Transition As Transaction: “Passing” And The Commodification Of Womanhood

[Shana A]

Transition As Transaction: "Passing" And The Commodification Of Womanhood
November 9, 2012 at 8:09 pm Natalie Reed

http://freethoughtblogs.com/nataliereed/2012/11/09/transition-as-transaction-passing-and-the-commodification-of-womanhood/

Very early in the film Transamerica, the trans woman protagonist, Bree, is seen practicing along to a "Finding Your Female Voice" video, from Deep Stealth Productions. Deep Stealth is partly owned and operated by Andrea James, who acted as a consultant for the film.

I've never been quite able to shake the sense of this as being far more an act of commercial product placement than an attempt at verisimilitude and accurate representation of trans women's experiences.

Later in the film, we hear Bree listing the various surgeries and procedures she's undergone in the process of her transition: tracheal shave, brow recontouring, extensive electrolysis, etc. We also see her attend a trans support group filled with trans women (played by actual trans actresses) who, deliberately, are meant to be more "passable" than Bree and proceed to offer her a litany of unsolicited "passing advice"; despite the immense investments Bree has made into her appearance, to looking like a "real" woman, the story wants us to regard her as "trying too hard" and therefore her womanhood still appears "artificial" and "fake". The narrative takes Bree's quest to attain "passability", her efforts to make her appearance match a normative standard of female beauty, and directly equates this struggle with Bree's "redemption", her character arc, her "growth", her psychological development, her emotional well-being.

As far as Transamerica is concerned, Bree's efforts to acquire normative female beauty, as defined by the narrow terms of our cis-patriarchal, white-centric, able-centric culture, is interchangeable with the whole her worth, validity, struggle and growth as a human being.

[peky]

what a bunch of socialist psycho babble.

Most girls grow up to be woman by adopting their societies norms of womanhood. Womanhood is but a construct that is acquired by any female as part of growing and aging.

For MTF who have playing the male role in whatever society they live, transition is precisely acquiring womanhood by emulation, observation, and practice.

Now, of course there are people selling products and service that help you transition, nothing wrong with that, it is what jamieD calls "Free market." It is up to the costumer to pick and chose what ever products are there. Cis-woman do this all the time, and each and everyone of them have their own "woman style.'

[justmeinoz]

Society decrees what is regarded as acceptable in the way of appearing feminine however, and the way Bree is treated shows the coercive nature of the drive for an unattainable perfection.  Society's message changes with time and place but has never been dispensed with.  Failure to measure up is seen as a failure as a person.
I spent an hour in a Gender Studies exam yesterday writing about this very subject, so have a proprietary interest.  Am so over Gender studies too!

Karen.

[spacial]

I think I might enjoy this article if I could understand it.

acquire normative female beauty, as defined by the narrow terms of our cis-patriarchal, white-centric, able-centric culture, is interchangeable with the whole her worth, validity, struggle and growth as a human being.

And

it falls deeply into the usual white/middle-class/adult/American/non-immigrant/binary-identified/linear-history/able-bodied centrism, it lends implicit legitimacy to a variety of extremely destructive concepts such as  ->-bleeped-<-, Harry Benjamin Syndrome and "true transsexuals" being (somehow?) something different from "just thinking you're trans", it plays upon the ridiculous standard that one must be "absolutely certain" before undertaking transition, and it assumes that "passing" is/must be a primary goal, if not THE primary goal, of medical intervention (as opposed to the FAR healthier goal of simply getting to a place where you feel happy and comfortable with your body).

I get the impression that the writer is ranting about:

(as opposed to the FAR healthier goal of simply getting to a place where you feel happy and comfortable with your body).

But sadly, I can't honestly be sure.

and the riot-grrl homeland of Olympia, Washington, where she earned a BA in something-erather in 2007. She can't quite remember.

Well, I'm sure we can all identify with that!

[KayCeeDee]

Thanks, very thought provoking. I read some of her other essays; now my brain is fried.

And I'm feeling a little guilty because I just picked up a copy of Allure to read on the plane. :b

[Carbon]

I think I might enjoy this article if I could understand it.

I read her stuff sometimes, some of it makes more sense if you've read her other articles and she references academic  feminism relatively often. Basically some stuff is written so that anyone could read it and some stuff assumes you're already aware of some ideas, background, etc.

[peky]

Interesting. Where do you get socialism from in this article?

All the bitching about the people who sell products, TS Road map, etc

[spacial]

I read her stuff sometimes, some of it makes more sense if you've read her other articles and she references academic  feminism relatively often. Basically some stuff is written so that anyone could read it and some stuff assumes you're already aware of some ideas, background, etc.

I understand and that you have absorbed some of her other articles.

I have to be frank, anyone who makes a point of telling us they have a degree, but can't remember what it was for, seems somewhat affectatious.

[Carbon]

I understand and that you have absorbed some of her other articles.

I have to be frank, anyone who makes a point of telling us they have a degree, but can't remember what it was for, seems somewhat affectatious.

I really don't think that's her goal. Saying that as someone who has come across that way when she didn't want/intend to come across that way and when impressing people was the furthest thing from her mind.

If you don't like her writing style or whatever that's obviously okay though.

[spacial]

I'm sure she's a peach and no-doubt, her style is just some sort of disability.

But I just don't know what she's on about!

[spacial]

Socialism aside, or not, I'd still like someone to say what it is she said!

[Carbon]

Socialism aside, or not, I'd still like someone to say what it is she said!

It's basically about how "womanhood" is treated as a commodity and that while most women have to do all this stuff in order to be seen as valuable trans women have to do all that stuff just to be seen as women at all. And then there are some of the ways that people do that and how this stuff actually plays out, like "if I take hormones, get electrolysis, and have FFS and SRS then I'll get to be a woman finally" when this is all stuff that's bought/sold applied to our own bodies.

There's a lot more too it but I think that's the basic idea behind it. She also says that people being allowed to get things like FFS, electrolysis etc isn't the problem and that people should be able to make those decisions about their own lives, they just shouldn't be presented as "the goal" for all trans women.

[tekla]

Like a lot of things, 'cool' or 'education' or 'social status' Womanhood is something that can be bought.  Why not?  It's the American way, 'Trans' is just one more niche market, one more group who is willing to give away money in the hopes that it will buy them what they want.


And gosh, don't even try to understand how American's massacre the notion (not to mention the definition and reality) of what 'Socialism' is, or means, or what it does, or does not do.  It's basically used in the place of "Boogieman" for people who are too old to worry about what's asleep under their bed or in their closet.

[peky]

Socialism aside, or not, I'd still like someone to say what it is she said!

The "gender study circles," and are most often populated by "twitchy"  individuals who complain to no end as how women are victimized and exploited by man and the chauvinist patriarchal society. The fact is that is that the interaction of humans with society is a  interaction in which everybody is exploiting everybody. True that this generates a few very rich victors, a majority that is OK, and a few looser.

The article in question claims that "transitioners" are like cis-woman, exploited by society. I would say, welcome to reality, get a life!

The other point that comes across in her diatribe is the fact that she attack people who sell goods or services to those transitioning.

[spacial]

Thank you Carbon. Sounds like another self centered rant by a feminist frankly.

Women have so many problems and difficulities in the world. Sadly, feminism is one of them.

Sorry, removed my comment on Peaky's post. Leave that to others.

[Shana A]

While the discussion of the definition of socialism is interesting, it is way off topic, and belongs in the politics area of the forum. Please keep discussion on topic of the original article. Thanks!

News Admin

[justmeinoz]

I think we have to differentiate between people making a conscious choice, as in deciding to transition and deciding how they want to express their femininity on the one hand, and on the other being led passively to conform to a standard that is decreed by the social imaginary. 

It's a pity the original author didn't express herself in clear, concise language.  She obviously didn't read her guides on how to write essays when doing her BA in "whatever."

Karen.

[KayCeeDee]

@Karen: Agreed, and I feel the article makes me think about what I want and the motivation for it in relation to societal gender norms and marketing. So in the end, is this what makes me happy or am I happy because the marketing tells me this is what is going to make me happy?

[justmeinoz]

In my exam answer I contrasted people in the Goth/Emo scene, for example  who conform to a particular mode of personal expression as a matter of personal choice with the stereotypical "fashion victim." 
Our situation is one that can vary between the two, but by transitioning we have made ourselves responsible for our identity in a way that other members of the community rarely choose to do. 
Detransitioning is far more serious a matter than leaving the Goth scene.

Karen.

[Padma]

I think we have to differentiate between people making a conscious choice, as in deciding to transition and deciding how they want to express their femininity on the one hand, and on the other being led passively to conform to a standard that is decreed by the social imaginary.

There's an interesting assumption in there that for any transitioning MTF, femininity is an implicit goal. Society assumes all women want to be (and should want to be) feminine, in spite of the rather obvious evidence of a proportion of women who aren't and don't wish to be. The 'norm' (the peak in the bell curve) of what constitutes femininity in the first place is just 'what most women are doing this decade'.