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
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
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