I dunno, man...

...how did I become the Transgender Avenger?  I know that some trans people on the Internet think I am a bad, bad, evil bigot person because I suggested that a cis woman's discomfort with their assumptions about gender POSSIBLY MIGHT NOT be rooted in privilege.  I also didn't like the word "cisgender" as applied to me, but not for the reasons they assumed.*  I shall not name the persons involved but I think said individual and zir friends are idiots.  I have often been uncomfortable with the tendency to equate the felt experience of being a man or a woman with social constructions of same (which is what I see some trans people doing).  I don't think that merely being trans reinscribes gender oppression, that's silly.  But I do think doing that can.  Can, doesn't have to.  

But ya know, just because I think you're an idiot, or that you're stepping on my toes, doesn't mean that I want people to exclude you or be an asshole to you.  And people keep saying stupid things about trans people in front of me, and I keep opening my mouth.  Incident #1:  One of the local Pagan groups I am a member of was approached by a nudist resort about having events there, which is all right.  Except they have a policy against "transvestites" (their word).  I and several other members of the group said, "Um. No."   For these reasons:  1) we don't want to support exclusionary policies even at one remove, 2) we don't want to have to exclude potential members/attendees from some of our events because of where we have them, and 3) we DEFINITELY don't want to have to put that on our literature or announcements, as it would tend to put people off even from events they "could" come to.  Also, my fourth, Capricornian reason:  4) I don't want to enter into any financial/business relationship with people who clearly have their heads up their asses.

Incident #2:  I passed on a call for an anthology I have a poem in, because the editor wants more trans/genderqueer pieces for it.  One of the places I passed it on was a Women's Studies list.   I got a rude e-mail off-list about it.   (The author was subtle enough not to attack the gender elements directly, but insinuated that the constraints meant the anthology was of low quality.)   I told that person off and e-mailed the moderator....again, on the grounds that this kind of thing creates a hostile environment for trans folk and We Do Not Want That.  She agreed with me and promised to do something about it.


*I would describe myself as cissexual but not cisgendered....neither cisgendered nor transgendered, but somewhere else.  The distinction there is where a lot of my opinions come from...including the one about how you should not jump to conclusions about to whom you are speaking.

In which I am inadvertently topical...

I swear I had no idea there was a big controversy about Chaz Bono when I wrote my earlier post, mainly because I live under a rock.  (I come out to sun myself occasionally).  Also because if someone had told me Chaz Bono was going on Dancing With the Stars, my first thought would have been, "He can dance?"

So I saw this clip of someone representing some "concerned parents" group who was blathering on about how children were going to find it CONFUSING and therefore a trans person should not be on TV.

Firstly, no ma'am.  It's not confusing. I explained the concept of transgender to my then-ten-year-old son in about five minutes.  It goes like this:  "Most people are born male or female and stay that way.  Some people are born intersexed, which means they're in between, and some people decide at some point that they are really meant to be a gender other than how they look and then they go to a doctor and take medicine and sometimes have surgery.  It's a long hard process so it's not something they just up and decide on a whim."  Actually the only tricky part was explaining the difference between "transgender" and someone who may look more masculine or feminine than other women or men but isn't actually transgendered.  My son said, "Oh" and went on with his life.  The next time he ran into someone who didn't seem clearly male or female to him, he asked. The response was, "Well, what do you think?"  He responded, "I think you are androgynous."  And then asked if they liked video games.

Secondly, if you are going to start campaigning against things that are confusing to children being on television, I suggest that it might be more productive and useful to start elsewhere. I have a list of things that make no sense that you should work on.  Such as:

• Fox News.  Particularly that blonde woman on Fox and Friends; I keep waiting for her head to explode but it never does.
• Jersey Shore
• Reality tv in general, really.  Including C-Span.
• Golf.  The only thing more boring than playing golf is watching someone else play golf.  Why is that shit on TV?
• War.  Since I think that news should actually depict reality, you should really get on the fact that there IS war, especially the we-invade-other-countries kind..  It makes no sense, and is very confusing to children.  Also to me.  Why are we still in Afghanistan, again?
• I'm sorry, soap operas have NEVER made sense.  Even the Spanish-language ones. Especially the Spanish-language ones.
• The History Channel

That should keep you busy for a while. By then, your children will have grown up enough to turn out to be gay or transgendered themselves, or will have gotten pregnant, and you will have other things to think about.