[Blog/Commentary] [New Zealand] an analogy too far
Stephanie Stevens
Friday, February 3, 2012
an analogy too far
we've been getting a lot of flak for forming the facebook group 'post
trans normality <https://www.facebook.com/groups/233881506690701/> '.
why did we form it? becasue we, as TS women, were fed up being bunched
together with male crossdressers in our support groups. we wanted a
space that was our own, where we wouldn't have to deal with sexual
predation by males, where we would be free to express ourselves as
women without having to constantly defend or define what being a woman
is.
but people are not happy:
http://open.salon.com/blog/gypsyrose1972/2012/02/03/separatism_and_inclusionism_the_difference#
its a bit bonkers, if you ask me. the writer (and director of the
transgender foundation america?) changes the word transgender to human
and then says we don't want to be called human. well fine. if
transgender includes cis women, then i'm happy with the term.
unfortunately, it does not. it includes sexually fetishistic males and
the genderqueer. it specifically does not include cis women. Or are
you saying that cis-women are not human, Cristan?
What is the problem with TS having a support group just for them?
where is the threat to others? what do people think we are going to
do, spend our time plotting against the TG community? it is nonsense
and very very arrogant of the TG borg to wish to own everything. i
could go as far as say it is a very MALE ownership issue, but that
would be being a bitch.
we are ENTITLED to our own space. a SAFE space where we are not
attacked, shocked, challenged, hit upon or defamed. we are ENTITLED to
a space where we can be ourselves without being called elitist or
separatist. (although i am more inclined to separatism, the more i am
attacked). let's call it. i was not a separatist, and then i met the
TG 'community', where male crossdressers attempted to beat me up with
words (a fail, since i have sophisticated language skills), then with
science (another fail, as i am a published researcher) and finally
with pseudo PC bullshit. i still do not understand their need to prove
to me that i am 'the same' as them, or that they are just as much a
woman as me. I challenge you, guys. prove it. go get surgery,
irreversibly choose your gender, or shut up. Accept your own truth.
you don't acknowledge the gender binary, so stop trying to possess the
binary terms. if there ain't no such thing as a woman, then you ain't
no such thing as one...
it is sick, the need to claim ownership of 'transsexual woman' as an
identity, when denying the gender binary in the first place. it shows
a deep psychological imbalance. based on fear? on jealousy? who knows,
and who knows why anyone woud think being driven to the need to
surgery that can only ever make you a poor copy of a female form is in
anyway 'superior' or 'elite'. it SUCKS but we try and make the best of
it.
and that is why we need our own space. a space where we can talk about
our fears, without arming a relentless enemy. a space where we can
discuss issues with our hormones, or surgery, without being attacked
for needing them. a space where we can discover our unique voice and
learn to speak loudly and clearly.
for me, this is about us, about my fellow TS women, and our journey
for acceptance in society as women. not as trans women. that is NOT
the dream i had at 4. as women.
For me it is also, and equally as importantly, about developing a
clear voice so that we can talk to governments and health systems and
get early intervention for other true transsexuals, so they do not
need to go through the horrors of puberty and the ravages of
testosterone. We need to do the work to make our future sister's lives
as beautiful, accepting and easy as they can be.
Posted by flow at 3:17 PM
http://bloodyhumour.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/analogy-too-far.html