The Biggest Quake: New thinking on the San Francisco AIDS epidemic

So here we are again, at the start of another Pride month! I wanted to let folks know about an awesome spoken word event that I will be taking part in next week:

The Biggest Quake: New thinking on the San Francisco AIDS epidemic

Laura Jane Grace and coming out as trans in the public eye

So about once every year or two, somebody comes out as trans in a rather high profile way. Two years ago it was Chaz Bono. Before that there was Christine Daniels, Susan Stanton, and others before them. When this happens, I usually experience a mix of emotions.

Justice for Brandy

So a few days ago, a trans woman of color was murdered in my neighborhood, just a few blocks from my apartment. There has been scant media coverage about this, so some of us are trying to get the word out. Please help pass this news around. And if you know any media folks, please encourage them to cover the story. Here are all the links to this story that I am currently aware of. If you have additional ones, please post them in the comments section. Thanks! -j.

my Ms. Magazine blog article on Trans Feminism

So some of you may already be aware of this, but yesterday my article "Trans Feminism: There’s No Conundrum About It" appeared on Ms. Magazine's blog. It is my rebuttal to a previous article on trans feminism that they published last month.

If you're interested, you can check out the aforementioned link...enjoy! -j.

julia update April 2012!

in this julia update:

1) Girl Talk 2012 videos!
2) upcoming San Francisco shows!

Trans-misogyny primer

[note added January, 2017: This primer now appears as a chapter in my third book Outspoken: A Decade of Transgender Activism and Trans Feminism]

I am often asked to explain trans-misogyny to people. While I've written extensively about trans-misogyny in Whipping Girl and other places, I sometimes find it difficult to sum up the concept in a few short words. This is especially true when explaining the concept to people who are relatively unaware about trans issues and experiences. Such people are often stuck in the mindset of viewing trans women as "men", and as a result, they have a hard time wrapping their brains around how misogyny might impact trans women's lives.

Julia @ Southern Oregon University!

So on April 5th I will be speaking at Southern Oregon University on the topic of Intersections of Feminism, Queer and Trans Politics. A Facebook invite for the event can be found here:

Come to the "Girl Talk" pre-show mixer Thursday @ 6pm!

Hey "Girl Talk: A Trans & Cis Woman Dialogue" ticket holders:

We (the co-curators of Girl Talk) are throwing a mixer just before the show! There will be food and drink, plus music provided by the amazing DJ CPI! There will be a merch table where you can check out (and perhaps even procure) books, CDs, zines, etc., by Girl Talk cast members. But most importantly, this will be a chance for those of us who are committed to fostering community between queer trans women and queer cis women to meet one another, chat, and have a bit of fun before the event begins!

Girl Talk tickets selling like hotcakes!!!

Hey folks, a quick reminder to purchase your tickets for Girl Talk 2012: a Trans & Cis Woman Dialogue *as soon as possible*, as over half the advance tickets are already sold! Every year the show has sold out, so we highly advise you to get your tickets right away - all of the show info (including a link to purchase advance tickets) can be found below...

Hope you can make it! -julia

ways to pass time when you have pneumonia...

sleep.

eat, or not eat. (mostly the latter.)

fondly reminisce about oxygen.

make up lots jokes along the lines of “Oh my god I can *not* believe that I fucking have pneumonia. how the fuck did this happen!”

stop for a minute to catch my breath.

unleash cunning trans woman sense of humor when chest-xray-technician repeatedly asks me: “so you’re absolutely sure your not pregnant, right?”

recall how, as a young child, I thought that the medical condition pneumonia and the chemical ammonia were somehow interrelated.

announcing Girl Talk 2012: a Trans & Cis Woman Dialogue

Hey folks, so over the weekend the official Girl Talk 2012: a Trans & Cis Woman Dialogue details were announced! Here is the official Facebook invite and here is the official QCC website. All the details also appear below.

Upcoming queer trans women & cis women events!

First, SF Bay Area folks, save the date: On Thursday, March 29th, me & my co-curators Gina de Vries and Elena Rose will be presenting the fourth annual Girl Talk, a cis and trans woman dialogue! Rest assured, I will be posting more details in the very near future. (more info about Girl Talk more generally, including video clips from the 2011 show, can be found by following the above link)...

Femme conference call for submissions

Hi folks, just figured I would pass this along, as some folks who follow my blog might be interested. It is a press release from the Femme 2012 conference, which will be in Baltimore this August. Not sure if I will be there, given that it is kinda sorta on the other side of the country from me. But if you have an interest in attending or presenting in some capacity, I encourage you to check it out... -j.

Adjustments (a 2011 personal retrospective)

Happy new year everyone!

So back in the early fall of 2010, I set a goal for myself: I promised myself that I would finish writing my (currently untitled) second book by the end of 2011. It was a new years resolution of sorts, albeit made several months in advance of Janurary 1st. However, sometimes in life, things do not go quite as planned.

When I made that commitment, what I did not know was that the minor “scalp problem” I was dealing with would eventually blossom into my first major full-on psoriasis flare up. At the time, I was unaware that I had the condition. In fact, I did not even know what psoriasis was, although later I would find out that it was the condition that was responsible for all the scabs that covered my grandmother’s legs, which I remember from back when I was a kid. And I would later find out that several other relatives on that side of my family had it too, although they covered it up by always wearing long sleeves and long pants. Even though it ran in the family, no one ever really talked about it (or at least they did not talk about it around me).

Ten years ago today...

So I have been a bit lax with regards to blogging lately. After a bunch of September and October posts, I became swamped with a number of out-of-town university presentations and local panels & book readings. I have also been trying to focus in earnest on book number two. It had been going rather slowly, in a somewhat piecemeal fashion. So I have committed myself to waking up extra early (5 or 6am) each day to get a solid 2 or 3 hours of writing in before heading off to work (that is how I managed to write Whipping Girl). On the bright side, I have been making good progress! The downside has been less sleep and less time for blogging...

julia events update november 2011

Hi folks, I hope this update finds you well!

So like I said in my last update, I have a veritable slew of events (both SF Bay Area & out of town) this November! here they are:

two upcoming events!

hi all, for those interested in catching my readings, performances and/or presentations, you may be in luck, as I have two out-of-town college presentations this month, and a slew of events (both out of town & local Bay Area) in November. here are links to the two October events. In the next week or so, I will post a second update that will list all the November events...

Seeking quotes from queer women who partner with trans women and/or cis men

As a bisexual femme-identified trans woman, I have long been interested in (and concerned by) how the borders of queer women’s communities are policed - where certain people, actions and ways of being are seen as legitimately queer while others are not.

In my own community, I have found two different recurring complaints along these lines that I wish to chronicle for an essay I am working on:

My adventures in sexology (plus a Call for Submissions!)

My life has taken a number of interesting turns over the last ten years. And I am not talking about my transition here - if you would have told me 20 years ago that I would eventually transition to female, I would not have been especially surprised. However, if you would have told me back then that I would someday spend a great deal of my free time writing about feminism, and that some of those writings would be taught in gender studies classes, I never would have believed you in a million years.

The same holds true with regards to me being taken seriously in (some) sexology circles. I first became interested in the field as I was beginning to work on Whipping Girl (WG). Specifically, I saw a connection between how trans women and others on the trans female/feminine spectrum were sexualized in the media and how we were similarly sexualized in certain sexology & psychology theories. So, I did a lot of research on those theories and critiqued them in WG (specifically in Chapters 7, 14 & 17). At that point, I felt like I said what needed to be said, and I was ready to move on.

But after WG came out, I had a Michael Corleone-like moment: “Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in.”

WPATH releases new Standards of Care

Over the weekend I received an email from the group TransActive that announced the WPATH (aka, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health) just released the latest Standards of Care. For those not in the know, basically these are guidelines for healthcare providers to consider/follow to address the needs of trans clients, particularly in situations where social/physical/legal transition is involved.

For those interested in perusing them, they can be downloaded at this link:
http://ugcs.net/~irene/drop/soc.pdf

I am too busy the next few weeks to thoroughly go through them, but I will certainly be interested in hearing other people's thoughts in the days/weeks that follow...