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

Finally.

piny

I’m the second mystery blogger. I wish I could promise that this is the last delayed post, but I’m not blessed with much free time. Plus, it’s much harder to write a post than to snark in comments.

I would like to thank Lauren for asking me to help take over her blog. I’m sad to see her go. She’s an amazing writer, and an invite from her is high praise indeed. I am not at all confident that I’ll be able to maintain the standard she’s set, but I promise to do my best. Hopefully, it’ll be at least a few weeks before my corner of the blog starts looking like a seventh-grader’s livejournal. I’m very excited about blogging with Jill and Zuzu and conversing with all of you, procrastination notwithstanding.

I’m a queer twenty-three-year-old transguy. I’m hoping to get an MFA at some point. At the moment, I’m working in an office, attending school part-time, and enjoying life without debt. I also plan to remain anonymous, and definitely will not be posting any pictures of myself. It’s more magical thinking than anything else, but I like to have a little blog privacy. I have a cat who actually looks a lot like Zuzu (the cat), and may or may not post pictures of her. I’m very close to my family, parents and siblings, but I plan to preserve their anonymity as well. I’m currently single, and my dating exploits have lately been confined to that convenience store of romance, craigslist.

I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to blog about. My main focus in comments threads, as most of you are aware, has been on gender, transgender, and transsexual issues. With women like Zuzu and Jill on board, I’m a little anxious about posting on feminism in general. I’ll do some thinking and see if I can find something interesting to say. I have a couple of ideas about substantive posts related to trans stuff, and one idea for a substantive post on body-image (totally independent of trans stuff), so I’ll go from there. This is a feminist blog, so I need to do some heavy lifting around feminism. If you people have lately been preoccupied by anything in particular, please bring it up in comments.

I’m really glad to be here.

54 thoughts on Finally.

  3. Yay! Piny! I hoped it would be you.

    You will be excused for getting-one’s-shit-together dillydallying in other areas only if we get cat pics toute de suite.

  7. Yay! Piny! Awesome.

    So did you guys see this? (I( can’t figure out how to do a direct link: go to 1/24/2006, the post called “I blog because I need to.” She has some fairly damning things to say about white feminist bloggers, which I take it all of the current bloggers are. (Neither of you said, but I’m pretty sure I know Zuzu’s ethnicity. Apologies, piny, if I’m making assumptions!) Thoughts?

  8. Apparently Lauren’s standard for replacements was “folks Thomas really thinks need to have their own blogs.”

    I couldn’t have picked choices I liked more if I’d picked them myself. In fact, seriously, I think Piny and Zuzu are who I would have picked if I had picked the new bloggers myself.

    I had an inkling about Zuzu, but Piny, I had no clue that Lauren would choose you. I’m pretty thrilled about it.

  11. Welcome, piny! And if I can humbly say so, I’ve never let my sex stand in the way of making sweeping statements about feminism — always, of course, with the awareness that I do so from a certain perspective determined by my identity. I can’t wait to read more from you!

  12. Yay, piny! It’s good to see you on the front page (even if it’s been harder coming over knowing that Lauren isn’t). Both you, Jill, and zuzu give at least three good reasons to stick around. I look forward to what you have to say, and hopefully continued snark, which from you usually comes well balanced with a good-natured argumentative smackdown. Or it’s just damn good snark. Either way, yay Feministe.

  14. Welcome! I’m sure your posts will be great.

    Not attempting to be insensitive or too personal, just curious (I’m a conservative who happens to have no problem with homosexuality so don’t mind my blog title): Does “transguy” mean that you identify primarily as male or female? What is the gender you are born with? Just wondering since I’m not as familiar with transgender terminology.

  15. 1) Thank you all for the warm welcome.

    2) I want to be a painter–although I’ve lately been interested in sculpture and glassblowing. I’m not sure how specific the MFA will be, and am considering something related to art education. This is a few years in the future, so I haven’t done as much concrete planning as I probably should.

    3) I’ll work on the cat pictures. She’s not a particularly social cat.

    4) Yes, Sally, I am white. I thought it was a brilliant post, and I can’t dispute any of the things she says about privilege and myopia. I’ll have to think about it for a while, particularly the idea of “displacing privilege.” I’ll see if I can’t address it in a real post–it deserves more than a few lines in comments.

    5) Hugo, I’m not talking about my gender–although, certainly, my current social position does affect my personal stake in many issues vital to women, much as my assigned sex affects my personal stake in many issues vital to men. I’m talking about my level of experience and education, and the amount of time I’ve spent pondering these issues. I’m confident about my ability to hold forth on trans stuff; I’ve been obsessed with it for several years now, and had to do a great deal of research just to figure out what I was. Feminism, a bit less so, particularly compared to my co-bloggers and Lauren. I’m hoping that this will be a chance to remedy that.

    6) Morgaine, gender issues are indeed important, but I don’t want to conflate them with feminism or give them unfair focus on what really is a feminist blog. If I were a gay man, I hope I’d feel the same way about gay issues. Related to feminism and sexism, sure, but not exactly the same thing.

    6) And THF and Marian:

    (nota bene: there are exceptions to every one of these statements. Imagine trying to explain “feminist” to someone when you know that they’re going to walk out of the room and run smack into Cathy Young. I’m speaking in general terms here, for the sake of clarity.)

    A “transguy” is a female-to-male transsexual (ftm). A female-to-male transsexual is someone who was assigned female at birth, that is, born with a female body. At some point in their lives, they come to identify as male. They take steps toward social, legal, and medical transition, so that they can live their lives as men. Those steps can include things like adopting male dress and behavioral cues, obtaining a legal name and gender change, and taking hormones or undergoing surgery. The current treatment model emphasizes personal comfort, so transpeople are allowed to choose for themselves which of those steps they wish to take.* There is a great deal of variation, and that can’t be repeated often enough.

    It is proper to refer to a transperson by their post-transition gender, that is, the gender they decide for themselves. Not the gender they were born into. An ftm should be referred to by male pronouns. So “transman” and “transguy” refer to female-to-male transsexuals. “Transwoman” refers to a male-to-female transsexual, someone assigned male at birth who identifies as a woman.

    I’m a fairly standard female-to-male transsexual, albeit a queer one who isn’t exactly masculine. I was assigned female at birth. I identify as male. I pass as male. I’m transitioning legally, socially, and physically. I prefer male pronouns.

    If you have any other questions, or if this was even more confusing, feel free to ask.

    *In theory, anyway.

  17. Yay Piny! Welcome and I do look forward to your posts on gender/transgender issues as certain aspects can be considered to run parallel to, or intersecting, the many feminisms.

  18. Welcome, Piny. This is my first comment here, although I read here regularly. While I’ll miss Lauren’s writing, I look forward to reading your and Zuzu’s stuff.

    Sally–Thank you for posting that link. That was a powerful and brilliant post.

  20. Thank you for the explanation, Piny! It makes perfect sense!

    Oh, good.

    And like I said, please feel free to ask if anything else is confusing. I tend to have most of these conversations with other transpeople, so I forget that I can’t assume the same level of familiarity with terms like “trannyfag” and “genderqueer.”

  21. I’ve always considered queer and transgender issues to be under a feminist umbrella, or at the very least, of interest to feminist thinkers — okay, I love reading about queer and transgender perspectives because they shine a light on certain feminist theories I am already familiar with. I know there are some who would argue differently on the transgender angle, but to me, feminism isn’t just about being a woman, being born a woman, etc., but looking at the experiences of everyone who falls on the gender binary and especially those who don’t. Write from what you know (you already know we think you’re brilliant — I can’t believe you’re nervous!).

  22. Good god! I was so excited I nearly choked to death on my gum.

    Don’t worry about the posting/commenting divide. It’s plenty easy to snark in a post. Whatever and however you chose the post tho, I’m thrilled to be reading it. Like Thomas, I have wished so many times that you had a blog, and I’m just tickled pink that it came true.

  23. I’ve always considered queer and transgender issues to be under a feminist umbrella, or at the very least, of interest to feminist thinkers — okay, I love reading about queer and transgender perspectives because they shine a light on certain feminist theories I am already familiar with. I know there are some who would argue differently on the transgender angle, but to me, feminism isn’t just about being a woman, being born a woman, etc., but looking at the experiences of everyone who falls on the gender binary and especially those who don’t. Write from what you know (you already know we think you’re brilliant — I can’t believe you’re nervous!).

    Don’t encourage me. I’ll totally keep fishing.

    I know that there are feminists who don’t agree with the idea of the “umbrella.” They definitely do not see feminism as a big tent, and believe that neither I, nor Cathy Young, deserves inclusion. I do not agree that there is such a thing as “trans politics,” or that the loosely-related set of worldviews commonly derided as “trans politics” is generally inimical to feminism or feminist goals. It is true, however, that the two movements have some specific goals independent of each other.

    There are also transpeople who do not self-identify as feminist (not that that should disqualify transpeople in general, any more than the existence of anti-feminist or non-feminist women should invalidate feminism as a women’s movement). There are transpeople who have had very negative experiences with some feminists, and who therefore reject feminism. There are transpeople who have no problem with binary gender, and who do not see themselves as variant in the slightest. There are commonly-held theories of transsexuality that are binary-based; they differ from the one current in society at large only in that they draw the line by gender identity rather than gender assigned at birth.

    Any activist and exploratory writing I do on the subject of transsexuality and the lives and interests of transsexuals has to admit those beliefs as real, if not as valid simply for existing. I must acknowledge that those ideas speak to some transpeople, and that their personal activism does not work from or with feminist schools of thought.

    And since I will be writing as a feminist on a feminist blog, I want very much to write about women as well as transpeople. I wouldn’t accept an invitation to write on a pro-choice blog chiefly populated by women and then submit post after post about what it’s like to be a sterile, passing-male prospective adoptive parent who has to deal with the possibility of a pregnant partner.

  25. Oh, sweet god. As soon as I heard zuzu was MB1, my next thought was “I hope piny’s MB2.”

    Jill. You have put together an excellent lineup, and Lauren, you’re leaving Feministe is great hands.

    I think the balance between zuzu’s legal cred and piny’s serious gender theory will make for a damn fine combination, especially since they both have such a reasonable but righteously indignant style.

    Piny, it’s great to hear you’re on the lineup. Campus Feminist circles in Montreal are very trans-positive, and I think that’s fairly representative of young Feminists these days. I hope. Oh, and thanks for clearing up the pronoun thing — as (relatively) versed as I am on trans issues, I’m pretty lazy with pronouns.

  26. Oh, and I really hate to encourage you, Piny, but could you clarify genderqueer for me? I have a decent impression of what it means, but I’m still not 100% clear.

  28. Allow me to add to the enthusiastic greeting, Piny. I also hoped that you were going to be MB#2, and I’m glad to see that has happened. You, along with zuzu, are exceptional choices to carry on with Jill here, and I look forward to reading what y’all have to say.

  29. I’d be pretty interested to read more about trans issues. I am surprised to hear that there would be any hostility between feminists and the trans community, although I saw a reference to such hosility at Alas recently.

  30. Lauren: As soon as I asked, I remembered that I was using the internet. Then Wikied it. (But honestly, partly I love it when Piny gets really into a post. So much more meaningful than wikipedia.)

  33. piny, I am so glad it’s you. I always enjoy your comments immensely.

    And I’m so glad you explained the transguy thing, because I had it exactly backwards. I’ve been thinking that you were born male and identified as female! (I obviously know zip about transgender issues).

  34. So sorry to see Lauren go, we’ll all miss you here.

    But, but, wait!! What about Pablo and Doug and Merle? My life will be so empty without news of them!… Merle is sooo fabulous, and you’re right, “Doug” is the best name ever for a cat!

    Piny, welcome! Please keep explaining the trannie stuff; I still get so confused, and I have a transgendered sibling who’s been “out” for years.

    (I’ve debated about posting this, but)–my sibling was born my brother, and is often (but not always) my sister now. S/he throws around trannie jargon (probably just to annoy me and make me feel old or something) and gets irritated when I don’t understand, sigh. Really doesn’t matter the gender, though, s/he is still the same pain in the butt younger sibling after all, lol.

    Just a couple of comments re: feminism and my trannie Sib–he went from a scrawny geeky sort of boy to a thin, fabulous hot hot hot girl, which of course raises all kinds of issues about how looks are so highly valued in this culture.

    And I’m not trying to be coy or close-minded by calling my Sib “s/he”: it’s just that sometimes when he visits he’s a boy (especially to do yard work, or monkey with a car or something, he’s quite a mechanic), and the rest of the time she’s a supermodelly-looking trendy girl. Definitely makes you think about gender roles, too, especially when she goes into a garage and buys a (used) 2CV steering column and chats with the incredulous guys about doing all the work herself. I can’t figure out if that destroys or reinforces gender stereotypes!

    Anyhoo, thanks for letting me rant. 🙂

    Sorry about the anon, the sibling does not want to be identified too publicly.

  36. Just out of curiosity, does “queer” refer to the assigned sex, or the self-classified sex?

    Many people use “queer” precisely because it admits a little more complexity than same-sex vs. opposite-sex relationships. Since I’m attracted to all kinds of people inhabiting all kinds of genders, I’d be queer-as-in-not-straight whether in relation to assigned or post-transition gender. However, in general, transpeople can be assumed to be referring to the gender they identify with when describing all aspects of themselves, including sexual orientation. A gay transman likes men. A straight transman is attracted to women. It’s offensive to refer to a transperson by their birth sex, and sorta missing the point to call a relationship between an ftm and a man heterosexual.

  38. we must not forget that the term queer, applies to both the mtf/ftm who date men or women. queer can be applied to any relationship that challenges heteronormative notions of sexuality–and transgendered even trans folks who date the opposite sex, are queer, and not necessarily straight.

  40. (Awesome post, by the way.)

    we must not forget that the term queer, applies to both the mtf/ftm who date men or women. queer can be applied to any relationship that challenges heteronormative notions of sexuality–and transgendered even trans folks who date the opposite sex, are queer, and not necessarily straight.

    It’s absolutely true that queer can be applied to any relationship that challenges heteronormative notions of sexuality, but I’m not sure that’s true of trans-partnered relationships in general. Lots of transpeople emphatically disagree with the queer label. They don’t see themselves as queer, but as plain old straight men and women in plain old straight relationships. And a lot of us become plain old straight men and women in plain old straight relationships.

    Even transpeople who don’t consider themselves straight, and who do consider themselves lesbian, gay, or queer, frequently have a problem with being chased as transgendered people rather than as men and women. That kind of attraction frequently either rests on gender stereotypes or on stereotypes of transpeople that range from the obnoxious to the abusive. Even when that kind of attraction is a bit more enlightened, it can contradict a transperson’s sense of self and even trigger gender dysphoria. I’m not sure a gay transman who prefers not to think about having any genitalia other than a dick is exactly queering sexuality.

    It’s also true that queer may be applied to any relationship that challenges normative notions of gender and gendered bodies, but many transpeople don’t exactly see themselves as anti-normative in relation to their partners. They may not interact sexually or romantically with their partners as trans-bodied people, and indeed may not even have bodies that are recognizably transsexual.

  41. ignore the obvious typos

    Hee. Not that I don’t go all, “Damn it! That was supposed to be ‘continual,’ not ‘continuous,'” myself, but I love when people do this. Because if there’s one thing we don’t cotton to here on the internets, it’s typos, misspelled words, and poor syntax.

    I’ll overlook it this time, but double-post and you’re gone.

  42. Piny, as a genderqueer-IDed ftm-spectrum person, I’d like to see some posts on passing as a guy, white privilege, and what it’s taught you as a feminist.

    I’d also like to see your analysis on the current state of play between self-identified transsexuals, genderqueers, transgender folks, and feminists. (Sometimes there’s overlap, sometimes there’s not. Where do you think the agreements and disagreements are?) Not to harp on, but this might also be (yet another) place to talk about “women’s space” and trans discontents around that.

  44. Piny, as a genderqueer-IDed ftm-spectrum person, I’d like to see some posts on passing as a guy, white privilege, and what it’s taught you as a feminist.

    Thanks for the assignments. I’ll see what I can do.

    I’d also like to see your analysis on the current state of play between self-identified transsexuals, genderqueers, transgender folks, and feminists. (Sometimes there’s overlap, sometimes there’s not. Where do you think the agreements and disagreements are?) Not to harp on, but this might also be (yet another) place to talk about “women’s space” and trans discontents around that.

    I really don’t think I can produce a worthwhile analysis all by myself. My experience is as limited in some directions as it is developed in others. I’ve been shielded from a lot of different things by virtue of my identity, my appearance, my hometown. I’d be overjoyed to have discussions about it, certainly, especially with someone whose identity and experience are a little different from mine. I look forward to hearing from you in comments.

  45. Oh, and anon, whom I missed the first time around:

    Piny, welcome! Please keep explaining the trannie stuff; I still get so confused, and I have a transgendered sibling who’s been “out” for years.

    (I’ve debated about posting this, but)–my sibling was born my brother, and is often (but not always) my sister now. S/he throws around trannie jargon (probably just to annoy me and make me feel old or something) and gets irritated when I don’t understand, sigh. Really doesn’t matter the gender, though, s/he is still the same pain in the butt younger sibling after all, lol.

    Your sibling is probably the only one who can explain your sibling. I’ll be glad if anything I say here is of use to you, and I’m always happy to answer questions about general trans stuff to the best of my knowledge. I wouldn’t feel bad about being a little confused or unsure about terminology and similar stuff. Trying is the important thing. And I know transguys online who get don’t-bother-coming-home emails for Christmas, so I think you’re doing okay.

    Just a couple of comments re: feminism and my trannie Sib–he went from a scrawny geeky sort of boy to a thin, fabulous hot hot hot girl, which of course raises all kinds of issues about how looks are so highly valued in this culture.

    Indeed. This is one area I really haven’t covered. I’ll have to do some thinking about this, too.

  46. I will admit to some hopefully irrational anxiety. As someone ostensibly (possibly grudgingly) covered by the general transgender umbrella, I’m leery and wary of ‘trans’, and by extenstion, ‘transgender’ being equated with ‘transsexual’ and the binary/passing model. I’ve been a big, albeit silent, fan of Feminise for some time, and don’t imagine that will change soon, but I am anxious (and chock full of dependent clauses).

  47. I will admit to some hopefully irrational anxiety. As someone ostensibly (possibly grudgingly) covered by the general transgender umbrella, I’m leery and wary of ‘trans’, and by extenstion, ‘transgender’ being equated with ‘transsexual’ and the binary/passing model. I’ve been a big, albeit silent, fan of Feminise for some time, and don’t imagine that will change soon, but I am anxious (and chock full of dependent clauses).

    On the contrary. It happens all the time. It’s a phenomenon all minority groups are familiar with: an unwillingness on the part of the majority to admit and understand distinctions within the group, as though we should be grateful for any acknowledgement at all.

    I’m familiar with the fear of transgender being equated with transsexual, and everyone else being shoved aside. I know that a lot of transsexuals worry about being lumped in under transgender for various identity and historical reasons. I know that transsexuals don’t particularly like being assumed to be genderqueer or “transgressing all over gender.” Personally, I worry about transsexuals being lumped into a “binary/passing” model, or with “passing” and “binary” being equated.

  48. Piny, you really should post a non-identifying e-mail address so that people can contact you without doing so in comments where everyone can see. It will give people a place to send you blogfodder, which makes it a lot easier to get up regular posts! Also, it allows people to tell you that they are stuck in the moderation que.

  50. I have to say, in reading these comments, that I really appreciate piny’s willingness to explain things without any hostility. I know that I tend to be sort of hesitant to ask questions like ‘what do you mean by transguy’ and ‘when you say you’re queer, what does that actually amount to?’ because as a straight person I feel like I’m either putting someone in an uncomfortable place by asking or at the very least that it might be a little insulting to ask such basic questions that everyone seems to understand. 🙂 I also appreciate very much your willingness to acknowledge that a lot of the terms the trans community uses are not actually standardized between people, geographic areas, etc…it makes me feel a little better about having a fuzzy idea of what everything means to learn that the definitions are, in fact, fuzzy.

    Anyway, I appreciate you being comfortable answering and being asked even simple questions. It makes it very comfortable, as other commenters have mentioned, to ask questions and actually begin to understand some of the gender issues you encounter even if its out of our experiences, as it is for me. Also, I’d like to second that I’d love to hear more about your experiences as a transguy and that I wouldn’t find it out of place in this blog at all.

  51. I have to say, in reading these comments, that I really appreciate piny’s willingness to explain things without any hostility.

    Oh, I can definitely be hostile. I try to treat all honest questions respectfully. If I feel that something is an invasion of privacy (“How do you go to the bathroom?”), I will generally say something.

    I know that I tend to be sort of hesitant to ask questions like ‘what do you mean by transguy’ and ‘when you say you’re queer, what does that actually amount to?’ because as a straight person I feel like I’m either putting someone in an uncomfortable place by asking or at the very least that it might be a little insulting to ask such basic questions that everyone seems to understand.

    …I may post on this dynamic, and the problems it can cause. Some of it has to do with power disparities that simply do exist, and aren’t any fault of the people who want to learn. It sometimes is rude to ask these questions. If a transwoman is your barista, for example, she probably doesn’t want to explain what she does in bed. If that transwoman is your coworker, she probably doesn’t want to hear what you think of her transition. If that transwoman is your realtor, she probably doesn’t want to hear how wonderfully you think she passes. On the other hand, some questions are polite and even necessary; if you aren’t sure what pronoun someone prefers, it’s much more respectful to ask rather than assume.

    But this situation isn’t anything like that. I’m interacting with all of you as a blogger, that is, someone presenting a certain amount of autobiographical information. I’m also writing about trans stuff, obviously, which means that some people will have questions about the concepts and communities I describe in my posts. I understand that all of this can be very confusing, and sometimes counterintuitive.

    Everyone here has so far been respectful, and no one has asked me what my genitals look like or how I use them. I really appreciate that, and I’m glad that you feel this has been a positive interaction for you.

  52. Piny sez:

    I’m interacting with all of you as a blogger, that is, someone presenting a certain amount of autobiographical information. I’m also writing about trans stuff, obviously, which means that some people will have questions about the concepts and communities I describe in my posts. I understand that all of this can be very confusing, and sometimes counterintuitive.

    Certainly not to discount your other opinions and snark, but when Lauren let me know who she was thinking of bringing on board, I was particularly interested in this aspect of your experiences and ideas. Gay issues and feminist issues are a dime a dozen by comparison; genuine discussion of trans issues are really hard to find.

    Big congrats on the promotion, and warm welcomes! And some hot tea if you want some. I just made too much.

  53. Okay, piny, answer me this: what does it take to get livejournal users a little respect? I admit, you used “seventh-grade” as a qualifier, when most people seem to consider it redundant.

    Oh, I’m kidding. Welcome.

    I’ve already accepted that the default impression of a livejournal user is a breathless teenaged girl, which is why I always like to point with pride to Julia at Sisyphus Shrugged ( http://jmhm.livejournal.com/ ).

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