Susan's Place Transgender Resources

  Welp. I'm a feminist. Uh, let me emphasize..I AM A FEMINIST!. I definitely believe that my being transgender is "a part of" why I am a feminist.
Here is a video if me performing this reason! I may be performing, but i am definitely serious about what I am saying.
If you are a feminist.. do you believe it has anything todo with being transgender? If you do not identify as a feminist, why not? Let's have dialogue!
Oh yes, and there is this... feministcomingoutday.com  : ) join in.

why i am a FEMINIST (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S__1U_l2OI0#)

I call myself a feminist-which I define as believing we all ought to have an equal right to self-determination and equal treatment, regardless of what naughty bits we have.
And I guess that also includes what we choose to do with said naughty bits-like partner with someone of the same gender.
Also whether we've had to alter the bits to conform to our true selves or not, too.

I dunno if other feminists would all be okay with those last two...but they can kiss my flabby middle-aged butt. ;D

MtF's make the best feminists... My wife once said: " Just because I had my penis removed doesn't mean I lost IQ points, but guys act like it anyway."

yes definitely it would be moronic for me not to be really wouldn't it?

OH PLEASE OPPRESS ME! MAKE MY LIFE HARDER AND MORE UNFAIR.
And having experienced things related to sexism first hand. as in something happens to me and then I think "That wouldn't have happened had I been seen as male" I'm definitely able to say where precisely sexist attitudes are most previlent everyone should have an equal oppertunity to succeed

I'm an egalitarian feminist before transition I was even more strong on the matter outright stating there was really absolutely no different between males and females. hormonal differences were just a small matter of superficiality mostly.

I would often struggle when confronted with even basic simple evidence otherwise. (Sex hormones influence mood ect)

I was telling myself such things to discourage myself from ever transitioning by saying to myself that men and women were the same I was trying to console my gender dysphoria by saying "I don't need to transition in order to be happy and myself."

Looking back I now realise I was a Feminist before they were invented. All seemd so sensibly obvious and logical that I couldn't see what all the fuss was.

Feminism is merely when a person thinks that both sexes should be equal.  So I think most people are.  Feminism just tends to get a bad rep because of all the crazies out there who think feminism is just making women on top.

This video confuses me. I don't think my being trans has anything to do with my being a feminist. I know a lot of trans people that are very much misogynistic, don't think the two are related.

Feminism is about being in control of your own body and not being shamed for what you want to do to yourself. It's about self ownership. It includes body modifications (including any form of surgery, tattoos, piercings, hair removal, hair adding, etc), wearing the clothing you want, speaking the way you want, being sexual in the way you want (so long as it's safe sane and consensual or are risk aware), having the profession you want (including prostitution), aaaaaand a bunch of other things I can't think of.

It's not about both sexes being equal because there's in some ways more than 2 sexes and "both" could be equally oppressed, which isn't a good thing.

if being a feminist means you accept people of all races, gender identities, sexual orientations, living in america whether you were born in this country or not and that we're all equal than yes i am  :)

I believe in complete equality before the law for all. I hesitate to use the word "feminist" because it's not a gender specific belief.

I think women ought have the opportunity to do anything they are capable of doing regardless of stereotypical presumptions.

That is - philosophically I am a feminist.

But in my heart, I do NOT have the determination to live to the limits of those precepts. it might be my natural submissive tendencies but my ideal situation is to be a stay-at-home wife who is (reasonably) submissive to a confident man who "gets things done"

but that's a personal choice, or predilection - not something I think society should actively push.

Quote from: Nygeel on February 14, 2011, 09:35:37 PM
This video confuses me. I don't think my being trans has anything to do with my being a feminist. I know a lot of trans people that are very much misogynistic, don't think the two are related.

It's not about both sexes being equal 

Trans people who have a hatred for any gender is unfortunate. And that's all I have to say about that.  And sure it can be.. But I do agree as well! I don't see what you were confused about. You don't sound confused. But I do think the two can be related as motivated feminism.  If that makes sense? I think being transgendered provides a unique lens to help create social change. It would be a lot easier to transition if we weren't expected to follow gender roles.   

Am I feminist? No, I'm not, and I'll never consider myself to be one, but I believe my thoughts/ideas do come close to Marxist Feminism. I don't subscribe to movements, especially ones which have a bad rep - whether deserved or not - and feminism is something that, as a whole, I disagree with.

I believe in women's equality, men's equality, gay equality, trans equality and so forth - I do not for one moment believe in women's/gay/trans/other rights.

Quote from: Torn1990 on February 15, 2011, 01:32:44 AM
Trans people who have a hatred for any gender is unfortunate. And that's all I have to say about that.  And sure it can be.. But I do agree as well! I don't see what you were confused about. You don't sound confused. But I do think the two can be related as motivated feminism.  If that makes sense? I think being transgendered provides a unique lens to help create social change. It would be a lot easier to transition if we weren't expected to follow gender roles.

I'm confused about how being trans makes a person a feminist, or makes a person advocate for women. I don't think there's a unique lens. I don't think it would be easier to transition if we weren't expected to follow gender roles. If anything I would think it would be harder to transition.

Well I definitely belive biology is not destiny...but reading a lot of apparently feminist blogs, when it comes us TS folks, that can go hang...or more accurately it can go hang selectively depending on whether it backs up their argument or not.

However as i believe that everyone should be able to self determine their path through life regardless of sex or gender, and that everyone should be treated equally regardless of sex or gender I guess that makes me a feminist of sorts...but i guess a lot of "true" feminists might disagree.

I am a feminist because I understand that our society has been prejudiced in favor of the masculine for more than 2000 years. That prejudice has deeply affected our thinking; we are conditioned to accept certain modes of relating to each other based on a power structure that defines our "god" as a "he". Whether we like it or not, the "ultimate" authority for the majority of people on the planet is not "goddess."

Feminism, as I see it, is an attempt to bring the situation to the light. It is an attempt to make conscious the conditioning we have been exposed to, the modes of thinking that affect us. It is a statement that says "let's examine this" and "let's move forward." It is about furthering our evolution – the evolution of our consciousness.

Now, that being said, I will also note that I do not agree with every "feminist" who has ever given a speech or published a paper. Germaine Greer, for instance, makes me livid with her attitude toward trans women. I also want to recognize the failure of the movement to capture the attention of young women, like, for instance, my daughter, who when asked if she was a feminist replied that she was not. I did not argue with her; but I was saddened. I am pretty sure that she equates feminism with lesbianism to some degree, and with being angry as "Lightbulbs"(above post) has alluded to. My daughter also resists the idea that we replace male power with female power. I consider her resistance to be a philosophically wise position, and am saddened because feminism gets the reputation that it wants to replace patriarchy rather than transcend it.

But, for myself, I don't throw feminism out the window just because it is not perfect. It takes courage to own up to an idea fully and see its evolution. I affirm that courage in me. I am a feminist.

Back in 1969, I was confronted with this reality. I never understood how women were always looked upon as the weaker sex, less intelligent, and too emotional. This was when the women's movement was just beginning. I wasn't  trans at the time either.

Today, I see parallels with transgender people and the women's movement because many of our issues are similar. Women are still looked upon as second class citizens.  Throughout history much of it was always shared from a patriarchial and misogynist point of view. I see and feel the oppression and it is disturbing.

Gennee  

I'm not sure whether I'm a feminist. I think there are two important things for everyone to keep in mind: masculinity is the problem, not femininity, but a bad femininity can feed into a bad masculinity. one example of bad femininity is a woman telling a man that he can't be feminine.

everything is a circle. the good feeds into the good, and the bad feeds into the bad.

I am very much a feminist.

I have seen the effects of sexism to closely not too become one. I've listened to guys talk about women in crass vulgar terms, I've seen women be harassed and been harassed myself. I've looked at depections of women in popular culture.

There is a new wave of feminism that is growing and that wave champions gays, transgenders, the disabled and every other group who is slandered and maligned for being who they are.

I believe every person should have agency to use their body the way they want,  to seek employment in the jobs that their skills and interests lie in.

Is every woman going to be capable fo being a firefighter? No, but not every man is either... the playing field must be level and unbiased and as of yet it is not.

There are some who think the relevancy of feminism has passed, it has not.

I am a feminst and with my art, my voice and my writing I will make a statement.

I'm not sure whether or not I should call myself a feminist. I believe that women and men should be equal in every way, but I mean that completely.
I got into a serious debate in an Ethics class I had in high school. The topic of the day was gender equality. The debate absolutely enraged me because if any implication of women being below men came up (women ensuring that their husbands all had food made when they came home, cleaned house... ideals from the fifties) I could see the looks on the guys faces and the way they looked at each other that they were thinking, "Wouldn't it just be awesome if women all treated us like kings?"
Of course the guys wouldn't say a SINGLE thing regarding their feelings about gender equality for fear of coming of as sexist. But what the girls said is what got to me. They insisted that men an women are different, and thus should be treated differently. But their definition of "different" equated to be treated special. You have t be nice to girls because they are girls, you have to treat them like special little flowers that need to be taken care of by big, strong men.
BULLCRAP. They weren't talking about equality, they were talking about turning the tables on men.
I'm also unsure of my feelings about guys who actually do feel the need to treat women like they are dainty flowers. "Nothing pisses me off more than hitting a woman, under no circumstances to you hit a woman"
What if she starts the fight and starts beating you up? I will be the first to admit, if a girl gets violent with me I will fight back and beat her butt. No way am I letting my ass get kicked just because I couldn't fight back because the person hurting me happened to have a vagina. Don't beat ANYONE for no reason, don't just avoid physically injuring one gender. It's stupid that people can control themselves from hitting a person of one gender, but not the other. Abuse in any form towards another person is a vile thing to do, regardless of who is being hurt.

I suppose my definition of equality is a little too literal for most people.

Quote from: Yakshini on February 17, 2011, 02:23:21 AM
I'm also unsure of my feelings about guys who actually do feel the need to treat women like they are dainty flowers. "Nothing pisses me off more than hitting a woman, under no circumstances to you hit a woman"
What if she starts the fight and starts beating you up? I will be the first to admit, if a girl gets violent with me I will fight back and beat her butt. No way am I letting my ass get kicked just because I couldn't fight back because the person hurting me happened to have a vagina. Don't beat ANYONE for no reason, don't just avoid physically injuring one gender.

It's chivalry, in a way. Some men refuse to hit a woman because they find the act abhorrent and unspeakable. Men are, generally, physically stronger than women and they *can* do quite a lot of damage, either physical or emotional.

It's one of society's little quirks, especially in the UK.

I wouldn't say that I'm a feminist. I guess I still have a fear of radical feminists.

Quote from: LightBulbs on February 17, 2011, 04:43:07 PM
hitting someone because they did wrong is justice.

Hitting someone, whether they were wrong or not, is always cowardly. Words are the best way to make change. Too often people THINK they are right but are blind to the whole story. Resorting to violence is barbaric.

What a rich, provocative question!

First - "I am a feminist" is shorthand for " I believe women and men should have equal civil rights or dignity or..." or any number of other belief statements.

Actually, I think if I hear you say "I am a feminist" I still do not know anything about you.

There are many different beliefs that someone has labeled "feminist." Some self proclaimed feminists believe in equal rights and dignity - probably most. Some believe all men are bad (probably a minority).

I sometimes say I am "pro-feminist." I want to label my beliefs, not my Identity.

As to what it has to do with being trans.... My first inkling there was a problem in my gender identity was when I started paying attention to all the ways men as a group are socialized to mistreat each other, and women and children, by being aggressive, competitive, domineering, inflexible, sexist, homophobic, emotionally constricted and so on.  I did not want to be a man, if that is what being a man was.

Certainly, I was able to find other definitions of manhood, and examples of gently strong, compassionate, aware men. I appreciate the trans-men on this site helping me remember the positives of being a man I forget sometimes - because I want out of it for myself.

I have spent much of my career trying to help men be the second kind of man. It distracted me from realizing that it was not that I did not want to be a man; I do not feel inside I am a man. Birth assignment notwithstanding.

On the other hand, I had to face my own internalized prejudices against "femininity." (I really appreciated Whipping Girl by Julia Serranno to see this more clearly) Ironically, She points out even self-described feminists sometimes hate femininity. I had to learn to accept my own femininity to accept myself. To me, that is part of believing in equal rights for all gender orientation/identity choices. We have to reclaim the dignity of femininity.

On the other hand, I do see chivalry as problematic. Many of the laws restricting women's access to equal employment were originally passed to "protect" women.  Goddess protect us from "benevolent" patriarchal protection! No  one but me can really decide what is best for me.

(Almost) every fortress eventually becomes a prison.

I also believe that the binary gender polarized social stereotyped structures, socialization and social behaviors that are detrimental to women (and anyone who does not fit the stereotypes) are also detrimental to conventional men. A man who steps outside of the stereotype - by not being strong, rich, dominant, confident and so on, is given grief. A feminine man is hated and scorned by many. But the men who stay within the stereotype are less able to be fully human - less able to feel and express all their feelings, less able to ask for needed help, less able to even know they are handicapped and unhappy. Many, maybe most men lead lives of quiet, confused desperation. They pay the price of "male privilege" but never experience the illusory "benefits" of being a powerful patriarch. Even powerful men are frequently miserable but unable to recognize of fix their basic unhappiness. Being socialized male is emotionally handicapping. ( I know I am generalizing a lot, but notwithstanding the exceptions, there is truth in what I am saying. In part, I emphasize that many men do not completely live within the stereotype, and are therefor able to be more fully human.)

I believe feminism has contributed greatly to human society and to my personal experience, including my ability to accept my inconsistent-with-my-body female identity.

Thought unrelated to feminism - I also do not believe in punishment, not even for children. Discipline, which is necessary, means TEACHING not punishing. I believe violence begets violence, and punishment is violence. Non-violent parenting is hard to do, but much more productive. No adult has the right to discipline another adult. (If you break a law, you earn the punishment the law determines - at least in theory). A marriage license does not give the right to discipline  or control your partner in any way.

"An eye for an eye makes everyone blind"
Gandhi

Kendall