Controversial. Unfortunately.
Oct. 29th, 2008 11:13 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
shemale.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
transGiven a few posts in a few trans communities lately, it seems like these things need to be said:
Trans people are not cutting-edge theories at the frontier of feminism/gender studies/whatever.
Because people are not theories, and it is problematic for theory to be applied in such a way that it criticizes the entirety of a marginalized group or demands that members of said group behave in the way that those doing the theorizing think is appropriate or "progressive" or "radical" enough.
Trans people are not under any more of an obligation to alter their bodies, gender identifications, or gender expressions for some higher goal than cis people are.
Oh, you would never suggest that trans people are somehow more responsible than cis people to ~break down the binary~ or ~kill the patriarchy~ or whatever by following your prescribed guidelines for living!
And it's just a total coincidence that it's something that you tell trans people way, way more than you tell cis people!
Just something about them i guess...I mean it's perfectly understandable, they're already altering their/in possession of bodies and presentations and stuff that are different from most people, so if they would just do it the way you suggest, they could ~totally~ contribute tomaking you feel more radical by associating with them being soldiers in the war against the gender binary/patriarchy/etc./blah blah blah!
If a trans person does not present/experience/identify/etc. their gender the way you want them to, it is none of your fucking business, nor does it mean you can generalize about all trans people (or subgroup of trans people) from your experiences with and observations of said trans person.
Really this should be obvious. Like, if this doesn't make sense to anyone, i'd be happy to explain it, but it the fact that this kind of behavior perpetuates cissexism and transphobia seems self-evident.
Nobody gives a shit that you don't believe in gender.
You don't have to believe in something for it to exist, and perhaps the fact that you don't ever think about gender speaks more to your privilege than to the way that trans people are "perpetuating norms and stereotypes" or "supporting the gender binary" or whatever.
I understand that a lot of people feel like their lives would be much better if gender did not exist, but a) that is not the fault of trans people (or a subgroup of trans people), and b) "post-patriarchy" and "post-cissexism" (don't exist, but also) don't imply "post-gender."
Gender in-and-of itself isn't a bad thing, it is just a thing.
It is the forced assignment of gender to people against their identification and the inequality between members of different genders that is problematic.
There's probably more things i should say here but it's late and i'm tired and want to leave soon so yeah.
Trans people are not cutting-edge theories at the frontier of feminism/gender studies/whatever.
Because people are not theories, and it is problematic for theory to be applied in such a way that it criticizes the entirety of a marginalized group or demands that members of said group behave in the way that those doing the theorizing think is appropriate or "progressive" or "radical" enough.
Trans people are not under any more of an obligation to alter their bodies, gender identifications, or gender expressions for some higher goal than cis people are.
Oh, you would never suggest that trans people are somehow more responsible than cis people to ~break down the binary~ or ~kill the patriarchy~ or whatever by following your prescribed guidelines for living!
And it's just a total coincidence that it's something that you tell trans people way, way more than you tell cis people!
Just something about them i guess...I mean it's perfectly understandable, they're already altering their/in possession of bodies and presentations and stuff that are different from most people, so if they would just do it the way you suggest, they could ~totally~ contribute to
If a trans person does not present/experience/identify/etc. their gender the way you want them to, it is none of your fucking business, nor does it mean you can generalize about all trans people (or subgroup of trans people) from your experiences with and observations of said trans person.
Really this should be obvious. Like, if this doesn't make sense to anyone, i'd be happy to explain it, but it the fact that this kind of behavior perpetuates cissexism and transphobia seems self-evident.
Nobody gives a shit that you don't believe in gender.
You don't have to believe in something for it to exist, and perhaps the fact that you don't ever think about gender speaks more to your privilege than to the way that trans people are "perpetuating norms and stereotypes" or "supporting the gender binary" or whatever.
I understand that a lot of people feel like their lives would be much better if gender did not exist, but a) that is not the fault of trans people (or a subgroup of trans people), and b) "post-patriarchy" and "post-cissexism" (don't exist, but also) don't imply "post-gender."
Gender in-and-of itself isn't a bad thing, it is just a thing.
It is the forced assignment of gender to people against their identification and the inequality between members of different genders that is problematic.
There's probably more things i should say here but it's late and i'm tired and want to leave soon so yeah.