Whatever you do, do not transition just to prove a point! Yea, I know you know this, but it's worth repeating.Originally Posted by pocoyo
And I share your frustration in my own odd little way.
As we don't really (at all) know each other, I'm hoping the good Captain can vouch for my sincerity. That said, I'd like to share the following for your consideration:
Originally posted May 16 2007
I've been feeling a bit 'vulnerable' as of late with respect to my 'needs' with all of this trans stuff. Perhaps what I need most is to be recognized by (or recognizable to) other people. People see a me, make their assumptions (mostly incorrect in all likelihood) and I'm dropped in a box.More...
It was suggested that if one takes the 'gender-f*cking' route - i.e. the refusal to admit the power of the gender binary (whether inspired biologically or socially) - then one willingly adopts the position of David against Goliath - requiring a hell of a lot of 'chutzpah' to carry it off. However, there are those of us who do what we do because of who we are. It's not a 'refusal to admit the power of the gender binary' - quite the opposite. I fully acknowledge the power that the gender binary has in society: I am painfully aware of it. And here is the simple fact of it: It does not work for me.
I want it to - really I do. It would make life so much easier: for me, for others - just all around the board. But I wound up melting down years ago because I desperately clung to the idea that I was (or had to be) a man. And when I sorted through all of this crap, I found that while 'woman' fit better, it wasn't right either. So what do I do? Pick a side 'cause that what I'm supposed to do? 'Cause it will make everyone else happy?
I know I get dropped into the 'gay male' box from discussions I've had with people. They usually are quite surprised to find out I'm married, have kids and that I'm not gay. I don't want to be recognized as gay. Sometimes it's the 'woman' box in which I land. While I'm flattered by this, and it's a nice box in which to hang out, it still assumes things about me which are not accurate. Then there is the 'man' box. Getting 'sired' grates on me in so many ways and again, makes inaccurate assumptions about me.
I suppose there is that rare occasion where I'm recognized as trans-something - but I'll likely never really know: does anyone really openly acknowledge someone else as trans? Probably not. And genderqueer? Even less likely.
If one chooses to 'diagnose' me, then I get DSM-IV diagnostic code 302.6: Gender Identity Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (GIDNOS). That's the 'gender freak' box - the catchall for those who can't be properly sorted. I can't say I'm jonesing to be recognized as that either.
'Gender-f*ck' has become yet another box into which I get tossed. I'm beginning to loath the reduction of my identity to 'gender-f*cking'. For me, this implies a type of hyperbole: the purposeful attraction of attention and desire to illicit a reaction from others. It is very much a decision, a choice - and it need not have anything to do with being trans.
I'd say that I get tossed into the 'gender-f*ck' box almost exclusively by other transpeople. It's no secret that transpeople can often be more radically supportive of the gender binary than the Cisgender are. For some reason, those of us who do not 'embrace' the binary are perceived as some sort of threat. By turning my identity into a piece of performance art, I'm essentially 'neutralized' - read as 'marginalized'. I don't want my identity marginalized any more than anyone else does - especially by my supposed peers.
If there is anything I'm not doing, it's 'willingly adopting the position of David against Goliath' here. I don't want to be here in this f'ing gender void. I mean, honestly, who would choose this? This isn't 'cool' or 'edgy' - it sucks. How the hell do I explain this to people without them thinking I'm a complete whack-job? The muggles don't get it - the LGB contingent don't get it - other transpeople don't get it. One of the few things that keeps me from caving under the combined weight of all this is that there are others who identify as I do.
Perhaps, then, the lot of us are deluded? I don't know - but I wonder sometimes...
I have resolved myself to the fact that I likely will never have recognition that matches my identity. And while being 'out' and 'visible' have been largely positive experiences, it has also served to magnify this discontinuity - reinforcing just how pervasive and invasive the gender binary is.
“The thought of a possible life is only an indulgence for those who already know themselves to be possible. For those who are still looking to become possible, possibility is a necessity.”I wish I could chalk what I do up to chutzpah - but the reality is that for me, it's survival.
Time to reload my slingshot...
Perhaps the only real advise I have is just be true to yourself - and sod everyone else who refuses to respect you.
Regards,
Donna
