Another Complicated Mourning of Adrienne Rich
March 29, 2012
gudbuytjane
http://gudbuytjane.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/my-complicated-mourning-of-adrienne-rich/ (http://gudbuytjane.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/my-complicated-mourning-of-adrienne-rich/)
Poet Adrienne Rich died yesterday. When I heard the news I felt nausea, and then told myself that I could not mourn a voice who took part in the violent vilification and erasure of trans women that was Janice Raymond's The Transsexual Empire. Raymond's book legitimized systemic transmisogyny for the feminists who wanted to hate us; Empire made that hatred academic, and elevated the voices of those who engaged in it to mantra. As Adrienne Rich was one of those voices, I could not mourn her.
Not mourning isn't the same as celebrating or diminishing her death, however. I feel nothing positive in her death, no smug dismissal of her. What I feel is sadness. The sadness I feel when I hear of any human being dying. But also the sadness that someone otherwise so talented and insightful could hold the position that who I am is not valid or real, and worthy of such scorn and derision. The belief that I am delusional and an assault on women's space merely by my presence. Even if someone contributed 95% of their work to positive, affirming efforts, that last 5% is still pretty much impossible to shake if you're the one in the sights.