timberwraith
I have no desire to go back to using "transsexual" to describe myself. There is a movement, for whatever reason, to re-adopt the old term. Suit yourselves.
I like that "transsexual" fell away and was replaced by the more inclusive term "transgender" and that was shortened to just "trans."
The term includes many different kinds of people who push against the boundaries of "You are what we label you as at birth."
I *want* to share solidarity with everyone who fits under that umbrella.
timberwraith
"On some level, you will always be a man. You can grow breasts, have plastic surgery to give you a false vagina, and pump yourself full of hormones and other pharmaceuticals. It doesn't matter. You will still have the social training of a man."
timberwraith
"You will never have the experience of growing up with a female body. You will never experience the fear of an unplanned pregnancy. You will not know what it's like to grow up as a target of heterosexual male lust and its attendant abuses. You will never know the violence and predation that real women and girls have to endured across their entire lives, starting in their earliest years."
timberwraith
"The very material fact that actual girls and women must endure patriarchal oppression as the half of humanity who give birth entails forms of oppression you will never experience or understand. This is rooted in bodily experience. It's not a surface level matter of appearance. It goes deeper than clothes, makeup, and surgeries."
timberwraith
"Because of this fundamental difference in life experience, rooted in female embodiment itself, you will always behave like, think like, and be a male. You might be a feminine male but you will still only know a male's experiences. No surgery or pharmaceutical can change this."
timberwraith
But OK, let's flash back on the Bush II years when drunken frat boys as presidents were a fresh new concept and organic, free range TERFs still roamed the fruited plains of usian feminist discourse and were still respected as Important People with Important Ideas.
You know, the 2000s. That era...
timberwraith
Most of us started out the decade still calling ourselves transsexuals, for the most part. Ah, the good old daze. We left the other side of the decade calling ourselves transgender. It was kind of a thing.
But at the start of that decade, it didn't matter that we used a word which implied that we were actually, truly, honestly transforming our physical sex from Category A to Category B.
No one gave a shit other than us, because the Cis Feminist Informed™ response was:
(NOTE CW in next post)
timberwraith
"It doesn't matter what clothes you wear, how much makeup you slather on your faces, or what medical procedures you under go, you were still raised as a boy and socialized to be a man. People saw a boy and man for most of your life and treated you like they treat all boys/men. You have a man's expectations, a man's upbringing, a man's privileges, and you are prone to the same arrogant, sexist, violence laced ideations that males are socialized into."
timberwraith
I'm not into doing variations of separatism. I tried that decades ago, and I grew to despise the "My group first! My group is best!" undertones that inevitably entwined with that kind of perspective.
So, I'm just "trans" or "transgender" as I have called myself for about 20ish years now.
I guess you can call yourself transsexual while you listen to music on vinyl. There were good reasons why folks gave up on that too, LOL.
timberwraith
"I just love the warm analogue sound!"
OK, that's cool. But what about the scratches, dust, and worn out cartridges? Seems annoying and pricey.
Maybe that's a part of the romance? Have fun, yeah?
timberwraith
Maybe, just to fuck with people, I'll start referring to myself as a "transasexual."
I'm trans and asexual. It has a ring to it, you know?
Yes, I'm being a smart ass.
timberwraith
Here are some more thoughts on the whole terminology discourse that's happening at the cerulean butterfly place:
"Transgender vs. Transsexual: A duel of frustration & dyspeptic muttering"
It doesn't matter which terminology we use because cis people will *always* weasel around until they find the most hateful interpretation of the nomenclature which props up their preexisting bigotry. Always.
I've seen cis people cis around across the decades. It's just what they do.
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