Rocky Horror and the Holy Grail, or: The Problem with Defining to Exclusion

[Shana A]

Rocky Horror and the Holy Grail, or: The Problem with Defining to Exclusion
Filed by: Mercedes Allen
November 16, 2009 4:00 PM

http://www.bilerico.com/2009/11/rocky_horror_and_the_holy_grail_or_the_problem_wit.php

As communities rise from the margins, they undergo a process of introspection, microscopic self-examination and self-definition. It's a process of healing, throwing off the ill-fitting definitions that had been imposed previously by a majority that didn't experience and most often didn't understand what it was building a box around. It's a process of finding pride in oneself and one's identity. It's an important and necessary step in emerging and finding one's strength and will. It is this process that the trans community (or communities?) is evolving through.

But history shows that when left to happen without agreed-upon parameters, this newfound freedom to self-define has a tendency to exclude and marginalize others that share some fundamental common purposes. I'll try not to belabour the point as it's been made many times before, but it seems to need regular repeating, so I'll do so and move forward to (I think) a more substantial solution.