In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Month: March 2010

The Angry Tranny: Tone Arguments and Trans Women

This is a guest post by gudbuytjane.

(Note: This essay is not about Lady Gaga, and I will not discuss the telephone video or any of the commentary surrounding it. If you want to discuss the video, there’s an entire internet to do that in. This essay is about derailing, so as such I’ll probably be on guard for that in the comments.)

Despite being a mostly-unknown trans activist and blogger whose target audience is usually quite small, I recently found myself at the centre of some internet drama over a piece I wrote at my blog critiquing Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” video for what I perceived as transmisogynist content. My arguments were initially picked up and discussed on a few feminist blogs, Twitter, and the typical places I was used to seeing these kinds of ideas debated. A few days after I put up the post, though, it was cross-posted in its entirety to Oh No They Didn’t, a pop culture community on Livejournal. Almost immediately, my page hits increased by orders of magnitude. With the shift from academic/queer/Feminist/oppression politics sites to a mainstream audience came a nearly complete disintegration of argument, and my inbox and comment queue began to fill with hate mail. In almost every letter the author concluded with an accusation like “And maybe you ****ing trannies would get somewhere if you weren’t so ****ing angry!”

I get the irony.

The Angry Tranny trope is a variation of the classic tone argument aimed specifically at trans women (it is used against trans men too, but as I suggest later I see the implication is specifically to de-gender trans women as angry men), a derail which suggests people would listen to you, if only you were nicer. This is never attainable, however, as the dominant groups retains the right to decide what is and isn’t acceptable tone, and dissenting ideas are inevitably considered impolite, rude, or angry. Angry Tranny takes this one step further, and beyond merely classifying arguments as angry trans women themselves are framed as threatening.

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Right-wing cartoon depicts Obama raping the Statue of Liberty

I’m wondering the same thing as Amanda: Why are anti-healthcare conservatives so obsessed with rape metaphors? And this is not new. Conservatives routinely accuse progressives of “raping” America, or they use language that hints at rape to describe political processes that they dislike — healthcare is being “rammed down our throats,” we’re being told to “bend over and take it,” etc.

But Darleen over at Protein Wisdom takes it to a new level in a cartoon that images Obama raping the Statue of Liberty (seriously). It’s below the cut and is also at that link, and may be triggering. I would also not recommend reading the comments at Protein Wisdom, which are basically a series of rape jokes.

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Let’s all say it together: awwwwww.

The YellowJackets at the University of Rochester have put together a really rather charming same-sex version of Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me”. Here’s the a capella version as performed by the YellowJackets, performed on stage with the visuals included below in the background – with a Kanye West joke at the end I’m afraid. Below is the YellowJackets’ video, the visuals in the style of the Swift video and using her vocals. The video stars Michael Pittman in Swift’s role and Matt Francis as his love interest. There’s a video description at the end of the post. Lyrics here.

Now, “You Belong With Me” is the most mainstream of mainstream songs. It is, after all, about a white American high school student! who is into a boy! in fact, the literal boy next door! but cannot be with him because she is not like that pretty popular girl! (because apparently we’re meant to be pretending that Swift is not a pretty popular girl!) and of course we must go for the “ugly” “unpopular” girl who will be changed as though from an ugly duckling to a swan! with a white dress and everything! and the popular girl must be put right back in her place! and our girl must end up with the boy!

So it’s a relief as much as a pleasure that the YellowJackets have taken this so very conventional song and queered it up. Not only do we get a very sweet story, but we lose some of the elements of the original video that made me pretty uncomfortable. We still get the bad bad girlfriend, but at least she’s not in competition with the “good girl” in the white dress. The taking off of the glasses is less marked, and it’s not a part of the act of transformation into a “worthy” partner – er, I mean, into the person the main character was all along – as with the Swift video. I’m pleased that they chose to make a video very similar to Swift’s in storyline and setting, the better to recognise the differences.

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WEEKEND ARTS SECTION: Dear Leslie Knope of TV’s “Parks and Recreation,”

In vain have I tried to repress my feelings. It will not do. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you. With a numbered list of reasons!

01. You invented “Galentine’s Day.”

It’s been a while, that I’ve been watching your show, Leslie. I sort of caught it in the first season, occasionally, normally while cooking dinner or talking to someone or answering my e-mail. Then, at some point during the second season, I actually started, you know, watching it.

It got more intense over time, the way crushes usually do. And, to be honest, I think it was just the right time for us. The Office and I were not getting along; ever since Jim and Pam got together and Jan became like the worst misogynist stereotype you’ve ever seen on a TV set, something had been distinctly and pervasively Not So Good. There was 30 Rock, which was just weird, like this intense ambivalent roller coaster where I had no idea what was going on most of the time, or how I felt about any of it. And Community was okay, but not really all-consuming. But then: Parks and Recreation. Wow! So good! I watched the last six episodes four times in a row, on Hulu, so I could write this piece. And, can I tell you? I did not get bored.

I don’t know what sealed the deal, but I strongly suspect it was the episode “Galentine’s Day,” where I figured out that you were probably the most likable lady character I had seen on TV in a long time. “Galentine’s Day” is, in addition to being the title of the episode, your name for how you celebrate Valentine’s Day, Leslie. It is an occasion on which you have breakfast with every lady you know and like — there are a lot of ladies you know and like, apparently! That is a full table — and you celebrate your mutual friendship and ladyhood with gifts, including “a personalized 5,000-word essay on why you are all so awesome,” written by you personally.

It is like the best! I mean, I can’t even count the number of times Parks and Recreation has shown ladies hanging out and relating — ladies talk about a lot of shit with each other on this show, things like politics and career and whether or not possums are hideous unearthly monsters that lay eggs — but this was just a really great moment, of a feminist lady on a TV show expressing, in a genuine and believable way, how much she likes and values and enjoys spending time with other ladies. And the greatest thing? That moment was not shown as inherently ridiculous, or stupid, or alienating, or wrong.

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Dating While Feminist

Oh I relate to this interview with Jaclyn Friedman so, so much. She talks about the difficulties of dating while feminist, and how hard it can be to negoatiate your beliefs with your lovelife. I mostly date dudes, and let me tell you: That shit is not easy. Outing oneself as a Feminist Blogger does help to immediately weed out particularly undesireable men, but it also creates a lot of expectations and problems. One of those is certainly what Jaclyn calls Hellcat Dream Girl:

What happens to me that drives me up a tree is this: The guys who respond to me and are like, ‘You’re awesome. You’re kind of a hellcat.” They think it’s cool and kind of bad-ass that I’m outspoken and passionate about things. They think that’s really hot. They’re into it. But then when that outspokenness gets applied back to them, it’s suddenly game-over. You know the idea of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl? She’s light, and quirky, and she has no inner life of her own, and just there to serve our hero’s development and erotic interests. I sort of feel that I get cast in these dudes’ narratives as the Hellcat Dream Girl, there to prove how bad-ass they are because they’re dating such a bad-ass woman. They think it’s cute or sexy. But when I use that smart, outspoken bad-assery to challenge their own perspectives, it’s suddenly not sexy at all. It happens when they say something that I disagree with, and I act like a person and not someone that is playing out their particular fantasies.

It’s happened to me a million times . . . they want it as a trophy. “Hey, look at my bad-ass girl.” They don’t want to deal with me as a person. It follows this pattern where it usually comes from a person who seeks me out. They try to seduce me. They think I would be an accomplishment to conquer or something. They seek me out and try to get me interested in them, and then I am, and then they flee. . . . I feel like the same thing happened with the guy I dated for two years. He liked the idea of being a guy who would be with someone like me, but ultimately it turned out that he wanted someone who wouldn’t challenge him as much, a person who was easier and quicker to sweep away. I got evidence of that when, within three months of breaking up with me, he was dating a 23 year old who lists her political views on Facebook as “moderate.”

Oh darlin’ I’ve been there.

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Friday Random Ten -the Big Fucking Deal edition

Friday Video: The Very Best! And indeed they are. And indeed they were at SXSW:

You know the FRT drill. Set your MP3 player to shuffle, and post the first 10 songs that come up. My ten:

1. Spoon – The Fitted Shirt
2. Sujan Stevens – Decatur, Or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!
3. Built to Spill – Big Dipper
4. Elvis Costello – Little Triggers
5. Mos Def – May-December
6. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Tidal Wave
7. The Bloodsugars – Purpose Was Again
8. Dead Kennedys – Too Drunk To Fuck
9. Girl Talk – Peak Out
10. Silver Jews – How to Rent a Room

Iceland bans strip clubs

While I like the idea of sending the message that women’s bodies aren’t for sale, I’m not sure this is the greatest way to do it. It seems less immediately problematic than outlawing paying for sex, primarily because prostitution bans drive sex work underground and put sex workers at risk. I don’t think there’s going to be an epidemic of underground strip clubs (although I’m sure there will be a few underground strip clubs), and I’m not sure that strippers will now face the kinds of immediate dangers that sex workers who sell sexual services negotiate every day.

But: Stripping, for better or worse, is one of the better-paid jobs that low-skilled (and hey, sometimes high-skilled) female workers can get. And no, it’s not a sustainable career, and it’s a job that traffics in discrimination — it’s primarily for the young, the thin, the able-bodied, etc, and once you don’t fit into that framework it’s no longer an option. But it does offer paid work that can be significantly less unpleasant than a lot of other jobs. With so many female workers relegated to a pink-collar work force that revolves around physically and emotionally intensive care work — being an elder care-taker or a nurse’s aid or a childcare worker — I can see how for some women, stripping seems a lot easier and a lot less messy and a lot less difficult and a lot more convenient. Which isn’t to say that stipping is all glitter and fun and empowerful — I’m sure for some women it is, and for most women it isn’t. Like a lot of other jobs. I’d be willing to bet that most strippers strip because it pays pretty well. Removing that option, even if it does send A Message, doesn’t seem like a great victory to me. Because, sure, dudes will be sad that they don’t get to male bond over seeing naked ladies anymore. But the ladies will be the ones who are dead broke because of it.

On the other hand — and this isn’t an argument I totally buy, but it’s a fair one — society does have an interest in regulating commerce, and in balancing a functioning economy and a productive workforce with human rights and ethical and moral imperatives. There are things that all of us could do to make a profit, but we’re not allowed to because it would impede a greater social good. I’m not supposed to make drugs in my basement or turn my apartment into a speakeasy (although I have actually considered that one) or slaughter cats on my roof and sell them for food; even though I could profit from all of those things, society has an interest in regulating them. Society also has an interest in securing the rights of women, and in not presenting women as items to be bought and sold. This isn’t just about women who work at strip clubs; it’s about social perceptions and the value of all women.

I can understand that take, and I am sympathetic to it, but at the end of the day you can’t regulate or legislate respect. You can outlaw the things that are tangibly harmful, but I’m not sure that stripping falls so clearly on that side.

Bits and Pieces

Steve McQueen photo gallery. You’re welcome.

Too many women are dying in the United States while having babies. Amnesty International details the American maternal health care crisis, calling it part of a systematic violation of women’s rights. Funny how “pro-lifers” aren’t exactly latching on to the cause.

Speaking of which, pro-lifers who oppose health care reform are for more abortions. Imagine that.

In praise of public abortions: “Abortion also isn’t simply justified by its legal protection of “right to privacy.” Denying a woman her right to choose is sex discrimination: Burdening women with unplanned pregnancies leads to systemic economic, social and psychological gender inequalities.”

Katha Pollitt on liberalism and women, arguing that if the left actually wants to succeed, it should embrace people who are already progressive — namely, the ladies.

The Boys of Summer: Our Lady Sady takes on 500 Days of Summer and the stories of “that bitch who didn’t want me to be her boyfriend.”

Why Rape is Not One Big Misunderstanding. Basically, that.

Healthcare reform passed, and you can thank pro-choicers for it. Here’s what the Dems can do to pay us back.

Tony Judt is a very, very smart man.

More congresspeople are receiving death threats, and now Anthony Weiner is being mailed envelopes of white powder (and apparently not the fun kind). Seems that swastika-illustrated letters calling him “Shlomo” weren’t really getting the point across. To quote the always-observant Choire, “Hey, also, remember when the right wing talking point was always “ALL MUSLIMS MUST LOUDLY RENOUNCE THE TERRORISM OF THE (40 or 50 TERRORIST) MUSLIMS?” Anyone? Because… So… You see… Oh never mind.”