I currently have a COBRA extension of my dad’s insurance plan, because I aged out of being covered under him. It’s, fortunately, been pretty great coverage (and it should be at ovr $350 a month!) and I haven’t had any trouble with getting transition-related expenses covered.
Unfortunately, my coverage recently changed. Everything’s still covered, I just have higher deductables and copays. Not the end of the world, but obnoxious.
It made me decide to reapply for an individual plan, which has just been a bag of fun…
Continue reading 'Health insurance'»
Queen Emily has a great post over at Feministe about a women’s-only Vancouver pharmacy that’s excluding trans women. Even more interesting, however, are some of the questions she brings up:
To cis feminists, when you are building new resources, what do you gain by excluding trans women? Is that gain worth the harm you cause trans women? Is that not status quo with the rest of the patriarchal world – to see trans women as disposable, valueless and not worthy of protecting – and shouldn’t feminism be doing better?
Likewise, in light of the ridiculous cis debate, it’s refreshing to see a really constructive discussion surrounding a trans-related issue.
Back in May I posted about The Great Trans Feminist Blogging Shakeup of 2009. Less ridiculously described, it was a series of posts and discussions in April about how Feminist blogs can/should foster discussion about trans issues. The post was prompted by my own disappointment in a discussion over at Feministing, and I was trying to process my own experiences by going through how others had viewed the conversation in April.
Well, the (queer) blogosphere is (once again) up in arms over trans related discussions, so I thought I’d (once again) try and construct a timeline so that I could better understand what the heck has been going on. Here we go!
Continue reading 'Are we really doing this again? (OR: The Great Trans Blogging Shakeup of 2009, pt 2)'»
We were all around the barbecue on the back porch, talking about high school and reminiscing about who were had been friends with, who we’d seen recently, and who we hadn’t.
“Do you remember John Stevens?”
“Oh, yeah, I had English with him. Do you remember Sara Mentro? I just saw her at the grocery store the other day.”
“We had a lunch period together! I haven’t seen Sara in years. What about Jen Silverman?”
“The one with the great tits, right?”
Wait, what?
Continue reading 'Misongyny and the Male Gaze'»
I’ve replaced the included banner images for this theme with photos I’ve taken myself. Hope you like ‘em!
Just got back from the trip to DC. It was tons of fun, although I couldn’t really see the fireworks on the fourth. I’ve also just been spoiled by Chicago fireworks, where the lakefront means seeing the fireworks well (and from close enough to hear and feel the ‘boom’) is the rule rather than the exception. But the non-fireworks parts were fun!
Flying was, fortunately, uneventful. I went in a sports bra and baggy shirt (my ‘lazy drag’) which got me through security without any hassle, even though I wasn’t particularly happy about the outfit. I was “ma’am”ed, both on the way to DC and on the way back, which did make me feel better.
Going out on Saturday night was a mixed bag, although ultimately lots of fun, but made me that much more eager for July 20 to roll around, and my name change to be finalized, so I can get new ID…
Continue reading 'Back from DC'»
Queen Emily of Questioning Transphobia and elsewhere has a great guest post up at Feministe called Why I Hate Filling Out Forms. From the post:
I hate it, every single time. Name, sorted. Then… clunk. Sex – M or F. Sod.
It seems like an easy question, right? For most people it is. For me, it should be an easy question. I live and identify unequivocally as female. I’m not a genderqueer person for whom the very either/or question is wrong. So why the rising sense of panic?
The problem is this, my birth certificate says I am male, my gender presentation is female. They do not match. Until I can afford expensive genital surgery, I cannot change the marker on my birth certificate. No matter what I put, in a cissexist world, I am situated as a liar.
(…snip…)
Now imagine what you do in a Customs line when you enter a country. Imagine you’ve heard from acquaintances who’ve been turned away by the US, or that worst-case-scenario lurking at the back of your head about Homeland Security issuing a memo about “cross-dressed terrorists.” What do you put then? What do you wear then? How do you present?
Imagine how vulnerable you feel. Driving (what if a cop pulls me over). At the bank (what if they think I’m trying to scam my own money). At the doctors. At school. At work. At anywhere they want a piece of ID, anywhere they want you to tick a box that divides humanity into two. Anywhere they want you to fill out a form. Confess, little tranny girl, confess. Tell them what in their minds what you “really” are. Or else. And they’ll get you anyway.
I’ve been thinking about this sort of thing all week, because I’m flying to DC tonight, and Queen Emily’s post sort of sums up what I’ve been worrying about. And, unfortunately, I would say it’s not entirely unreasonable that I’m stressed.
Continue reading 'Stressed about Flying'»
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