James Buchanan on the T in LGBTQ

[julesjones]

Erotic romance writer James Buchanan has written a guest post at Reviews By Jesse Wave about being the T in LGBTQ. It is in large part a Trans 101, and it's notable for explicitly pointing out that trans is a spectrum, and that it includes people who are gender-fluid, and people who are dual-gendered. This matters to me -- I am quite thoroughly cisgendered, but some of my friends are not, and some of those friends do not fall neatly into the pigeonhole of "the mind is the opposite gender to the body". James also addresses the issue of transmen and women being required to conform to highly stereotypical concepts of "proper" masculine and feminine behaviour to "prove" that they're really trans and thus should be allowed to transition.[*] The post and some of the comments are well worth reading.

A word of warning: James's post was prompted by an episode a few weeks ago involving another writer, in which it became apparent that m/m romance fandom is less clueful about transgender than sf fandom is. (This is not to say that sf fandom is a utopia free of ignorance and prejudice, because it most certainly is not; it's just that as a sub-culture it's a relatively safe place to be out in comparison with the mainstream.) The comments thread at time of posting is fairly trigger-free, but there's no guarantee it will stay that way -- even with active moderation, mods have to sleep sometime.

[*I'm a ciswoman. I haven't worn a skirt in months, and I've never worn makeup outside a stage context other than at my wedding. *I* couldn't pass the test of so-called feminine behaviour that my transwoman friends and acquaintances are required to before they're allowed access to any medical support other than counselling.]

Comments

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Interesting article. I've often wondered whether I'd have been transgendered if I'd been introduced to the concept earlier in my life history, but I certainly don't fall neatly into the mind-opposite-gender-to-body pigeonhole. More generally, I detest the polarisation of genders into stereotypes. I'd love to live in a world where stereotypical men & women were the exceptions.

[daibhid-c.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure they aren't; I don't think I've met a stereotypical woman in my life, although I have encountered a few stereotypical men. Every time I see a description of what's "masculine" or "feminine" behaviour, the feminine category always seems to describe me far better than any of the women I know.

(Many years ago, during a discussion of sex, sexuality and gender, I asked what it meant if you were a straight, cisgendered male, but kept coming up "female" in internet quizzes. I was told it meant you should stop paying attention to those quizzes.)

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Every time I see a description of what's "masculine" or "feminine" behaviour, the feminine category always seems to describe me far better than any of the women I know.

And I'm the converse. Perhaps what I really mean is that I would like to see this acknowledged in society to a greater degree, and represented in the media, on television &c.

[ms-chatelaine.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this. The material about how transpeople have to conform to stereotypes has been my experience from the beginning, but I had no idea how much more severe it seems to be in the US. Although given how conservative most of the US seems to be, I shouldn't be surprised.

Thank you also for the concept of gender-fluid. I function as a man at work through appearance and long usage, but in social circumstances I identify with women and am more comfortable among them. And in intimate circumstances male rarely works for me and never for long. I've never really had the experience of looking in a mirror and feeling wrong, I'm just happier as female and neutral to unhappy as male.

Or, I want to be female, would dearly love to be and wish for it every day, but default to male more often than not because it's easier. But try to explain that to doctors: that until I have a female body and facial shape, presenting as a woman feels awkward in public and at best something to aspire to. And many people's ideas of women's roles are just not for me.

[julesjones]

I didn't want to out you by being more specific, but it was you in particular I was thinking of with the comment about some of my friends not fitting in that pigeonhole.

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

Great piece there: thanks for linking.

I really want to get some better gender awareness going on at my little local community project, although I'm not sure where to start when I'm already having knee-jerk reactions to the paid workers imposing their middle class values on the volunteers, and examining my own values at the same time.