it would seem that there’s yet another post bashing trans people, and accusing them of perpetuating gender stereotypes. as if it’s a gender stereotype that people assigned as male at birth, get a “sex change” operation and live as women. what universe are these people living in? to wit:
“The transexuals act as if lesbians are just another group with all the power, like white men.”
“If culture is constructed, and gender is constructed, then WHY DO THEY NEED TO CHANGE THEIR GENITALIA???”
“As a lesbian/feminist I have *never* accepted any form or definition of transgenderism or transexualism as having any validity.”
“They’re all boys, and they’re all cops vis a vis females.”
it’s hopeless :\
It’s a cesspool over there, that’s all I can say. It’s a place where they know they are allowed to spout their transhatred without fear of reprisal, in fact they’re just egged on by the rest.
To me it’s like going to a white pride site, where you’re finally allowed to let your racist flag fly, cuz you know everybody else agrees with you. At womensspace it’s just the transhatred flag flying happily in the womyns’ breeze.
Comment by kactus — August 5, 2007 @ 8:30 am
Some of them claim to want dialogue, but personally i don’t believe it. If that were true, they wouldn’t tolerate the very clear crude and hateful comments which have become the standard over there.
Comment by sabrinastar — August 5, 2007 @ 11:34 am
in the immortal words of obi-wan kenobi, “you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. we must be cautious”
Comment by nexy — August 5, 2007 @ 11:46 am
I agree with you Nexy, but there are some good convos going on elsewhere. I like this one…
http://feministing.com/archives/007486.html
People are actually talking TO each other, not at each other. Heart is a lost cause, IMO.
Comment by Marti Abernathey — August 5, 2007 @ 3:33 pm
The thing that gets me with blogs like Heart’s though, is that people who don’t know a lot about trans*people and haven’t formed strong views go over there and she edjumacates them.
I’ve seen it happen in a few different discussions and I’ve taken to emailing anyone who asks for information (if they leave their email). That way my words don’t get edited, blocked, or piled on and someone at least gets some decent information.
Comment by Drakyn — August 5, 2007 @ 3:41 pm
The sad thing about reading Heart’s stuff is that the core bigotry just does not change. She is a gifted writer though, and mnch of the time manages to hide the hate under a nice sugar coating.
Nexy yep the confusion between Gender roles and sex is the heart of the matter. I hate to say this but maybe “transgender” should just be purged from the lexicon. It seems to cause more confusion and pain than anything else.
Comment by Susanna — August 6, 2007 @ 3:06 pm
The sad thing is that I’m sure every lesbian has heard at one time or another in her life someone saying that “all lesbians are [something or another]“. Apparently the victims of such stereotyping don’t have a problem doing it to others and perpetuating misunderstanding and discomfort with another minority group.
Comment by Michelle — August 7, 2007 @ 6:54 am
I think all this has to do with how society views LGT. There is always one law for transgenders and another law for everyone else. Some of them lesbians may have their bad experiences with transgenders.
I personally have met a cross dresser who tried to rape me. But there are people who, after an incident like this, labels all crossdressers as transgenders, then all transgenders as autogynephilics.
And by the way, is that not what some think of our transitions? That we do that for sexual fulfillment?
I believe, as we long for the understanding of our lesbian sisters, and the acceptance to affirm our position as women; maybe we need to look upon ourselves and our own community on what some of us had done for others to be at the end of this kind of treatment, and to accept that all of us, LGT alike, are very misunderstood people.
Comment by YukiChoe — August 7, 2007 @ 11:06 am
There are two trans-related threads on my blog, one about my feud with Heart over the issue (Transwars redux), and one titled Say Yes to Michigan (August 1). The latter started as dialog, then the radfem side dropped out of the discussion and refused to talk.
You were mentioned in the thread, so thought I’d invite you over! (Finally found the link on Plain(s) Feminist’s blog!)
Comment by Daisy — August 12, 2007 @ 5:44 am
thanks, i’ll check it out
Comment by nexy — August 12, 2007 @ 8:09 am