Gender Fundamentalists

Monica Helms

January 25, 2008

Many of us in the LGBT community are painfully aware of the religious fundamentalists who have such a wonderful time coming up with lies and fear tactics to throw out to the uneducated masses. They know full well that a great deal of those Americans will believe anything they are told, if you follow it up with “Praise the Lord.” Of course, their true God is the Almighty Dollar, which they get in abundance from those people who don’t know any better.

We hear a lot about the Islamic fundamentalists and how they are such a threat to America. In many ways, they are ranked amateurs compared to the Christian fundamentalists here in the US. Oh yes, we hear of gays being executed in the country that has no gays, Iran. I’m sure that every time that happens, Beverly LaHaye, ChairMAN of the Concerned “June Cleavers” for America, salivates, hoping we get a Republican President who will support that as well. I’m sure she would like it if President Eddie Haskell “gave us the business.” (The “June Cleaver” comment is not to put down the beloved character in “Leave it to Beaver,” but to emphasize the time period their mindset is in.)

Not to make light of it, but the Christian fundamentalists are a dangerous group of people, even if there weren’t any gay people for them to hate. Mike Huckabee’s comments on wanting to change the Constitution to reflects God’s laws instead of the Founding Fathers’ wonderful ideas is a prime example of the danger this group of Americans can be.

But, I didn’t title this article “Christian Fundamentalists.” There are plenty of others who can talk intelligently on that subject. My article is on a growing number of transsexual women who use their post-operative status as a symbol of their superiority over any other gender-different people. I can guarantee that as soon as this article sees the light of day, they will rise up out of their holes and swoop down on me like the creatures in the movie, “Pitch Black,” with Vin Diesel. I’m not afraid of the dark. . . .

Trans-Feminism (Transgender Feminism)

by Gale Brooker

25 January 2008


Tran feminism is a form of feminism that includes transgender and transsexual rights and issues, especially those of transwomen. Trans feminism has also been described as a social force working for the rights and goals of transsexual and transgender individuals.

This particular group has many struggles of their own, starting with having the heart and soul of one gender while having the genitalia of another. They also have huge economic struggles if they wish to have any medical procedures.

This type of feminism has created quite a stir among other groups. Some feminists feel they do not belong. One of the major reasons is because of how some Trans gender or transwoman behave or exaggerate their femininity. Another reason is some feel that trans genders could not possibly understand all the struggles and what it is to be a “true gender.”. . . .

Trans-Feminism Is Changing The Way Women View Themselves

07/30/2007

The ever changing world in which we live seems to regularly identify new scenarios that challenge the way in which society behaves. No more so than with transfeminism which is now creating a reaction that might not initially have been perceived. The reaction is from women who believe that trans-feminism is in fact a third gender assignment - a hybrid male-female that should not be included in any scheme involving original females.

How an individual born female sees herself is a reflection of the society in which she exists. It is acknowledged that women today have changed their social position dramatically over the past twenty years by competing with men on every level. Female equality is now no longer a concept but rather a way of life.

However where trans-feminism fits into the female psyche is proving difficult for many women born women to accept. It seems that if you were born male but feel that you should really have been born female and make physical efforts to right what you see as wrong, then you are not only distancing yourself from the male community but you are also not really a part of the true female alternative community. Gender issues have reached new controversial heights with the introduction of liberalism and a growing acceptance within society that some people prefer to wear the bodies of their opposite gender. This does not make it easy on those of us who walk the middle road because the extremists in both camps are full of woe about allowing what was ostensibly an opposite gender individual to join their ranks simply because it is the way they feel, even if they have also taken the significant step of having surgery performed so that their body is more in keeping with the bodies they prefer.

If one considers that the human body is simply a host vehicle, a receptacle in which our spirits are contained, it is possible to better appreciate how people can feel that they are not born of the sexual gender they should have been. If you take this a step further and suggest that the reincarnation of the soul is partly to blame and that as a result the individuals in question may have lived a previous life as a woman rather than a man it can been seen that the issue can really bring some fairly complex concepts to the fore. . . .

Male hormone has a Jekyll and Hyde effect

by JOE SCHWARCZ

January 26, 2008

Roosters probably considered Professor Arnold Berthold public enemy No. 1. But to scientists, he was a pioneer. And to athletes who abuse steroids, he's probably a hero. Providing that they have heard of him. If they haven't, they should have. Because it was Berthold's classic experiments carried out at the University of Gottingen in Germany in 1849 that laid the foundations for research leading to the eventual isolation of testosterone, the main male sex hormone.

Berthold was certainly familiar with the idea that removal of the testes caused profound changes in a male's behaviour. Eunuchs, for example, had long been known to have less aggressive personalities. Indeed, that's why Roman emperors like Constantine, fearing assassinations, surrounded themselves with servants who had been rendered mild-mannered by removal of their manhood. (One suspects, though, that they weren't exactly mild-mannered during the procedure.) In any case, not only did castration affect behaviour, it also affected physiology. Eunuchs were less likely to go bald, and if castration took place before puberty, their childish voice was retained.

The effect of castration on animals had also long been known. By 2000 BC, castration of farm animals to make them easier to handle was widespread. Bulls, rams and stallions were made more docile with a few well-targeted snips, making them less likely to protest when asked to haul loads or pull ploughs. But nobody really took much interest in just how castration brought about these dramatic changes until Berthold began his investigations. . . .

Yo is giving you a lesson on singular pronouns

By Wallraff, Barbara

1.28.2008

The latest news from the language front is that teenagers in Baltimore have invented a gender-neutral singular pronoun: "yo." When I learned of this, I was fascinated - for about 10 minutes. Then I started to get upset.

I was fascinated at first because English needs such a pronoun, or a set of them - words to fill in the blanks in sentences like "These days, an English teacher sure has ... work cut out for ..." Thank goodness, an unspecified teacher isn't automatically /him/his" anymore. "She/her/hers" is no more equitable as an alternative, though. Another possibility is "they/them/their" - but any English teacher who's satisfied with this option is in the wrong line of work.

English-speaking people have been searching for and inventing gender-neutral singular pronouns for at least 150 years. Among the many that have been proposed are "ne," "thon," "hesh," "he'er," "shey," "e," "hisorher" and the unpronounceable "s/he." Unfortunately, none of these coinages has caught on outside subcultures. So people keep inventing new ones.

Why does it upset me if kids in Baltimore came up with their own solution to the pronoun problem? Well, for one thing, that isn't what they did. Their teachers, having discovered their students' use of "yo," went on to document how the kids used it. Two of the examples the teachers collected were "Yo is tuckin' in his shirt" and "Peep yo." In the first example, note the word "his," which makes it clear that "yo" here isn't an unspecified person - it's a particular male. The second example means "Look at him (or her)." Out of context, we can't tell the sex of the person being referred to, but obviously, whoever was speaking was referring to someone he or she could see - another particular person of known gender. In neither case do we have an unspecified person, and therefore "yo" isn't that holy grail of pronouns our entire culture has been seeking. . . .

Rose, India's first transgender television show host

Host of Southern India's "Yours, Rose" will seek to challenge stereotypes, social taboos.

New Zealand: Reporting on the value of kindness

By Carroll du Chateau

January 26, 2008


It was Sir Ed who put it best: "Well, James has really changed," he remarked to his former climbing companion Dr Mike Gill. They had just met again with the reporter from the Times who had climbed to base camp, 18,000ft (5496m) high in the Himalayas, lugging his typewriter, to cover the original Everest expedition of 1953. Back then James Morris was a "fit, intensely ambitious" 26-year-old former Army intelligence officer who so impressed the Times it gave him its toughest assignment.

And when he showed up for one of the Everest reunions, as the understated Sir Ed remarked, he had really changed. He had become Jan: he was a woman.

Jan Morris doesn't want to talk about that sex change stuff now. She has been a woman for more than 35 years, since the operation in Marrakesh. It is detailed in her book, Conundrum (1974). She has suffered the sniggers, answered the questions. Now 81 and an acclaimed writer with around 40 books behind her, she refuses to discuss it any more. . . .

A New Writer Arrives at Ex-Gay Watch

by David Roberts

January 25th, 2008

We would like to introduce Yuki Choe, a commenter turned writer at XGW. Some may know her already from her thoughtful comments, but for those who don’t she has written an introduction which follows. Please join us in welcoming her to the site!

Introduction

Greetings everyone! I am YukiChoe, and I am an Asian transsexual female with strong interests in ex-gay related issues. I will be living in Australia soon with my newly wedded husband. I became involved with Real Love Ministry in Malaysia back in mid 2006, and was quickly disillusioned with their camouflaged, anti-gay, anti-transgender rhetoric. I was also appalled with the way lesbians, gays and transgenders were represented by other ex-gays and felt their misinformation of LGTs needed a strong counter voice. That is when I started advocating against ex-gay efforts toward those who have no problem with their orientation.

So why is a transsexual female like me contributing to a site like XGW? I believe there is an ex-gay or ex-transsexual experience in everyone of us. Be it a gay, having to be closeted by pretending to be completely heterosexual in public due to the pressures of society, a lesbian that may be comfortable in pants being forced to wear clothes that are totally femme against her will by her family, or a transsexual female being coerced into confining herself by pretending to be a boy before the church authorities. Our differences have been exploited by people who wish to cause discrimination and marginalization among those of differing sexual orientations. . . .

T is for...

Zoe Brain

1.24.2008


Taxonomy.

An expansion of a comment (with some corrections) I wrote over at Bilerico, where the fractures and fault-lines of T politics are all too evident.

A Taxonomy stating how we differ, and what we have in common.

1. First, we're all human beings. That needs saying because we too often lose sight of the fact that everyone, even those we don't identify with, even those we feel uncomfortable being around, have human rights. And I speak as a conservative neo-con, not a tree-hugging kumbayah-singing liberal.

2. Then some of us are GLBT - people who do not fit in in some way with the standard bigendered model, where men look and act in accordance with society's norm for men and are only attracted to women, and women look and act accordance with society's norm for women and are only attracted to men. About the only thing such people have in common with each other is that it's the same people who persecute them. Many in this conglomerate - that is, a matrix containing parts of very different nature - don't remotely understand each other, and there's both phobia - fear - and loathing even when they do understand.

There's Androphobic Lesbians who see men, even Gay men, as a threat, Gynaphobic Gays who see anything redolent of femininity as beneath contempt, Homophobic Transsexuals who resent being conflated with those they see as morally corrupt, you name it. And straight Intersexed people who don't see why having an unusual medical condition automatically drafts them into a political activist group made up of weirdoes like mentally ill Transsexuals, Fetishistic Crossdressers, and perverted GLBs.

3. The there are some who are T. This is where it really gets confusing. T for Transgender. And what that word means changes from day to day. The original definition meant straight males who like wearing female attire, and rejected any insane body-modifiers or perverted faggots. Now to the bulk of the populace, it means those weirdoes who get a sex change. To political activists, it means anyone who "transgresses gender norms" of appearance, behaviour or body, except (for historical reasons) in the specific area of sexual orientation. Very often, arguments are based on both sides using different definitions, and sometimes changing the definitions in mid-stream if it supports the point they're trying to make. Again, many feel dragooned into being categorised and confused with other groups they not only don't identify with, but actively dislike, sometimes with good reason.

It appears that the majority of the "Transgendered" in the last definition, and certainly the ones with the most power and money, are (and I hate using RadFem vocabulary, but it fits) Patriarchal males in positions of relative privilege, but who are afraid (with good reason) that they will be marginalised if they have a high profile. The heirs to J. Edgar Hoover. They have much influence, a great deal of money compared to other parts of the TG mixture, but are largely unseen. Cross them, you get squashed like a bug. They have no interest in any medical or marital issues, and wish to disassociate themselves from the highly visible segments. Especially Transsexuals. They're with Virginia Prince on that one.

4. T is for....

Q: What's the difference between a cross-dresser and a transsexual?
A: Oh, about 5 years...

There's a big difference between the part-time cross-dressing male, and a post-operative intersexed woman. But there's gradations in between, and sometimes it's impossible for an external observer to tell where one begins, and another ends. Operative status is a nice, clean, easy metric to use - but is inaccurate for many reasons. Having major surgery is a Big Deal, not without risks, and neither is it free nor available to those who most need it. Conversely, there are many women who can live with physical deformities - be they having three breasts or one, or even having masculinised genitalia. Unless they intend having some form of love life, and that can be really dangerous for anyone who's transgendered, the benefits may be outweighed by the disadvantages.

My own view is that hormonal body modification is more a important divider, but even that isn't wholly reliable. So yes, there is a difference, but no, I can't give a simple test for it. You know it when you see it - the guys tend to bubble about silky underwear and frilly dresses, the women about feminism and childcare. However, those who are TS and unable to transition at puberty - and that means most - are evolving in their own identity. 80% cross-dress before transition. . . .

Allyson at the Transgender Religious Summit

Rev. Allyson Robinson

January 24, 2008

When I read last year’s news coverage of the first-ever Transgender Religious Summit, I was thrilled to know the event was taking place. I had always assumed that coming out transgender meant the end of my ministry career, and was so encouraged to know that enough transgender religious professionals existed to warrant a conference! So you can imagine how excited I was to receive an invitation to this year’s follow-up event, held last Sunday and Monday at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California.

I’ll be blogging some of the topics we covered at the summit over the next few days, but I want to open my coverage of the event by thanking all those who made my attendance there possible and by greeting all the wonderful new friends I made (who I hope will eventually find their way here). It was incredibly inspiring and empowering to be among them, and I left them with great hope for the future–both for all trans people of faith, and for myself as a trans woman called to serve the world on God’s behalf. . . .

Transgender Don't Mean Punk

Monica Roberts

1.24.2008


TransGriot note: Just in case you're wondering who the transwoman is with the boxing gloves on, that's Thai kickboxer Nong Tum, whose story was told in the film Beautiful Boxer.

One of the things our enemies and potential assailants presume to their detriment is that if a transperson is placed in a confrontational situation, we're just gonna acquiesce to the verbal beatdown (or worse) that you want to inflict on us.

Au contraire, my misguided friend.

I still chuckle about an incident that happened while I was out and about in Montrose one night. I was hanging out with one of my transwoman girlfriends outside an iconic Black gay nightclub then called Studio 13. Three white males rolled up in a truck and blocked the club's parking lot exit access to Westheimer Road. Two of them got out of the truck and started uttering anti-gay and anti-Black epithets.

Two female illusionists literally got in their faces and read them like cheap novels to the point where we were laughing at them. The 'macho' men took a swing at one of the illusionists, who not only ducked the incoming punch, but proceeded to administer a beatdown that these boys will never forget. It only ended when security pulled them away from the silly boys. They left bruised, battered and anxious to scurry back to their truck and run back to wherever they came from. . . .

Living with honor

One person's struggle for identity

Michael Rizzo

1.24.2008


"Boys have a penis. Girls have a vagina."

When Mr. Kimble, aka Governor Schwarzenegger, got that tip from one of his pupils in "Kindergarten Cop," we all laughed.

If only it were that simple.

Meet Amanda Clark, 28. She joined the ranks of San Jose State University on Wednesday, working toward a post-baccalaureate degree in accounting. She comes to us after a four-year stint in the Army Reserve, studying Korean at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey.

Oh, and she has a penis.

Amanda identifies as transgender, so she gets lumped in with the queer community. "You can't have the LGB without the T," she told me.

"I just want to live fulltime as a woman," Amanda said. "And be acknowledged as that by society."

In less sympathetic times, "trannies" were thought of as just "gays-to-the-extreme," a fetish gone out of control. And even today, some psychologists would say that Amanda is sick and suffers from a mental disorder.

But the way Cassie Blume of the Billy DeFrank Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in San Jose explained it to me, the transgender identity is misunderstood because society's ingrained notions of male and female are completely abstract. . . .

Paris is Burning 1 of 11

Paris is Burning (1990)
An unblinking behind the scenes story of fashion obsessed New Yorkers who created "voguing" and drag balls , and turned these raucous celebrations into a powerful expression of personal pride. The world within a world is instantly familiar, filled with ambitions, desires and yearnings that reflect America itself is an intimate portrait of one urban community, a world in which the allure of high fashion, status and wealth becomes an affirmation of love, acceptance and joy.

Documentary reveals NYC drag queen life

by Kevin Turner

1.24.2008


For drag queens featured in the documentary "Paris is Burning," sequins, makeup and stilettos aren't just part of a costume. They're part of a lifestyle.

The 1990 documentary about the drag culture in New York City will be screened at 5 p.m. today as the fourth installment in the Global Queer Cinema Film Series.

The film series is presented in conjunction with Global Queer Cinema, a course taught by Germanic languages professor and sexuality studies board member Alice Kuzniar. Kuzniar, who chose all films for the series, was once a programmer for the North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

"I wanted to choose 'Paris is Burning' because it has been probably the most controversial in visible film from the 1990s that dealt with transgender and it's been taken up in a lot of film criticism and scholarship on race and transgender studies," Kuzniar said.

"It has also been controversial because why is it that a predominately white audience would be interested in the spectacle that they are presenting? So there is kind of a voyeuristic titillation in the gender and racial difference."

The series, which began last November and has already shown two films and one documentary, screens movies tackling issues facing the queer community from a variety of cultures and religions.

"I wanted to have a diversity of different nationalities represented, and I wanted to have a number of documentaries represented that discuss issues like religious taboos," Kuzniar said. . . .

Boys will be boys - or else

Brian Whitaker

1.23.2008


Kuwaitis who defy very narrowly defined gender stereotypes now face prison or a hefty fine

In his book Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the prominent religious scholar, writes:

"The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) declared that a woman should not wear a man's clothing or vice versa. He cursed men who imitate women and women who imitate men ...

"The evil of such conduct, which affects both the life of the individual and that of the society, is that it constitutes a rebellion against the natural ordering of things. According to this natural order, there are men and there are women, and each of the two sexes has its own distinctive characteristics. However, if men become effeminate and women masculinised, this natural order will be reversed and will disintegrate.

"Among those who are cursed by Allah and His Angels, both in this world and in the Hereafter, the Prophet, peace and blessings be on him, has mentioned the man whom Allah has created as male but who becomes effeminate by imitating women, and a woman whom Allah has created as female but who becomes masculinised by imitating men. For this reason the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade men from wearing clothes or things pertaining to women."

According to the website IslamOnline, "Aspects of such imitation include the manner of speaking, walking, dressing, moving, and so on."

Quoting a Saudi scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Salih al-Munajjid, it continues: "Wearing adornments on the wrist and neck, and on the ears is an imitation of women, as this is something that is only for women. So it is not permissible for men to wear bracelets, earrings, anklets, or chains." . . .

One-man show extends 'tremendous energy'

By LINDSAY OBERST

1/23/08


Poet dismisses transsexual falsities

One might think Athens Boys Choir would sound like smiling boys in matching robes, crooning in harmony. But Katz, the only member, is far from it.

"There's nothing choir about it. I'm beyond terrible of a singer," he said.

Katz - whose legal first name is Elizabeth - is a transsexual man who also goes by the name Harvey.

"When people hear it's a poetry event, it conjures up a specialized group of people," Katz said. "But my work is not traditional poetry; I do X-Games poetry, and I definitely have a sense of humor."

Ryan Byrd, a University alumnus from Augusta, has been to Athens Boys Choir shows numerous times.

"It was literally a life-changing experience," he said. "The shows have a tremendous amount of energy. (Katz) has the ability to challenge and entertain. I am also just a bit amazed at his power with words." . . .

Gender Identity Vs Transgender

Alice

1.23.2008


I was just reading something and came across the following definitions

Quote:

Transgender A broad range of people who experience and/or express their gender differently from what most people expect — either in terms of expressing a gender that does not match the sex listed on their original birth certificate (i.e., designated sex at birth), or physically changing their sex. It is an umbrella term that includes people who are transsexual, cross-dressers or otherwise gender non-conforming. Not all people who consider themselves (or who may be considered by others as) transgender will undergo a gender transition. Gender identity The term “gender identity,” distinct from the term “sexual orientation,” refers to a person’s innate, deeply felt psychological identification as male or female, which may or may not correspond to the person’s body or designated sex at birth (meaning what sex was originally listed on a person’s birth certificate). Gender identity disorder / Gender dysphoria GID is a psychological diagnosis recognized by the American Psychiatric Association. This disorder is marked by severe distress and discomfort caused by the conflict between one’s gender identity and one’s designated sex at birth. Not all transgender people experience gender dysphoria or are diagnosed with GID.

I find this very curious. Part of my stress has been the thought that I am a cross dresser about to transistion. As can be seen by the top definition - a cross dresser is within the transgender community.

What if I still identify as Male? . . .

AHHHHHHHHHHH!

loganloveslego

2008-01-23


I have experienced more ignorance in the past 7 days that I have in
my entire life. I am an upper year psychology student at this
learning institution. I am ashamed and embarrassed to be in an
educational environment with such closed minded people. It is easy
to understand how and why people are not aware of ignorance's like
the ones I am shortly going to address but it is not justifiable, or
acceptable by any means.

First and foremost, I am a 'trans' identified person. 'Trans' in
this context is loosely defined as someone whose gender identity is
inconsistent with the gender they were assigned at birth. Our
learning institution is taking initiatives to become a more
'trans-friendly' place but they are slow and met with many
bureaucratic road blocks.

Part of Brock's initiatives have been to allow students to go by
whichever name they prefer and have that name presented on class
lists, the assigned legal name is however also on this list. Last
week in a seminar a teaching assistant was deeply troubled by my
preferred name and 'legal' names gender inconsistency and she
announced this problem to the group of 20 or so students practically
forcing me to explain that I am trans and thus have a legal name
that does not reflect the gender I present. I would prefer to remain
stealth about my biological gender, but I am not ashamed of my
identity or situation. I am however concerned for my safety as there
is a history of abuse and mistreatment of 'trans' people by those
who are not comfortable with the idea. . . .

Why Kylie Minogue could have the perfect legs

By Laura Clout

1.17.2008

Scientists have discovered the secret to the perfect pair of legs - an extra five per cent.

Research found that the average woman - at around 5ft 4in tall with an inside leg measurement of 29in - would need shapely 30.5in legs to reach perfection.

However, very long legs are not necessarily better because the study also showed that those with an extra 10 per cent were actually rated as less attractive.

The findings could explain the sex appeal of stars such as Kylie Minogue, the singer, who despite being only 5ft tall, has topped polls of the "best celebrity legs".

Although her legs are petite, they are proportionally long compared with her small frame. It could also explain why women often choose to wear high heels, giving the illusion of longer limbs.

Polish researchers at Wroclaw University asked 218 male and female volunteers to rate, in order of attractiveness, seven silhouettes of a man and woman. . . .

UCSC Gender Neutral Housing

By Cody-Leigh Mullin

What if the subject of gender, masculine and feminine alike, was as variable as race and religion when it comes to assigning on-campus housing? This is precisely what the Colleges and University Housing Services staff at UC Santa Cruz is currently discussing.

Integrating men, women and those who do not affiliate with a particular gender on the same dormitory floor is a fairly new development in colleges and universities across the nation. However UCSC is already working toward the goal of giving a gender-neutral option to all students.

Among the colleges and universities in the nation to already offer gender-neutral housing are Brown University, Oberlin College, Columbia University, Vassar College, and University of Pennsylvania.

Three California campuses have similar accommodations, including Humboldt State, the California Institute of Technology, and UC Riverside. UCR, which initiated gender-neutral housing in the fall of 2005, remains the only UC campus to have done so. However, other UCs offer various accommodations for the GLBTI community, such as UC Berkeley’s Unity House and Davis’ Rainbow House. . . .