Monday, June 11, 2007

oh so now transpeople are fascists?



it's always interesting when a minority becomes the majority and craps on an even smaller minority. and when the smaller minority is victorious, the other group calls them fascists.

this is what happens when you have events that exclude others. mayhem, lawsuits and all-around bitching (no pun intended). let's just call it blowback. (if you choose to read through the article i linked, prepare to be offended. unless, of course, you are an insufferable separatist lesbian who hates everyone.)

had the michigan womyn's music festival included transpeople in the first place, this wouldn't have happened. (for the record, i think men should be allowed entry as well. as long as you are respectful and supportive, you should be allowed entry. end of story.)

like i said before [blank]-only public spaces only cater to the insecure and fearful. i wouldn't go near the michigan's womyn's music festival with a ten foot pole (again no pun intended). plus, anyone who spells "women" with a "y" without irony is both psychologically and linguistically challenged.

(note: argh, i keep re-writing this paragraph. bear with me.) we need to stop segmenting ourselves into arbitrary identity groups and stop seeking validation through those identities to the point of creating impenetrable tribes. instead, let's try making an effort to integrate into society at large (i.e. stop obsessing over that "patriarchy" garbage) and to refrain from excluding those who want to share our experiences (i.e. stop hating on transpeople, ok?). sometimes identity politics just leads to nasty, tribalistic behavior. sure, we're all going to self-segregate because of common interests and sometimes, it's nice to socialize with people with common interests and experiences, but we must be mindful that really, we're all pretty much the same and we need to stop seeing those that differ from us superficially as "the other." people like al sharpton, pat buchanan, and yes, whoever invented that separatist michigan estrogenfest should go the way of the buffalo. and fast!

all right, got a little too "get on the soapbox"-y there, but come on... if you're going to exclude a group of people, expect that karma is going to come knocking on your door. payback comes when you least expect it and in a manner that is unexpected. you know what they say; karma is a bitch. (pun fully intended)

3 comments:

eeka said...

That womensspace blog is truly disturbing. It's a whole blog of angry dykes speaking in a very educated manner, except using language that uses "woman" and "lesbian" in comparison to "transgendered person" in a way that logically concludes that people can't be women or lesbians if they weren't born female. Good god that's scary. That sort of propaganda makes me wonder if they're going to round up transpeople and put them in camps or something.

I've read some stuff from people who support the WBW only policy at Michfest, and while I don't agree, I can see their point. But not these people with their "I support transpeople's basic rights and all, but not enough to let them identify as women" bullshit. Downright scary. Makes me want to round up all my trans friends and arm them or something.

Cross-oppression is such a, um, bitch. I hate all the divisiveness with the "I'm queerer than you" groups. We're all really fighting the same fight. I've always figured that the more human rights, the better, even if they're not always focused on ones that benefit me personally. It seems like a no-brainer that the right of transpeople to inhabit space of the gender in which they're comfortable should trump my right to, uh, kick people out of the "lesbian" demographic if I choose. Almost makes me want to kick myself out of it.

FM said...

i agree. i do understand the concept of "safe" spaces, but i think it's completely uncalled for to exclude people who are respectful and just want to share in the things you experience. if they're friendly, then you're still in your "safe" space... DUH!!!

i suppose i'm preaching to the choir. :)

some of these folks exhibit the same disdain and downright nastiness towards transfolk that i see on freerepublic.

i think these people haven't evolved since junior high.

emily3 said...

i was talking with an extremely intellegent three year old and his mother about the concept of 'no girls allowed' the other day (thanks berenstein bears), and though we talked about it for a little while, he had no problem understanding that 'no (anybody) allowed' is not a very nice concept. all i have to say in elaboration is that we're supposed to be adults here and that we're supposed to know better. apparently, that's expecting too much. for shame.