Intersectionality

From A Womyn’s Ecdysis:

There is no current US Women’s Movement. There is no US Feminist Movement. What is it that we face? The face of the US movementS change with community and by geography. It changes with all the things that make up the intersection of intersectionality. It is no wonder so much argument and fighting occurs - so many women believe their agenda is the most important. Intersectionality is the tool to help you clarify the dynamic of your own kyriarchal oppression and ALSO to equip yourself to ultimately CHOOSE how to resist. Understanding intersectionality has become the limbo for US media-driven feminists. We wait there until we “get it.”

The danger of intersectionality is that it is often mixed in as an objective of US feminism, not a tool of alliance work or consciousness-raising. It’s a method, not a goal. The perception is that we can’t move forward until we understand the condition of Asian Americans, or disabled womyn, or Black lesbian and queer activists. That is not intersectionality, that is stupidity. There is and should not be One Movement for US womyn because we are as diverse in need as we are in faith, values, and life exposure. Intersectionality is a TOOL, nothing more. We are to first understand ourselves in the context of a kyriarchal system before we can critically understand the condition of other womyn. It’s not oppression olympics, it’s humbling self-decentering. My own story is significant. It is sacred. In studying my own life’s meaning, I uncover the stories of others whose own lives are also significant and sacred. Holding both is not giving up my own power or agenda. Recognizing other lives and individuals and populations does not negate or change the course of my struggle. It enriches it with the power of knowledge, alliance, and shared hope.

I’ve learned that I can carefully be an advocate for womyn’s liberation, but I must fight and live with chosen direction and purpose to truly impact my own community.

There must be action. There must be a statement

Yes.
We don’t all have to fight for the same thing. There doesn’t need to be One Cause that we all fight for. We should all be fighting for what is important to us in our little corner of the world, with other people that think that is important too.

For example, I don’t give a fig about Michfest. OMG, yes I said it!
I don’t care that women aren’t being allowed into Michfest just cos they aren’t ‘womyn-born-womyn’.
You see, Michfest happens in another country. A country to which I have never been, will hopefully never have to go. It is a music festival, to which I have never been, and will never go to. I don’t know anyone who has been, or will go, or would even want to go there.

What I care about is HREOC’s Gender Diversity Project. My t-boy groups BBQ’s, lunches, and dinners. Making a float for Mardi Gras. Hanging out with the local trans community. Making sure people aren’t giving me and my friends shit for being who we are. Making sure that those lesbians I know at Uni can get married some day, and have a honeymoon like they’ve been dreaming of.
These are causes that are important to me. I only have so much energy, so much time, so much to give. If anyone comes to me and asks for a concrete instance of help… a donation, a signature, help them paint a banner, write a letter to a member. I will help if I have the smallest sympathy for their cause.
However, my schedule is full. I learn, I try to understand, I try to be aware. I try to tread lightly, and I ensure that fighting for my rights does not lead to the degradation of another minorities rights… however, there are some things that I just don’t care about.
Michfest is one of them.
Solidarity does not mean that I have to lay down my interests and causes and fight only for the One True Cause. It means that we should do our best to ensure our battles aren’t railroading the battles of other groups will less power than us.

Changed my Tag Line, cos I’m no longer Feminist

Cheerful Megalomaniac has always been about Feminism. Since the moment I started blogging last October, until today, Cheerful Megalomaniac has been a “Feminist Blog”. Today though, I have decided to change my focus from the patriarchy to the kyriarchy, from feminism to queer theory.

I have been told, vehemently, and repeatedly that I am not a feminist, and in fact, that I cannot be a feminist. There’s a variety of reasons for this. I am a man, and therefore cannot be oppressed. I am a transsexual, and so have betrayed the sisterhood. Bla bla bla. Whatever, most of them are bull shit reasons, that don’t really mean anything.

The thing is, I am not interested in being a part of a movement that does not want me around, that will not listen to my voice, that discounts my oppression as non-existent.

Feminism informs my world view, and will continue to do so. I still hate sexism as much as ever, and I am still determined to check my privilege, and make the world a better place. Its just occurred to me, that labeling myself a feminist is rather pointless.
After all, how can real change be implemented if people are too busy discussing whether or not I am allowed to call myself a feminist to actually talk about anything else?
Drawing lines in the sand around my identity is so pointless. Setting up oppression hierarchies and debating whether or not I have a right to claim to be oppressed or marginalised because of my trans status, cos I am transmasculine not transfeminine is completely off the planet!

So, easy to solve the problem. I don’t claim to be feminist. Other people don’t have to discuss whether I am allowed to be feminist, and we can get back to the work of changing the world?

Sounds like a plan to me.

Lesbian Uniform? Oh the lulz!

I haven’t been posting to CM much lately. I’ve been busy with moving house, battling gatekeepers, getting involved in flame wars on LiveJournal, and nurturing a new relationship. Today though, I saw this FANTASTIC blog post which is just so amusing that I couldn’t bear to leave it unposted.

Are Blue Jeans a Feminist and Lesbian Uniform?

My favourite part:

Men, if you’re tempted by such a woman, her jeans signal that you may have to deal with her “GID” – “gender identity disorder.” Her jeans are saying: “I don’t want to be a woman. I don’t want to look good for men. I fear and distrust men. I want male prerogatives.”

You know, I refused to wear jeans for YEARS. I would wear corduroy, or canvas, but nothing denim. It chafed my legs, and so I refused to wear it. I only started wearing denim in 2004. Maybe I don’t have GID after all!?

And here’s a word of advice for us men:

Men should politely voice approval and support of women they see who are dressed in a feminine way.

There is nothing more beautiful than a women wearing a summer dress. I can still remember a young woman I saw five years ago wearing a frock. This is how powerful femininity is. Let’s not let pious highly-paid feminists and lesbians destroy it. It’s time for real women to relegate jeans to garden work.

Yes, and the dude that wrote this post has a PhD!

Call for papers: /Spilling Over:/ /A Fat, Queer Anthology/

Call for Submissions seen first at Nix’s.

Working Title: /Spilling Over:/ /A Fat, Queer Anthology/
Editor: Jessica Giusti, Feminist Studies Ph.D. Student, University of Minnesota
Contact: spillingover [at] gmail [dot] com
Submission Deadline: December 1, 2008

Tough out of Necessity

Women’s bodies are public property. This is quite a Feminism 101 concept. Women’s bodies are up for public consumption, critique, and possession. I’ve long accepted that. I’ve witnessed it in my own life.

As I am accepted as male more and more, I am granted the privileges of not having my appearance commented upon, I am given more personal space, I am not touched by strangers, my weight is now irrelevant. People used to brush past me without so much as a comment… now I get a ’sorry mate’ if people walk past me close, without even touching me.
Even if people see me as a butch dyke, they generally extend me a similar set of privileges, regarding personal space, and not sexualising my body.

I have discovered that if I am outed as trans, all those privileges, privileges which should be rights, are immediately waived. Trans bodies are barely human. I no longer have feelings, or a need for personal space, or privacy.
Every time I have been out partying recently, and been outed as trans, either by myself or someone else, I have had at least one person subsequently try to grab my crotch. I’m really not cool with people grabbing my private parts.
People asking me questions about the contents of my briefs is bad enough, without them trying to investigate on their own.
Thats the worst offense, but the analysis of my masculinity, or lack there of, questions about my breasts, patting my chest, coming on to me cos “trans men are hot” (as opposed to ‘Ryan is hot’, there’s a tangible difference, and one that I don’t like at all).

I used to have no boundaries at all, I was constantly vulnerable, and being harassed so constantly that it was just life. However, even as a woman that was propositioned for sex at work more than once, kissed by customers, had my arms stroked, my arse pinched, been grabbed, and so on, I have never experienced the same level of extreme disrespect and invasion of my body as I have in recent times.

I have found that I have had to get tough, and get tough fast. Last night I had to be very firm with a drag queen who wanted to investigate my crotch. Its occurred to me, that being assertive is no longer optional. Passivity puts me in real danger.

Conversations at the Comic Shop

I stopped and had a chat with the fellow in the comic shop today. Its quite amazing. Nice Guys(TM) are so formulaic. I felt like shaking him and saying “Get a grip man! You’re a CLICHE!”

He’s a nice fellow, but somewhat misguided. I scored Bingo on the Feminist Comic Bingo Card during a half hour conversation. He is quite sympathetic to the Feminist cause, but calls himself a masculinist, and I am afraid that when he started the regular Nice Guy(TM) trope about how girls are more attracted to arseholes I smirked, and rolled my eyes.

Women aren’t more attracted to arseholes, they are just conditioned to put up with shit, and so they end up going out, and staying with whoever asks, and usually the arsehole is there asking while the NiceGuy(TM) is too busy watching 300.

I do not know a single truly nice man that is single, except for those who choose to be so either temporarily or permanently. I think that really fabulous men tend to get snapped up pretty quickly, and because our society seems to spend an inordinate amount of time shaming single women, the girls that don’t manage to hook up with a treasure, often feel pressured to go out with whoever asks, instead of waiting for more men to try harder, and be nicer.

I quite like the fellow in the comic shop, he’s nice, and I look at him as a kind of hatchling feminist… DC’s Elseworld comics woke him up to what feminists are ‘whinging’ about in comics.

I’m losing patience and tolerance for idiots and arseholes though. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me on everything, but I think that it is reasonable to expect a certain minimum standard of behaviour from my friends, and from now on people in violation of those standards probably wont see me much. I’m too busy. I’ve got work to do.

The Pornography and Masculinity Debate

At the moment there is a massive amount of controversy in the feminist blogosphere surrounding a book by Robert Jensen, called “Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity”. I have not read the book yet, and so I cannot really pass judgment on it for itself. Much of the commentary surrounding it has been absolutely fascinating, and many of the comments threads have been as informative and interesting as the articles themselves.

I first heard of the book when Courtney at Feministing reviewed it in a Not Oprah’s Book Club post. Courtney concludes that she needs to think about and analyse her position on pornography before coming to a final decision, but that she feels that Jensen’s writing was “reeking with self hate and desperation” although he made valuable points.

Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon also reviewed the book, putting more focus on the concept of masculinity, and what ending this really means for men, rather than just on pornography. She agrees with Jensen that pornography is deeply misogynist, but she says that she thought he was a little unfair to the diverse variety of men that watch pornography.

Hugo disputes Courtney’s interpretation of Jensen’s ’self-hatred’ in a rebuttal post, and again in a the second part of a three part series of posts that he published on the book. He also disagrees with Amanda’s idea that the book is too hard on men.

It seems that both Courtney and Amanda Marcotte took a more sympathetic view of men that use pornography than does either Jensen or Hugo. I find this gender division really interesting, and in some ways disturbing, especially in light of Hugo’s first post in his series on this book, and Jensen’s own statements that are along the lines of both men and women are fooling themselves in regards to misogyny and pornography, because it is uncomfortable to think about it in such raw and honest terms.

I would really recommend reading all the posts, in particular Hugo’s. I cried after reading Hugo’s posts. I haven’t yet formulated an opinion, having not actually read the book, I don’t feel inclined to pass judgement on it, but I think that the idea’s expressed in the debate surrounding the book all have merit, and that this sort of discussion of pornography is really needed in our society.

Tattoo Designs

A friend commented to me that other day, that just like brands show the ownership of cattle, getting a tattoo can show that a person feels they own themselves. This idea made a lot of sense to me. It also made me realise that is probably why so many people have issues with women getting tattoo’s beyond any distaste they may have for tattoo’s on men. Society hasn’t quite come to grips with women owning themselves yet.

I have been thinking of getting a tattoo for quite some time now. The day when I actually get it done is moving closer and closer.I have finished the design for my first tatt. It’s below the fold.

If Women aren’t attracted to Men, why aren’t there more Lesbians?

So according to this insightful post on Craigslist, Women aren’t attracted to Men.

So I am sitting around hating on idiocy, and the patriarchy tonight. In a right foul mood essentially. I have me a block of chocolate here and I am considering whether or not a bottle of port may not supplement the chocolate nicely. Then I get to read this sort of DRIVEL. Trust me, its not sweetening my disposition one iota.

I don’t buy the bull shit.
Heterosexual women dig on men. In the immortal words of my favourite minion “They Love TEH COCK”. If they don’t like YOU, then you are probably too big of a jerk to be worth a relationship, and not hot enough to be worth a one night stand. Deal with it. Make yourself nicer. Even uglee, poor, non-successful/popular boys get laid if they are nice people.
I mean, really nice people. Not just a self-pitying, deceitful NiceGuyTM thats gonna be my ‘bestest friend’ until I come out and you realise that you’re chances of getting into my pants are ACTUALLY NON-EXISTANT, and so you BLOCK MY IM YOU MISERABLE FUCK. (Er… so only a little personal bitterness sneaking out there)

There are some women that are not physically attracted to men. Its true. They are called LESBIANS, and they aren’t going to sleep with you for status or being popular either, you idiot.

The idea that wives are just prostitutes by another name seems to be an old favourite among many of the men I have had contact with over the years. I used to read a forum for Married Men who couldn’t get their Wives to Put Out. Essentially, the majority of them were absolute MISOGYNISTIC DOUCHE BAGS who were of the opinion that since they ‘kept’ their wife financially she was meant to have sex, whenever he wanted.

It doesn’t WORK LIKE THAT. If you think it does, then NO WONDER SHE WONT SLEEP WITH YOU.

A lesbian friend of mine recently said: “Damn it, I wish there were more bloody homo’s. I haven’t been laid in ages. Maybe we should start ‘indoctrinating’ school children like the right-wing nutjobs say we want to.”

So… You may not be alone in the opinion that too many women aren’t attracted to men, but trust me… LESBIANS DON’T AGREE WITH YOU.

I’m done ranting. I think I’ll go get that port now.

Retail Blues

So I’ve started work in a Newsagency… the money is good, the boss is flexible, and the work is light. I am also brain-numb from the mindless tedium of it, after only a shift and a half.

So my boss is a really ancient Chinese guy. I find him quite amusing, and he has taken a shine to me, which is good, since one of the other girls said he was really pissed about the employment agency sending a guy. O_o It was only when I arrived that he realised I was a female ‘Rhian’ not a male ‘Ryan’.
He is not a big fan of my short hair, and blokey polo-tops. I am meant to dress modestly… he told me so when I was hired… no ’sexy v-necks’, no ’short skirts’, ‘flat shoes, and a big smile’ are my uniform.
It seems I am also not meant to dress like a man either, I am meant to walk the impossible ‘demure but still attractive’ line. Frankly, I couldn’t be arsed.

So anyway the other girls employed at the Newsagency are all slim, extremely pretty, and have long curly hair. One has the prettiest strawberry curls I have seen in my life. He may only hire female ANU students, but he certainly isn’t racist, as one of the other girls there is a brown person of as yet undetermined descent. I think she may be aboriginal or torres straight islander.
Needless to say, I feel extremely awkward, and tall, and generally enormous, cumbersome, and out of place. My standard “Confronted by the Overwhelming Gender Conformity Expected by the Patriarchy, Oh Fuck I don’t Belong” feeling.

My last shift I just kind of distracted myself with dusting, and rearranging, and learning the computer system and such, and was blown out by Chin, my boss, offering me a store management position at the end of my first day there.

Today I was left to reflect. For hours. With nothing else to do except stare at the ‘18+ Male Interest’ section, and wonder why, oh why the YOUTH edition of LOTL was sitting next to Penthouse, and Playboy. Then I realised that it probably never occurred to Chin that a magazine about lesbians is for anything other than to please men, and he had probably never opened the mag to realise that there is no explicit content, and so no real reason to have it in the adults section.
I asked one of the other girls and she said that she had been slowly moving the mag across the section, and now it was on the outer edge, and she was hoping by the next stocktake to have it across in the ‘alt lifestyle’ section with the tattoo magazines and such.

So all in all, I am in a really bad mood tonight. I don’t mind being called sweetheart, and darling all day. I can deal with that, that is Australian Men after all. But enforced laziness. Standing, doing nothing, for HOURS?
I’ll go mad. I will. Every time I left my place behind the counter I was sent back. No dusting, or remerchandising for me today. Ooh no. My fragile little brain may not cope if I work too hard, or try to learn more than one item in a day. I should stand behind the counter and do nothing, to ensure I don’t get stressed out.
Seriously. They are only teaching me one thing per shift. So last shift I was shown the POS, which is a piece of cake, and I only had to be shown once, cos I have been in retail for 4 years, you know. Today they taught me the lottery POS, which a different but similarly idiot-proof system. Tomorrow, they might teach me… oh I don’t know… how the dry cleaning system works. (I watched the other girl do it today… its as simple as writing down the number of garments and tearing off the appropriate number of tickets).

So anyway, I liberated a copy of LOTL from the Porn Display, and plan on chopping it up to make pretty pretty posters for my bedroom walls. I wonder how long I will last in this job. I really can’t imagine it will be long.