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The people that I associate with are all up and becoming trans out of nowhere, and while I don't really have a prob with that, I think that maybe it's just another way of giving in to the gender binary system. See, at first, I thought - wow, what an open minded group of people - but soon it started to feel like pressure to define myself as either female or transgender - which was exactly what I was trying to get away from. I personally feel like all and none - then one or the other at different points in time. But why all the pressure to define one's-self? Why is it that the people who preach so much gender fluidity don't just accept the lack of any specific gender association? I don't know - maybe were trained for so long to see only two sides to gender - so it's so engrained in us that we feel like we'll be all alone if we don't pick one or the other. I'm tired of picking one or the other. I'm tired of boxes. What do others think?
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Re: fluidity validity
Tue, August 24, 2004 - 12:02 AMOne reason why I've sorta felt weird about jumping in with the trans label head first is that for a lot of people it's sort of reinforcing the binary. Even with genderqueer, which is my ID of choice, some people see it as either limiting or demeaning
Labels are affirming for some people, but really restricting for others. We should be able to call ourselves whatever we want. If we want to stick with the binary, that's ok. If we wanna go out of it, ok. If we want nothing to do with the labels, that ought to be okay as well. -
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Re: fluidity validity
Tue, August 24, 2004 - 6:20 AMyou know, i was just thinking about this on the bus this morning. on one hand, i heard from les feinberg early on that anyone who doesn't fit inside of the gender binary in any way is trans, meaning across, implying (to me) fluid. on the other hand, lots of the reason that i keep identifying as trans and not something else is that what i face on the street is definitely transphobia. how fucked up is that?
i'm sorry i have nothing constructive to add. but yeah, i feel ya. -
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Re: fluidity validity
Tue, August 24, 2004 - 1:53 PMInteresting. By that virtue I am transanything and transeverything. It is very cool to be so!!
Bob C.
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Re: fluidity validity
Wed, August 25, 2004 - 5:34 AMI agree...Labels suck.First and foremost I am a human being.OOOps I am labeling again.I never have liked boxes but sometimes their nessasary to get a point accross as to where we fit in as individuals in the broad spectrum of humanity. -
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Re: fluidity validity
Wed, August 25, 2004 - 9:21 AMTrue, after all, a label is merely a way of classifying something by giving it a name, different from similar things that is agreed by other people. When the first person who called the chair a chair, they were labeling something, and thank heaven's 'cause "musical things" just doesn't have the same pazzazz as "musical chairs" wouldn't you agree? -
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Re: fluidity validity
Mon, December 13, 2004 - 5:09 AMI despise labels, and the English language, way to restricting for me. Even though I am a writer, I still get frustrated when trying to describe some fluidity of a character or something way beyond the reaches of this earthly plain.
I used to ID myself as Trans, I still ID myself as a Transwomen but a I use the term transwomen to describe me as a spiritually transcendant women. Which is about as far as I can get into explaining the label, since the spiritual essence of me changes all the time and is interpreted beyond the simple spectrum of binary and english language. The only times where I ID myself as Trans is if I absolutely have to cause in most cases the world including a huge portion of the Trans community does not recognize the term Genderqueer. Especially not the doctors and stuff.
My ID has changed again, after a realization and after accepting that I've always been intersexed, that has become a part of my ID as well. I now ID myself, if ID even works to describe me(the english language is so fucking restricting) as an genderqueer intersexed transwomen. Still femme butch, (I heard someone mention the word "fetch" to describe me and another word popped into my head to describe myself, so I shall continue) silver rose omnisexual lesbian/dyke.
Hugs,
Sincerly,
Ariel Archaicflame
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Re: fluidity validity
Thu, December 23, 2004 - 10:11 AMwell, i call myself a transdyke and look like a woman though i was raised as a male. often i identify as intersexed or third-sexed. i am not intersexed in the genitalia from birth in the medical sense, but given the frequency of intersexuality in human births and the fact that i think the brain counts when classifying people who are not a member of the binary sexes, i see an opportunity for education and happier self-ID.
i might be "classically" transsexual MTF... but i am dykey, not femme - more androgynous. and my brain says i am not male but my body was... so i think that counts as intersexed.
besides which, my chemicals are female, my genes are presumably XY, my body is both, my presentation is predominantly female. now that i've been on hormones for years, what should i call myself? hello, i'm a hermaphrodite?
and, finally, "transsexual" or "transgender" still has that ring to it... like i'm in drag. leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth to say every time. i dunno why.
