Can you afford to ID as Trans?

My Friend My Friend (anne sexton)

Who will forgive me for the things I do?
With no special legend of God to refer to,
With my calm white pedigree, my yankee kin,
I think it would be better to be a Jew.

I forgive you for what you did not do.
I am impossibly guilty. Unlike you,
My Friend, I can not blame my origin
With no special legend or God to refer to.

They wear The Crucifix as they are meant to do.
Why do their little crosses trouble you?
The effigies that I have made are genuine,
(I think it would be better to be a Jew).

Watching my mother slowly die I knew
My first release. I wish some ancient bugaboo
Followed me. But my sin is always my sin.
With no special legend or God to refer to.

Who will forgive me for the things I do?
To have your reasonable hurt to belong to
Might ease my trouble like liquor or aspirin.
I think it would be better to be a Jew.

And if I lie, I lie because I love you,
Because I am bothered by the things I do,
Because your hurt invades my calm white skin:
With no special legend or God to refer to,
I think it would be better to be a Jew.

This is a very interesting issue I have not seen discussed about the trans community or in the trans community.

No sillys, not the poem itself, but the plight of the speaker in the poem. The speaker's "yankee" whiteness and lack of belonging to a long standing historical suffering where she can lay down the burden of her own suffering and connect to something greater than herself, thereby becoming something greater herself creates in her a kinda of "identity psychosis". In her need to have/be a part of a "special legend" she would willingly give up her identity.

In predominant white anglo saxon countries such as the US or Britain or Canada, white privilege prevents the historical suffering the speaker (US) wishes to connect with. For all intents and purposes the speaker suffers from a bad case of "special snowflake syndrome". But while her "calm white pedigree" grants her accesses and privileges, it also alienates her from a shared suffering common to minorities, albeit forcing her to suffer alone. Which is not only a lonely place to occupy, BUT no one is around to witness your "specialness".


About 30 years after the second world war we began to see the beginnings of a neo-nazi movement that has since continued to grow/flourish, primarily among middle class white male youths for much of the same reasons as our speaker complains. As women and other minorities began demanding their fair share of the white heteropatriarchal pie AND sampling a few of the hard earned won crumbs, white males began feeling less than the "special" Gods gift to women and minorities which has assumed a kind of rootlessness in middle class hetero white males and leading some to a full fledged identity crisis.

Is it merely a coincidence that the volume of those suffering from trannyism are WHITE STRAIGHT MIDDLE CLASS MEN???? That the trannyism disorder is an identity disorder grown out of the "special snowflake syndrome"??? Why among the GLBT is the trans group the only group that primarily consists of heteropatriarchal middle/upper middle class white males??? Where are all the poor minority gay men with this disorder? Where are the numbers of minority females with this disorder? Could it be that this is a disorder of race and class? That most who cannot afford (non wealthy hetero whites) this disorder will likely never develop it???

I've personally witnessed infighting within various trans communities of what exactly constitutes as trans by trans. Have seen with my own eyes men telling other men who IDed as trans-women but stated they couldnt afford to begin "medically transitioning" that they were in fact NOT trans until they have electrolysis/female hormones/SRS/FSS etc! Bascially declaring if you cannot afford to "transition" you cannot in effect BE trans! And like everything else in our patriarchal society the majority those who have most of the power and money are WHITE HETEROPATRIARCHAL MALES! So should we be surprised at all that highest number of trans ID'd are WHITE HETEROPATRIARCHAL MIDDLE CLASS MALES???? I think not!

More of this trans/white/class/hetero issue will be explored and more questions answered regarding this issue in the near future by the New Radical Lesbian Feminist Front. The NRLFF website will be coming soon to a town near you!

dirt
NRLFF member

Butch Voices???? Doncha need Butches for that!!

After this was brought to my attention, it completely confirms the dire-straights of the Femme/Butch community and the desperate need there is for true Butch women's representation!

30 members listed for this livejournal community and not a single individual Butch woman among them, its frightening! Instead of Butch lesbians, this particular members list (which chillingly reflects members of far too many femme/butch places) consists of ftM women, dyke women and straight women. Is it any wonder young Butch lesbians are confused! I personally try with each Femme/Butch (new and old) community to come to them as if I were a young budding Butch lesbian and thus far without fail all Femme/Butch spaces out there (online anyways) demand a malecentric masculine equals Butch mentaility with a push and a shove towards ftMism.


Take a look at some of the interest for this community alone as an example of what is currently parading as Butch; Mtf, ftM, trans, transgender??? HUH???? Where is female, where is woman???? There isnt even female masculinity listed!!!! How can Butch be "critically" thought about/discussed when females (who are the gender that make up Butches) not even listed in a community that calls itself "Butch Voices"?????


What does this say to our young Butch women? That you're only as good as your masculinity and that masculinity is only good when its maled???? There is a specific dual component to the Butch that consist of female and masculine which are both equally essential. Butch ceases to exist if for any reason one or both of these ingredients is bowdlerized in any way or worse left out of the mix altogether. This currently is the case in most Femme/Butch spaces to the point that the thing passing/IDing as Butch becomes nothing more than a modified unbutch.


This is one of the urgent areas that the New Radical Lesbian Feminist Front (NRLFF) will tirelessly work to alter. The NRLFF will unite woman and masculine together where Butch women are concerned. The NRLFF will put a face on Butch women. The NRLFF will create a place and a pride within and without, where Butch women cease to feel the current shame raining down upon them by the malecentric/misogynistic communities trying to erase Butch as woman and instead learn to embrace and love their/our resplendent uniqueness!

That my friends is a promise!


dirt
NRLFF