HELP AND ADVICE NEEDED from people involved in trans communities/trans activism

[starstealingirl]

Okay, so, here's the deal

Comments

[starstealingirl]

*nods* Yeah, I certainly should make the point that not all people with trans histories identify as trans.

In other news: I'm coming back to Portland for a month! From December 13 to January 11. Mark your calendar, because that's when the AWESOME shall begin.

[giniliz]

Aware that you may have already read this, and a bit troubled at the "subconcious sex" phrasing, but offering as a partial history-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender

[starstealingirl]

*nods* Yeah, the "subconscious sex" phrasing comes from Julia Serano, who has a biology background and maintains that there are still some gender characteristics that are innate. I'm not sure I buy that line of reasoning, but I'm wondering now if the term has gained popularity mostly through her.

[giniliz]

Does she claim these characteristics are Innate and Universal? I'm okay with saying certainly personality traits, tendencies, etc are inborn, but soooo not okay with anybody telling me there is some ultimate essential nugget that IS universally woman or IS universally man that I was supposed to be born with. The idea of a gendered worm-soul squicks me big time.

[legolastn]

My impression reading her book is that it leans towards innateness/ universalism in discussing her own (and presumably many other transwomen's) experience of understanding one's sex to be something different from that of physical sex (which she explains using the concept of "subconscious sex"), while acknowledging everything (perhaps most things) we call gender is not innate or universal. Of course, one could argue that the notion of subconscious sex still works even if it isn't understood as something innate and universal.

My super-simplified and perhaps wrong understanding of her argument is that her body/mind "knew" she was a girl before she herself understood what it was "telling" her - for example, if I recall correctly, she was dreaming about being a girl long before she had a conscious desire to become a girl, and she masturbated in a style she says she later found out was typical of girls.

[leoshan]

It sounds like the class concentrates on trans a lot to talk about gender. Everyone has a gender, not just the trans, is there a way to get them to think about that

[starstealingirl]

Everyone has a gender, not just the trans, is there a way to get them to think about that?Yes, but it's going to have to be more subtle and awesome than the explanations I generally give my undergrads. These are grad students, many of whom have taken lots of women's studies classes. They're hip to gender theory. They've read Judith Butler. That hasn't necessarily led them to question their own gender

[tsemed_chemed]

So I'm not sure if you have already checked this out, but there's a website that is a pretty great resource for academic-related trans stuff. Also, they have a pretty comprehensive glossary (will open as PDF).

Also, this. (The how to be a good trans ally thing...)

I also would like to add that trans-as-umbrella-term is sticky still...I wouldn't necessarily make the sweeping generalization that it's the preferred term because so much of that is regional.

Also, do you know about the Strap-On Forums? The trans/gender one could be a really great place to pose some of these questions.

I feel like I have/should have more for you, but since my harddrive crashed, I don't have a lot of the documents I had before.

I hope it helps and good luck!
xo
Gretch

[starstealingirl]

I looked at the Strap-On forums (though I avoid getting into them, as I know people who've gotten really involved in them, and I need another internet addiction like I need a hole in the head), but it looked to me like the trans/gender forum was for trans folk only. And I don't want to disturb someone else's space.

I am sorry to hear about your harddrive crash. I dealt with that a couple o' weeks ago, and I'm still picking up the pieces. Stupid laptop.

[tsemed_chemed]

Oh yeah...I'd forgotten about that - I never got into them (same reason...) but they are widely discussed as a resource about trans stuff.

My harddrive crash was so stupid, because I have a 160GB external harddrive; I just hadn't set up Time Machine on my MacBook, so I lost everything even though it was totally avoidable.

[legolastn]

I do hear "trans" and "transpeople/woman/man" a lot more lately it seems. But this could be just a reflection of elitist, academic activism. :)

Trans has been around forever and ever - I'd say I encountered it in undergrad (94-98). I have no idea when it became a preferred term, or even if one could say it currently is without reservation.

Cisgendered I'm more fuzzy about but I tend to think it's more recent...98-03? I would say it has become a preferred term in the last 5 years.

Re: glossary. You should definitely mention two-spirit. Perhaps also: gender bender/genderbending, third sex, androgyny, genderfuck. Intersex - if you want to go there.

Re: issues and debates. leoshan already mentioned healthcare and bathroom access. J. Michael Bailey/The Man Who Would Be Queen. Depictions of trans in media (especially MSM). Trans and religion - in some cases greater inroads have been made in even some fairly conservative traditions around trans issues than same-gender relationships. If you want to address internal debates I think

[legolastn]

Another thing I'm personally interested in exploring that you may or may not be is "cis" genderqueer-ness. ie, high femme as trans.

[tsemed_chemed]

I think it's interesting, your use of trans as an umbrella term over genderqueer. I usually use it as "Trans and genderqueer folks...", but again that could be part of the regional difference. I learned about trans/gender activism in Montreal, where there is a strong trans(s)exual activist community, and (at least in 2003, I think it's been somewhat resolved) that community was having a hard enough time accepting transgender folk; genderqueer would totally tip the scales!

[legolastn]

Fascinating observation, I need to think about this. I can certainly see the sense of using genderqueer as the umbrella instead, or perhaps teasing the two apart depending on context. I guess part of it is that my early learning about trans came largely from the perspective of trans as gender transgression (Feinberg, Wilchins, etc), which genderqueer clearly fits with. And that I learned about genderqueer mostly through trans resources. Although thinking about it, I'd certainly personally feel more comfortable labeling myself genderqueer than trans. Hmmm...