A trans woman on saving Michfest

[stephaniec]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kayley-whalen/a-trans-woman-on-saving-michfest_b_5653291-html?utm_hp_ref=transgender

There is no other place like the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival , which has been refered to by generations of feminists  simply as " the Land"

[suzifrommd]

Wow. I fear that the people who really need to won't read this, and for the people that will, it will create longing for a place they're not welcome.

[Lonicera]

Thank you very much for sharing this. It was a truly powerful and pertinent experience. I can't help but cry at the beauty and the loss for this person.

Sadly, I doubt explanations of such personal experiences will change much since opponents will leap on such honest and open-hearted stories to perpetuate tropes that trans women are 'really' entitled men that seek to invade women's spaces by stealth, that we're liars and manipulators, etc. I hope I'm just being cynical.

[OreSama]

Thank you very much for sharing this. It was a truly powerful and pertinent experience. I can't help but cry at the beauty and the loss for this person.

Sadly, I doubt explanations of such personal experiences will change much since opponents will leap on such honest and open-hearted stories to perpetuate tropes that trans women are 'really' entitled men that seek to invade women's spaces by stealth, that we're liars and manipulators, etc. I hope I'm just being cynical.

Considering that the anti-trans radfems already ignore logical and emotional appeals, I unfortunately have to agree on this one.  Heck, I've seen one of those types admit that sex dysphoria exists and then say that we should just go to a therapist and get a better self-image.  Because you know, dysphoria and dysmorphia are exactly the same thing.

[Carrie Liz]

Yeah, that definitely does make me sad that I can't go.

Similar feeling to when I read about women's colleges and their trans policies, and then read that the entire mission of the colleges was to empower and give a voice to those who society had disempowered. And Lord knows, I've felt disempowered after enduring anti-gay and anti-trans teasing my entire life to the point where I became afraid to express myself. These are exactly the kinds of things that we as trans women need, not exclusion from them.

[Hikari]

Oh, I commented on this via Facebook, neat.

[Heather]

I'm not really getting this to be honest. Why not just go to the festival and not advertise to everyone your trans. If your going to be an in your face trans person expect they're to be some sort of backlash. It kinda comes over as obnoxious when your all in people's face about something. And besides who really wants to go and support a festival they are not welcome at?

[Lonicera]

I'm not really getting this to be honest. Why not just go to the festival and not advertise to everyone your trans. If your going to be an in your face trans person expect they're to be some sort of backlash. It kinda comes over as obnoxious when your all in people's face about something.

I would guess that it's because the individual in question has a different mind-set. I'd speculate that they wonder why we should have to hide an often important facet of our being or have stealth as our only option. I tend to agree and see it as roughly akin to the need to increase awareness via the act of 'coming out' in the first place or similar to combatting people that think gay/lesbian/bi/etc people existing in public is 'flaunting it' when they're just doing what heterosexuals take for granted. I admire the writer since I think somebody has to step up publicly to challenge the status quo and change things for trans siblings or for herself.

And besides who really wants to go and support a festival they are not welcome at?

Personally, I think I have a similar mentality to that since I'd rather focus my energy on other spaces that I deem vital to me or see as having larger importance, such as crisis shelters. However, I think I can empathise with those that choose to attend or protest. I can understand the draw to a place where people experience a seemingly unique sense of sisterhood or can appreciate why some people think it's important to ensure no prominent space is trans exclusionary for the sake of overall political impact.