Getting Into The Girl’s Club (update: Sep 24, 2009)
September 24th, 2009 Email This Article
Getting Into The Girl’s Club.
It’s not something I ever aspired to do.
Sure, I’ve been dealing with the public bathroom situation on a daily basis for years, bracing myself for the inevitable shriek. But so far, there’s never been a problem.
Other than that, I think I’m being realistic when I say no one has really been blindsided by who I really am.
And having said that, I remain impressed by how most women have been able to stay tolerant, or at the very least, keep their negative remarks to themselves, if there were any. It’s extremely gracious, considering there’s a greater likelihood of girls being critical of other girls. Also, I don’t really think girls want “us” in their club anyway.
So as a show of appreciation, I think it’s perfectly reasonable that a girl’s club remain a girl’s club. It’s a wonderful thing to get an operation to align your lifelong self-image with your outer image, but that’s a far cry from knowing what it’s like to be a woman since birth.
You won’t see me reciting The Vagina Monologues, ever. That’s like a Caucasian getting reverse-to-single eyelid surgery, dying her hair black, and suddenly reading the Joy Luck Club in a coffee house. Gender theorists argue that gender is a construct, but these days, with affordable surgery vacations overseas, gender has become a commodity that can be financed with a credit card. In fact, I can’t even hang with fellow gay male acquaintances when they caricature women. (Thank heavens I can use old age and being out-of-touch as an excuse!)
That’s not to say I don’t believe in equal rights for all women and feminist readings. If anything, transgender people are fighting so hard for their rights right now that they often don’t devote enough time to fighting for the rights of the sisters whose club they covet. That’s brought some resentment from the hard-lining women.
I’ve been saving this entry for many months. It’s probably safe to say I’m neither fish nor fowl. I neither hunt nor gather, though the thought of gathering hunters is a delight. I see aspects of cd, tv, tg,ts, shem, and drag (well, each and every one of us do drag in our daily routine) in my persona. And I’ll always openly support transgender people and biological women in attaining legal rights, legal protection, equality, respect, reform, and public safety.
I just shudder to think that less informed people will stumble on my website and take what I say – as an individual – as a representation of transgender people who actually make a difference, like say, Pauline Park, Kamikawa Aya, Sylvia Rivera, or Andrea James.
Besides, as Rhett once said in Gone With The Wind, “you don’t know what freedom is until you’ve lost your reputation.” My reputation is based on who I am first, not on being transgender (whatever that is). I believe being transgender should be incidental to anyone’s identity, much like say, liking Barbara Streisand was only a small part of who Glenn Gould was. Biological women will tell you how hard they have fought to be freed from being seen as “a female lawyer.” If being transgender is my only recognizable feature when people describe me….then I have a lot of work to do with my personality. (And my plate is already full when it comes to that!)
So, as a moratorium on the the ever-expanding, every-subcategorizing grey goo that is transgender culture, I’m temporarily removing my “transgender” icon on the upper right of this page. I’ve slid in its place “eccentric” as a vague passport to freedom. I’m all, and I’m none of the above. I’ve always put myself more in the mindframe of Quentin Crisp, Brini Maxwell, Wendy Carlos or even Dennis Rodman. Nothing too serious, even though I’ve been at it for longer than some of my readers have been alive – call me whatever you want to: If you have a problem with me, it’s none of my business.



















