[personal profile] recursiveparadox
Sometimes the trans community infuriates me.

It isn't the majority of the time and likely not even a majority of the people. But this vocal mid sized minority manages to regularly fuck up quite a few safe spaces I and many others have tried to stay within for quite some time now.

I myself have been lucky in some ways. My city has a brilliantly supportive trans group and when I have the time to go, I get a lot out of going. I'm involved in http://whatisgender.net which is probably the best web orientated trans community I've ever been on (however it is also heavily nonbinary orientated and I am MtF).

Others have not been so lucky. I know one particularly nice guy who has been trying to get support on a certain unnamed website (I don't know if the crazy bitch who runs it would be willing to sue me frivolously or not, but I can't afford court costs so: unnamed) and getting screwed regularly.

People tear each other apart there. There's all these "trannier than thou" hierarchies that drive me fucking batshit. If you're an MtF who's tomboyish or you're an ftm who's a little bit femmy or even worse, if you're a nonbinary, kiss your ass goodbye in places like this.

Suddenly everything you say is suspect. Suddenly everyone will be telling you just how not trans you are. I had one rancid bitch tell me that I was just a genital mutilator who was probably abused as a child and not really trans. All because of how I regard the abstract concept of social gender. For those who worry, I can assure you, my childhood contains absolutely no abuse.

The hierarchies aren't the only problem. A bit of the straight trans folk and a bit of the gay trans folk get into little spats over whether we ought to be even allied with GLB of the GLBT community. Some of the complaints are valid. The GLB have fucked us over in a lot of unpleasant ironic ways.

Dropping GENDA to pass SONDA anyone? Dropping the ball for us on the national level with the ENDA legislature too? I can bet you five bucks that if Marriage Equality legislature in NY State passes and GENDA doesn't, the next Equality and Justice Day will have a shit ton less people at it in Albany next year. (Bet not made to all of you, just you as an audience, split it evenly if I lose *wink*)

There's a chunk of GLB's who regard trans folk as weird freaks who drag them down or as gays just trying to "cure" ourselves (Neverfuckingmind that some of us end up gay, bi or lesbian after transition). It's a little disgusting. And then you've got straight trans folk who don't want to be associated with sexuality in any way or form and don't want to be associated with nonbinaries either because they regard themselves as totally normal.

Unfortunately for us, going from your birth sex to another sex isn't common and we really ought to operate our activism with that in mind, instead of ignoring it to make ourselves feel better. In the end, the guy that stabs you because he found out you had a penis a long while ago is still going to stab you because he thinks he just fucked a dude, no matter how female you think you are. Might be wise to work on activism orientated around that sort of shit instead of plugging our ears and going "LA LA LA I'M A CHICK IT DOESN'T APPLY TO ME". Yeah. Sure it doesn't apply.

Then we have the (thankfully less common) nonbinaries who love to run around going "gender doesn't exist! We should all be genderless! Don't get surgery! You're only encouraging the binary!"

Yeah, asshole, that's totally going to reduce my dysphoria and make my male body acceptable to my brain. Fucking idiot. I'm all for removing social roles as an enforced characteristic and I'm all for reducing the excessive gender labeling that has such a toxic influence on our society. But I'm still going to change my body from male to female, and those social things being adjusted isn't going to change that need.

We fight over whether GID should be labeled as a disorder or an identity (forgetting that we won't get that medical care if it isn't a disorder) and we fight over what transgender and transsexual means.

Its... discouraging. And irritating. And I don't have a great solution. Mostly because I'm not sure what causes the problem. Why do we fight amongst ourselves so much? Why are the disagreements so polarized? Why are the reactions so violent and belligerent?

It drives me just a little bit nuts.

You know who this is

Date: 2009-05-03 07:19 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
For anyone that thinks they're not affected by same-sex marriage for being a straight transperson, they're (http://ismsandsuch.com/TM/legal.html) full (http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/ctapp/2001/20010511/85030.htm) of (http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/ctapp/2001/20010511/85159.htm) shit. (http://www.4thcoa.courts.state.tx.us/opinions/HTMLopinion.asp?OpinionID=8210)

(no subject)

Date: 2009-05-04 03:27 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] snugglebitch
I'm glad you like our group. I know how much it sucks when you can't find one (either because it doesn't exist, or because the one that does exist is a bad place to be) so I'm glad it's filling that role, to some degree at least.

What website is it that's so poisonous (I'm curious if I've been there)? If you don't feel safe saying it here, you can PM me with it.

Agreed

Date: 2009-05-05 08:53 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
A pretty good summary of the drama and bias found in the community. One more than I've noticed is that people who are non-op but binary are also looked down upon, with their gender and identity questioned. The same goes for female-to-male guys who willing undergo pregnancies. In some circles, people who aren't fully post-op are seen as "less trans" than people who are fully post-op. Seems to be a lot more common in the male-to-female community, considering that lost of female-to-male guys don't get bottom surgery.

-Jace/Deos

(no subject)

Date: 2009-05-06 04:01 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
I think I got superbly lucky that my first real transsite was WiG, from hearing about angst in the trans community. On AVEN a lot of people have been whining about that lately and I just think back to my experiences (primarily WiG, minorly wiht Laura's- where I remember a transguy being told that he is who he is, and hormones/surgery don't make that. They might not know everything, but they don't act like their ignorance is law, from what I've seen)

I'm really glad that happened, it sounds like I could've been really screwed if I ended up on the wrong forum.


And I agree- I hate that in any community. Everyone is diferent, why is that hard for people to accept?

(no subject)

Date: 2009-05-17 07:14 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
There is so much infighting and bickering because there are a large number of people involved in what, to them, are topics that affect them at the very core, and how they perceive themselves as people.

And when people get in any large group discuss one topic with a wide variety of opinions, particularly on a subject that important to them, they will generally become incredibly hostile with people who disagree, as to reverse or alter your position would alter the way the issue affects you.

In this case, it would mean that in accepting a different view, you would be forced to accept that your original perceptions were wrong.

What I don't understand is how people treat things like this as though it were governed by a hard set of absolutes. To me, it seems to be the social application of a variety of things that push (or nudge, or whatever) various people towards similar ends.

In these circumstances, it seems to me that empiricism would not negate many of these varied opinions, as they seem to be just that- opinions. Varied interpretations of a wide variety of experiences. There are varying degrees of overlap in the collective experiences of the individuals in any community, but the range seems particularly wide in that particular community.

Genderbitch: In ur gender, revealing ur privilege

Hi.

This is a blog. About transsexuality, feminism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, GLBT stuff and etcetera (check my tags for more on that). This is also an angry blog.

You might see me as slightly antagonistic. Oh well. I incite because I am trying to push people into thinking, discussing and breaking out of the stagnant bullshit of privilege. Which needs a nice firm kick quite a bit. Sometimes to the head. If I need a nice firm kick too, make sure to distribute it because well, I'm not immune to privilege either. XD

Anonymous (account-less) commenting is allowed but please sign it with an alias or name. I reserve the right to delete useless trolling, hate language and attempts to out my name or out anyone else here.

Welcome to my space. Take your shoes off, stay a while. Use the fucking coasters.

~R.P.

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