June 2012
53 posts
Kate Bornstein's autobiography
Just thought I’d post a link to Kate Bornstein’s autobiography A Queer and Pleasant Danger.
For those who don’t know, Kate Bornstein is an American author, playwright, performance artist, and gender theorist. She’s known for writing books such as Gender Outlaws, My Gender Workbook, and Hello Cruel World.
This autobiography starts out during Kate’s early childhood, when she was living as a Jewish...
If you're a feminist who understands the...
6 tags
Gender should not be dictated by our genitals
I’ve just returned from a friend’s house where a rather heated argument regarding trans* identity broke out. It was I against three people. I didn’t want to argue, but I just couldn’t help myself.
One of my mates turned the channel over to Big Brother. I never wanted them to put it on in the first place, as I knew that there was a transsexual man on the show this year, and that the people I was...
Petition for the formal recognition of the gender... →
genderedintelligence:
This is a petition to the UK govenrment to formally adopt the Mx title in the UK.
Mx is used instead of Mr, Ms, Mrs or Miss (etc) by people who do not identify as male or female, or just feel more comfortable using an non-gendered title.
If you live in the UK and want to support people who need a gender neutral title (or you want to be able to use one yourself!) please...
5 tags
Everyone’s beautiful
The other day, I wrote a rather dismal post that involved me jealously moaning about a teenage trans* girl who I thought was far better looking than me. Looking back on that blog now has made me realise just what a rude and selfish fool I was being. I say this because today I’ve realised that absolutely everyone is beautiful, despite what they might think.
I understand that this may sound like one...
3 tags
Debating with friends: a bleeding waste of time
It happens all the time. I’m down the pub with a group of friends. At first, everything is hunky dory. We’re chatting about our day, joking about something one of us did during a drunken night out, or rambling on about the latest film/tv show.
Then, at some point or another, one of us will say something that triggers a disagreement. It can be absolutely anything, but the moment one of us objects,...
4 tags
Compulsive purchasing
For the past four years, I’ve been participating in a rather frustrating act: impulse purchasing. Compulsive buying has become such a persistent and cost consuming procedure for me that I now have to avoid the high streets like the plague.
A lot of people have this uncontrollable attitude when it comes to clothes shopping. The moment they walk into a store and see a garment that they adore, they...
Romney blocked antibullying guide for use of... →
gaywrites:
The Boston Globe has recovered documents showing that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s administration blocked an antibullying guide from being published in 2006 because it included the words “bisexual” and “transgender.”
At the time, Romney said that the public school antibullying guide wouldn’t be published because it was lengthy and needed review. But the Globe located...
9 tags
Useful Resources, vol. 2: Films
This is the second entry in a series of posts dedicated to the different types of resources which have helped me come to terms with being trans*.
In this post, I look at the films which I believe help to portray transgender people in a more positive manner than the stereotype-enforcing programmes such as The Jerry Springer Show.
There are movies which often like poking fun at individuals who...
10 tags
Useful Resources, vol. 1: Books
Thank goodness for the internet. I honestly don’t know how the previous generations managed it. If it wasn’t for the World Wide Web then I’d probably still be sitting around endlessly inventing daft excuses for why I am the way I am.
But thanks to the time period that I happened to have been born into, the internet has been my bread and butter. On that memorable December morning in 2009 – when I...
A Sad Day (ill with Jealousy)
***Warning: rant filled post***
***This entry is mainly me having a neurotic and egocentric whinge about my present mood. I do like to keep my posts as positive as can be, but sometimes I may come across as pessimistic and pitiful toward myself. This is one of those less enthusiastic and more self-absorbed submissions. I do apologise dearly to anyone who may happen to read this***
Many know that...
Update: 11 year old trans girl lost appeal [& will... →
quintessential-queer:
babstheartist:
msamberhazard:
msamberhazard:
tal9000:
transawareness:
The above article is an update. Her mother went to appeal to keep her out of the psychiatric ward and lost. She will be institutionalized because of her expression of her gender. She will be held until she conforms to male gender and then released to foster care, not her mother who was...
autumn-and-eve:
Cis Feminist Privilege:
I can read any feminist magazine, blog, website, visit any feminist demonstration, or watch any feminist vlog and be able to easily access information about the oppression people of my gender identity experience.
Seriously like do you even understand how hard it is for trans women to find any information about transmisogyny or cissexism? It’s virtually...
8 tags
The Multiple Stages of my Trans* Self-Confession
Coming out is hard, real hard. I’ve managed to come out to two people so far, and despite both of them taking the news incredibly well, it was by far the toughest experience of my life. It is a very memorable yet terrifying experience. However, revealing my Trans* identity to others has not been the only rite of passage that has taken place in my life, as there was also the act of coming out to...
5 tags
The Hypocrisy of some Cis People
I remember the night very clearly. There were six of us in the living room of my student house; all drinking before heading into town. It was the year 2010 and I was in my third year of university. One person, among the six of us, was my dear friend Ellen. At random, she began to tell us about one of her boyfriend’s housemates.
“Oh you should see him” she said whilst laughing. “He likes dressing...
“The fact is that transgender people—in particular, transgender people of...”
– Mandy Carter, Still No Freedom Rainbow for Transgender People of Color (COLORLINES)
If you haven’t already, I recommend taking a look at that report. The race statistics are sobering, and too important to ignore.
(via kiriamaya)
If you ever doubted that racial issues are trans issues, here’s...
8 tags
The Benefits of being Trans*
A lot of the time, being Trans* can be tough. The fear of rejection, the vicious internal war and the constant alienation from both your body and society can make everyday life a real uphill battle.
But even though these are difficulties which are prevalent in my day-to-day life, being Trans* has also helped me to excel in some areas of my life.
Here are several examples:
1) Education
During my...
6 tags
Diversity: something we should celebrate
Unfortunately, there seems to be many people who are completely fearful of diversity. They frequently become frustrated as they fail to comprehend why another human might fall in love with a member of the same gender; why some individuals wish to adopt fetish tendencies in the bedroom; and why there are people who choose to move away from the gender that they were assigned at birth.
But why do so...
Alone
If there’s one thing that I’ve learnt in recent years, it’s that we all must take the path of life alone. No matter who we are, or where we come from, we must accept our fates and discover the truths of ourselves without blindly following the lead of another.
At first, this realisation frightened me. I didn’t know how on earth to deal with being trans* all by myself. I wanted to be taught...
