Zoe E. Whitten's Blog, page 77

Your Zen moment…of racism

Another fast post this one with a link to a video about how many openly racist things have been said to Asian women by guys. Now I'm a big, big fan of Lucy Liu, and I would love to find out she's pansexual and open to long visits to Milan. But the moment I meet her, I think my first attempt to woo her probably isn't going to be "Five dollah, sucky sucky." Also out is, "Do you know how to make Chinese food?"

But the thing is, when a dude says things like this, are they really trying to flirt, or are they enforcing a racial othering as a result of a fetish? Certainly, guys can't expect to find dating success if they only see women as objects, but this is a step farther removed, turning Asian women into objects for a fetish. What you see as comments that are no big deal, to the women you use them on, they're personal attacks that they must endure all the time.

Privilege means never knowing what this kind of harassment is like. It means being able to express ugly things without anybody calling you on it. An Asian woman who became hostile to this race baiting would be teased and harassed further for not being a "good sport." And that's bullshit no matter how you slice it.

Privilege means never having to say you're sorry for being ignorant of the pain you inflict on others.

Good news in Australia

This will be a short post, but I want to say how thrilled I am over this article explaining Australia's new gender model for passports. People can choose to be a non-gender, defined with an X. YES.

This is great news, and I myself would love to be sporting an X on my documents. I suspect I'll have to wait a bit for that, but in any case, this is a legal precedent that can have ramifications for activists in other countries, including the US. In the US, there have already been some bits of good news about the passport office no longer requiring surgery from trans citizens for a change of the gender field. But Australia goes a step further by acknowledging and accepting that some people are neither M nor F, and forcing them to pick is discrimination. Australia has acknowledged that. Fantastic. No sarcasm, this is very good news.

Now we need to work to get this idea drilled into the heads of the powers that be in the US passport department. But for now, good on you Australia. You did right by us. =^)

The Most Racist Thing That Ever Happened to Me

Okay, you really, really should read all of this article, but I want to share the intro with you:

There's a Chris Rock joke that is emblematic of modern racism. It's from his 2008 standup routine "Kill the Messenger," and it's about Alpine, New Jersey, the posh town where he lives in a multi-million dollar home. His neighbors include Mary J. Blige, Patrick Ewing, and Eddie Murphy. Rock says Blige, Ewing, Murphy, and he are (or were) among the best in the world at their professions, legends in their line of work. They're also the only four black homeowners in town.

Then he says his next-door neighbor is a white dentist. "He ain't the best dentist in the world," Rock says. "He ain't going to the dental hall of fame. He's just a yank-your-tooth-out dentist." Rock spells out the point with a devastating punchline: "The black man gotta fly to get to somethin' the white man can walk to."

He's saying that in modern America blacks can ascend to the upper class, it's possible, but they have to fight so much more to get there because white supremacy remains a tall barrier to entry. The fact that a few slip through the infinitesimal cracks is a way of advancing the idea that white supremacy does not exist, an attempt to mask its awesome power, because the Matrix doesn't want you to know it's there. How can someone argue that Alpine, New Jersey, is racist when four black families live there, welcomed by the community and unharassed by police?

This is actually how all civil rights fights are being framed right now. Men point to the few women CEOs and say "we let them in." People have token blacks, token Hispanics, token Asians. And even harmful groups like the Bailey Blanchard autogynephilia movement have token transsexuals willing to sell off their rights to people who think they're self-loving sexual freaks.

There are token gays for the Republicans, and token blacks, including a certain black freshman senator who was asked by a white representative to move his luggage because he was mistaken for hired help instead of a colleague.

If you read On a Clear Day, You Can See Detroit, you know John DeLorean talked about being the token hippie for GM. And that's how white males keep hold of the vast majority of American assets and how all people under them support the system of drip down privileges. At the top of that pile is always the white rich males. Everyone else is under them.

And, anybody below you in the social pecking order is easy to dismiss because people now see privilege as a zero sum game. If you extend rights to minorities, you somehow lose some of your rights. But you aren't giving up anything except for your privilege to mistreat others, either directly or indirectly. Many people can even freely admit that what they want to preserve is the right to discriminate against others based on morals standard. They claim freedom of religion, but what we really need is some freedom FROM religion.

Minorities themselves cannot get out of their social pecking orders without fighting tooth and nail twice as hard as their privileged coworkers. This is true no matter which minority group I highlight. Women have to work harder than men to be recognized, and the same is true of black men working in the office. When you're white, you're in the good enough society. Slacking off is okay, but if a black person took the same number of breaks as a white, this would be seen as "typical behavior of their people." It's okay to be a white slacker. A black slacker with the same job skill set is unacceptable.

Chris Rock is a man with a passion for his message, and he can make a whole lot of white people laugh at themselves over their privilege. But all his work still can't convince people to give that privilege up. Richard Pryor worked against it his whole life. Yet for as much as white people respect both men, they still can't be bothered to talk to their white friends and say, "But all jokes aside, I think maybe he's right, and we still have a problem with racism."

And some people say, "Well don't lay these problems at my feet. I'm not prejudiced, and I let everyone be." That's a cop-out to acknowledging your civic duty to defend other citizens of your country. Your nation asks many of you to sacrifice yourselves in war, and you would heed that duty. But this civic duty to support equal rights for all Americans is easy to shirk. There's too much else to worry about than the rights of other people. So Americans will volunteer to lay their lives on the line for Uncle Sam and American values, but they won't defend those same values for their minority neighbors.

This kind of cop-out attitude is what's making America poorer and poorer, both financially and morally. American men won't defend American women from rape apologists. White Americans do not talk about racism with each other. Straight Americans do not read queer books or support queer civil rights, but then co-opt themselves as our allies, just because they say they leave us alone.

Americans do not like white elephants, and instead of dealing with any of them, they attack anyone pointing out the problems. Kill the messenger, Chris Rock says, and he's right. Because it's easier to silence or dismiss the critics than it is to admit you're fucking things up and try to do something different.

Two victories worth mentioning…

For once I have some great news to share with y'all. This even better because last night I ended up arguing with sheltered people about male privilege, first with two men, and then leading up to a fight where Zoe Winters revealed that because she is financially well to do, the problems of other minorities aren't her problem. And anyway, she'd never thought of herself as the lesser sex because she's the breadwinner of her family. Translation: I got mine, so fuck everyone else.

This is especially disappointing to learn that a woman who writes such tough, sassy women is nothing at all like her characters. She is to me a spineless coward who measures her place in life by what she possesses herself. And I will still be rating her book Claimed 4 stars after I finish it, assuming she doesn't blow the ending. I doubt she will, but after this, I don't care how many books she writes, I won't read them. Fuck supporting a woman who's too busy for women's rights other than to take time to lecture a tranny about how her tone "won't make any male friends."

But no, now here's the first good news: The Supreme Court went around Rick Perry and ordered a stay of execution for Duane Buck on the grounds that his sentencing was racially motivated. This is good news of a short-lived variety, as soon Perry will have someone else up for review. But it is a victory, and I do want to bring it to your attention, lest you believe I only see the negative things in life.

Then in an ever better bit of news, the Social Security Administration has agreed to stop outing transsexuals with a gender check request on document requests. This one rule allowed companies to fire thousands of transsexuals for failure to conform to the gender expectations of others, and the SSA was complicit in that prejudice. So their recognition of their role in our employment problem feels like a major victory.

However, this is a MINOR victory, because in the next legislation of a Republican president, this can be overturned without so much as a speech to Senate. It is the kind of small change that we would howl in outrage over having our right to work removed AGAIN, and where straight people would shrug and walk away. Not their problem because it never affects them.

Which is why I'm going to become a broken record on this during the next election: no matter who wins for president, transsexuals cannot wait for a favorable political wind to be blowing for their civil rights fight. So this next election cycle, whoever wins in your local senate and congressional elections, please make a note of their email addresses and add them to your address book. Then once a month, please email them a form letter something like this:

Dear _____,

I'm a voter from your district who would like to bring a problem to your attention, and I hope you will speak to your colleagues about this as well. As you may know, every version of ENDA that has arrived for a vote has first been stripped of trans protections on the grounds that protecting only the gays would be more politically expedient. This has never been proven as true, and by weakening ENDA, the bill fails to protect society's most vulnerable people. These people pay taxes and are expected to follow the laws of the land, yet they are never allowed to have the freedoms that many Americans take for granted.

A trans-inclusive ENDA cannot take away all prejudice, but it gives trans people the legal leverage they need to fight the daily discrimination occurring in their work and private lives. I feel this issue is so important that I must write to you and ask that you help sponsor or promote a trans-inclusive ENDA. A human rights fight this important should not be a one party issue, so I also urge you to speak to your colleagues on the other side of the aisle as well.

Thank you for your time and consideration on this vital and life-saving legislation.

Sincerely,

And that's it. If you don't like my letter, you can write up your own. Or you can copy pasta mine and add your own edits. But once you've got a canned letter, save it. So this way, your work to support the trans community will be two minutes per month, tops. You open your mail client, start a new email to your senator, CC: to your congressional representative, and paste the letter. Send it, close the email client, and breath a deep breath of righteous satisfaction. Because on this day, you have become a true champion of the little people. You'll be like Heracles, but with an email client.

So how about it, people? Can I convince you that two minutes a month is an easy investment to make for society's most vulnerable citizens? Cause if not, I'm not sure how to shorten this down to a minute. =^/

How it works in Texas…

You can go read this article, or soak in the money quote below:

The inmate, Duane Edward Buck, is set to be executed by lethal injection on September 15 for murdering two people at the home of his ex-girlfriend in 1995.

The issue at hand isn't Buck's innocence, but the means by which his death sentence was obtained. Prosecutors firmly established Buck's guilt, but to secure a capital punishment conviction in Texas they needed to prove "future dangerousness"–that is, provide compelling evidence that Buck posed a serious threat to society if he were ever to walk free. They did so in part with the testimony of a psychologist, Dr. Walter Quijano, who testified that Buck's race (he's African American) made him more likely to commit crimes in the future.

There's no way this should not be seen as racism. But it's happening in Texas to a black man already in prison and already found guilty. So white sympathy is at an all time low for this guy. Despite Texas being a part of the Bible Belt, "Thou Shall Not Kill" has always been a little fuzzy in the eyes of the people who support the death penalty. But despite Perry killing more people than anyone else, his mass-murder streak has still not scared criminals into retirement.

Capital punishment has not now, nor has it ever worked, and the only reason to kill any prisoner is to appease our own petty needs for retribution. It does not bring back the victims, nor take away the suffering of those left behind. It's simply an ugly way to erase problems rather than look at them.

This prison system in America has been shown time and again to be racially biased in who is incarcerated and who is given another chance. This is another case where simply being black is good enough proof that an inmate is unworthy of mercy.

If you can use some justification to make killing other people okay, then the next question you should ask yourself is, "What really separate me from them?" You won't answer honestly, because the truth is, there's less difference between you and the criminals than you want to see in yourselves. So instead of admitting a truth that will make you uncomfortable, you erase and dehumanize the criminals. They must be some kind of subhuman to commit such heinous crimes. And surely then, not sparing any mercy is justified.

But it isn't. An act of revenge is still wrong even if it's become socially acceptable. It used to be socially acceptable for any white people to keep slaves. Now, to do it, you need to get a license as a private prison.

Does it upset you that I say slavery and racism are alive and well in America? Because I can back up what I say, and bring you new evidence every other day. And what I keep asking you is, "What are you going to do about it? Work to change it, or get pissy with me for always being negative?"

All Maid Up 4

Since I JUST did the other update, I won't bother with all the other links. I'll just say that there are some grains of awkward truth to today's scene. Ginger has a dream about Kevin, leading to a predicament that keeps on giving.

So, here's All Maid Up 4.

All Maid Up 3

Sorry! I meant to post this last night, but I had a fatigue attack around 10 PM and couldn't focus to finish typing a blurb. (*._.)

If you're looking to play catch up on this story of a trans maid finding the scoundrel of her dreams, here's part one and part two. Here in part three, Kevin invites Ginger to the pool, even making a bikini for her. Still suspicious of his intentions, Ginger overhears part of Kevin's plan as he discusses it with his as yet unnamed friends, and she learns a bit more about Kevin's past.

Without further ado, I give you All Maid Up 3.

People are still buying books…

Today, I made a choice to be a little proactive in pushing my titles, and I sold a copy of Sandy Morrison & the Pack of Pussies, a copy of Peter the Wolf, and a print copy of The Life & Death of a Sex Doll. (Double woot on selling print! ^_^ ) I also got in my monthly report from Lightning Source, and Wendy's first trilogy continues to get sales every month. I also sold a couple of the non-promoted white-faced collection titles.

I know I'm a pissy bitch who complains about a lot of stuff, but I am trying more often to stop and mention the people who give me a chance. You folks put up with my crazy ranting, and then you still go buy a book. For that, I don't express my gratitude as often as I should.

And so, to those of you who got books and/or reviewed them, thank you so much for all your support, both financial and promotional. I really cannot say enough how much I appreciate it.

In other news…

Today I was finally recovered enough to play a bit of Dance Central, and I like it a lot. But even the easy level dances blow me out very quickly, even after all the exercise I've done in Kinect Adventures. I did pretty poorly on one song, but I hadn't practiced the merengue before, so that's why I missed half my moves. On the other hand, the other song I played was on the demo, so I nailed 95% of the moves. It helps that I'd practiced that dance for a month before buying the game. So it's kinda like cheating. Kinda.

I then jumped over to LIPS and fired up the microphone. I've bought some extra songs off the online catalog, and while I love The Cars, I'm finding the diction and pitch hard to match for their songs. I just never sang these songs much, so I don't know them as well.

BUT, the songs I do know, I'm making my way up the ranks. On Shout, I'm in the top 1,000, and on Everybody Wants to Rule the World and Karma Chameleon, I broke past the Big Bang level to reach Infinity. I have no idea what comes after that, but I'm very close to breaking the top 1,000 for those songs too. It's hard to appreciate this, but these songs have around 40,000 global competitors, so making it to the top 1,000 is no walk in the park.

I'm also making some progress on stabilizing my higher ranges, so songs like Lovefool and Clocks that require really high pitches no longer leave me winded. I can still crack and lose the note early, but I'm getting better breathing control with every session.

So, that means I should be able to do Erasure's, Respect and A-ha's Take On Me within the next four or five weeks. (fingers crossed.)

I don't talk a lot about my singing hobby, because unlike my other talents, I have no intention of doing anything with this skill. But I cannot say how much I happiness I get out of this game. It scores me, and it lets me know when I'm really improving. And when I've hit that high note just right and the game says "Cool!" damn, that is the best feeling ever.

Now, if only I could make this kind of fast progress with the guitar. (*._.)

Edit the gay away, please…

Back to the regular drill: take a look at this article, which is gaining a bit of traction already and probably does not need my help. This is talking about how some agents have pushed writers to either edit a character to remove their gay identity, or remove the character completely.

And of course these people, when pressed to explain their requests, will say that they "support diversity", but that they "have to think of the market." Not one person will admit that they have homophobia, or admit that they are afraid to sell stories with challenging perspectives. And maybe they aren't. Maybe they're just afraid of poor sales.

Taken by itself, this tendency to erase the gays is a major problem. But I've also told you how women comedians can't find studios to bank their movies. I've talked about how Danny Glover can't make a film with an all-black cast because the studios want him to write in some white heroes who show the blacks how winning freedom is done right. I've talked about how there's only 15% of women writers working in TV, and how genres like sci-fi and fantasy remain distinctly male-oriented, with even female writers putting out work that reads like mens stories because the big companies won't take any risks on books that don't follow "the formula" for each genre. So even when a woman writes the book, the hero is a white male. Just look at all that diversity! Oh wait, all of that diversity is the rejects pile. What's selling is straight white values. As usual.

So yesterday, there's this story out, and instantly, a twitter tag started in support for gay YA, #YesGayYA. I chose to mention: Hey folks wiling to say #YesGayYA, can I interest y'all in YA with a trans heroine? I posted a link after this to Sandy Morrison and the Pack of Pussies. Not one preview. Forget sales, there was no traffic. People who used the tag weren't reading other tweets, you see. They used the tag to offer the ONLY support they'll ever give queers: empty words.

So, seriously, people, do you really think that "diversity" is another word for "straight whites"? Because then, alla y'all saying you support diversity when you just support straight whites would make sense. It's just, you don't seem to understand that when you say you support diversity, you have to support black authors instead of supporting white authors who write about black people in condescending ways. If you really supported diversity, you might buy gay books and promote them, instead of ignoring every queer release.

But really supporting diversity also means reading about it and having your comfortable world views challenged. It means accepting that you have privilege to speak out, and thus you have a responsibility to promote diversity as much as you do to financially support it. If all you offer as support is empty words when pressed by an ally, you're not really supporting anything. You're just mouthing the words and going back to your straight white social influences.

"I support diversity" is meaningless if you don't sample the work of minority artists. Just saying the words doesn't make them true, and if you want to change the attitude of the big companies, you've got to show them there's nothing wrong with queer characters. That means buying books with queer characters AND promoting them.

If you can't be bothered to do that, then the publishers and agents see low sales on queer books, and they WILL rightly say, "Well, that kind of character won't sell, so books with those people need to be rewritten." And they're not wrong for watching trends and reacting accordingly. YOU'RE wrong, for claiming to support diversity, but never actually doing it.

Talk is cheap, people. Don't rush over to a social site to proclaim your support of gay YA characters. Go to a bookstore and look up a book from a queer and buy it. Or buy a book from a black author, or from a Middle Eastern author. Just, don't keep supporting whites while mouthing the words that you support the rest of us too. Because your hollow words do nothing to reach the people making these decisions. The agents and publishers don't hear your protests until you speak with dollars.