Threads of Gender: Transgender Culture

threadsofgender:

There is no transgender culture. It’s a ragtag collection of sadness and survival and hope and demise. We need role models who are professional and well spoken and intelligent. There are only about 3 well known transgender people in America, maybe 4. This is sad. We as a people need to rise up and…

Ok, written response coming, long read, publishes the 20th around 4pm AZ time

Thanks for catching my eye — I got to get in depth in a post, which I haven’t’ done in a while, and it felt good.

message me and I’ll get you a preview…

Threads of Gender: Transgender Culture

threadsofgender:

There is no transgender culture. It’s a ragtag collection of sadness and survival and hope and demise. We need role models who are professional and well spoken and intelligent. There are only about 3 well known transgender people in America, maybe 4. This is sad. We as a people need to rise up and…

Mine eye has been caught, and while it’ll be a couple of days before it appears, I shall respond :D

doriandawes

doriandawes asked:

Your rules are interesting, and I had a question. In Grant Morrison's surreal/fantasy/occult graphic novel series The Invisibles, the Brazilian Shaman transwoman Lord Fanny's ability to channel her god through her body is based on the fact that their god only works through the women in their family line. Does this still work in your rules list? What are your thoughts on this and how it applies to the set of rules you posted?

Morrison’s Invisibles is a favorite of mine, that I should probably revisit, lol.

In order:

She works well within the confines of the first precept.  The aspect of her history is not what drives the story forward.

Her shamanistic abilities are not basedin her transness, either — she was raised as and lives as a woman, and the key to her powers lies there.

It’s been too long for me to recall what sort of jokes were made at her expense (i tend to forget such unpleasantness quickly), so I can’t speak to that.

I also don’t recall if she encounters any other trans people.

She isn’t, from a US standpoint, a white, middle class, late transitioner.

The nature of the work presents her as a role model for women, as well as trans people, though the kind of role model might be questionable.

She is subject to the tropes as a woman, but Morrison — a fan of subversion — tends to use them in unique ways — I say this one’s a toss up. THe rape, sex work, etc stuff are all very much tropes, and the overarching storylines often were built on them (it is comics, after all, and from the 90’s).

IIRC, the story does only really feature her, but it also includes other folks.

I am pretty sure he failed on the -ed part, but generally speaking, he might not have known the terms at the time, but I dn’t think he was aware of such terms (and certainly not at the outset) as they were generally absent form the vocabulary.

Poverty, suicide, and workplace harrassment in the series, for the time, were well and far ahead of the curve in terms of being portrayed as not being a functional choice of hers.

Overall it scores phenomenally well — I’d give it a +6 myself, which makes it one of the greatest portrayals I’ve seen yet.
 

The D’orsay Rules

AKA: The Top Ten ways to write a story with trans people in it that doesn’t suck.

I present to you 10 simple rules for telling a story about trans people.

So a while back I asked for suggestions about what people would like to see in Trans fiction.  Novels, films, tv shows, and so forth.

I also spent time reading other concepts in full, doing some research, watching some films and so forth.  I wanted to find a way to rate episodes, books, songs, movies, and similar stuff according to the way they present trans people.

To create a “minimum” bar, but also to focus on very basic and simple stuff from the viewpoint of a writer, director, or producer of such things.

A way to rate how decent something is on a scale from 1 to 10.

In future posts I will apply the test to existing shows and stories featuring trans characters.

The D’orsay Rules

  • Their Transition or Transness is not in and of itself the crux of story driving conflicts or humor
  • Their ability to do their job is not based in their Transness
  • Those who make pronoun or sex/gender based jokes are quickly chastised by other characters in the story, and made to look foolish as a result.
  • There is interaction with 2 or more other Trans people, and they talk about something other than hormones, surgeries, clothes, or activism
  • They are not only white, late transitioners from a middle class or better background
  • Trans women are held up as role models for women, Trans men as role models for men
  • They are not limited by the tropes applied to them as a result of their gender; Women are not limited to just women’s tropes, men are not limited to just men’s tropes
  • The story does not feature only trans women, or only trans men, and includes those who are both and neither
  • Those that are not Trans that they interact with are aware of terms like Cisgender, and avoid extraneous “-ed”s
  • Poverty, suicide, and workplace harassment are not portrayed as a choice of the Trans person, nor in a positive light

The process of using this is fairly straight forward.

One point for each one they get right, minus one point for each one they get wrong.  This means the scale can run from -10 to +10. With 0 being a wash.

On that scale, stories which score a 5 or better are going to be pretty decent stories for trans characters.  The overwhelming majority of stories that have already been done fail to rise above a 0 so far, according to my recollection, but now I can take the time to study the stories with an eye to this test for overall trans awareness.

The same rules apply, for the most part, to stories about trans trans people in the broader media, but I’ll have to spend some time on developing that list as it has become apparent that the current journalistic standards fail on multiple levels.

So have at them. Let me know how you score different stories with this list.

On Transgender Characters

dgaider:

If it were in your power, would you feature a trans* character as a lead, or do you think that that would be putting too much on the writing team’s shoulders? As someone who is highly involved in the game industry, do you think there would be a backlash from the industry or fans if a trans* character was a lead? Is video game culture ready for a trans* companion? — venak-hol

No, I don’t think video game culture is ready for transgender characters— not as major plot characters, and certainly not as a lead. It’s not ready for major characters that are gay, either. Heck, it’s barely ready for ones which are female.

Does that mean the industry should wait until it is? Probably not.

Yet I am also not the one whose money is being put on the line when it comes to making a major game. With hundreds of millions of dollars now sunk into your average video game title, it could perhaps be viewed as understandable why publishers would be risk-averse. The tried-and-true is safer. The audience they already have, and have had since gaming’s inception, is safer. Or is it?

Read More

The D’orsay Rules

  • Their Transition or Transness is not in and of itself the crux of story driving conflicts or humor
  • Their ability to do their job is not based in their Transness
  • Those who make pronoun or sex/gender based jokes are quickly chastised by other characters in the story, and made to look foolish as a result.
  • There is interaction with 2 or more other Trans people, and they talk about something other than hormones, surgeries, clothes, or activism
  • They are not only white, late transitioners from a middle class or better background
  • Trans women are held up as role models for women, Trans men as role models for men
  • They are not limited by the tropes applied to them as a result of their gender; Women are not limited to just women’s tropes, men are not limited to just men’s tropes
  • The story does not feature only trans women, or only trans men, and includes those who are both and neither
  • Those that are not Trans that they interact with are aware of terms like Cisgender, and avoid extraneous “-ed”s
  • Poverty, suicide, and workplace harassment are not portrayed as a choice of the Trans person, nor in a positive light

The process of using this is fairly straight forward.

One point for each one they get right, minus one point for each one they get wrong.  This means the scale can run from -10 to +10. With 0 being a wash.

So, write any story you want.  Really.  Then follow those rules, and you will solve the questions and worries you have, because these rules can do a really good job of guiding you through some of of the places you want to go (as was made visible in your opening paragraph).

Root of the Problem #girlslikeus #boyslikeus #gqslikeus #trans #transgender #lgbt #glbt #noh8 So there is a lot of argument over trans people being included in the space for other groups.  Most often, this comes down to the argument over trans women being included in women’s spaces. Here’s the the root of the problem there: If your argument says that trans women are not women, then you are being transphobic. You can try to justify it by an absurd appeal to the “way things are” (just as people do whenever they get told they are being assholes) by trying to say idiotic stuff like “biology!” when biology tells us that trans women are women. Its a nice try, but pretty fucking stupid, because, after all, what you are doing when you say that is reinforcing the idea that women are limited by their biological destiny, which is always determined by men in our current culture. If your argument is that Cis women need a space of their own, you are getting closer, except then you are being transphobic because that’s like saying that the rest of the world isn’t a place for Cis people already.  Its no different from the argument that says there should be a celebration of straight pride when every single day is a celebration of straight pride. Now, personally, if someone wants to limit a space to just cis women, and does so, on the basis of “cis women have special needs that trans women do not”, I’m going to look at you and treat you like the infantile child you are acting like. I’m also going to look at a trans person who says that talking about menses is transphobic in the same way because, well, they are acting the same way. The root of the problem in both of the issues above is really simple: Trans women are women. Trans men are men. If you cannot get that through your head, if you cannot incorporate that understanding into what you do, then you are, simply, dealing with some form of aversion, anxiety, or aversion to transness or trans people. It is really that simple.  There’s no special way around it.  You are being an asshole. You can choose to embrace being an asshole and end up on the wrong side of history (and you will — make no mistake). You can choose to shut up and just be an asshole n your own as slowly but surely you find yourself aligned ever more closely with the fringe, and the people who hate for no damn good reason. Or several other things.  I’m not going to tell you what you can do about it if you lack the ability to change your outlook.  SOme people do.  Some people tried really hard to be a “friend” and then became a nefarious enemy when they gave up trying to be different because they do not have the ability to change. I mean that, as well.  If you *cannot* get that simple thing through your head, you are in trouble.  You are also broken. Because most reasonable people can understand that, and can get that, and that’s all it takes. The other root problem is that a lot of people like to think there is “normal” and then there is trans. Like a lot of people think there is normal and then there is Black. And so they base their arguments in a pretend fight between Trans people and normal people. That isn’t the fight. The fight is between Cis people and all the folks they crap on daily, just like white folks rap on people of color. Now, Trans tends to be the “leading” visible aspect of that, just like “black” is for people of color.  That doesn’t mean, for example, the fight is just between black and white people.  It isn’t.  It between white folks and the people they have been crapping on. WHich is to say the basis of the argument (you are different from me, so you are lesser than I am) is the same, not that racism is the same thing as transphobia. oddly enough, however, studies show that when you fall for one, you fall for others. Now, it really is *that* simple.  It doesn’t take much more thought than any of that. But because it is that simple, it lies at a very key area in social systems.  And that area is the way society constructs things around the differences in people. WHich is not all that simple. So that’s why people go to such great lengths to make those convoluted arguments, when, n the end, all they are trying, really, really hard to do is defend their position that trans women are men. And that’s an awful lot of effort to go to to say that when all they really have to do is realize that trans women are women.  And once you get that in your head, in your mind, in your thoughts, then you realize that trans women are women. And all the stupid arguments stop happening. And the world spins on.  And society keeps going.  And there are still things to do and problems to solve and people to help. That is the first and most important thing to remember when dealing with trans people.  THats the key.  Without that key, without that, *everything else* is just going to keep running into the wall that is simple, basic, common human decency. ANd for the few who cannot do it, well, they lack that decency. View Post
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Root of the Problem #girlslikeus #boyslikeus #gqslikeus #trans #transgender #lgbt #glbt #noh8

So there is a lot of argument over trans people being included in the space for other groups.  Most often, this comes down to the argument over trans women being included in women’s spaces.

Here’s the the root of the problem there:

If your argument says that trans women are not women, then you are being transphobic.

You can try to justify it by an absurd appeal to the “way things are” (just as people do whenever they get told they are being assholes) by trying to say idiotic stuff like “biology!” when biology tells us that trans women are women. Its a nice try, but pretty fucking stupid, because, after all, what you are doing when you say that is reinforcing the idea that women are limited by their biological destiny, which is always determined by men in our current culture.

If your argument is that Cis women need a space of their own, you are getting closer, except then you are being transphobic because that’s like saying that the rest of the world isn’t a place for Cis people already.  Its no different from the argument that says there should be a celebration of straight pride when every single day is a celebration of straight pride.

Now, personally, if someone wants to limit a space to just cis women, and does so, on the basis of “cis women have special needs that trans women do not”, I’m going to look at you and treat you like the infantile child you are acting like.

I’m also going to look at a trans person who says that talking about menses is transphobic in the same way because, well, they are acting the same way.

The root of the problem in both of the issues above is really simple:

Trans women are women.

Trans men are men.

If you cannot get that through your head, if you cannot incorporate that understanding into what you do, then you are, simply, dealing with some form of aversion, anxiety, or aversion to transness or trans people.

It is really that simple.  There’s no special way around it.  You are being an asshole. You can choose to embrace being an asshole and end up on the wrong side of history (and you will — make no mistake). You can choose to shut up and just be an asshole n your own as slowly but surely you find yourself aligned ever more closely with the fringe, and the people who hate for no damn good reason.

Or several other things.  I’m not going to tell you what you can do about it if you lack the ability to change your outlook.  SOme people do.  Some people tried really hard to be a “friend” and then became a nefarious enemy when they gave up trying to be different because they do not have the ability to change.

I mean that, as well.  If you *cannot* get that simple thing through your head, you are in trouble.  You are also broken.

Because most reasonable people can understand that, and can get that, and that’s all it takes.

The other root problem is that a lot of people like to think there is “normal” and then there is trans.

Like a lot of people think there is normal and then there is Black.

And so they base their arguments in a pretend fight between Trans people and normal people.

That isn’t the fight.

The fight is between Cis people and all the folks they crap on daily, just like white folks rap on people of color.

Now, Trans tends to be the “leading” visible aspect of that, just like “black” is for people of color.  That doesn’t mean, for example, the fight is just between black and white people.  It isn’t.  It between white folks and the people they have been crapping on.

WHich is to say the basis of the argument (you are different from me, so you are lesser than I am) is the same, not that racism is the same thing as transphobia.

oddly enough, however, studies show that when you fall for one, you fall for others.

Now, it really is *that* simple.  It doesn’t take much more thought than any of that.

But because it is that simple, it lies at a very key area in social systems.  And that area is the way society constructs things around the differences in people.

WHich is not all that simple.

So that’s why people go to such great lengths to make those convoluted arguments, when, n the end, all they are trying, really, really hard to do is defend their position that trans women are men.

And that’s an awful lot of effort to go to to say that when all they really have to do is realize that trans women are women.  And once you get that in your head, in your mind, in your thoughts, then you realize that trans women are women.

And all the stupid arguments stop happening. And the world spins on.  And society keeps going.  And there are still things to do and problems to solve and people to help.

That is the first and most important thing to remember when dealing with trans people.  THats the key.  Without that key, without that, *everything else* is just going to keep running into the wall that is simple, basic, common human decency.

ANd for the few who cannot do it, well, they lack that decency.

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