Feministing has a regular sex advice column called Ask Professor Foxy. I submitted a question about sexuality changing over the course of the transition, which was posted – along with a response – earlier today. The basis of the question was this: I’m a trans woman in the process of transitioning, and having a lot of frustration in figuring out how to deal with my ever-changing sexuality.
And from the resposne:
Part of this process is also going to have to be exploring your new body and your new desires and not judging yourself during this process. You can even think of it as a burden or as an extra gift during transition. Unlike cisgendered women, who typically have to get used to things on their body, you are going to be able to explore things on your body that you very much want: the breasts, the hips you will likely develop. Enjoy it!
It’s definitely worth reading, but what’s a lot more interesting is the comments…
Continue reading 'Transitioning and Changing Sexuality'»
I’ve done some major blogroll updates (importing all the blogs I read through Google Reader) and thought I’d highlight a few:
- Queer Blogs
- Queer News and Politics
- Other Blogs
Woo! I’ll try and go through and plug some more later.
-R
Julia Serano, of who I am a huge fan, posted a long piece about the Michigan Women’s Music Festival and, more broadly, trans issues as they relate to feminism, over at AlterNet:Rethinking Sexism: How Trans Women Challenge Feminism. Her points are in part extensions of what she stated in Whipping Girl, that trans women’s issues should be viewed as part of larger feminist issues. In addition, she talked about how the MWYF’s policy (at times explicit, at times implicit) of allowing trans men but not trans women is hypocritical.
The essay itself is certainly interesting, although as someone who has read Serano’s other work much of it was familiar ground, but the comments had some things that I’m sure will keep me all hot and bothered the rest of the evening.
From one post, by hagwind:
Feminism and transgender ideology are uneasy bedfellows at best. Feminism says that women are as capable as men, and that the biological differences between men and women don’t justify making women second-class citizens.
[cut]
Transgender ideology in essence says that men are men, and women are women, and that if you’re born in a male body you have to live like someone in a male body is supposed to live, and if you’re born in a female body you have to live like someone in a female body is supposed to live. Biology, in other words, is destiny, and the only way to change your destiny is to change your body.
Continue reading 'Rethinking Sexism: How Trans Women Challenge Feminism'»
I just finished reading She’s Not the Man I Married, by Helen Boyd (who blogs at en|Gender). It’s sort of a thinking-out-loud kind of book – it’s not quite a memoir, not quite a book on theory, not quite a manifesto, but with tastes of all of those things, and more. It’s written by the partner of someone who identifies as trans (not transgender or transsexual or transvestite, but specifically trans, which I kind of love) and explores how the author has dealt with that and the conclusions she has come to. I really enjoyed reading it, and am looking forward to making G read it and getting her thoughts on Boyd’s experiences. Obviously, just as no two trans individuals have the exact same experiences, no two partners of trans individuals would, either. But Boyd is one of the few voices (the only voice?) of trans partners, so I’ll take what I can get. (It also helps that she’s a good writer.)
One of the common refrains throughout the book (paraphrased) “I don’t understand it [being transsexual] but I accept it.” For exapmle, from page 243: “Like a lot of feminists, I’m generally suspicious of what people mean when they say they have ‘a woman’s brain’ or ‘feel like a woman,’ but transsexual people are content after they transition, feel they’ve fixed something, and while I’ll never understand it, I’ve met too many people now who have given up too much to transition to doubt what is going on is legitimate.” I have a huge amount of respect from anyone else who is able to see something outside their own personal experience of the world and not say “No, no one can feel that way because I don’t feel that way.”
That said, one passage from close to the end of the book jumped out at me and I did want to ruminate on it.. From page 251:
The feeling that I am supportive of Betty’s transness only for the sake of the man I met creeps up on my now and again. Betty worries that out of love for him I “put up” with her. If she gets to the point where she has no male left for me to connect t, there is a chance I will wake up one day and realize I am not in love with and feel no loyalty toward her. This is why when a trans person uses that “but I’m the same person” argument, I want to say, “Well, I sure as hell hope not,” because we had better not be dealing with all this crap without its effecting any real change. That’s the point, that the trans person’s change will be enough to make living in the world easier and more comfortable for him, whether that’s done through crossdressing or transition.
Continue reading '“But I’m the same person!” “Well, I sure as hell hope not”'»
Comments (13) 
theory, trans, transitioning
| 
blogs, feminism, meta, sex, sexuality, theory, transitioning 
Themocracy