turtles

This is just a reminder to my fellow trans* guys that the t-word is not ours to reclaim. A slur, at its most basic roots, is a reminder along the lines of 'I could kill you right now, and nobody would care'. Almost all (think 9 in 10 or more) trans* people killed in hate crimes are trans* women, and murderers of trans* men are much more likely to be brought to justice or at the very least acknowledged in the wider LGBT community. Murders of trans* women, especially WoC, often barely make local news.

Yes, there are people who use the t word towards trans* men. But it doesn't mean the same thing. It doesn't mean 'society would validate me for an act of violence towards you'. It is a comparison to trans* women. It generally (generally, not always) doesn't indicate that they're about to punish you for your existence through violence.

Yes, trans* men do suffer. Yes, we are sometimes the victims of hate crimes and more often the victims of discrimination due to our trans* status. And no, we do not have the same privileges as a cis man. But please remember that we do have male privilege, especially compared to trans* women, because they need all the support they can get. We cannot turn our backs on them. It is not acceptable to leave behind trans* women simply because society has deemed us more acceptable.


IDK if this really fits in here, but it's come up before when I've tried to have this conversation with certain guys I really respect but strongly disagree with on this issue. No, trans* men are not targeted less because of our invisibility. Perhaps a few decades ago that argument could have been made...but it is obvious, now, that we are being accorded some amount of male privilege. We are no longer invisible, and only a decade or so off the mark, we're being portrayed more sensitively in the media than trans* women are. If you're looking for some blatant evidence of this...trans* men in comedy movies are portrayed as sensitive and rounded characters, as well as Hollywood can do those things. Chaz Bono has been elected the 'trans* spokesperson' by cis people, despite the many trans* women who have been more than qualified to achieve fame in their own right - some of whom have, but nobody is asking them about their experiences, struggles, or views. We are not invisible, and we are gaining power while trans* women are being killed and nobody talks about it, and that isn't okay.


...I actually hadn't been planning to write that all up like, right now, but apparently it all wanted to come out. I had been planning on like. Links and stuff. Maybe I'll come back and add some. Er.

MY NEW BINDER ARRIVED TODAY WOOOOOO omg lol it's so much tighter than my old one...but still wearable...which is awesome. Although getting it on and off is a liiiittle bit of a struggle lol but the velcro makes it easier.

Also I got new Sherlock shirts ahhhhh

ALSO...I have the house to myself this weekend, just me and Tripper and the cat although she keeps mostly to herself...I am taking advantage of this situation for NAKED BAKING TIME. Yesterday I made some dough with my shirt off. Today I will bake it, probably in just my boxers because the oven will heat the kitchen up.

Not sure I'll be able to get proper photos of these cookies though because MY PARENTS TOOK MY CAMERA ON THEIR TRIP. WITHOUT ASKING.

Whatever. I'll see if I can get good pics out of dad's camera. These cookies will either be fantastic or weird-looking and either way y'all will want pictures I'm sure.

Also, just as a general statement, if you claim to be a trans* ally and then use 'trans' as a noun, as in calling me 'a trans', I'm going to have some significant doubts about your allyhood. I didn't even know anybody did that except radfems and certain conservatives until recently.
(ESL people exempted from this skepticism of course. God I can't imagine what kinds of terrible shit I would say if I tried to talk about issues of privilege in German)

ETA also I anticipate problems now that I can bind properly again. I 'pass' about 25-50% of the time if I'm binding well and I've been tossed out of the women's room before, but I can't use the men's room because there are people on campus who know me.



HATE BATHROOMS

I had a post I was going to write about the sex/gender divide but then I decided to...not. Sorry. Actually, here, I'll sum it up:

The enforced sex binary is bullshit and based on cultural norms rather than anything actually medically useful, don't call me female-bodied because I am not.


Sorry for the swearing, I am angry because (warning: transphobia) Urban Outfitters and casual transphobia yay

Also, a relevant thing, from sunisup:

"Sometimes I hear people say that racism/sexism/etc in culture isn’t important or worth criticizing. ”Oh it’s just a book,” they say. ”It’s just a crappy TV show.” ”It’s just a commercial.”

This argument always baffles me. It’s like if you put poison into a fish-tank and then say “Oh well I didn’t poison the fish, I just poisoned the water.” The fish lives in the water, dumbass; it’s completely submerged in and surrounded by the water. I’m pretty sure that poisoned water is going to affect the fish."

Rest here.


...Did I even connect those things coherently? Oh well, this is what you're getting. I'm going to go write porn rather than strangle the next cis person I see. Because that would probably be dakfire and I think I like her better alive.

I would like to offer serious commentary on this video but all I can think about is how cute Livvy's outfit is. I swear to god, preteens get the cutest clothes. I wish I had been that fashionable at that age.

TBH, if I had been allowed to go to school as a boy, I would have probably been wearing little button-up shirts and slacks to school every day. It's what I started doing in high school when I got my head on straight and all. Button-up shirts, ties, and so on. I think once I'm something approaching comfortable with my body I'll be doing formal or club-formal dress every day forever.

WAISTCOATS. ALL THE WAISTCOATS.

(trigger warning for common transphobic phrases)



"Don't worry, once gay marriage is legalized, we're gonna stop discriminating against you, too."

Oh god lol xD


Also, considering alternatives to the terms 'homophobia' and 'transphobia'. I'm just getting sick of people going 'but it's a phobia, you can't blame someone for a phobia!!!' and I'm pretty sure the terms started that way to fuel the Gay/Trans Panic defenses and to differentiate it from "real" bigotry.

There's fear at the root of most bigotry. But it's the hatred that's the problem. So, maybe that's what we should focus on. It's just a thought though, I'd like other opinions.

The ringers are all over the place this time of year, but you might want to know some things about the Salvation Army before you donate to them.

A quick rundown for you:

• SA-run shelters often refuse space or assistance to openly gay couples
  
• They support anti-gay legislation, not just in word but monetarily; that's where some of your donations will end up

And no, choosing not to donate to the SA doesn't mean you have to hurt homeless people in general in the process. There's probably a locally-run LGBT-friendly charity that would appreciate your donations c:

I've had this accusation thrown at me before, and seen it thrown at other trans people, in so many words or no, so I'd like to take a moment to talk about where I am in my life and what that means to me.

( Cis hater )

Thanksgiving has never been a holiday that sat well with me. I understand for a lot of American families it's just about family and being thankful. In our family, it...isn't. I think that might be hard for some people to imagine when they've never heard how polite my grandfather can make a toast to genocide sound.

So I've never really been into any of the traditions, including counting what you're thankful for; but I recently found the time to stroll back over to Tranarchism and it's reminded me of how much I do have to be thankful for.

Things like making strides in California and that there are people out there who refuse to cater to cissexism and transphobia.

I'm also thankful for every single fellow trans person - whether you're stealth or closeted or out and proud or you disagree with how me and mine fight for our rights or whether you fight alongside us, or even fiercer, I am thankful for you; for your existence, for the fact that you're still living and breathing and brightening the world with your presence. You are beautiful, I love you, thank you, never give up on yourself.

I'm also thankful for our cis allies, those who really fight for us and stand beside us, or even just one of us. Thank you for your dedication to equality and willingness to stand against the world with us.

Also, people glitter-bombing Dan Savage. I am definitely thankful for that.

HEY LOOK IT'S THAT POST I PROMISED

( Omg someone came out to me as trans what do I do?! )


Alright, so that's all I can think of. If any of my various trans frands would like to add anything, disagree with anything, etc. go right ahead :D discussion is always welcome.


ALSO BTW GUYS I have a tumblr now too, I mean a proper one not just one to fill with creepy things. I'm reblogging shit and everything, look at how tumblrtastic I am! I'm going to be cross-posting some things I think. That's not bad tumblr etiquette, right? It's like, half the point of tumblr, to put things that are not on tumblr onto tumblr.

Hey look, I replaced my 'beast' icon!

Why? Well, the old one was made from a (rather ugly) picture I got off of google. This one is a very pretty picture of the same creature, but in this one you can actually recognize it (can anybody tell what it is? I guess it's not very common to know. Also, no cheating by looking at the key word) and it's very nice-looking and comes from a free dingbat font on dafont.com (Aprendiz Caligrafico if you're curious, pretty innit? :D) (also, the background texture is from a free stock image site).

Yeah I totally loaded up on dingbat fonts, which I did not expect to do at all, but they have so many awesome ones aldkjsafksa



Anyways, I am wanting to do some writing, especially on trans issues. The problem is...I can't think of anything more specific than that. Are there any things you guys would like to see me write about? Questions answered? Anything?

P.S. Americans should take a look at this if you haven't seen it before :3