News and Events => Religious news => Topic started by: LostInTime on March 02, 2007, 08:07:13 AM Return to Full Version
Title: Hearing Beneath the Surface: Crossing Gender Boundaries at the Ari Mikveh
Post by: LostInTime on March 02, 2007, 08:07:13 AM
Post by: LostInTime on March 02, 2007, 08:07:13 AM
Link (http://www.zeek.net/703mikveh/)
Men's access to space denied to women is called 'male privilege' by
feminists. Though some female-to-male transsexual Jews feel guilty about
having access to men's-only religious spaces, I personally do not. I
remember all too well how it felt to be classed as a woman without feeling
like one, to grieve every waking hour that I could not reconcile my
conviction that I was male with the way the world treated me as a female.
Now, I am simply glad to be free. I sympathize with feminist frustrations,
but I cannot speak for women because my outrage as a transsexual comes from
a different slant. I don't perform women's spirituality, except as an ally,
because I am not a woman.
Men's access to space denied to women is called 'male privilege' by
feminists. Though some female-to-male transsexual Jews feel guilty about
having access to men's-only religious spaces, I personally do not. I
remember all too well how it felt to be classed as a woman without feeling
like one, to grieve every waking hour that I could not reconcile my
conviction that I was male with the way the world treated me as a female.
Now, I am simply glad to be free. I sympathize with feminist frustrations,
but I cannot speak for women because my outrage as a transsexual comes from
a different slant. I don't perform women's spirituality, except as an ally,
because I am not a woman.