Originally posted on LJ on 10-25-07
***note: shortly after I found this pleasant Wikipedia addition, someone removed it. Andy Warhol was so right about that whole fifteen-minute thingy...
So sometimes when I'm on Wikipedia, I search using my own name to see if anyone is referencing anything I've written. For the longest time, the only result was on the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival page where my essay Bending Over Backwards: an Introduction to the issue of Trans Woman-Inclusion is cited. But today, a second result came up: the Colbert Report page. After searching through it (it's a *humongous* webpage) I found myself mentioned under Criticisms of the show:
Thursday, August 25, 2011
"the gays" are pissing me off
originally posted on LJ on 10-14-07
"The gays" are really pissing me off! And when I say "the gays," I'm not referring to people who engage in same-sex or otherwise queer relationships (a group which obviously includes myself). Rather, I am talking about the people who identify as gay or lesbian *only* and whose homocentric mindset leads them to think nothing of marginalizing and demonizing the countless gender-variant, bisexual, sex radical, economically disadvantaged and unapologetically feminine folks in their own community.
"The gays" are really pissing me off! And when I say "the gays," I'm not referring to people who engage in same-sex or otherwise queer relationships (a group which obviously includes myself). Rather, I am talking about the people who identify as gay or lesbian *only* and whose homocentric mindset leads them to think nothing of marginalizing and demonizing the countless gender-variant, bisexual, sex radical, economically disadvantaged and unapologetically feminine folks in their own community.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
the c-word
originally posted on LJ on 8-3-07
Okay, so some people know about this and some people don't. Because I'm exhausted having to recall this story for people every time it comes up in conversation, I am going to post it here. It's about cancer. I plan to write about this more in detail at some point, but for now, hopefully this will suffice:
Okay, so some people know about this and some people don't. Because I'm exhausted having to recall this story for people every time it comes up in conversation, I am going to post it here. It's about cancer. I plan to write about this more in detail at some point, but for now, hopefully this will suffice:
Gendercator-centered dialogs
originally posted on LJ on 7-12-07
As most of you probably know, a film called The Gendercator was recently selected and then subsequently pulled from Frameline (an SF-based LGBT film festival). It was a supposed sci-fi short produced by a lesbian filmmaker that depicts physical transitions from one sex to the other (i.e., transsexual transitions) as being imposed on gender-variant people by a rigid patriarchal/heterosexist society, thus implying that transsexuals are the “dupes” of an oppressive gender system.
Anyway, because the film was pulled (due to outrage from the trans community over the fact that a film with such blatant anti-trans stereotypes was showing as part of the LGB-and-apparently-sometimes-T Pride festivities) there have since been accusations of “censorship” (despite the fact that a blatantly anti-gay/lesbian film never would have seen the light of day at Frameline). This has resulted in a growing movement of late to 1) show the film, and 2) follow it with a panel designed to discuss the issues raised by the film. In theory, this would (*hopefully*) lead to a respectful dialogue that would heal the community.
As most of you probably know, a film called The Gendercator was recently selected and then subsequently pulled from Frameline (an SF-based LGBT film festival). It was a supposed sci-fi short produced by a lesbian filmmaker that depicts physical transitions from one sex to the other (i.e., transsexual transitions) as being imposed on gender-variant people by a rigid patriarchal/heterosexist society, thus implying that transsexuals are the “dupes” of an oppressive gender system.
Anyway, because the film was pulled (due to outrage from the trans community over the fact that a film with such blatant anti-trans stereotypes was showing as part of the LGB-and-apparently-sometimes-T Pride festivities) there have since been accusations of “censorship” (despite the fact that a blatantly anti-gay/lesbian film never would have seen the light of day at Frameline). This has resulted in a growing movement of late to 1) show the film, and 2) follow it with a panel designed to discuss the issues raised by the film. In theory, this would (*hopefully*) lead to a respectful dialogue that would heal the community.
Having it Both Ways
originally posted on LJ on 6-22-07
I went to the 3rd annual TransForming Community event tonight – it is an event that is dedicated to exploring the friction at the intersection of contemporary trans and queer communities. I think my two favorite pieces of the evening were those by Prado Gomez and Storm Florez, both of whom (in different ways) addressed the issue of trans men needing to own the fact that they are men (rather than retreating into the excuse that they are not “really” men when it suits their interests). Prado’s piece discussed how some trans guys will wield masculine/male power and privilege at one moment, then the next argue they don’t actually have such power because they’re trans, or they weren’t socialized male, or that they aren’t capable of sexually violating someone else because they don’t have a penis. Perhaps I appreciated these pieces so much because they addressed a certain double standard that I see going on all the time in queer/trans/feminist communities, but which has not yet been clearly articulated.
I went to the 3rd annual TransForming Community event tonight – it is an event that is dedicated to exploring the friction at the intersection of contemporary trans and queer communities. I think my two favorite pieces of the evening were those by Prado Gomez and Storm Florez, both of whom (in different ways) addressed the issue of trans men needing to own the fact that they are men (rather than retreating into the excuse that they are not “really” men when it suits their interests). Prado’s piece discussed how some trans guys will wield masculine/male power and privilege at one moment, then the next argue they don’t actually have such power because they’re trans, or they weren’t socialized male, or that they aren’t capable of sexually violating someone else because they don’t have a penis. Perhaps I appreciated these pieces so much because they addressed a certain double standard that I see going on all the time in queer/trans/feminist communities, but which has not yet been clearly articulated.
surgery
another old blog post from 5-10-07:
Normally, when people tell friends and acquaintances that they are about to undergo surgery, they tend to get immediate responses like, "I'm sorry to hear that," or "I hope it's nothing too serious." But when you're trans, people are often not sure how to react. I mean, is it a good surgery? The surgery? A surgery that you want, or one that you merely have to have? Should I congrat you or pass along my sympathies...
Anyway, I had surgery on Monday. Not the surgery, but merely a surgery. Actually, this was the fourth surgery on my right cheek in the last 6 months.
Normally, when people tell friends and acquaintances that they are about to undergo surgery, they tend to get immediate responses like, "I'm sorry to hear that," or "I hope it's nothing too serious." But when you're trans, people are often not sure how to react. I mean, is it a good surgery? The surgery? A surgery that you want, or one that you merely have to have? Should I congrat you or pass along my sympathies...
Anyway, I had surgery on Monday. Not the surgery, but merely a surgery. Actually, this was the fourth surgery on my right cheek in the last 6 months.
blog-born-blog
in april 2007, when I began "blogging" this was my first post ever:
my blog identifies as a “Blog-Born-Blog”. This means that it is was born and socialized as a blog, unlike your blog. While your blog may identify as a blog, live as a blog, and may face the same anti-blog discrimination that my blog faces, my blog believes that your blog isn’t nearly as oppressed. After all, your blog may call itself a “blog”, but it never had a bloghood like mine had. You should know that this is a “blog-born-blog”-only webspace, which means that my blog doesn't want so-called pseudo-“blogs” like yours around. But rather than say this to your face, my blog will instead insist that this webpage was always meant to be a place for other “blog-born-blog”s to get together and reminisce about our bloghoods - a bloghood that your blog unfortunately was not unfortunate enough to have had. However, don’t you dare accuse my blog of being prejudice against your blog, because if you do, my blog will claim that “blog-born-blog” is a legitimate webpage-identity. That way, if your blog challenges the policy, my blog will accuse your blog of disrespecting its identity, and then it can retaliate by disrespecting your blog’s identity as a “blog”. Face it, it’s a lose-lose situation for your blog...
my blog identifies as a “Blog-Born-Blog”. This means that it is was born and socialized as a blog, unlike your blog. While your blog may identify as a blog, live as a blog, and may face the same anti-blog discrimination that my blog faces, my blog believes that your blog isn’t nearly as oppressed. After all, your blog may call itself a “blog”, but it never had a bloghood like mine had. You should know that this is a “blog-born-blog”-only webspace, which means that my blog doesn't want so-called pseudo-“blogs” like yours around. But rather than say this to your face, my blog will instead insist that this webpage was always meant to be a place for other “blog-born-blog”s to get together and reminisce about our bloghoods - a bloghood that your blog unfortunately was not unfortunate enough to have had. However, don’t you dare accuse my blog of being prejudice against your blog, because if you do, my blog will claim that “blog-born-blog” is a legitimate webpage-identity. That way, if your blog challenges the policy, my blog will accuse your blog of disrespecting its identity, and then it can retaliate by disrespecting your blog’s identity as a “blog”. Face it, it’s a lose-lose situation for your blog...
the beginning of the end...or the end of the begining?
since 2007 or so, my first (and until now, only) blog has been on Live Journal, which now, as we speak, is dying a slow and steady death. spam robot vultures have been preying on my old posts. no one has been reading to my newer posts. LJ is dead. long live LJ...
so now, I am re-starting my previously semi-ongoing blog here, on this new (blog)spot. over the next few weeks, I will be transferring over some of my more precious previous posts. after that, it will be mostly new posts...
sounds exciting! let's get on with it!
-julia
so now, I am re-starting my previously semi-ongoing blog here, on this new (blog)spot. over the next few weeks, I will be transferring over some of my more precious previous posts. after that, it will be mostly new posts...
sounds exciting! let's get on with it!
-julia
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