kaizoku

Passing is perhaps the central component through whether trans lives are considered ‘successful’ or not, and as such it is the central component of trans oppression. It is the part of our lives always up for debate in public, and by which cis people mark trans individuals as ‘other.’ I’ve written about this before, as a response to the cis belief that places self-erasure as trans people’s greatest fantasy, and my attitudes about passing remain the same: Passing is a system used by cissexist cultures to control trans people, to ostracize, and to justify violence perpetrated against them. Although passing is presented as a trans endeavor or desire, the truth is it is a system for cis people to identify trans people and to alert other cis people to their presence.

Just trying to work my brain around the concepts in this blog is showing me how much internalized transphobia I have. Part of that is that this culture is totally cissexist and we all get a great, heaping dose of it. And it is also that I grew up trans(sexual) in an earlier era -- the late '90s was when I was really involved, when I was on the mailing lists, when I was figuring myself out. I read Kate Bornstein (problem #1?) and Leslie Feinberg. We were thinking, synthesizing and growing, but still, passing as primary goal was the centerpiece* of our discussions, our struggles, our advice to each other. Turning that upside-down is really good but... disorienting.**

And I can that see this analysis, this questioning of transphobia, is starting to break down the walls to exactly what we wanted, the utopias we were envisioning but didn't know how to get to.

On a less personal level, it's got really good pointers for cis folks.

* On the trans youth mailing list, at least. Not so much on the Sphere list.
**And it makes me feel old.

Oh Jesus, where does the time go? I meant to post about Transgender Day of Rememberance and about the murder of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado (he was decapitated, dismembered and burned.)

I also wanted to pass this on:

Sylvia Rivera Law Project opposes the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act

The recent expansion of the federal hates crimes legislation has received extensive praise and celebration by mainstream lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations because it purports to "protect" LGBT people from attacks on the basis of their expressed and/or perceived identities for the first time ever on a federal level. The Sylvia Rivera Law Project does not see this as a victory. As an organization that centers racial and economic justice in our work and that understands mass imprisonment as a primary vector of violence in the lives of our constituents, we believe that hate crimes legislation is a counterproductive response to the violence faced by LGBT people.

I don't support hate crimes legislation, not the way it will be implemented in our current legal system. We need justice. We need to not keep quiet. There are forces and people trying to keep us invisible and keep our deaths invisible - that is one thing that the language of "hate crimes" has helped with; it has put the emphasis on the motivation of the person who committed violence, instead of on the identity or actions of the victim. But it also hides certain things. Lopez Mercado's alleged murderer claims that he acted out of the trauma he endured in prison, which may be another version of the twinkie defense, but it is indicative of the intersectionality of racism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, nationality, etc. There's a Facebook group calling for the murder to be classified as a hate crime, which would ensure that the defendant is jailed for a longer period of time. We need to stop acting like prisons are the answer. They will not make us safe.

THAT is how you do it! (source: Coachella account by Amanda Palmer.) Also, eee parasols!

This is a must-see. It's an Argentinean commercial which includes a transgender woman and a message of tolerance. I literally cannot imagine seeing this on TV in my country. The end - "you have a life, you have a bank"* - made me tear up. (Kinda discriminates against the undead though, doesn't it?) ETA: I forgot to say, my favorite part is the guy's wife waving from the car. She's so cute!
*Though I realize now that's just their slogan! Oh god, I'm so pathetic.

"This is NOT a way of saying that practitioners of S&M are more likely to be abusers. HOWEVER, there is a dark(er?) side to this lifestyle, and it can't be wished away by lumping it in with transvestitism and homosexuality."
- Comment on this article about Rolling Stone's slandering of the transgender and S&M communities. I just find it hilarious that this person would think that SMers would get more respect by being grouped with us "transvestites." Riiight...
The article's pretty interesting actually. I'd heard that one of the Wachowski brothers (makers of the Matrix movies) had transitioned m-to-f, but I didn't know any of the specifics before reading it. I guess that explains somewhat why they decided to make "Bound" (aka the really hot lesbian bondage movie, which they supposedly made first to finance making The Matrix.)

Anyway, I found this because in the process of tagging my social bookmarks I started wondering, why Bondage&Discipline? Domination/submission and Sadism/Masochism make sense as pairs, but why pair up bondage (restraining someone) and discipline (punishing someone)? They can go together, of course, but seem just as likely not to (in my admittedly limited experience.) I've even talked to people who are into bondage, but not into discipline. In fact they both seem like more subset of the other two pairs - though I'm sure someone could like disciplining or being disciplined, or tying up/being tied up without necessarily being into the pain or power aspects (e.g. domestic discipline, maybe?) I don't know, just something I was thinking about. If I find anything out about the terminology or history of it, I'll let y'all know.