guardian seeming to be behaving itself recently.
Still, I will look on this as a learning experience, it's not every day that I find someone with a more extreme position than Julie Bindel, but then it's not everyday that I find Julie Bindel either, the Guardian seeming to be behaving itself recently.
Labels: feminism, transgenderism, transphobia, transvestites
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Sworn to virginity and living as men in Albania. A fascinating article about a dying trend in Albania, if all the men who would, of course, head the family died or were killed, then any of the women who were virginal and who swore to stay that way would take on the roll of the head male of the family, going out and doing 'male' jobs to bring in the money and run the family. And, it would seem, they were treated exactly as men by the society around them.
The tradition of the sworn virgin can be traced to the Kanun of Leke Dukagjini, a code of conduct that has been passed on orally among the clans of northern Albania for more than five centuries. Under the Kanun, the role of women is severely circumscribed: Take care of children and maintain the home. While a woman's life is worth half that of a man, a virgin's value is the same - 12 oxen. The sworn virgin was born of social necessity in an agrarian region plagued by war and death. If the patriarch of the family died with no male heirs, unmarried women in the family could find themselves alone and powerless. By taking an oath of virginity, women could take on the role of men as head of the family, carry a weapon, own property and move freely. They dress like men, adopt a male swagger and spend their lives in the company of other men...
Known in her household as the "Pasha," [Pashe] Keqi says she decided to become the man of the house at age 20 when her father was murdered in a blood feud. Her remaining four brothers opposed the communist regime of Enver Hoxha, who ruled Albania for 40 years until his death in 1985, and they were either imprisoned or killed. Becoming a man, she said, was the only way to support her mother, her four sisters-in-law and their five children.
Lording it over her large family in her modest house in Tirana, where her nieces served her brandy while she barked out orders, Keqi said living as a man had allowed her freedom denied other women. She could work construction jobs and pray at the mosque alongside other men. Even today, her nephews and nieces said, they would not dare marry without their "uncle's" permission.
"I was totally free as a man because no one knew I was a woman," Keqi said. "I could go wherever I wanted to and no one would dare swear at me because I could beat them up. I was only with men. I don't know how to do women's talk. I am never scared."
But Albania is not so insular now and, with the slow march to equality for females, women don't need to be sanctioned as men to run things any more, so when these sworn virgins die out, there will be no-one to replace them.
(More pictures at the IHT's Europe page)
The tradition of the sworn virgin can be traced to the Kanun of Leke Dukagjini, a code of conduct that has been passed on orally among the clans of northern Albania for more than five centuries. Under the Kanun, the role of women is severely circumscribed: Take care of children and maintain the home. While a woman's life is worth half that of a man, a virgin's value is the same - 12 oxen. The sworn virgin was born of social necessity in an agrarian region plagued by war and death. If the patriarch of the family died with no male heirs, unmarried women in the family could find themselves alone and powerless. By taking an oath of virginity, women could take on the role of men as head of the family, carry a weapon, own property and move freely. They dress like men, adopt a male swagger and spend their lives in the company of other men...
Known in her household as the "Pasha," [Pashe] Keqi says she decided to become the man of the house at age 20 when her father was murdered in a blood feud. Her remaining four brothers opposed the communist regime of Enver Hoxha, who ruled Albania for 40 years until his death in 1985, and they were either imprisoned or killed. Becoming a man, she said, was the only way to support her mother, her four sisters-in-law and their five children.
Lording it over her large family in her modest house in Tirana, where her nieces served her brandy while she barked out orders, Keqi said living as a man had allowed her freedom denied other women. She could work construction jobs and pray at the mosque alongside other men. Even today, her nephews and nieces said, they would not dare marry without their "uncle's" permission.
"I was totally free as a man because no one knew I was a woman," Keqi said. "I could go wherever I wanted to and no one would dare swear at me because I could beat them up. I was only with men. I don't know how to do women's talk. I am never scared."
But Albania is not so insular now and, with the slow march to equality for females, women don't need to be sanctioned as men to run things any more, so when these sworn virgins die out, there will be no-one to replace them.
(More pictures at the IHT's Europe page)
Labels: Albania, sex/gender, transgenderism, women
Hurrah! An article about Thomas Beatie that explains that transpeople's relationships to their gender, sexuality and sexual organs is, whaddayouknow, more complicated than straight peoples.
Mr. Beatie is "making visible the fact that a lot of people's experience of making these decisions isn't about getting a penis or losing a penis." For many transgender people, [Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick] said, "genital surgery is not what defines gender, and that will be news for lots and lots of Americans," who may have trouble comprehending the idea that for some, anatomy does not define woman or man.
(Not just Americans.)
"Not a lot of transmen get what's called 'bottom' or 'lower' surgery," [Judith] Halberstam explained, referring to procedures like the one Mr. Beatie had, and to yet more radical interventions like hysterectomy. "If they want a penis, they don't want a micro-penis," she said. If what they want is to be men, she added, they see no reason why that goal is compromised by keeping their ovaries.
Mr. Beatie is "making visible the fact that a lot of people's experience of making these decisions isn't about getting a penis or losing a penis." For many transgender people, [Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick] said, "genital surgery is not what defines gender, and that will be news for lots and lots of Americans," who may have trouble comprehending the idea that for some, anatomy does not define woman or man.
(Not just Americans.)
"Not a lot of transmen get what's called 'bottom' or 'lower' surgery," [Judith] Halberstam explained, referring to procedures like the one Mr. Beatie had, and to yet more radical interventions like hysterectomy. "If they want a penis, they don't want a micro-penis," she said. If what they want is to be men, she added, they see no reason why that goal is compromised by keeping their ovaries.
Labels: sex/gender, transgenderism
Thursday, March 27, 2008
There's no news today, so a number of papers have followed The Sun on the Thomas Beatie story...
'Pregnant' man stuns medical profession.
Married 'man' claims to be five months pregnant.
American man claims to be five months pregnant with a baby girl.
Sex change bloke set to be a mum.
Interesting that it's only the Indy that feel it necessary to question his gender in their headline. They also, for some reason, quote one Margaret Somerville who also has a reputation as being down on gay-marriage.
"You're not a man, you're a woman and you're having a baby and you're actually having your own baby."
Um yes, in the way that women always have their own babies. Unless they are surrogates I suppose... Or is she trying to suggest that Beatie supplied both sperm and egg?
"Just because you put on a clown suit, doesn't mean that you don't still exist underneath.'"
I don't even know what this is supposed to mean!
'Pregnant' man stuns medical profession.
Married 'man' claims to be five months pregnant.
American man claims to be five months pregnant with a baby girl.
Sex change bloke set to be a mum.
Interesting that it's only the Indy that feel it necessary to question his gender in their headline. They also, for some reason, quote one Margaret Somerville who also has a reputation as being down on gay-marriage.
"You're not a man, you're a woman and you're having a baby and you're actually having your own baby."
Um yes, in the way that women always have their own babies. Unless they are surrogates I suppose... Or is she trying to suggest that Beatie supplied both sperm and egg?
"Just because you put on a clown suit, doesn't mean that you don't still exist underneath.'"
I don't even know what this is supposed to mean!
Labels: children, transgenderism, transphobia
Thursday, March 20, 2008
The extraordinary story of a transman's pregnancy. The uplifting part about a family awaiting the birth of their first child is balanced by the depressing part of the community and family around them putting so many barriers and prejudice before them.
Labels: transgenderism
