This is one of those times I feel very sorry for straight trans* guys.
Seriously, at least the few(?) cis* male chasers-of-guys aren't Feminist Approved(TM).
For context, read Sarah & Nix.
(Warning, the comic can be triggering to guys who've had to deal with chasers)
Blargle blargle blargle.
I am also entirely fed up with hearing "o u so oversensitive!!!!" & "can't u take a joke???!!!".
1) It's not that we're oversensitive, it's that y'all are submerged in an ice cold bath of privilege/cissexism. 2) We can actually take a joke (we're making them at your bigoted expense aren't we?) it's just that y'all aren't funny.
plx to be shutting up nao, kthnxbai.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
U Cannot Unsee It
Monday, April 13, 2009
Short post...
Been thinking on the term subversivism. I've heard a number of genderqueer femmes & trans* female folks say they had problems with it & I began to think about how it's used and what it means. Later, Gauge and I chatted about the term for a bit. Then I read hir post earlier today & decided I should probably getting around to posting my thoughts (when did I last do an actual post here? ^_^;;).
I just reread the chapter "The Future of Queer/Trans Activism", & Ms. Serano ascribes a number of situations to subversivism which I think are more likely trans-misogyny, femmephobia, classism, etc.
Such as, for instance, how many trans* women do not feel comfortable in many queer/trans* spaces.
Well, many trans* women & other mtf spectrum folks I've spoken to mention how trans-misogynist those spaces can be (Ms. Serano actually mentions this on page 352)--people supporting "WBW"-only spaces & no one calls them out, saying sexist things (I've heard about a lot of of experiences with trans* guys doing this; for instance, in LJftm guys always get all offended when they are told not to say bitch), or valuing masculine genderqueer identities over feminine ones (which is not limited to trans* communities; cis* lesbian & cis* gay male communities are also known for this).
I saw one older trans* woman told she shouldn't complain about substances/parties at Camp Trans because CT is for young people (& young people all apparently love to do drugs & party & old people don't)--the ageism was called out, but the fact that someone felt entitled to say such blatent ableism...
If you separate out that which is actually classism/trans-misogyny/ageism/etc, subversivism has been mostly cis* people exotifying genderqueer identities and trying to separate trans* people into "good" and "bad" trans* folk. Yes there are some trans* people who buy into this (but really, whenever a group is being exotified it seems like there are always a few members who are willing to take the superficial power they are given).
Genderqueer people are not the majority & they are not the ones with power; there is no genderqueer privelege. It is cis* people who have made their own theories using genderqueer identities, thoughts, feelings, goals, etc & then use this theory to hurt all trans* people (including genderqueer folks who can't/won't fall into line).
If someone wants a comparison to subversivism, look at political lesbianism.
Certain groups of straight women made their own ideas about lesbian identities, practices, feelings, etc and tried/try to enforce their theories as Real Lesbianism. Yes, some actual lesbian women supported those theories, but lesbians were still not the oppressor group. Actual lesbianism was not truely supported (actually, a lot of f/f sex was attacked for being too male-identified & pornographic) only political-lesbianism was supported.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
I'm not dead!
Just rather bleh and not up for much writing right now; and I should be doing some work on various things...
(picture very related; Vanyel, O how I was one with you and your angst as a teen...)
You have received this note because someone thinks you are a literary geek. Copy the questions into your own note, answer the questions, and tag any friends who would appreciate the quiz, including the person who sent you this. Don’t bother trying to italicize your book titles. We know you want to.
1) What author do you own the most books by?
Hands down, K. A. Applegate. I own the entire Animorphs series which is *checks wiki* a total of 64 books. Not only do I own all of the books, but I also have copies on my computer (been working on rereading them in between fanfics).
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
Into the Land of the Unicorns. I read my paperback copy so much the pages started falling out so my mom got me a hardcover copy; I still have the paperback one after all these years because I cannot bring myself to throw away a book.
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
No.
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Umm...secretly? ...the ones I haven't been obvious about would be Ax, Uchiha Itachi, George Cooper & the God Kyprioth (from Tamora Pierce's Tortall books).
5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
Any of Tamora Pierce's books and many of Mercedes Lackey's books; don't know which one has been read the most.
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Probably the Animorphs books.
7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
I attempted to reread one of Ann Rice's books (don't remember which one). Yet I loved them in middle school...
8)What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
Not counting the ones I reread; I liked Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.
9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Any of Tamora Pierce's books. They are amazing and so is she.
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
Tamora Pierce (can you tell who my favorite author is?). Her books teach great morals (work hard, be kind to animals, girls are just as awesome as guys, etc), have amazing characters, are very entertaining, and despite many being about warriors they do not glorify war (though they show that sometimes war is necessary, it is not shown as being romantic or the best course and it is shown to be devastating to everyone involved including civilians).
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Any of Bruce Coville's books or short stories. I think they are great and would make great movies pretty easily.
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Tamora Pierce's books. Because I just know they would destroy them far worse than how they destroyed Ella Enchanted.
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I don't ever recall dreams.
14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?
Does fanfiction count? -_-;;
15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
Milton's Paradise Lost (though I still haven't finished it; poetry makes me wander off).
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen?
Haven't seen much Shakespeare; I've just seen the Scottish tragedy and Richard II.
17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Umm...
18) Roth or Updike?
No idea who they are.
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
See above.
20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Shakespeare.
21) Austen or Eliot?
Meh.
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Umm...I haven't read many actual books since I went to high school and stopped having money/time for books. Mostly I read manga and fanfiction now.
23) What is your favorite novel?
Do I have to pick one?
24) Play?
I loved Bury the Dead; we performed it in high school and it was the first play I was lights head for. ^_^It was written between the World Wars and is set "A year into the war that could start tomorrow". It's about five dead soldiers who refuse to lay down in their grave and how the Generals try to make them lay down (it's also about how useless and destructive most wars are).
25) Poem?
I'm not much for poetry, but I like To the Virgins to Make Much of Time.
26) Essay?
Does little light's seam of skin and scales count? Or maybe Cedar's Beyond Inclusion. ^_^
27) Short story?
Probably "Homeward Bound," by Bruce Coville.
28) Work of nonfiction?
Whipping Girl by Julia Serano.
29) Who is your favorite writer?
Tamora Pierce; though Mercedes Lackey and Bruce Coville are also great.
30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
JK Rowling. I loved some of the characters, loved the world she created...but the plots were really contrived and had huge plot holes and she didn't do much with the characters and concepts she introduced. I far prefer fanfiction to the actual books.
31) What is your desert island book?
Can't I just have my laptop? It has a ton of my favorite books and fanfics on it...
32) And… what are you reading right now?
The 4th Animorphs book, When Darkness Falls by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, & Return of the King (rereading all of them).
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
QueerUnity, no one wants to see two guys kiss?
Lol:
(Not all pics are SFW)
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Since I've been in a coloring mood... I made a new trans* bingo card!
(my old ones had "tranny" on them and I'm not okay with us trans* guys using that word)
And, since I've been in a coloring mood, here are a few of the pictures I've colored (in order of earliest to newest):
(disclaimer: I did not draw any of these, I just like coloring. If the artist is known, their name is in the filename.)
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
yeah, moar links
PETA is made of fail and racism (as well as ableism, transphobia, sexism, etc--check the Feministe comments). I recommend tweeting them to tell them how fucked up they are (@officialpeta)
Ren (and others) have been refuting a group of radfem's Thoughts On YaoiBDSM.
(btw, her epic comic post is pretty awesome- and this LJ comm is also fun)
Ginmar has some links for how you can help victims of he brushfires.
Recently, a Black man was posthumously exonerated for a crime he didn't commit--raping a White woman (this comment also has some great links).
I thought this post was very interesting, a genderqueer lesbian's thoughts on hir genitals and cultural messages about them (ugg, beware the cissexism in the comments though).
Georgia legislators are trying to get rid of Georgia Universities queer theory classes.
But here are some legislators doing the right thing: adding sexual orientation and gender identity to their local anti-discrimination laws. ^_^
Also, random tangent thingamajig...
Someone found my blog searching for "sexual magic blue pill "blogspot"" and then left a spam comment advertising viagra. The really, really weird thing is...the comment had good spelling and grammar. wtf world, wtf. o.0
(yes, I deleted it anyway)
Saturday, February 7, 2009
17-year-old Billey Joe Johnson
Just saw this at Renee's:
On December 8th, 17-year-old Billey Joe Johnson died from a gunshot wound to the head. Police say he killed himself with a shotgun after being stopped for a simple traffic violation in Lucedale, Mississippi.[1] Several things seem to cast doubt on the official story, including an independent investigation that concluded it would have been impossible for the shot that killed Johnson to have been self-inflicted.Fuck you coppers, my baby sister (also white), who is only a little bit younger than Billey, was able to say that there is something fishy about this "suicide"; if you won't, you are either stupid or just fucking racist (or both). And last time i wrote about corrupt police officers I asked for slang names that weren't pig; wiki has a list--I'll be using DRC (dirty rotten cops).Many on the ground smell a murder and a cover-up. We don't have all the answers, but it's clear that in the racially divided town of Lucedale, all the ingredients exist for a miscarriage of justice.
I've joined ColorOfChange.org in demanding answers and justice for Billey Joe's family. Together, we can help ensure that the District Attorney feels the presence of a national spotlight, and let him know that anything short of a thorough investigation will result in massive attention and a call for outside intervention.
Please join me. It takes only a moment:
http://www.colorofchange.org/billeyjoe/?id=2044-495171
From the beginning, the District Attorney has treated the investigation of Billey Joe's death as a suicide or the result of an accidental self-inflicted injury. Based on his public statements and interactions with Billey Joe's family, it appears that the District Attorney hasn't looked into whether Billey Joe was killed by an officer or someone else. Again, we don't have all the answers, but here's what we do know:
- Billey Joe was at his former girlfriend's house minutes before the killing.[2] He never entered the house, but police were called to respond to an attempted burglary there.[3] This fact was not a part of the original story given by the police.
- Billey Joe's family say that his ex-girlfriend had been staying at her father's house because her mother threw her out for dating Billey Joe (she is White and Billey Joe was Black). They said Billey Joe knew to only go to the house when the girl's father was not present, that the two of them were on good terms even after he had broken up with her, and that the breakup was largely because of pressure from her father. The family also claims that there is a relationship between the officer present at the scene of Billey Joe's death and the girl's father.
- A witness heard two shots, not one, at the scene where Billey Joe died, according to an independent investigation launched by the Mississippi NAACP. The pathologist in that investigation has indicated that it would be impossible for a bullet from a a self-inflicted shot to enter in the manner that it did. He also said that given the length of Billey Joe's arms and the length of the shotgun, it would have been impossible for him to hold the weapon and fire it at himself.
- Billey Joe was a star athlete with scholarship offers from more than half a dozen schools. No one--including family, friends, and coaches--could think of a reason that Billey Joe would want to end his life.[4,5,6]
A true investigation would sort out fact from rumour. But we can't be sure that Johnson's family will get the investigation it deserves. In the case of the Jena 6 we saw a District Attorney and a judge incapable of carrying out justice in a racially charged environment. In the recent case of the murder of Oscar Grant by police (and many like it), we see how unlikely it is for District Attorneys to do their job when the suspect is an officer of the law. But in both these cases, public pressure has made all the difference by shining a spotlight on local authorities.
In the case of Billey Joe Johnson, we're looking for the truth and for justice. A minute of your time can help ensure his family gets both:
http://www.colorofchange.org/billeyjoe/?id=2044-495171
References:
1. http://tinyurl.com/aul9hd
2. http://www.sunherald.com/local/story/1050689.html
3. http://www.wkrg.com/news/flash_paper/12_19_08_billy_joe_johnson/
4. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0812/17/cnr.07.html
5. http://tinyurl.com/cs7cjm
6. http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_11280331
A woman was set on fire outside the club she worked at.
ETA: Here is some info on how you can help her. She is in stable condition, despite the burns on 60% of her body. She's going to need a lot of financial help as she has kids, won't be able to work at all for a while, and her previous job is no longer available.
They are attempting to forcibly divorce the same-sex couples who got married before Prop 8. Gin posts a video from various couples and their kids asking not to divorce them.
The UK will be forcing trans* people to buy two national ID cards; Helen has a post up at her blog with a lot of info and a petition and an abridged version that has more links in the comments at QT.
Zucker is attempting to suppress the truth about him on Lynn Conway's website by saying that she has caused irreparable harm to his career with libelous accusations.
Hopefully, this "irreparable harm" bit means we'll be hearing that him and his buddy Ray have been kicked out of the DSM-V committee...Please, please, please, can I get this for my birthday???
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
My take on a transphobic trope
I've been thinking on this transphobic trope that gets thrown out: being trans* and/or medically transitioning as a type of self-harm and/or removing “healthy” tissue.
Sometimes this is expressed in a more more subtle manner: concern-trolling about poor lesbians and/or masculine girls who might get confused and transition, people who are anti- certain body modifications comparing medical transition to those body mods, or even throwing out a comment about how trans-related surgeries don't look/function well.
Sometimes, they are very, very obvious: talking about chopped up or mutilated bodies, outright saying that ev0l doctors and trans* people are coercing lesbians/butches into transitioning, that we're just delusional freaks, or that trans* people are like anorexic folks and medical transition is like liposuction or gastric bypass surgery.
First of all, compare a transphobe's thoughts on how being trans* is self-harm to a homophobe's view that being queer is self-harm.
There really won't be too many differences.
Usually the transphobe will say something about how patriarchy/Satan/etc causes trans* people to Not Be Good Cis* people or how in a more godly/feminist/etc world there would be less of us. Replace trans* with queer and cis* with straight and you have a homophobe's thoughts.
Compare “transitioning is harmful and it's wrong to remove healthy tissue!” to a homophobe's thoughts on how queer sex is Dangerous and Bad For You.
They sound the same and they are both just as wrong.
If you believe the notion that being trans* is self harm that means you believe there is something wrong with being trans*; that it is right and natural to be cis*.
It follows that you believe it is better to stop trans* people from being trans* (or, openly being trans*) than it is to remove transphobia and cissexism.
Because, in this view, transphobia and cissexism are good, right, normal, and natural; after all, if we didn't mess up your perfect world we wouldn't get hurt.
Sure, you'll say that they don't want people to be hurt, but then...as long as we just shut up you don't ever have to think about it, now do you?
Or, as Cedar says, “Society’s myth of universal cissexuality *is* incredibly fragile, and has to be protected at all times–but what has to be done is not to create a stronger foundation (which they never ever do) but to disrupt any other conversation that’s happening.”
Yes, being trans* can be difficult.Yes, there are a lot of dangers out there for trans* people.
But, removing transphobia and cissexism will remove most of those difficulties and dangers; really, the only ones intrinsic to being trans* are body dissonance, gender disphoria, and things like depression that result from denial and such.
Medical transition usually removes the body dissonance. Living as your actual gender, without discrimination and harassment, will take care of the issues caused by pretending to be the wrong gender; having your loved ones and social circle gender you correctly will as well. Therapy will take care of whatever that doesn't; talking through issues that childhood denial caused (and childhood denial should happen less often in a world without transphobia), therapy or anti-depressants should help with depression, etc.
So, since in a world without transphobia there would be few, if any, major difficulties or dangers to being trans*, being trans* is really not all that intrinsically harmful--it's the cis* world's cissexism and transphobia that are the problems.
I suppose to someone out there in the world there is some knee-jerk validity to the idea that you shouldn't perform surgery on healthy tissue...
But, you have to look at what you are considering healthy tissue and on how you are defining words like harm, needed, unnecessary, etc.
Is tissue that you feel, deeply and instinctively, to not even belong to you really all that healthy?
Is psychological pain not considered harm?
Should a person have to attempt all sorts of therapy and mental gymnastics to accept how their body is currently shaped instead of having surgery or hormones?
Is the former not as harmful as the latter?
Is removing psychological distress unnecessary?
Do you think that people can just ”get over it”, “cheer themselves up”, or ignore anything that isn't purely physical?
Well?
Well, I would say, that is someone needs to medically transition then whatever hormones or surgery they have are needed and necessary.
(personally, I do not have issues with body mods or other “unnecessary” surgeries, so if a trans* person who doesn't need to medically transition wants to, I have no issues with that. But I think that may be a little off-topic, I just wanted to make that clear...)
Sometimes you get people, sometimes well meaning but sometimes mean spirited, bringing up the actual or supposed limitations of medical transition: “Why would you want to have a penis that doesn't function?” “Aren't you afraid of looking like a freak?” “Wouldn't you rather keep your body how it is than worry about what sort of health complications transition could bring?” “But you're such a pretty girl?”
First of all, what is functional, working, pretty, etc is defined by the individual. Like how you hear a lot of static about how ugly and nonfunctional phalloplasty is, yet every guy I've heard from who actually had it loves the results.
Honestly, I don't see anything “freakish” about trans* people's bodies. Our bodies, no matter what medical treatments we have or have not chosen to have, are not freakish or ugly or disgusting. A lot of people have scars. A lot of people have had invasive surgeries to improve their quality of life; there is nothing disgusting or ugly about it.
Everyone has different preferences for facial features and the like; some people find “feminine” looking men (trans* and cis*) attractive, some people find “masculine” looking women (again, trans* and cis*) attractive. We will be attractive to some people out there; moreover, attractiveness is not the be and end all of happiness.
We also weigh the health consequences carefully. Yeah, when we choose to take hormones or have surgeries we gain a greater likelihood of some complications, but there are usually complications to not having those procedures as well.
Remember, how are you defining healthy? I'd say not-suicidal yet at a greater risk of heart problems is a hell of a lot healthier than being so depressed you can't take care of yourself and constantly try to kill yourself.
It's not like we jump into medical transition without thinking.
For instance, I've seen a few trans* guys who've had to come to terms with their beliefs about what constitutes healthy tissue and unneeded medical procedures and their need for surgery. Some suggested that trans* folks wrestling with these feelings think through it like I did above. Others said that they had had a dialogue with their body; telling their chest or uterus how while there may not be anything wrong with them, they simply didn't belong on their body, how much they needed this surgery, etc.
I don't think there is anything wrong with the trans*folks that had/have these feelings; we live in an ableist and transphobic world after all. But I do think we should examine these feelings and decide what are our ethical beliefs and what is just internalized shit.
There's also this idea that “1950's psychologists" invented trans*ism as a way to make queer and gender-nonconforming folks into straight conforming folks. Check out any decent history on trans*ism or trans* people, The History of How Sex Changed, Transgender History, etc, and that trope will be proven wrong.
Trans* people would comb through science/medical journals, write to the few drag/trans* newsletters, write to Christine Jorgenson, etc. begging for information on how to transition and who to go to. Women would take BC pills and other forms of estrogen and then go to doctors and say they were intersex. Even now we still have to work to get any help medically transitioning at all.
And ya know, we really don't seek out questioning people to convert to our Dangerous Lifestyle; our communities constantly have trans* people just coming out of denial coming to us asking for information and help.
Whenever I've seen people ask for help in figuring out their gender and what path is right for them, I always see people tell them that there are a number of possibilities and only they themselves can figure out who they are and what is right for them (though, yes, books and therapists and talking to others can help).
Though this trope is often thrown out too, I really don't want to address “butch flight” because I was never butch or involved in any lesbian/womens communities--but Gauge wrote a great piece.
There is also the ableist idea that being in an unaltered (“natural”) body is more moral/better than being in an altered (“unnatural”) body. --This feeds into the idea that our differences mean we are defective and wrong and need to be cured or eradicated.
There is the idea that being trans* is caused by some defect in us; whether a defective uterus that gave us the wrong dose of hormones, a defective brain that makes us hallucinate, or a society that gives us defective socialization. While some forms of trans*ism may be caused by hormones in the uterus or brains that are shaped differently or whatnot, this is not a defect (seriously, natural variations in populations do occur!).
This is, by the way, true even if you ignore the times we are called crazy, insane, psychopaths, nutjobs, etc.
(I don't really know where I'm going with this point exactly, I just don't think this trend should be ignored. Maybe someone who has a better understanding of ableism would like to look into it, I really don't feel knowledgeable enough to do so.)
ETA: Cedar's poem Diseased is amazing.
Sometimes this is expressed in a more more subtle manner: concern-trolling about poor lesbians and/or masculine girls who might get confused and transition, people who are anti- certain body modifications comparing medical transition to those body mods, or even throwing out a comment about how trans-related surgeries don't look/function well.
Sometimes, they are very, very obvious: talking about chopped up or mutilated bodies, outright saying that ev0l doctors and trans* people are coercing lesbians/butches into transitioning, that we're just delusional freaks, or that trans* people are like anorexic folks and medical transition is like liposuction or gastric bypass surgery.
First of all, compare a transphobe's thoughts on how being trans* is self-harm to a homophobe's view that being queer is self-harm.
There really won't be too many differences.
Usually the transphobe will say something about how patriarchy/Satan/etc causes trans* people to Not Be Good Cis* people or how in a more godly/feminist/etc world there would be less of us. Replace trans* with queer and cis* with straight and you have a homophobe's thoughts.
Compare “transitioning is harmful and it's wrong to remove healthy tissue!” to a homophobe's thoughts on how queer sex is Dangerous and Bad For You.
They sound the same and they are both just as wrong.
If you believe the notion that being trans* is self harm that means you believe there is something wrong with being trans*; that it is right and natural to be cis*.
It follows that you believe it is better to stop trans* people from being trans* (or, openly being trans*) than it is to remove transphobia and cissexism.
Because, in this view, transphobia and cissexism are good, right, normal, and natural; after all, if we didn't mess up your perfect world we wouldn't get hurt.
Sure, you'll say that they don't want people to be hurt, but then...as long as we just shut up you don't ever have to think about it, now do you?
Or, as Cedar says, “Society’s myth of universal cissexuality *is* incredibly fragile, and has to be protected at all times–but what has to be done is not to create a stronger foundation (which they never ever do) but to disrupt any other conversation that’s happening.”
Yes, being trans* can be difficult.Yes, there are a lot of dangers out there for trans* people.
But, removing transphobia and cissexism will remove most of those difficulties and dangers; really, the only ones intrinsic to being trans* are body dissonance, gender disphoria, and things like depression that result from denial and such.
Medical transition usually removes the body dissonance. Living as your actual gender, without discrimination and harassment, will take care of the issues caused by pretending to be the wrong gender; having your loved ones and social circle gender you correctly will as well. Therapy will take care of whatever that doesn't; talking through issues that childhood denial caused (and childhood denial should happen less often in a world without transphobia), therapy or anti-depressants should help with depression, etc.
So, since in a world without transphobia there would be few, if any, major difficulties or dangers to being trans*, being trans* is really not all that intrinsically harmful--it's the cis* world's cissexism and transphobia that are the problems.
I suppose to someone out there in the world there is some knee-jerk validity to the idea that you shouldn't perform surgery on healthy tissue...
But, you have to look at what you are considering healthy tissue and on how you are defining words like harm, needed, unnecessary, etc.
Is tissue that you feel, deeply and instinctively, to not even belong to you really all that healthy?
Is psychological pain not considered harm?
Should a person have to attempt all sorts of therapy and mental gymnastics to accept how their body is currently shaped instead of having surgery or hormones?
Is the former not as harmful as the latter?
Is removing psychological distress unnecessary?
Do you think that people can just ”get over it”, “cheer themselves up”, or ignore anything that isn't purely physical?
Well?
Well, I would say, that is someone needs to medically transition then whatever hormones or surgery they have are needed and necessary.
(personally, I do not have issues with body mods or other “unnecessary” surgeries, so if a trans* person who doesn't need to medically transition wants to, I have no issues with that. But I think that may be a little off-topic, I just wanted to make that clear...)
Sometimes you get people, sometimes well meaning but sometimes mean spirited, bringing up the actual or supposed limitations of medical transition: “Why would you want to have a penis that doesn't function?” “Aren't you afraid of looking like a freak?” “Wouldn't you rather keep your body how it is than worry about what sort of health complications transition could bring?” “But you're such a pretty girl?”
First of all, what is functional, working, pretty, etc is defined by the individual. Like how you hear a lot of static about how ugly and nonfunctional phalloplasty is, yet every guy I've heard from who actually had it loves the results.
Honestly, I don't see anything “freakish” about trans* people's bodies. Our bodies, no matter what medical treatments we have or have not chosen to have, are not freakish or ugly or disgusting. A lot of people have scars. A lot of people have had invasive surgeries to improve their quality of life; there is nothing disgusting or ugly about it.
Everyone has different preferences for facial features and the like; some people find “feminine” looking men (trans* and cis*) attractive, some people find “masculine” looking women (again, trans* and cis*) attractive. We will be attractive to some people out there; moreover, attractiveness is not the be and end all of happiness.
We also weigh the health consequences carefully. Yeah, when we choose to take hormones or have surgeries we gain a greater likelihood of some complications, but there are usually complications to not having those procedures as well.
Remember, how are you defining healthy? I'd say not-suicidal yet at a greater risk of heart problems is a hell of a lot healthier than being so depressed you can't take care of yourself and constantly try to kill yourself.
It's not like we jump into medical transition without thinking.
For instance, I've seen a few trans* guys who've had to come to terms with their beliefs about what constitutes healthy tissue and unneeded medical procedures and their need for surgery. Some suggested that trans* folks wrestling with these feelings think through it like I did above. Others said that they had had a dialogue with their body; telling their chest or uterus how while there may not be anything wrong with them, they simply didn't belong on their body, how much they needed this surgery, etc.
I don't think there is anything wrong with the trans*folks that had/have these feelings; we live in an ableist and transphobic world after all. But I do think we should examine these feelings and decide what are our ethical beliefs and what is just internalized shit.
There's also this idea that “1950's psychologists" invented trans*ism as a way to make queer and gender-nonconforming folks into straight conforming folks. Check out any decent history on trans*ism or trans* people, The History of How Sex Changed, Transgender History, etc, and that trope will be proven wrong.
Trans* people would comb through science/medical journals, write to the few drag/trans* newsletters, write to Christine Jorgenson, etc. begging for information on how to transition and who to go to. Women would take BC pills and other forms of estrogen and then go to doctors and say they were intersex. Even now we still have to work to get any help medically transitioning at all.
And ya know, we really don't seek out questioning people to convert to our Dangerous Lifestyle; our communities constantly have trans* people just coming out of denial coming to us asking for information and help.
Whenever I've seen people ask for help in figuring out their gender and what path is right for them, I always see people tell them that there are a number of possibilities and only they themselves can figure out who they are and what is right for them (though, yes, books and therapists and talking to others can help).
Though this trope is often thrown out too, I really don't want to address “butch flight” because I was never butch or involved in any lesbian/womens communities--but Gauge wrote a great piece.
There is also the ableist idea that being in an unaltered (“natural”) body is more moral/better than being in an altered (“unnatural”) body. --This feeds into the idea that our differences mean we are defective and wrong and need to be cured or eradicated.
There is the idea that being trans* is caused by some defect in us; whether a defective uterus that gave us the wrong dose of hormones, a defective brain that makes us hallucinate, or a society that gives us defective socialization. While some forms of trans*ism may be caused by hormones in the uterus or brains that are shaped differently or whatnot, this is not a defect (seriously, natural variations in populations do occur!).
(Eli Clare has written a few things on the similarities and intersections of trans*ism and disability much better than I ever could)
This is, by the way, true even if you ignore the times we are called crazy, insane, psychopaths, nutjobs, etc.
(I don't really know where I'm going with this point exactly, I just don't think this trend should be ignored. Maybe someone who has a better understanding of ableism would like to look into it, I really don't feel knowledgeable enough to do so.)
ETA: Cedar's poem Diseased is amazing.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Awesome trans book for kids--y/y?
(Click to enlarge)
Full credit for the idea and the words belongs to Ruth.
My little sister and I cracked up and we are not sure if this is epic win...or epic fail.
(For some reason GIMP hates me so I had to do it in paint)
Friday, January 16, 2009
I wish there was something I could do...
Quick update: I've got Al Jazeera English on my google reader, checking out the guardian every so often, reading cutesy fanfic to keep me from getting too down, I'm seriously thinking about taking Feministe off my blogroll due to this David d00d asshat they've got there, and I'm recovering from norovirus (I got it right after my parents and sister and grandpa did).
Friday, January 9, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Happy New Years
2008 hasn't been that great and I doubt 2009 will be much of a change.
An Austalian woman has been constantly attacked and harassed for the past 18 months. Her, her 13 year old daughter, and a friend have been moving around constantly after "Alice" (not her real name) was first attacked.
...when she was walking along the esplanade at Golden Beach with her daughter last week she was verbally abused by a young man aged 18-21 who yelled abuse such as, “You fucking AIDS-carrying tranny fag”.Alice said when she held her phone up to record the abuse the young man proceeded to attack her.
“I ran across the road leaving my daughter unprotected, he chased me into a playground threatening to get me,” she said.
“I screamed to units above to call the police, I screamed at the families in the park to help me. Several men who are strangers to me came to my assistance, they tried to hold the offender back.
“Then a car pulled up and two blokes jumped out of the car, one with a metal baseball bat who then started to chase me. A family in a four-wheel-drive let me in and drove me to the police station.”
Helen has the full article up.
Eclexia has up an update about the trans* woman shot in the face (she's still in critical condition). And a new murder.
It looks like Angie may get justice; the prosecution plans to add habitual criminal charges (which would multiply the sentences of other charges by 4) if he is not convicted of 1st degree murder.
As I said in my last post, Gaza is covered in blood (and Israel says this is just the beginning).
This summer, my grandpa was diagnosed with lung cancer. He went on chemo (I stayed with him and my grandma a lot because the chemo was really hard on him), the chemo did nothing but make him feel worse and weaken him. A week before he was diagnosed, he was at his "farm" (an old farm he bought a long time ago that is now a lake and a lot of forest and swamp) chopping wood; he can barely walk now.
He'll be going into hospice now.
He taught me how to fish, how to make maple syrup, how to drive (automatic and stick)... We made applesauce and apple pies during Autumn (as a kid, I'd get in the bucket of his tractor and he'd raise me up with some buckets and I'd pick apples off the top of the big apple tree). Until a few years ago, he and my grandma would drive down to Arizona to go rock-hounding and camping with their relatives there. When I was a kid, we'd sometimes go with them--one winter, we visited Mexico and it snowed.
I am not close to any of my relatives. I left for all of last year and never called--and I didn't care.
But I've always liked my grandpa; I think its impossible not to like him.
He served in WW2, was a police officer and a detective, drove a bus... He visited nearly every state over the years; usually to search for rocks. He's got everything from Herkimer diamonds to Mozarkite, to Star Garnets. He learned how to cut and polish these stones; my family all have jewelry he had made out of his stones. When I learned how to make wire-wrapped jewelry, he gave me my first stones (the very first was rainbow obsidian).
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Gaza
I'll admit I don't know a whole lot about the history between Israel and Palestine.
But fucking hell, airstrikes against a mostly unarmed populace that can't get out or get food/supplies?
(btw, Galling Galla, I miss you! <3) some of those comments are just so bigoted/racist...and just failures)
Also, little light has an incredibly moving post up.
Here is a bit of it:
...
I just want to say, to all the people demonizing Palestinians right now, saying that this was all a sinister plan to get a bunch of their children killed to make Israel look bad, that this would all just stop if they'd put down the rocks and handmade mortars and listen to reason, they're all terrorists anyhow, they'll push every Jew into the sea--how? How? What is all this "self-defense" defending against?
How could they manage? Gazans live in an open-air prison. They are literally walled-in to one of the most densely populated places in the world. Walled in. No food coming in, no medicine, no fuel, unless they break an unjust law. No leaving, not without humiliation, harassment, assault, and death. There is nobody in there who hasn't lost someone. How many of those women have not been raped? How many of those children have parents? How many Gazans had a meal this week?
They are mostly fighting with old rifles, handmade short-range explosives, rocks and slings, against one of the best-equipped militaries in the world. Don't put that fact aside. Are people in Gaza committing acts of violence that have killed innocent people? Yes. They're hurling a handful of rickety rockets over the wall. In response, they're up against fighter jets, tanks, a navy, and a well-outfitted corps of the best-trained soldiers in the world, well-fed and sharp and with access to nuclear weapons. And this military they're fighting already has them walled in and starving, their neighborhoods smoking rubble, too many of them missing limbs. Tell me this is just an eye for an eye, what a shame. It's not an eye for an eye. It's a fingernail for a torso, at best. Tell me which Gazans have fighter jets. Tell me who in Hamas, even, has a nuclear-capable military unit that could wipe out their enemy at the press of a button. Show me one Palestinian tank.
Knock it off, you kids. Just put down the weapons, no, I don't care who started it. Ahmad, put down your slingshot. Avi, put down your F-15. You're both equally responsible here.
What the hell is this? How are we saying these things? An eye for an eye?
...
Thursday, December 25, 2008
If you saw something; say something
Another Memphis Trans* Woman Shot:(h/t Monica)
Here we go again in Memphis, TN. A transwoman was shot in the face and is in critical condition.
Memphis police say the shooting happened sometime around 5:00 a.m. Tuesday, December 23, 2008 in the 3100 block of Boxtown Road in south Memphis near T.O. Fuller State Park. Leeneshia Edwards was last seen about an hour earlier at the “C.K.’s Coffee Shop” on Union Avenue in midtown Memphis.
Edwards' cousin reports that Lenneshia was shot in the jaw, side and back and is undergoing multiple surgeries.
So peeps in the Memphis area, if you saw anything that night, do us and the family of Leeneshia Edwards a favor. Call Memphis Crime Stoppers if you have any information about either this case, Ebony Whitaker's or Duanna Johnson's at (901) 528-CASH that gets the po-po's one step closer to resolving these crimes. Remember, the peeps that did this could one day strike your family, so the sooner you get them off the streets and behind bars, the safer Memphis becomes for you as well.
For those of us who live in Memphis and beyond, keep Leeneshia in your prayers this holiday season.
When the 110th Congress opens for business,, as soon as an ENDA bill is filed, we need to demand that it not only include transgender people, but it be passed without delay.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Important News, Please Read These Links
If you're in the UK, please speak out against these proposed laws to your gov; they'll be very bad for sex workers and won't help prostituted folks. (h/t Ren)
Also, my bad, but I missed International Sex Workers' Rights Day. (in my defense, I was mostly freaking out about court that day)
ETA: from Debi Crow:
Please sign the petition here, organised by the English Collective of Prostitutes to decriminalise sex work and prioritise safety in the UK.
The petition reads:
* The tragic murders of five young women in Ipswich caused an unprecedented outcry. Each of us deserves to be safe regardless of gender, occupation, sexual preference, race, age, nationality, immigration status or lifestyle.
* Prostitution is a survival strategy to deal with poverty, debt, rape, low wages, homelessness, unemployment... Most sex workers are mothers or young people; often they are both. Many have been in care or have had their children taken from them.
* Criminalising consenting sex – targeting sex workers, clients or both – pushes prostitution underground. It deters women from reporting violence & exploitation. Fines & ASBOs force women into isolated, less well lit areas.
* When prostitute women are not safe, no woman is safe. Serial rapists & killers often have a history of attacks on partners & prostitutes. (The conviction rate for reported rape is a shocking 5.7%. Over 200 women are murdered each year.)
* Raids on premises increase street prostitution which is 10 times more dangerous.
* Criminal records prevent sex workers from getting other jobs.
* "Rehabilitation" for drugs or anything else doesn’t work if it is compulsory.
* New Zealand has successfully decriminalised prostitution, improving health & safety.
WE DEMAND:
1. The decriminalisation of prostitution. Sex workers must have the same rights and protection as other workers.
2. An end to Community Rehabilitation Orders, Acceptable Behaviour Contracts and Anti Social Behaviour Orders which reintroduce prison for street offences through the back door.
3. The enforcement of laws against domestic violence, rape and other violence against women and children must be a priority.
4. An end to the use of anti-trafficking legislation to deport immigrant sex workers. Trafficked women must have the right to stay so they can report violence.
5. Viable economic alternatives to prostitution. Voluntary drug services, affordable housing, benefits, training, pay equity.
Sign here. Hat tip to Helen for the info about the petition, and make sure you check out the other links on her post too, if you haven't already.
Bush is a total fustilarian; I'd love to thank him in person for signing the order for doctors and everyone in the health industry to murder trans* folks, anyone with the ability to get pregnant, anyone with female-assigned reproductive organs, people with disabilities, sex workers, POC, actual or perceived illegal-drug users, and anyone else they see as less than human!
More police brutality, racism, sexism, etc. This time, they beat and attempted to kidnap a little twelve-year old girl because they thought she was a prostitute (obviously, if she had been a prostitute this would have been just peachy). Her and her father were both charged because she fought back (obviously, if someone attempts to kidnap you girls, you should just let them!) and her father tried to stop them as well.
Two years later and the little girl still has nightmares.
Galbeston Chief of Police, Charles Wiley, can be reached by phone at 409-765-3790, or by email at cwiley@cityofgalveston.org.
And these next two are not quite so urgent:
Julia Serano is looking for quotes, anecdotes and insights from trans* women and other mtf-spectrum folks about ways you have been hyper-sexualized.
If you are a trans woman (i.e., someone who was assigned a male sex at birth, but who identifies and/or lives as female), I would be interested in possibly including your experiences in my web article. I am particularly interested in the following types of scenarios:More info at her journal.
1) occasions where somebody sexualized you in an especially extreme or explicit manner specifically because they knew you were trans.
2) occasions where somebody assumed that you were motivated to transition to female for primarily sexual reasons (for example, to receive sexual attention from men, to engage in sex work, or to fulfill some kind of sexual fantasy or “perversion”).
3) occasions where medical or psychiatric professionals (particularly those fulfilling a “gatekeeper” role) made especially sexualizing remarks about your appearance, behaviors or motives/desire to transition, or were sexualizing in other ways.
4) occasions where someone sexualized your trans body, identity and/or motives for transitioning in order to dismiss your female identity or to insinuate that you are not a “real” woman.
And I should have included this in my last post, but I just remembered the post; Sylvia Rivera was a part of the Young Lords and her group, STAR, marched with them several times.
Btw, donating to SRLP would be a very nice thing to do this holiday season...
Friday, December 19, 2008
What's in a name?
To many of us trans* people, names are important. Unlike most cis* people, we have to choose our names because the names we were given (forced on us?) are not suitable. Very rarely do our parents give us a name we can keep; so that when we tell someone our legal name we are either misgendered or outed immediately.
It seems like there is always a post about names in the general trans* forums I read; recently, there is one asking for names that do not easily get “misheard” and transformed from masculine to feminine.
Many transition guides and trans* resources have posts with tips on choosing names. All sorts of advice is given; don't choose names that are currently trendy (Aiden/Ayden/etc), ask your parents to help, find meanings you like...
Names have power.
I've read a lot of fantasy where magic can be performed by knowing a person or object's true name; where people or demons can be controlled or destroyed by those with their true name.
Here, names have the power to out, to get you extra “random security checks”, to color peoples' gendered perceptions of you, etc.
I'll be changing my name later this week.
To Kristopher [current middle name]-Rivera [lastname].
I didn't exactly choose Kristopher; my friends sometimes called me Ristopher after I started going by my nickname Riss. I'm not Christian, but I liked the name and I felt like Kristopher...suited me somehow. Even friendly acquaintances who didn't know I was questioning said that Kristopher suited me.
Both of my grandmas have the same middle name, so my parents gave it to me—and I chose to keep it because I like it.
Rivera is for Sylvia Rivera, an amazing woman and one of the first trans* people I ever learned about.
With my real name legally recognized I'll be able to apply for college, jobs, etc. without (much) anxiety. I'll be able to attend classes without emailing the teachers to begask to be referred to by my nickname.
There'll be less anxiety around my name, but now when I apply for a job I'll be more worried about my legal sex. Hopefully, they won't notice it or realize it's a mistake.
[I wrote the above last week. I went to court just the other day.]
I was extremely anxious about court; not everyone's name change is granted after all.
Luckily, it went without a hitch.
After going through security in my nice clothes and tie, I spent more time waiting (and listening to half a dozen divorces—and they say queer and trans* people will ruin marriage...) than actually in front of the judge. Seriously, he asked me why I wanted to change my name (personal preference and common usage) and if I was changing it for fraudulent reasons (err, no) then granted it.
Though according to my friend who drove me, whispers did break out in the seats when my case was called; I admit I wasn't paying much attention to them at the time...
And next I get to change my name on my BC and state ID and whatnot.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Win:
shortpacked saw a vanity license plate reading "GOPCKS".
So, currently I am thinking on a post about names, as I will be getting mine changed later this week... I don't currently have anything written down for the post; right now its all jumbled up in my head and I'm not quite sure what to write and what to leave out...deriksmith:
Mmmm, GOP Cocks. Tastes like Real America! We grow gooood people in our small towns!Leaves me wondering what "Real America" tastes like, because I'm pretty sure the last place that the GOP Cocks were is up the asses of the union workers in Michigan.
If "Real America" tastes like the inside of a factory worker's colon, I think I'd prefer the fake stuff.
So here is a gift while you wait; I'll be
Monday, December 8, 2008
Still have writers-block so here are some links:
Sarah has helped set up the Trans-Community Activist Network forums (T-CAN); they're for UK-based grass-root trans-activism.
Ginmar is asking folks to help out her friend T again; they really want to make sure the kids have a decent Christmas.
Renee has several great posts up, I really can't link to any specific one.
Racialicious is talking about how, yet again, white western feminists are universalizing and colonizing "the more traditional Third World" and the lives of the women there.
I really like Deb's post, Embracing Women's Sexuality.
Some folks have started a blog to put all of Julie Bindel's erroneous and/or transphobic statements in one place.
From comments in Metaquotes:I had a roommate who celebrated Hannukkah while I celebrated Christmas, and we always played them both up just for the fun of it. One year we tried to figure out what holiday the cat celebrated, and he had the idea that cats actually don't celebrate either -- they have their own holiday called "Ribbon." Because no matter what holiday the humans celebrate, there's all sorts of nice shiny ribbon for them to play with.
Dear Obama, your speech writer needs to be fired.
If they've been good kitties, they get even more ribbon to play with on Ribbon. If they've been bad kitties, they get tape stuck to their paws.
Most of my aunts and uncles are UAW, so in solidarity(h/t BFP) ETA and now Illinois says it will refuse to deal with BoA until they give Republic credit (h/t Ginmar):
There is Power in a Union.
BFP gives us Gardening as a Site of Liberation; interesting post and comments that gave me a lot to think about.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
TDoR
I have no idea what I want to write.
There are 29 people, mostly women of color, dead this year (that we know of). There are 412 people dead since we started TDoR ten years ago (412--thats only those we know of).
What do you say to that?
Any day now I could find out that one of my friends is dead. Any day now I could find out that one of my friends has been assaulted. I could be assaulted or killed too, but at least my white privilege protects me somewhat.
If anyone still thinks we transition because we think its sexy or to follow a fad...I think you need to put down the ideology and start thinking for yourself.
You can do your own research; we can't cater to you today.
Theres a part of me that wants to go and see if the dead are dancing on the lake again.
You see, when I was a child, in the early morning the bus went past the lake and in November you could see the mist rising off the water.
November is the month the dead come out and dance.
Since its getting towards the end of the month, they will be dancing all night and well into the morning.
"Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in Heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy." ~Author Unknown
I hope they are happy. I hope there were enough merry memories in this life. I hope they find even more joy in their next lives.
(lyrics for Tears in Heaven; unable to find them for Dream Journey)
Monday, November 17, 2008
Another one
So soon after Duanna another trans* woman of color has been killed.
Teish Cannon (Also known as Lateisha Green) was murdered on Friday.
And guess what, you guessed it, none of the articles have respected her gender. Her family did, but the newspapers would rather make fun of her.
"Cannon's family accepted his sexual orientation. Pictures of Cannon in women's clothing were on display in the family's living room, and the family selected one for The Post-Standard to publish. Often when family members spoke of Cannon, they used 'she' to refer to him."
How fucking kind of them to put that in there.
Oh hey, guess who else is disrespecting her identity and calling her a gay dude?
But hey, at least the cis*gay blogs are talking about her, unlike Duanna!!!
Fuck them all with a hatchet.
ETA:
First of all, a big thank you to all of those out there who contributed to the funeral fund for Ms. Johnson's family. Hopefully we will not have to do anything like that again, but should that happen it is good to know that people DO care. TTPC reported donations from as far away as Japan and that the bulk of the sum came from small-dollar contributions. It just goes to show that all of us can make a difference if we work together. Sounds hokey, but it's true.
However, now we must remember why Duanna Johnson was so important. She stood up and said she wasn't going to take abuse and brutality by the MPD anymore. She shone a light into the darkness that is the MPD's practice of profiling trans women of color as prostitutes as well as their treatment of trans women in their custody. In the wake of that, the local progressive organizations have been trying to have a responsive dialogue with the Memphis City Council, the MPD, and the Shelby County Sheriffs Department, largely to no avail.
This is what we demand:
* An LGB and T liaison within the MPD and Sheriff's department.
* An end to police profiling and harassment of trans women of color.
* A TBI (TN Bureau of Investigation) investigation of the MPD and Duanna's murder. The FBI was already investigating the MPD when Duanna was killed; she had signed the paperwork to go ahead with the lawsuit against MPD shortly before being killed. While I am not suggesting that the MPD or anyone associated with the department killed her, it is a gross conflict of interest for the MPD to be investigating her death. The DA, Bill Gibbons, has not yet requested an investigation and until he does, the TBI does not have jurisdiction.
* An actual investigation of Ebony Whitaker's murder.
What you can do:
* Call DA Gibbons at (901) 545-5900 to ask why his office is not pursuing a TBI investigation of the MPD given the fact that Duanna was suing them and the glaring conflict of interest that an investigation by them into her death would be. Also remind him of the murders of Tiffany Berry and Ebony Whitaker and let him know that though he may want to forget, we have not forgotten.
* Call Police Director Larry Godwin at (901) 545-5700 to ask why, given the problems Memphis has had recently with transphobic hate crimes, there is no LGBT liaison within the MPD. Mention that many, if not most, major cities have one. And ask whether or not Bridges McRae and James Swain will face any criminal charges, or will Director Godwin will continue his witch hunt for who leaked the video. Ask why it took over 4 months and some bad publicity (after trying to recruit at Mid-South Pride, of all places) for them to be fired. Ask what kind of training in dealing with TS/TG people in custody are officers given? And while you're at it, remind him of Tiffany Berry and Ebony Whitaker, too.
* Call Sheriff Mark Luttrell at (901) 545-5500 and ask why there is no LGBT liaison. Ask what kind of training in dealing with TG/TS people in custody is done.
* Finally, email and write mainstream publications that purport to serve the LGBT community and strongly encourage them to give this story more exposure. While The Advocate did post a short news piece on its website, a publication with this much clout that claims to represent LGB and T people can do better. Same for Southern Voice and others.
Email and IM this to all your friends! Link back here if you want, I don't care how the information is disseminated as long as it is done respectfully. Remember, Duanna was a sister, daughter, cousin, and friend to many. She was loved and she will be missed, even by those who did not know her personally but who knew what she did. She stood up and said 'no more' and was cut down while literally trying to get away from all of this madness..
ETA2: And not only were Duanna and Lateisha murdered this month, but so was Aimee Wilcoxson and Dilek Ince was killed in Turkey on the 11th.
According to the TDoR website, 27 names will be added to the list as well as two unknown Iraqi women who were killed with Ali (that post is super-problematic, but its the one I could find with a lot of info).
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Heres the story I just finished for Nanowrimo, For Duanna.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
back
Back from my grandparents house. OMG, I really dislike my grandma. I have to fight her to do any cleaning beyond dishes! I had to dust the walls/ceilings in secret because she got mad at me for doing it. o.0
I wanted to tackle a bit of the mess they call an attic, but noooo.... I can't be moving her precious shit around and actually putting it into boxes and stacking it neatly and getting rid of the obvious trash! GRRR.....
And there is way too much shit to process going on in the world:
Apparently Minnesota is all "yay forced electroshock-[torture]!!!"
And Duanna Johnson was murdered. Most likely by ex-officers Bridges McRae, James Swain, and/or their buddies on the force.
And the fucking [police]** don't have any leads. Because its not like she was beaten by two police officers a few months ago--which led to their being fired. Its not like she went public and was suing the city or anything (though the lawsuit will be going forward!). Its not like she was being harassed by the police for "prostitution" (aka: existing while black and trans* and a woman. and even if she was a sex worker, she may not even have been working at that moment).
**Does anyone know of a slur for the police other than "pigs"? I'm not a fan of pigs because of the fatphobic associations with the word pig.
Despite having a relative who was an officer (who does still have my respect), I have lost all respect for the institution and all members unless the individual proves they are not a power-hungry, abusive, rapist, bigot.
ETA: A paypal account has been set up to help Duanna's mom pay for her funeral.
Folks who think that prop 8 passed because of t3h 3vil POC can go DIAF. Seriously, blame the mostly white mormons and catholics for funding the bigoted/lying campaigns. Or maybe your own organizations' racism and FAIL.
Yes, I am in a bad and violent mood.
Uppity Brown Woman is also angry about several things; like Duanna's murder, "honor" killings, and lesbians being beaten for daring to pick their kids up from school.
Who'd have thunk that preaching racist anti-immigrant hatred all over the USA government/media would result in folks going out "beaner hunting"?
In other news, bears do, in fact, shit in the woods.
And I am totally failing at Nanowrimo; I have practically nothing written because of being at grandparents house and various apathy/depression things leading to writers block. But after I (eventually) get some sleep I'll post some of what I have in my lj (needs m0ar editing...). Theres also a story for Duanna; as she is unlikely to get justice.
But here is a killer bunneh and some pretty guys (yep, all three are guys) because I need some smiles and pwetty.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
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