Trans Form opened tonight (huzzah!) and I thought I’d share an amusing story.
So we’re renting the theatre space being used for the show from this larger arts-centric building. Spaces throughout the building are rented out to many arts organizations, but the building manager is kind of obnoxious. (Word is that he inherited the building from his father, who was very pro-arts, but the current manager is purely pro-money.) For whatever reason, at an arbitrary (and shifting) time every night, the building manager locks the women’s bathroom on the floor of our rented theatre.
Jezebel had an article up a bit ago titled Making Sports Fair for Transgender Athletes, which discussed a recent report, On The Team, on providing equal opportunities for trans student athletes.
It’s an interesting issue, and something I’ve thought about through my transition (albeit from a very different perspective). I’ve mentioned before that, rightly or wrongly, I perceive my own musculature and strength to be a direct result to my years spent “on” testosterone. And yet, from the report:
It is also important to know that any athletic advantages a transgender girl or woman arguably may have as a result of her prior testosterone levels dissipate after about one year of estrogen therapy. According to medical experts on this issue, the assumption that a transgender girl or woman competing on a women’s team would have a competitive advantage outside the range of performance and competitive advantage or disadvantage that already exists among female athletes is not supported by evidence. As one survey of the existing research concludes, “the data available does not appear to suggest that transitioned athletes would compete at an advantage or disadvantage as compared with physically born men and women..
So maybe I’ve just been too hard on myself, and too unrealistic on what ‘feminine’ means. (Which seems pretty likely, knowing how rarely I give myself a break.)
More broadly, the report and the Jezebel article bring up how or when to allow MTF or FTM trans individuals play on the team which reflects their gender identity. On the surface, this seems like a unique question: how does hormone use (or lack thereof) give a trans participant in sports an advantage?
I came running into the apartment, dropping my purse and jacket on the dining room table and yelling a brief “Hello” to my roommate in the kitchen. She yelled back, “We’re out of toilet paper!”
“So?” I replied, “I’m peeing.” I almost instantly realized what had happened, and laughed. When I came out, I said to her, “Yeah, I’m still a shaker, not a wiper. Standing up to pee is awesome. But I think it’s really sweet you forgot that!”
Her reply, “Well, I don’t know your routine!” just made me laugh harder.
(I make no apologies for my utter fail at French. It’s one of the many languages I was unable to learn in school.)
I’m dealing with transitioning at work and - surprise surprise! – the issue of bathrooms is coming up. Well, Autumn at The View From (Ab)Normal Heights has a post up which linked to Riftgirl’s The Politics of P. How topical! And how well said!
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Jezebel had an article up a bit ago titled 
Themocracy