As someone who navigates the world with the privilege of whiteness, I continue to puzzle over what exactly it is, that functions as a barrier to openness and learning around issues of race as they impact people systemically, and individually. I feel like one of the biggest stumbling blocks for white folks to address racism and work on our allyship with indigenous peoples and folks of colour, is held within the ego. The act of (active) denial, specifically, of racism, seems to be a reinforcing mechanism in whiteness that continually erases and shuts down learning and sensitivity to experiences and realities that do not conform to one's own experiences of access and advantage.
One can only suppose that the function of denial, in such moments, is to protect the fragile ego from the knowledge of complicity (allowing and enabling) racism, either directly or indirectly. In other words, the shame at discovering one has a responsibility they have been neglecting in addressing racism in daily life, coupled with the knowledge of the impact on those who face those very experiences, becomes overwhelming. One then actively takes steps to deny the reality of others so as not to feel a responsibility towards that suffering and grief - even those who may be friends, family, or even partners.
There are many excuses that folks who benefit from systems privileging whiteness come up with when faced with the task of being sensitive to the experiences of race and cultural genocide as told by indigenous peoples and folks of colour. We all read and see and hear these excuses all the time. They usually take the form of something like this....
a) Racism does not exist
b) systemic Racism does not exist
c) I do not enact Racism on an individual level either consciously or otherwise
d) I (as an individual) am not responsible for systems of Racism
e) I (as a "white" person) do not receive special benefits because I also experience oppression
f) My feelings are hurt for being Racist.
I want to take a moment to build on the conversations that are happening around accountability and challenging systemic power systems that continually produce traumas and inequities and create a racialized other. I know this knowledge is held in the experiences of people of colour and indigenous folks and that what I am about to write already exists in those knowledges. I am simply hopeful that it can provide another digestible format for understanding and beginning to dismantle these systems.
I think many white folks are afraid or discouraged to engage with anti-racism for fear of doing it wrong, or being wrong, and the subsequent shame around this. But, the fact of the matter is, dismantling systems of power over others which one may inadvertently be a part of and unconsciously help prop up does not take much effort at all. It takes humility. And, a desire to be a responsible human being who is invested in their own and others' personal growth and healing.
A lot of the work that folks with privilege and access can do could possibly be summed up in the following script:
1) Listen up!
2) Be Supportive!
3) Check Yourself!
4) Stand up!
Does this sound difficult? Let's break it down a bit.
1) Listen Up!
This means pay attention! Pay attention to all the information that is conveyed by those with lived experiences of being racialized and the impacts of this. This means seeking out information as much as possible on your own and not asking people with those experiences to teach you. You can become informed simply by paying attention, being sensitive, and actively listening to people's experiences when they choose to speak about them. You can also do your own internet research; seek out blogs by folks writing about these issues; go to bookstores or libraries that carry books on the subjects of white privilege, racism, racialization, colonization etc. Acting with entitlement that folks of colour and indigenous people teach you, is a way that you increase the emotional toll on folks already dealing with oppression in daily life. A simple way you can act responsibly is to do your own learning, continually, and PAUSE, STEP BACK, LISTEN and PROVIDE SPACE and ACKNOWLEDGEMENT when folks do choose to speak to you about it.
2) Be Supportive!
Essentially, being supportive means validating experiences of racism and racialization. It means that when you are so lucky as to be part of a conversation in which someone shares their own or another's experience of racism, whether it be on a systemic or individual level, you do not argue whether or not that person experienced what they - in fact, experienced. In arguing, you are seeking to diminish and deny said experience. When someone experiences trauma or violence, the listener's duty is to ensure that the person sharing feels safe enough to continue to share. Being supportive means affirming the weight of experiences of racism and the contexts which provoke them. It means honouring the individual or people for sharing this information with you. It also means vowing to disrupt those actions which feed into experiences of race based trauma and inequity in whichever ways one can, particularly, challenging other white folks to stop speaking and listen.
Which leads to the next point...and perhaps, the most psychologically loaded.
3) Check yourself!
Check your defensiveness. If you are feeling uncomfortable at the possibility of others' experiences of racism - YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK. Listen to that discomfort. Sit with it. Breathe it into your gut, and reflect on the knowledge that this experience is not your own, not about your pain at discovery - and is amplified beyond measure for those actually experiencing racial oppression. Defensiveness may come with the panic of knowing that one has been ignorant to the struggles of others, and feeling helpless in one's power at making changes to alleviate those struggles.
When you acknowledge your discomfort at hearing or learning about racism, you invite the possibility of empowering yourself and others to change these systems. Take a moment to be silent and reflect and resist the urge to speak and insert your experiences or feelings.
4) Stand up!
One of the biggest traps of having white privilege is feeling like you can't do anything about it. When we feel like we cannot do things to alleviate unequal power systems based in racial hierarchies (in this instance), we give up opportunities to change those very systems. We allow these systems to continue, unaddressed. We delay and derail the very work that is possible in changing ill systems - enlightening ourselves, and challenging others to do so as well. Change is preceded by acknowledgement. By taking a stand that supports and provides space for the experiences of others and actively challenges denial and silencing of those experiences - we create the opportunity for mass movement. A simple way to stand up is to start affirming the experiences of indigenous folks and people of colour, and start challenging your white friends around their own denial of these experiences.
Checking one's self involves self reflection. It means humbling ones self in accepting the knowledge that one can take action to do the personal work necessary to disrupt systems of inequity that silence and erase others. This means working through the guilt experienced in acknowledging unequal advantages received for whiteness.... and ensuring that guilt does not act to deny and invalidate experiences of racism. A deliberate lifelong commitment to checking one's defensiveness, being sensitive to and affirming other's experiences can begin to challenge the unearned advantages one receives for being white in oppressive systems.
Checking yourself opens you to the possibility of moving away from helplessness, and into action.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Trans Bodies, Cis Power
No cis (non-trans) person should ever critique the power dynamics of a trans person’s body.
Digest that.
If you wanna talk power and privilege we need to refocus the lens, just a lil bit.
Whose gaze scrutinizes trans bodies?
Whose words shut down trans lives and possibilities for embodiment?
Whose norms dictate there can only be two sexes, two genders, two bodies, and two qualities – masculine or feminine?
I have lived thirty-four plus years struggling to carve out a place of survival for a body I feel most comfortable with. That includes thirty plus years living as a girl, tom/boy, dyke, woman, and butch, who picked up weights at age 8. That includes being degraded for touching a basketball. It includes being taunted for throwing a football. It includes being assaulted for enjoying sports at all. I literally had to fight my way through my elementary school years just so I could participate in activities I enjoyed, and it includes giving up most sports at all over my lifetime due to gender segregation.
It meant having my gender questioned, and being the subject of misogyny for developing strength, and muscularity. It meant going through high school being scrutinized as less than a girl, less than a woman, and being deemed not worthy of dating or being in the realm of possibility for desire. It meant being ridiculed for not simply being “ugly” as in fatphobia, but attacked on a daily basis psychologically, emotionally, and verbally as an adult for challenging what it means to be a man or a woman. It meant being excluded from most service jobs and employment based in feminine norms. It meant being threatened with physical assault so many times I lost count. I am lucky my shouting back has staved off attacks.
I have dated queer women with rad politics whose words have delayed my decision to embody my self wholly, by years. I have been subject to lesbian norms that fetishize breasts and possess butch bodies, all the while de-crying the terrible impact and burden on cis lives and identities of the possibility of transness. I am lucky to have created a space for myself at all, to make decisions that support my body, my health, and my wholeness.
And now, I inhabit myself fully and am told consistently that my body reminds queer women of a rapist. That being athletic and muscular is simply a facet of masculine privilege. That I am simply perpetuating male dominance and patriarchy by developing a body I feel most okay with. License is taken freely, to degrade my body, yet again. I am told I must cultivate guilt for walking through the world in this new body, and that I must wear on my sleeve and repent for on a daily basis. And, I see trans guys feeding the mill with uninformed comments repeating the degradation of my body, my choices – from guys who have not walked through the world surviving a lifetime of gender freakishness specific to a body considered too athletic, too muscular, too masculine.
There are ways to hold individuals accountable for the abusive behaviors they perpetuate without painting all masculine presenting trans people with the same brush as cis men, and with the same erasing lens that guesses at gender identity, and experience. There are ways to talk about cultivating new masculinities that disrupt traditional power dynamics, and acknowledge the huge disparity in access and privilege gained from passing as a white male without glossing over all the experiences of racism of trans men of colour that undermine their masculinity. I can’t even begin to comment on the psychic and physical violence trans women have endured around their embodiment from all facets of queer community as well as the rest of society.
Discussions can be had that challenge insight, awareness, and gentleness in ways that do not reproduce transphobic attacks on our lives and do not dichotomize gender, yet again, as masculinity vs. femininity.
I challenge us to do better.
Digest that.
If you wanna talk power and privilege we need to refocus the lens, just a lil bit.
Whose gaze scrutinizes trans bodies?
Whose words shut down trans lives and possibilities for embodiment?
Whose norms dictate there can only be two sexes, two genders, two bodies, and two qualities – masculine or feminine?
I have lived thirty-four plus years struggling to carve out a place of survival for a body I feel most comfortable with. That includes thirty plus years living as a girl, tom/boy, dyke, woman, and butch, who picked up weights at age 8. That includes being degraded for touching a basketball. It includes being taunted for throwing a football. It includes being assaulted for enjoying sports at all. I literally had to fight my way through my elementary school years just so I could participate in activities I enjoyed, and it includes giving up most sports at all over my lifetime due to gender segregation.
It meant having my gender questioned, and being the subject of misogyny for developing strength, and muscularity. It meant going through high school being scrutinized as less than a girl, less than a woman, and being deemed not worthy of dating or being in the realm of possibility for desire. It meant being ridiculed for not simply being “ugly” as in fatphobia, but attacked on a daily basis psychologically, emotionally, and verbally as an adult for challenging what it means to be a man or a woman. It meant being excluded from most service jobs and employment based in feminine norms. It meant being threatened with physical assault so many times I lost count. I am lucky my shouting back has staved off attacks.
I have dated queer women with rad politics whose words have delayed my decision to embody my self wholly, by years. I have been subject to lesbian norms that fetishize breasts and possess butch bodies, all the while de-crying the terrible impact and burden on cis lives and identities of the possibility of transness. I am lucky to have created a space for myself at all, to make decisions that support my body, my health, and my wholeness.
And now, I inhabit myself fully and am told consistently that my body reminds queer women of a rapist. That being athletic and muscular is simply a facet of masculine privilege. That I am simply perpetuating male dominance and patriarchy by developing a body I feel most okay with. License is taken freely, to degrade my body, yet again. I am told I must cultivate guilt for walking through the world in this new body, and that I must wear on my sleeve and repent for on a daily basis. And, I see trans guys feeding the mill with uninformed comments repeating the degradation of my body, my choices – from guys who have not walked through the world surviving a lifetime of gender freakishness specific to a body considered too athletic, too muscular, too masculine.
There are ways to hold individuals accountable for the abusive behaviors they perpetuate without painting all masculine presenting trans people with the same brush as cis men, and with the same erasing lens that guesses at gender identity, and experience. There are ways to talk about cultivating new masculinities that disrupt traditional power dynamics, and acknowledge the huge disparity in access and privilege gained from passing as a white male without glossing over all the experiences of racism of trans men of colour that undermine their masculinity. I can’t even begin to comment on the psychic and physical violence trans women have endured around their embodiment from all facets of queer community as well as the rest of society.
Discussions can be had that challenge insight, awareness, and gentleness in ways that do not reproduce transphobic attacks on our lives and do not dichotomize gender, yet again, as masculinity vs. femininity.
I challenge us to do better.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Supporting Our Sisters
I recently came across this post on feministing by JOS entitled: "Enough With 'I Date Women and Trans Men'."
I feel like the author is asking, again, for queer cis and trans folks to question the source of our attractions and why certain exclusions of trans women as objects of desire happen in our so-called progressive queer commmunities.
I've written about this as well, and I do think it is a reasonable question to ask oneself why one may exclude trans women out of their dating pool if they profess an attraction to the grand nebulous group "women."
Where I got thrown in the article was when the author started essentializing trans men as binary male subjects with One Universal Experience and speaking for us and our partners. Not okay.
But, what I find interesting in all this is What Do We Do Now? Transmisogyny exists, FACT. It exists in cis normative society, and in the most progressive of queer spaces. So what now? How do I become an ally to the cause of rooting out transphobia that trans women and trans women of colour, specifically, face in our communities, while supporting a process of reconciliation and consciousness raising that doesn't place me in a trap of exerting male or masculine privilege in questioning women's desires?
What I don't find helpful, and indeed, find particularly damaging in witnessing attempts at allyship of trans/masc/male ppl almost inevitably with white privilege - are the broad sweeping statements made about trans men in comparison to trans women. Statements and assumptions are lobbed in an attempt to show how easy the lives of trans men are compared to trans women. How much cache or status we gain. How desireable we become. How we all obviously identify as male. Or how we all passed since we were 6 and so, therefore, received early affirmation and didn't experience girlhoods or female socialization.
Wait a second, say what?
To assert how much candy trans men get when they graduate to passing is not a simple statement. Doing so ERASES the racism and lack of privilege trans masc ppl and trans men of colour experience. It ERASES the experience of all trans men who do not pass nor wish to pass. It erases the experiences of disabled trans men. It erases the experiences of older (than 24) trans men who did not grow up in a magical fairyland where gender variety or indeed trans even existed as a thing. It erases the experiences of rural trans people. It erases the experiences of anyone who has a non linear identity path, who id'd as a tomboy, butch, genderqueer, woman, lesbian, two-spirit, non-binary, etc., or who still does.
In short, when white trans men stand up under the guise of supporting our trans sisters and do so by engaging in public acts of flagellation of themselves and others, we do NOTHING to help our sisters remove barriers and stigma, nor honour the diversity of experiences among us. We perpetuate the erasure of intersections of oppression. We succeed in looking self righteous without providing any tangible answers.
How about this:
1.) Talk about and promote knowledge of the stigma trans women face and the rigid standards of beauty placed upon them.
2.) Talk about and raise consciousness of the lack of safe, inclusive spaces for trans women in our own communities.
3.) Address stigma and transphobia head on when it happens and be there for our sisters whenever they need us.
4.) Try our best not to exert masculine privilege in speaking for trans women or appropriate experiences of marginalization or oppression of trans women.
5.) Consider our own biases in terms of how we see trans women. Address our own transphobia and discomfort if it exists, as well as dating choices.
6.) Read and reference Julia Serrano, A LOT.
7.) Link to other resources that succinctly speak about transmisogyny.
8.) Do our own research, readings, introspection, and awareness raising of the issues trans women may specifically face.
9.) Be available to emotionally support our trans sisters.
10.) Listen. A lot. Specifically to our trans sisters.
I feel like the author is asking, again, for queer cis and trans folks to question the source of our attractions and why certain exclusions of trans women as objects of desire happen in our so-called progressive queer commmunities.
I've written about this as well, and I do think it is a reasonable question to ask oneself why one may exclude trans women out of their dating pool if they profess an attraction to the grand nebulous group "women."
Where I got thrown in the article was when the author started essentializing trans men as binary male subjects with One Universal Experience and speaking for us and our partners. Not okay.
But, what I find interesting in all this is What Do We Do Now? Transmisogyny exists, FACT. It exists in cis normative society, and in the most progressive of queer spaces. So what now? How do I become an ally to the cause of rooting out transphobia that trans women and trans women of colour, specifically, face in our communities, while supporting a process of reconciliation and consciousness raising that doesn't place me in a trap of exerting male or masculine privilege in questioning women's desires?
What I don't find helpful, and indeed, find particularly damaging in witnessing attempts at allyship of trans/masc/male ppl almost inevitably with white privilege - are the broad sweeping statements made about trans men in comparison to trans women. Statements and assumptions are lobbed in an attempt to show how easy the lives of trans men are compared to trans women. How much cache or status we gain. How desireable we become. How we all obviously identify as male. Or how we all passed since we were 6 and so, therefore, received early affirmation and didn't experience girlhoods or female socialization.
Wait a second, say what?
To assert how much candy trans men get when they graduate to passing is not a simple statement. Doing so ERASES the racism and lack of privilege trans masc ppl and trans men of colour experience. It ERASES the experience of all trans men who do not pass nor wish to pass. It erases the experiences of disabled trans men. It erases the experiences of older (than 24) trans men who did not grow up in a magical fairyland where gender variety or indeed trans even existed as a thing. It erases the experiences of rural trans people. It erases the experiences of anyone who has a non linear identity path, who id'd as a tomboy, butch, genderqueer, woman, lesbian, two-spirit, non-binary, etc., or who still does.
In short, when white trans men stand up under the guise of supporting our trans sisters and do so by engaging in public acts of flagellation of themselves and others, we do NOTHING to help our sisters remove barriers and stigma, nor honour the diversity of experiences among us. We perpetuate the erasure of intersections of oppression. We succeed in looking self righteous without providing any tangible answers.
How about this:
1.) Talk about and promote knowledge of the stigma trans women face and the rigid standards of beauty placed upon them.
2.) Talk about and raise consciousness of the lack of safe, inclusive spaces for trans women in our own communities.
3.) Address stigma and transphobia head on when it happens and be there for our sisters whenever they need us.
4.) Try our best not to exert masculine privilege in speaking for trans women or appropriate experiences of marginalization or oppression of trans women.
5.) Consider our own biases in terms of how we see trans women. Address our own transphobia and discomfort if it exists, as well as dating choices.
6.) Read and reference Julia Serrano, A LOT.
7.) Link to other resources that succinctly speak about transmisogyny.
8.) Do our own research, readings, introspection, and awareness raising of the issues trans women may specifically face.
9.) Be available to emotionally support our trans sisters.
10.) Listen. A lot. Specifically to our trans sisters.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
The Traps (and tropes) of Manhood: Eating Our Own
As a trans person who does not identify with manliness - whatever that means - I am finding it interesting how my newfound perceived masculinity - based largely on changes to my physical appearance, is being ever associated with the worst aspects of cis normative, hetero-patriarchal privilege.
I find it ironic that my experience of coming into my body in the most comfortable way for me, has taken my experience from being invisible and erased, to now completely being misread. I also find it disheartening that my behaviour, and indeed my entire person, is often reduced to stereotypes of manhood, whether they be "pleasant," good intentioned, or negative.
This indeed, is a product of cis privilege.
I repeat: reducing trans identified people to a cis gender stereotype, is a product of copious amounts of cis privilege.
As usual, I can only speak from my experience as a trans/masculine, soft, somewhat effeminate person... with white, able-bodied privilege, and (currently) middle class upward mobility. I know that the experience of being read as a white male in mainstream society comes with a whole whack of access, courtesies, and privileges, even if I am largely read as a queer male, and mis-read as a "man" identified person. I very much appreciate the perspectives and unique experiences of visibly genderqueer folk, trans women, and masculine id'd folks of colour in terms of the precarious and troubling implications associated with their presentations and transitions, as the case may be.
What is troubling to me, in the case of my own experience of transformation (becoming me), are the amount of assumptions made about my gender id that are directly related to my appearance - by cis str8 and cis queer folks alike. In fact, ironically, I tend to feel more validated by my cis str8 friends at the moment than by some in queer circles in terms of understanding and seeing the difference in my gender identity, presentation, and history, from that associated with patriarchal cis maleness and privilege. I think one of the key issues for me, recently, aside from all the narrow assumptions queer cis (and many trans) people seem to make about "transition" and assumptions based on physical appearance (that physical appearance must match internal identity, and that this internal identity can only be understood in terms of patriarchal masculinity) - is negation of individual experiences in time and space.
For example, I have been hearing a lot about how transguys are "so desirable" and how we "take up so much space" in community and online. This, again, can be interpreted to mean *white* trans men, which is, in fact, true. I certainly do not take issue with the fact of trans men with white privilege being much more visible in terms of emerging trans male culture, and thankfully projects like the STUD magazine, and Brown Boi Project amongst others, are taking up rightful space for masculine of center folks of colour (and I look forward to seeing more projects and representation). But, what I take issue with is the assumption that trans men or transmasculine folk being perceived as desirable is an issue. This comment is often framed as "trans men are more desirable than trans women, butches, genderqueers." Oftentimes, this resentment at the desirability of trans men is lobbed by cis queer women - the same cis queer women who want to date and fuck trans men.
I have several issues with this complaint of the desirability of trans men vis a vis other gender presentations in our communities: 1) This assumes that trans men are undeserving of a space of desirability and that we are responsible for the desirability placed on us.... if trans men are the subject of increased desire by cis queer women and some trans women (I do not hear this complaint from trans-fag, or cis queer, gay or bi male identified folks)- what exactly are trans men expected to do about this? 2) Trans men/masculine folk have only recently had any cultural space and visibility, let alone one of desire; 3) the privileging of masculine visibility in queer spaces is subject to time, space, social location and history. For example, queers in urban centers may feel their trans male community has been around taking up space forever, but for many of us trans guys/people, we had zero space of reference for our identities in the contexts we came of age in over the life span. Let me repeat: ZERO. We have lived invisible lives, many of us stifling our identities into the depths of abyss just to live another day... having only recently been able to perceive that being a trans male(ish) person was a possibility at all and not a figment of our imaginations for another lifetime!
So, to hear constantly from those in our communities that we are "taking up so much space" I am challenging the mainly cis folks who are throwing this statement out there, what exactly this means in terms of going from spaces of invisibility, to having a space of affirmation and validation, and celebration? Can we problematize this critique, just a little bit? Can we expand this discussion to look at the ways in which WE ALL should have spaces of affirmation, desire, validation and celebration, and not just feel resentment at those of us who, for the moment, achieve it, instead of constantly eating our own?
If stigmatization of trans women is a huge issue in our communities, can we talk about this without constantly shaming and bashing trans men? If shitty/aggressive/dominating behaviour is an issue for some of us trans masculine folk, can we talk about this without reducing ourselves to stereotypes of cis men? And, can we also address the cis normative assumptions that are placed on trans people, namely that our exteriors must match our interiors, and that our histories and realities can be non-linear and incredibly complex?
Can we actually deal with the issue of privileging whiteness in these spaces we take up and make this a large part of our work, again, without reducing trans guys to stereotypes of patriarchal masculinity?
I find it ironic that my experience of coming into my body in the most comfortable way for me, has taken my experience from being invisible and erased, to now completely being misread. I also find it disheartening that my behaviour, and indeed my entire person, is often reduced to stereotypes of manhood, whether they be "pleasant," good intentioned, or negative.
This indeed, is a product of cis privilege.
I repeat: reducing trans identified people to a cis gender stereotype, is a product of copious amounts of cis privilege.
As usual, I can only speak from my experience as a trans/masculine, soft, somewhat effeminate person... with white, able-bodied privilege, and (currently) middle class upward mobility. I know that the experience of being read as a white male in mainstream society comes with a whole whack of access, courtesies, and privileges, even if I am largely read as a queer male, and mis-read as a "man" identified person. I very much appreciate the perspectives and unique experiences of visibly genderqueer folk, trans women, and masculine id'd folks of colour in terms of the precarious and troubling implications associated with their presentations and transitions, as the case may be.
What is troubling to me, in the case of my own experience of transformation (becoming me), are the amount of assumptions made about my gender id that are directly related to my appearance - by cis str8 and cis queer folks alike. In fact, ironically, I tend to feel more validated by my cis str8 friends at the moment than by some in queer circles in terms of understanding and seeing the difference in my gender identity, presentation, and history, from that associated with patriarchal cis maleness and privilege. I think one of the key issues for me, recently, aside from all the narrow assumptions queer cis (and many trans) people seem to make about "transition" and assumptions based on physical appearance (that physical appearance must match internal identity, and that this internal identity can only be understood in terms of patriarchal masculinity) - is negation of individual experiences in time and space.
For example, I have been hearing a lot about how transguys are "so desirable" and how we "take up so much space" in community and online. This, again, can be interpreted to mean *white* trans men, which is, in fact, true. I certainly do not take issue with the fact of trans men with white privilege being much more visible in terms of emerging trans male culture, and thankfully projects like the STUD magazine, and Brown Boi Project amongst others, are taking up rightful space for masculine of center folks of colour (and I look forward to seeing more projects and representation). But, what I take issue with is the assumption that trans men or transmasculine folk being perceived as desirable is an issue. This comment is often framed as "trans men are more desirable than trans women, butches, genderqueers." Oftentimes, this resentment at the desirability of trans men is lobbed by cis queer women - the same cis queer women who want to date and fuck trans men.
I have several issues with this complaint of the desirability of trans men vis a vis other gender presentations in our communities: 1) This assumes that trans men are undeserving of a space of desirability and that we are responsible for the desirability placed on us.... if trans men are the subject of increased desire by cis queer women and some trans women (I do not hear this complaint from trans-fag, or cis queer, gay or bi male identified folks)- what exactly are trans men expected to do about this? 2) Trans men/masculine folk have only recently had any cultural space and visibility, let alone one of desire; 3) the privileging of masculine visibility in queer spaces is subject to time, space, social location and history. For example, queers in urban centers may feel their trans male community has been around taking up space forever, but for many of us trans guys/people, we had zero space of reference for our identities in the contexts we came of age in over the life span. Let me repeat: ZERO. We have lived invisible lives, many of us stifling our identities into the depths of abyss just to live another day... having only recently been able to perceive that being a trans male(ish) person was a possibility at all and not a figment of our imaginations for another lifetime!
So, to hear constantly from those in our communities that we are "taking up so much space" I am challenging the mainly cis folks who are throwing this statement out there, what exactly this means in terms of going from spaces of invisibility, to having a space of affirmation and validation, and celebration? Can we problematize this critique, just a little bit? Can we expand this discussion to look at the ways in which WE ALL should have spaces of affirmation, desire, validation and celebration, and not just feel resentment at those of us who, for the moment, achieve it, instead of constantly eating our own?
If stigmatization of trans women is a huge issue in our communities, can we talk about this without constantly shaming and bashing trans men? If shitty/aggressive/dominating behaviour is an issue for some of us trans masculine folk, can we talk about this without reducing ourselves to stereotypes of cis men? And, can we also address the cis normative assumptions that are placed on trans people, namely that our exteriors must match our interiors, and that our histories and realities can be non-linear and incredibly complex?
Can we actually deal with the issue of privileging whiteness in these spaces we take up and make this a large part of our work, again, without reducing trans guys to stereotypes of patriarchal masculinity?
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Medical Gatekeeping: Assumptions Re: Gender/Transition
Trans health care is an evolving practice, and as such, the assumptions which drive decision making and access to, or withholding of medical options for transition must be scrutinized. The current model of restricted access, psychiatrization of gender identity, and some aspects of protocols for assessing readiness for trans health care are laden with the following cis-normative assumptions:
1. That all trans people feel they were “born in the wrong body.”
2. That there are two genders: male and female, man and woman.
3. That man/male/masculine and woman/female/feminine must go together.
4. That trans women will necessarily id as feminine.
5. That trans men will necessarily id as masculine.
6. That each trans person “knew something was wrong” from birth.
7. That trans people have a coherent, linear narrative in terms of discovering and exploring their gender id: ie) “born in the wrong body” -> desire to “cross dress” from an early age -> “play” preferences appropriate to “opposite” gender -> heterosexual identity (ie. Trans men attracted to women and trans women attracted to men) -> experience largely of suffering and suicidality -> unbearable dysphoria -> transition to “opposite” gender.
8. That dysphoria is an inherent disconnect between the body and mind (spirit), and is entirely separate from societal notions imposing meaning on bodies.
9. That meaning imposed societally on bodies and how they are seen (*read) is an invalid reason for seeking changes.
10. That Trans ppl must display no ambivalence in the transition process.
11. That Trans ppl must have successfully reconciled their ambivalence prior to transitioning.
12. That transition means a desire to “become a woman” or “become a man” and cross over to an “opposite” gender.
13. That all trans people seek medical transition.
14. That medical transition is the only way to legitimate a trans identity and that individuals must be seeking ALL surgical options as well as hormonal options in order to be approved/seen as their chosen gender.
15. That trans or gender variant identities are “disordered” and in need of “treatment.”
16. That the psychiatrization of trans and gender variant experience is not a significant cause of mental health issues, depression, anxiety, systemic trauma and suicidality.
17. That the gender assessment process is not a magnified microcosm of societal transphobia.
18. That trans women must be able to “pass” as cis women.
19. That trans men don’t wear dresses or makeup.
20. That active substance use must be dealt with prior to starting hormones or approving surgery.
21. That homelessness should rule out approval for hormones or surgery.
22. That mental illness should rule out approval for hormones or surgery.
23. That individuals must *out* themselves in their chosen gender prior to accessing hormones or surgery.
24. That individuals must *out* themselves to their families prior to accessing hormones or surgery.
25. That family members will provide support. That this support is necessary to be approved for hormones or surgery.
26. That children are “too young” to give informed consent.
27. That children are “too young” to know who they are.
28. That cross gender play is a necessary determinant of trans identity.
I'm sure we can come up with many more examples of the various assumptions which infuse medical gatekeeping. Let's keep the discussion going and push for expanded discussions on these topics with service providers tasked with assessing who is suitably ready to receive appropriate healthcare.
1. That all trans people feel they were “born in the wrong body.”
2. That there are two genders: male and female, man and woman.
3. That man/male/masculine and woman/female/feminine must go together.
4. That trans women will necessarily id as feminine.
5. That trans men will necessarily id as masculine.
6. That each trans person “knew something was wrong” from birth.
7. That trans people have a coherent, linear narrative in terms of discovering and exploring their gender id: ie) “born in the wrong body” -> desire to “cross dress” from an early age -> “play” preferences appropriate to “opposite” gender -> heterosexual identity (ie. Trans men attracted to women and trans women attracted to men) -> experience largely of suffering and suicidality -> unbearable dysphoria -> transition to “opposite” gender.
8. That dysphoria is an inherent disconnect between the body and mind (spirit), and is entirely separate from societal notions imposing meaning on bodies.
9. That meaning imposed societally on bodies and how they are seen (*read) is an invalid reason for seeking changes.
10. That Trans ppl must display no ambivalence in the transition process.
11. That Trans ppl must have successfully reconciled their ambivalence prior to transitioning.
12. That transition means a desire to “become a woman” or “become a man” and cross over to an “opposite” gender.
13. That all trans people seek medical transition.
14. That medical transition is the only way to legitimate a trans identity and that individuals must be seeking ALL surgical options as well as hormonal options in order to be approved/seen as their chosen gender.
15. That trans or gender variant identities are “disordered” and in need of “treatment.”
16. That the psychiatrization of trans and gender variant experience is not a significant cause of mental health issues, depression, anxiety, systemic trauma and suicidality.
17. That the gender assessment process is not a magnified microcosm of societal transphobia.
18. That trans women must be able to “pass” as cis women.
19. That trans men don’t wear dresses or makeup.
20. That active substance use must be dealt with prior to starting hormones or approving surgery.
21. That homelessness should rule out approval for hormones or surgery.
22. That mental illness should rule out approval for hormones or surgery.
23. That individuals must *out* themselves in their chosen gender prior to accessing hormones or surgery.
24. That individuals must *out* themselves to their families prior to accessing hormones or surgery.
25. That family members will provide support. That this support is necessary to be approved for hormones or surgery.
26. That children are “too young” to give informed consent.
27. That children are “too young” to know who they are.
28. That cross gender play is a necessary determinant of trans identity.
I'm sure we can come up with many more examples of the various assumptions which infuse medical gatekeeping. Let's keep the discussion going and push for expanded discussions on these topics with service providers tasked with assessing who is suitably ready to receive appropriate healthcare.
Monday, February 27, 2012
The 16 Steps to Overcoming Denial Of White Privilege
**The following piece draws on addiction theory in adapting "The 16 Steps of Discovery and Empowerment," by Charlotte Kasl in working on psychological barriers to understanding one's white privilege. It is somewhat tongue in cheek, and hopefully offers an articulation of some of the mechanisms which may support an unquestioned perception of innocence in systems of racism. In addition to teachings and readings by indigenous folks and people of colour, for a basic illustration of what constitutes "white privilege" click here.
The Steps:
1.) We affirm we have the power to dismantle systems of racism and stop being dependent on white privilege for our self-esteem and security.
2.) We come to believe that our Inner Spirit/Connecting Force/Universal Love/Higher Power awakens the healing wisdom within us when we open ourselves to understanding our white privilege.
3.) We make a decision to become our authentic selves and trust in the healing power of understanding and challenging the disproportionate benefits we receive based on our whiteness.
4.) We examine our beliefs, actions, and successes in the context of living in a capitalist, colonial-imperial, patriarchal, ableist, racist, genocidal, transphobic, homophobic society.
5.) We share with other white folks, the Universe, and meditate within ourselves on all the reasons inside of us we feel shame and guilt related to systems of racism that benefit our whiteness.
6.) We affirm our own humanity and humility in challenging ourselves to see the implications of the disproportionate benefits we receive for our whiteness.
7.) We become willing to let go of shame, guilt, and any behaviour that keeps us from acknowledging our white privilege and the impacts of systems of racism.
8.) We make a list of the ways in which we have been conditioned to accept access and privilege based on our whiteness and the resultant harms to people of colour (poc) and indigenous folks (IP). We take steps to accountability by committing ourselves to an ongoing process of understanding and reflecting on the impacts of white privilege.
9.) We express love and gratitude to others, and increasingly appreciate the wonder of life and the blessings of gaining awareness of the impacts of our privileges.
10.) We learn to trust the realities of poc and IP and daily affirm that they see what they see, they know what they know, and become sensitive to what they feel.
11.) We promptly admit to mistakes and make amends when appropriate. We do not cover-up, excuse, or abdicate responsibility for the impact whiteness has on others.
12.) We seek to create relationships, settings, workplaces, and social spaces where people address their white privilege and do not seek to avoid situations that require us to work across difference for shared understanding.
13.) We take steps to nourish our bodies, spiritual selves, relationships, heal from trauma, connect with others and have fun.
14.) We incorporate our understanding of white privilege into our daily passions and develop the will and wisdom to challenge the systems, institutions, practices, and relations that benefit us.
15.) We accept that conflict may arise and the difficult communication and emotional processing that challenging white privilege entails. We use these opportunities as lessons for our continued personal growth.
16.) We grow in awareness that we are sacred beings, interrelated with all living things, and we contribute to restoring peace and balance on the planet by committing ourselves to taking active steps to dismantle these systems of privilege.
***Please feel free to add additional steps and understandings.
The Steps:
1.) We affirm we have the power to dismantle systems of racism and stop being dependent on white privilege for our self-esteem and security.
2.) We come to believe that our Inner Spirit/Connecting Force/Universal Love/Higher Power awakens the healing wisdom within us when we open ourselves to understanding our white privilege.
3.) We make a decision to become our authentic selves and trust in the healing power of understanding and challenging the disproportionate benefits we receive based on our whiteness.
4.) We examine our beliefs, actions, and successes in the context of living in a capitalist, colonial-imperial, patriarchal, ableist, racist, genocidal, transphobic, homophobic society.
5.) We share with other white folks, the Universe, and meditate within ourselves on all the reasons inside of us we feel shame and guilt related to systems of racism that benefit our whiteness.
6.) We affirm our own humanity and humility in challenging ourselves to see the implications of the disproportionate benefits we receive for our whiteness.
7.) We become willing to let go of shame, guilt, and any behaviour that keeps us from acknowledging our white privilege and the impacts of systems of racism.
8.) We make a list of the ways in which we have been conditioned to accept access and privilege based on our whiteness and the resultant harms to people of colour (poc) and indigenous folks (IP). We take steps to accountability by committing ourselves to an ongoing process of understanding and reflecting on the impacts of white privilege.
9.) We express love and gratitude to others, and increasingly appreciate the wonder of life and the blessings of gaining awareness of the impacts of our privileges.
10.) We learn to trust the realities of poc and IP and daily affirm that they see what they see, they know what they know, and become sensitive to what they feel.
11.) We promptly admit to mistakes and make amends when appropriate. We do not cover-up, excuse, or abdicate responsibility for the impact whiteness has on others.
12.) We seek to create relationships, settings, workplaces, and social spaces where people address their white privilege and do not seek to avoid situations that require us to work across difference for shared understanding.
13.) We take steps to nourish our bodies, spiritual selves, relationships, heal from trauma, connect with others and have fun.
14.) We incorporate our understanding of white privilege into our daily passions and develop the will and wisdom to challenge the systems, institutions, practices, and relations that benefit us.
15.) We accept that conflict may arise and the difficult communication and emotional processing that challenging white privilege entails. We use these opportunities as lessons for our continued personal growth.
16.) We grow in awareness that we are sacred beings, interrelated with all living things, and we contribute to restoring peace and balance on the planet by committing ourselves to taking active steps to dismantle these systems of privilege.
***Please feel free to add additional steps and understandings.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Albert Nobbs: What Reviewers Missed
After seeing the much anticipated thirty-years-in-the-making film version of Glenn Close' darling character Albert Nobbs this past Friday... I can safely say most reviewers just don't get it.
Close herself, in interviews about the film has made little mention nor hint of the under/overtones of muted sexuality and gender swapping expression situated as the historical precedent of modern LGBT* identities. Given the time period, this makes sense. Terms like "lesbian," "butch,"
"trans," "FTM," while possibly accurate, were not in common use in the Victorian setting of Nobbs' transgression. Reviewers and Close have ubiquitously referred to the little man's character as a woman, excruciatingly trapped in the charade of passing as a man - for economic purposes. "She" was "born a woman" and has taken on passing for male in order to survive in a harsh Dublin in which lower class women are beaten down and sexually assaulted for their efforts at self sustainability. Most reviews I read took great pains to emphasize the pathetic nature of Nobbs and his passability as a real man. The allusion of a sexless, flat affected, gnome comes to mind from their unanimous descriptions. In fact, the secondary character of Hubert Page was conceded much more male "credibility" for his tall frame, exaggerated swagger, and oozing confidence.
But, what such reviews inevitably miss in their fixation on Nobbs' believability as a "real man" who performs real masculinity is the entire history of butch lesbian and trans history and invisibility. Whether Nobbs is, indeed, butch or trans or both is besides the point. But, given it is the first such overdue overt historical portrayal by mainstream actors and cinema of female masculinity and performance, the significance of Nobbs' actions and painfully awkward, tight roping path of near discovery has been completely overlooked. Close' portrayal of Nobbs' frozen affect and stiff regard, whilst subtley and poignantly conveying his pervasive emotional intake, responses, and reactions to his environment are what make the story. It is a story of the psychology of passing in a time where few did, that is worthy - not whether Close' slight frame, facial features and makeup, hand size etc. do the trick. In fact, Close/Nobbs' stature and affect are precisely what induce panic and stifled appreciation in the audience and him/her/hirself, of every moment undiscovered. It is the invisible history of (passing) butch women and trans people that reviewers are oblivious of which renders the plot inaccessible to them for any more meaning than deflated manhood and missing plot.
Yet, it is precisely this snippet of watching what is possibly quite an accurate portrayal of a facet of early lesbian, butch and/or trans history that is so enticing and exciting for viewers who pay attention to the interplay of sexual and gender transgression. The subtle nuances of identity formation and desire which come to fruition as a result of happenstance, fit, and exploration pre-identity terms are of special interest in that lines between identity are altogether lost. It really doesn't matter if Albert regards himself/herself as man or woman, neither or both. It is clear from the interplay of stories between Nobbs and Page that there has been from early days, an overlap in the experiences of those who were assigned female/feminine roles as birthright, though quietly and defiantly seek otherwise.
Close herself, in interviews about the film has made little mention nor hint of the under/overtones of muted sexuality and gender swapping expression situated as the historical precedent of modern LGBT* identities. Given the time period, this makes sense. Terms like "lesbian," "butch,"
"trans," "FTM," while possibly accurate, were not in common use in the Victorian setting of Nobbs' transgression. Reviewers and Close have ubiquitously referred to the little man's character as a woman, excruciatingly trapped in the charade of passing as a man - for economic purposes. "She" was "born a woman" and has taken on passing for male in order to survive in a harsh Dublin in which lower class women are beaten down and sexually assaulted for their efforts at self sustainability. Most reviews I read took great pains to emphasize the pathetic nature of Nobbs and his passability as a real man. The allusion of a sexless, flat affected, gnome comes to mind from their unanimous descriptions. In fact, the secondary character of Hubert Page was conceded much more male "credibility" for his tall frame, exaggerated swagger, and oozing confidence.
But, what such reviews inevitably miss in their fixation on Nobbs' believability as a "real man" who performs real masculinity is the entire history of butch lesbian and trans history and invisibility. Whether Nobbs is, indeed, butch or trans or both is besides the point. But, given it is the first such overdue overt historical portrayal by mainstream actors and cinema of female masculinity and performance, the significance of Nobbs' actions and painfully awkward, tight roping path of near discovery has been completely overlooked. Close' portrayal of Nobbs' frozen affect and stiff regard, whilst subtley and poignantly conveying his pervasive emotional intake, responses, and reactions to his environment are what make the story. It is a story of the psychology of passing in a time where few did, that is worthy - not whether Close' slight frame, facial features and makeup, hand size etc. do the trick. In fact, Close/Nobbs' stature and affect are precisely what induce panic and stifled appreciation in the audience and him/her/hirself, of every moment undiscovered. It is the invisible history of (passing) butch women and trans people that reviewers are oblivious of which renders the plot inaccessible to them for any more meaning than deflated manhood and missing plot.
Yet, it is precisely this snippet of watching what is possibly quite an accurate portrayal of a facet of early lesbian, butch and/or trans history that is so enticing and exciting for viewers who pay attention to the interplay of sexual and gender transgression. The subtle nuances of identity formation and desire which come to fruition as a result of happenstance, fit, and exploration pre-identity terms are of special interest in that lines between identity are altogether lost. It really doesn't matter if Albert regards himself/herself as man or woman, neither or both. It is clear from the interplay of stories between Nobbs and Page that there has been from early days, an overlap in the experiences of those who were assigned female/feminine roles as birthright, though quietly and defiantly seek otherwise.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The Self-Reinforcing Use of Privilege
I've been thinking about the use of the "P" word lately....yes....THAT ONE.
The one that gets tossed around by folks who largely have the educational knowledge or exposure to enter complex conversations of power dynamics, social structures, and their impacts on individuals by using certain language as shorthand. Full disclosure: I am completely privy to the privilege of using the "P" word. I want to write a little bit, for a moment, on the privilege of using discourses of privilege - when you are the subject of that privilege.
This may sound a bit circular and non-sensical, and I fully admit my own difficulties in writing in ways that are accessible to a general audience. I have no idea how easy my writing is to understand for a broad spectrum audience, in terms of language or concepts. It is very difficult to step out of one's own internal language and thought process and into another that might be more useful. But, I am constantly reflecting on this when writing with the hope of conveying my ideas to the widest possible audience.
That said, when folks who experience certain access to concepts, ideas, thoughts, and conversational spaces tend to rely on the "P" word when talking about these power dynamics...I think we need to pause for a moment and reflect on what is happening. When we are explaining social and structural power relations and the differences in impact on individuals depending on one's own particular context and the factors affecting them, reliance on or overuse of language centered around 'privilege' can be self reinforcing of that very privilege.
~ Let's pause for a moment ~
Additional Disclaimer: I have no issue with folks who are affected by the power relations held in this word, to use it freely to name those power dynamics and what is going on in relationship to experiences of oppression. The use of the word 'privilege' by folks who are oppressed by others' privilege is not what I am speaking about here. Of course, this is complicated by, on the one hand experiencing levels of access based on certain aspects of one's social context, while simultaneously experiencing the effects of power-over for other aspects of that social context. However, if I am the carrier of a certain privilege and I have been successful at naming it as such, I believe I have a very rich, layered obligation to reflect upon and address the embedded processes of power and resultant discriminated access in ways that do not reduce those interactions to one symbolic word and conversations that happen in short hand around it.
What I am interested in, specifically, is the reliance on self-disclosure of one's sites of privilege to explain away the power behind that privilege, all the while leaving unaffected the systems which perpetuate it. This critique has been levelled numerous times, notably by indigenous speakers and people of colour vis a vis white privilege, and ties in with a greater critique of how learning to use anti-oppressive (AOP) language can actually make processes of marginalization, exclusion and power-over others invisible. The construction of AOP language and the use of AOP buzz words could actually have the effect of distancing those with privilege from taking direct actions that address it - instead, giving the illusion of such action.
One can think about and speak all day on the subject of one's access and complicity or neglect in addressing the systems they benefit from that negatively affect others. One can directly benefit from participating in using the "p" word to acquire social status as someone who appears to be taking direct action against their privilege by naming it as such. This act of erasure and reinscription especially interests me in academic, activist spaces dominated by white queers. I hear and take part in so many conversations around naming privilege but I see precious little restructuring of that power and access - and, sometimes even more exclusion as a result of those who don't (ironically) have access to, use, buy into, value, or have history with such language. Here I am not talking about a resistance to acknowledging power structures and the benefits accrued to certain individuals, but the elusive nature of relying on theorization of concepts of power dynamics rendering basic conversations inaccessible. There is a certain cultural cache that happens in white queer university-educated activist circles when one demonstrates the capacity to name their privileges.
Conversations around privilege can have the effect of elevating some community members for their willingness or ability to use these words while effectively shaming and alienating folks who don't, but may still be engaged in critical ways with the ideas and processes behind them. If we are thinking about using language to broaden our understandings across differences, and solicit a far reaching movement to address societal power dynamics - I think it is essential to engage with those processes we are so good at naming in some circles as opposed to relying on a dynamic of "calling out" others who just aren't *with it* who *don't get it* and who don't fall neatly into our intellectualized understandings of our own relationships with power and how this plays out.
I feel it is important to delve beyond this use of language and theorization into the actual work of crossing conceptual barriers, by addressing differences in sites of rearing of individuals and the impacts of these sites on conceptualization, in educational levels, cultural norms prevalent for the age of the person in question, and by delving into our own family and relational dynamics with those who do not share our politics or common understandings. Outside of listening intently, affirming, validating, and supporting others when they speak of their experiences of oppression in direct conversation, doing work around one's privilege should involve less reliance on self disclosure of that privilege to the people oppressed by it as a way to absolve oneself of a sense of guilt. Instead, a non-glamorous and non-self congratulatory focus on direct actions in daily life that enable power structures to begin to be dismantled in one's place of work, school, and in the spaces and groups one chooses to hang out in can be achieved by striving for conversations with others who do not share an easy common language around this stuff.
The one that gets tossed around by folks who largely have the educational knowledge or exposure to enter complex conversations of power dynamics, social structures, and their impacts on individuals by using certain language as shorthand. Full disclosure: I am completely privy to the privilege of using the "P" word. I want to write a little bit, for a moment, on the privilege of using discourses of privilege - when you are the subject of that privilege.
This may sound a bit circular and non-sensical, and I fully admit my own difficulties in writing in ways that are accessible to a general audience. I have no idea how easy my writing is to understand for a broad spectrum audience, in terms of language or concepts. It is very difficult to step out of one's own internal language and thought process and into another that might be more useful. But, I am constantly reflecting on this when writing with the hope of conveying my ideas to the widest possible audience.
That said, when folks who experience certain access to concepts, ideas, thoughts, and conversational spaces tend to rely on the "P" word when talking about these power dynamics...I think we need to pause for a moment and reflect on what is happening. When we are explaining social and structural power relations and the differences in impact on individuals depending on one's own particular context and the factors affecting them, reliance on or overuse of language centered around 'privilege' can be self reinforcing of that very privilege.
~ Let's pause for a moment ~
Additional Disclaimer: I have no issue with folks who are affected by the power relations held in this word, to use it freely to name those power dynamics and what is going on in relationship to experiences of oppression. The use of the word 'privilege' by folks who are oppressed by others' privilege is not what I am speaking about here. Of course, this is complicated by, on the one hand experiencing levels of access based on certain aspects of one's social context, while simultaneously experiencing the effects of power-over for other aspects of that social context. However, if I am the carrier of a certain privilege and I have been successful at naming it as such, I believe I have a very rich, layered obligation to reflect upon and address the embedded processes of power and resultant discriminated access in ways that do not reduce those interactions to one symbolic word and conversations that happen in short hand around it.
What I am interested in, specifically, is the reliance on self-disclosure of one's sites of privilege to explain away the power behind that privilege, all the while leaving unaffected the systems which perpetuate it. This critique has been levelled numerous times, notably by indigenous speakers and people of colour vis a vis white privilege, and ties in with a greater critique of how learning to use anti-oppressive (AOP) language can actually make processes of marginalization, exclusion and power-over others invisible. The construction of AOP language and the use of AOP buzz words could actually have the effect of distancing those with privilege from taking direct actions that address it - instead, giving the illusion of such action.
One can think about and speak all day on the subject of one's access and complicity or neglect in addressing the systems they benefit from that negatively affect others. One can directly benefit from participating in using the "p" word to acquire social status as someone who appears to be taking direct action against their privilege by naming it as such. This act of erasure and reinscription especially interests me in academic, activist spaces dominated by white queers. I hear and take part in so many conversations around naming privilege but I see precious little restructuring of that power and access - and, sometimes even more exclusion as a result of those who don't (ironically) have access to, use, buy into, value, or have history with such language. Here I am not talking about a resistance to acknowledging power structures and the benefits accrued to certain individuals, but the elusive nature of relying on theorization of concepts of power dynamics rendering basic conversations inaccessible. There is a certain cultural cache that happens in white queer university-educated activist circles when one demonstrates the capacity to name their privileges.
Conversations around privilege can have the effect of elevating some community members for their willingness or ability to use these words while effectively shaming and alienating folks who don't, but may still be engaged in critical ways with the ideas and processes behind them. If we are thinking about using language to broaden our understandings across differences, and solicit a far reaching movement to address societal power dynamics - I think it is essential to engage with those processes we are so good at naming in some circles as opposed to relying on a dynamic of "calling out" others who just aren't *with it* who *don't get it* and who don't fall neatly into our intellectualized understandings of our own relationships with power and how this plays out.
I feel it is important to delve beyond this use of language and theorization into the actual work of crossing conceptual barriers, by addressing differences in sites of rearing of individuals and the impacts of these sites on conceptualization, in educational levels, cultural norms prevalent for the age of the person in question, and by delving into our own family and relational dynamics with those who do not share our politics or common understandings. Outside of listening intently, affirming, validating, and supporting others when they speak of their experiences of oppression in direct conversation, doing work around one's privilege should involve less reliance on self disclosure of that privilege to the people oppressed by it as a way to absolve oneself of a sense of guilt. Instead, a non-glamorous and non-self congratulatory focus on direct actions in daily life that enable power structures to begin to be dismantled in one's place of work, school, and in the spaces and groups one chooses to hang out in can be achieved by striving for conversations with others who do not share an easy common language around this stuff.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Trans Inclusion and Desire
We've come a long way in the last decade as various diverse communities that support many beautiful ways of embodying and living queerness.
From the early days of trans liberation, Stonewall, Compton's Cafe, and the start of the LGBT** rights movement.... depending on where you live, we now have established spaces wherein trans folks have become increasingly more included and desired in what were formerly binary gendered, exclusively gay male and lesbian spaces.
Trans men, male and masculine identified folks have reaped the benefits in a change in knowledge and acceptance regarding the sexuality and status of transsexual and transgender community members. T-guys and trans-masculine types have gone from being cast out of lesbian spaces in the early 70s, to a hot commodity in many queer women's spaces. This is due in no small part to the deconstruction of masculine norms, a greater understanding re: queer masculinities, a blossoming of multifaceted queer sexualities, and de-stigmatization of the process of trans health and transitioning. Many trans guys have also benefitted from deliberately busting out of male gender norms, flirting and flaunting their gender queerness as well as range of queer, gay, bi and pansexuality. While trans guys who date and have sex with cis (gay, queer, straight etc.) men have had some success and even fetishization of desire...this does not appear to be the case for many queer, lesbian and bi identified trans women.
The state of affairs for trans women, while also shifting considerably from previous decades with various exciting events targeting issues of inclusion - has a long way to go. Historically, and still today, trans women have been cast out of queer women and lesbian spaces. This is due in no small part to a misunderstanding of transsexuality and transgenderness. It also seems to be due to the complicated feelings many queer and lesbian women have as a result of their interactions with cisgender, heterosexual men. It takes no stretch of the imagination to determine that much of the hostility and exclusion trans women still face in women's spaces, is a direct result of the trauma that queer, bi, and lesbian women have endured as a result of their experiences of oppression and violence by cis hetero men.
It is unfortunate, to say the least, that trans women have borne the brunt of these (legitimate) trauma based, defensive responses. This exclusion of trans women has come in varying degrees of severity, from outright hate and assault of trans women who have sought to enter and be included in women's spaces, to the silent othering that occurs with the mere tolerance of their presence. Even when trans women are actively included in certain events and venues, the many cis women who attend still actively and unconsciously avoid interactions of even the most superficially polite variety. Despite their babeliness, even trans women who have successfully attained community status for their activism, community work, performances or careers still face discrimination when it comes to desire in queer women's spaces.
This is not to say that queer, bi, lesbian or pansexual (QBLP*) women have an obligation to date or be intimate with anyone, trans women included. It is up to each person, woman identified or not, to determine who it is they will allow to access their bodies based in consent, comfortability, desire, context and any other factors deemed relevant to that person with regards to their own body, sexuality and history. What it does mean is that QBLP* women have an obligation to do personal work to understand trans women and accept them as the legitimate, real women they are despite their "pass-ability" and physical embodiment. Cis women, as part of the work of unpacking their own privilege around having societally acceptable gender identities - just as cis men, queer, gay, or otherwise vis a vis trans guys - can and should look within themselves to deal with their own issues so that they may welcome trans women into their spaces without pre-judgment, with the unconditional acceptance they would grant any of their peers, and hopefully with the consideration of the possibility of desireability and attraction.
These conversations have been happening for decades... and thanks to the activism and work of trans women and their pro-trans feminist allies... will continue to build communities of trust and inclusion into the future.
**for some basic reading on respecting trans women click here.
From the early days of trans liberation, Stonewall, Compton's Cafe, and the start of the LGBT** rights movement.... depending on where you live, we now have established spaces wherein trans folks have become increasingly more included and desired in what were formerly binary gendered, exclusively gay male and lesbian spaces.
Trans men, male and masculine identified folks have reaped the benefits in a change in knowledge and acceptance regarding the sexuality and status of transsexual and transgender community members. T-guys and trans-masculine types have gone from being cast out of lesbian spaces in the early 70s, to a hot commodity in many queer women's spaces. This is due in no small part to the deconstruction of masculine norms, a greater understanding re: queer masculinities, a blossoming of multifaceted queer sexualities, and de-stigmatization of the process of trans health and transitioning. Many trans guys have also benefitted from deliberately busting out of male gender norms, flirting and flaunting their gender queerness as well as range of queer, gay, bi and pansexuality. While trans guys who date and have sex with cis (gay, queer, straight etc.) men have had some success and even fetishization of desire...this does not appear to be the case for many queer, lesbian and bi identified trans women.
The state of affairs for trans women, while also shifting considerably from previous decades with various exciting events targeting issues of inclusion - has a long way to go. Historically, and still today, trans women have been cast out of queer women and lesbian spaces. This is due in no small part to a misunderstanding of transsexuality and transgenderness. It also seems to be due to the complicated feelings many queer and lesbian women have as a result of their interactions with cisgender, heterosexual men. It takes no stretch of the imagination to determine that much of the hostility and exclusion trans women still face in women's spaces, is a direct result of the trauma that queer, bi, and lesbian women have endured as a result of their experiences of oppression and violence by cis hetero men.
It is unfortunate, to say the least, that trans women have borne the brunt of these (legitimate) trauma based, defensive responses. This exclusion of trans women has come in varying degrees of severity, from outright hate and assault of trans women who have sought to enter and be included in women's spaces, to the silent othering that occurs with the mere tolerance of their presence. Even when trans women are actively included in certain events and venues, the many cis women who attend still actively and unconsciously avoid interactions of even the most superficially polite variety. Despite their babeliness, even trans women who have successfully attained community status for their activism, community work, performances or careers still face discrimination when it comes to desire in queer women's spaces.
This is not to say that queer, bi, lesbian or pansexual (QBLP*) women have an obligation to date or be intimate with anyone, trans women included. It is up to each person, woman identified or not, to determine who it is they will allow to access their bodies based in consent, comfortability, desire, context and any other factors deemed relevant to that person with regards to their own body, sexuality and history. What it does mean is that QBLP* women have an obligation to do personal work to understand trans women and accept them as the legitimate, real women they are despite their "pass-ability" and physical embodiment. Cis women, as part of the work of unpacking their own privilege around having societally acceptable gender identities - just as cis men, queer, gay, or otherwise vis a vis trans guys - can and should look within themselves to deal with their own issues so that they may welcome trans women into their spaces without pre-judgment, with the unconditional acceptance they would grant any of their peers, and hopefully with the consideration of the possibility of desireability and attraction.
These conversations have been happening for decades... and thanks to the activism and work of trans women and their pro-trans feminist allies... will continue to build communities of trust and inclusion into the future.
**for some basic reading on respecting trans women click here.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Spread the Love!
Recently, my posts have become targeted by a small vocal minority of right wing, conservative hate mongers who have a long and public history of spreading anti-trans hatred and degradation. Their efforts include campaigning locally and internationally against inclusion of Trans rights as LGBT human rights on the basis of the most ridiculous ill-logic equating trans people (women especially) with cis male rapists. They appear to have come across my writing on "Transphobia in Relationship" which was re-published on The Scavenger, an online alternative news source. The week this article was published, and subsequent weeks saw hundreds of reactionary posts on radfem websites making defamatory, hateful, statements meant to harass, stalk, and cyberbully. A video was also created, and my workplace was contacted. I have no associations with any of these people and have had no contact with any of them, yet they read a post of mine they did not like and began an online campaign to defame my character.
Apparently, my ideas on considering what transphobia looks like are so threatening to them they have taken to spreading my name with tags calling me a "tranny," "rapist," "sex offender," "ex-lesbian," mis-gendering me, and seeking to attack my person, counselling practice, and place of employment. Their postings speak for themselves and do not represent my beliefs, actions, my professional practice or philosophies, me as a person, or any affiliations I have. Anyone perpetuating these malicious falsehoods will be subject to legal action.
I will never understand how anyone could have the time or energy to spread defamation, violence or hate to this degree, especially individuals within the queer community. Furthermore, while being obviously abusive, hateful and transphobic, calling trans people (historically it has been trans women) "rapists" and "sex offenders" by virtue of our being trans... diminishes the real lived experiences of sexual abuse survivors. It is simply disgusting, and deeply demeaning of such experiences.
What is interesting, is not so much the shared violence and exclusion historically that trans and LGB people have faced, but the scapegoating of trans people on whose backs the queer liberation movement and LGB rights have been gained. Our gay brothers and lesbian sisters have been painfully vocal in some circles recently, about their disdain for the rights and acceptance of trans people. These people seem to be going out of their way to harm trans people... by trolling the internet, stalking online forums, spreading the most degrading toxic hatred, violence and misinformation from behind their computer screens, on their blogs, and in community forums in cities they do not live in. Yes, unfortunately the internet is a far reaching tool that can be used by anonymous abusers to launch vitriolic attacks on people they don't know, have never met, do not know the slightest thing about, but who nonetheless provoke dialogue these folks are incapable of understanding or interacting with in any legible way.
What we should be fighting for is the right for all individuals, however they identify, to express themselves and love and live how they want safely.
Body parts and gender are not the issues: threatening, violent, hate-filled behaviour that attacks people is. And the violence affecting trans people, myself included, speaks to that. We should be working together as community members with shared experiences of anti-LGBTTQ2SI violence, trauma and degradation to gain rights for our safety and integrity to live equitably in society, instead of projecting lateral violence amongst each other in some sort of scramble to get rights first.
So live your life how you see fit and let others do the same. No one is forcing you to do anything except consider expanding your consciousness and respecting others...which can be accomplished through respectful, thoughtful, inquisitive dialogue.
Spread the love!
*** If you come across hateful sites please report abuse (on the host site). To any readers who are facing hatred or cyber/bullying and in need of support please seek a local crisis line in your community or try this website AND KEEP RIGHTEOUSLY BEING YOU!!! LOVE AND SOLIDARITY. ~ Xander Sarkisova
Apparently, my ideas on considering what transphobia looks like are so threatening to them they have taken to spreading my name with tags calling me a "tranny," "rapist," "sex offender," "ex-lesbian," mis-gendering me, and seeking to attack my person, counselling practice, and place of employment. Their postings speak for themselves and do not represent my beliefs, actions, my professional practice or philosophies, me as a person, or any affiliations I have. Anyone perpetuating these malicious falsehoods will be subject to legal action.
I will never understand how anyone could have the time or energy to spread defamation, violence or hate to this degree, especially individuals within the queer community. Furthermore, while being obviously abusive, hateful and transphobic, calling trans people (historically it has been trans women) "rapists" and "sex offenders" by virtue of our being trans... diminishes the real lived experiences of sexual abuse survivors. It is simply disgusting, and deeply demeaning of such experiences.
What is interesting, is not so much the shared violence and exclusion historically that trans and LGB people have faced, but the scapegoating of trans people on whose backs the queer liberation movement and LGB rights have been gained. Our gay brothers and lesbian sisters have been painfully vocal in some circles recently, about their disdain for the rights and acceptance of trans people. These people seem to be going out of their way to harm trans people... by trolling the internet, stalking online forums, spreading the most degrading toxic hatred, violence and misinformation from behind their computer screens, on their blogs, and in community forums in cities they do not live in. Yes, unfortunately the internet is a far reaching tool that can be used by anonymous abusers to launch vitriolic attacks on people they don't know, have never met, do not know the slightest thing about, but who nonetheless provoke dialogue these folks are incapable of understanding or interacting with in any legible way.
What we should be fighting for is the right for all individuals, however they identify, to express themselves and love and live how they want safely.
Body parts and gender are not the issues: threatening, violent, hate-filled behaviour that attacks people is. And the violence affecting trans people, myself included, speaks to that. We should be working together as community members with shared experiences of anti-LGBTTQ2SI violence, trauma and degradation to gain rights for our safety and integrity to live equitably in society, instead of projecting lateral violence amongst each other in some sort of scramble to get rights first.
So live your life how you see fit and let others do the same. No one is forcing you to do anything except consider expanding your consciousness and respecting others...which can be accomplished through respectful, thoughtful, inquisitive dialogue.
Spread the love!
*** If you come across hateful sites please report abuse (on the host site). To any readers who are facing hatred or cyber/bullying and in need of support please seek a local crisis line in your community or try this website AND KEEP RIGHTEOUSLY BEING YOU!!! LOVE AND SOLIDARITY. ~ Xander Sarkisova
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