Julia Serano's Blog, page 15
August 19, 2013
julia update August 2013 - new email list & NEW BOOK!
So lots of new stuff to report:
First, I have a brand new email list! If you sign up for it, you will receive monthly(ish) updates about all my upcoming performances and speaking events, newly released books, articles, music, and other projects. No spam, I promise.
To sign up, just click here!
Second, the big news: My NEW BOOK, Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive, will be coming out this October!
Here is a short blurb for the book:
While feminist and queer/LGBTQIA+ movements are designed to challenge sexism, they often simultaneously police gender and sexuality—sometimes just as fiercely as the straight-male-centric mainstream does. Here, acclaimed feminist and queer activist Julia Serano chronicles this problem of exclusion within these movements. She advocates for a more holistic approach to fighting sexism that avoids these pitfalls, and offers new ways of thinking about gender, sexuality, and sexism that foster inclusivity rather than exclusivity.
While it's not out yet, you can read a sneak peak of the Introduction to the book on my Excluded webpage.
I plan to do some touring for the book, mostly hitting some major cities - I will share those details in my next update (which is another reason why you should sign up for my email list!). I will also be speaking at various colleges over the course of the 2013-14 year, so perhaps you can catch me doing book readings or giving presentations about the book on one of those occasions.
Also, if you happen to belong to a college organization that may be interested in bringing me to your campus, you can learn more about how to do so by checking out my booking webpage.
Last, but not least, I recently revamped my website. Stylistically, it's not much different, but a lot of new content has been added, including new writings, articles and interviews, podcasts, and other stuff! So if you haven't visited my website in a while, you should check it out when you get a chance...
OK, that's it for now. And remember, between updates, you can always check out:
my main website, my Twitter feed, and/or my Facebook page.
First, I have a brand new email list! If you sign up for it, you will receive monthly(ish) updates about all my upcoming performances and speaking events, newly released books, articles, music, and other projects. No spam, I promise.
To sign up, just click here!
Second, the big news: My NEW BOOK, Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive, will be coming out this October!Here is a short blurb for the book:
While feminist and queer/LGBTQIA+ movements are designed to challenge sexism, they often simultaneously police gender and sexuality—sometimes just as fiercely as the straight-male-centric mainstream does. Here, acclaimed feminist and queer activist Julia Serano chronicles this problem of exclusion within these movements. She advocates for a more holistic approach to fighting sexism that avoids these pitfalls, and offers new ways of thinking about gender, sexuality, and sexism that foster inclusivity rather than exclusivity.
While it's not out yet, you can read a sneak peak of the Introduction to the book on my Excluded webpage.
I plan to do some touring for the book, mostly hitting some major cities - I will share those details in my next update (which is another reason why you should sign up for my email list!). I will also be speaking at various colleges over the course of the 2013-14 year, so perhaps you can catch me doing book readings or giving presentations about the book on one of those occasions.
Also, if you happen to belong to a college organization that may be interested in bringing me to your campus, you can learn more about how to do so by checking out my booking webpage.
Last, but not least, I recently revamped my website. Stylistically, it's not much different, but a lot of new content has been added, including new writings, articles and interviews, podcasts, and other stuff! So if you haven't visited my website in a while, you should check it out when you get a chance...
OK, that's it for now. And remember, between updates, you can always check out:
my main website, my Twitter feed, and/or my Facebook page.
July 3, 2013
Gender is different
As a white person, I never have to think about race, except on those rare occasions when I am in a non-white majority space.
I never think about being a U.S. citizen except when I am outside the country.
While I have had multiple health concerns over recent years, I am still predominantly able-bodied, and as such, I do not have to think about how to navigate my way through the world.
But gender is different.
Everybody has a gender - or more accurately, even if we don't identify with any particular gender, others will still (mis)perceive us as belonging to one gender or another. And we all are forced to think about gender all the time, whether female or male, queer or straight, trans or cis, agendered or gendered. There are always rules to follow, expectations to meet, assumptions to deal with, ideals that we will inevitably fall short of.
Some people have gender-related privileges of various stripes: male, masculine, heterosexual, monosexual, cissexual, cisgender, and normatively-bodied privilege, to name a few. Some people have more of these privileges, while others have less. But even people who have most or all of these privileges still have to deal with gender on a daily basis - the countless expectations, assumptions, norms, and so on.
All of us have the right to talk about gender, and about the gender-related issues and obstacles that we personally face. Granted, we should not do this in ways that undermine other people's identities or experiences. And we should be sensitive to people who do not have the privileges that we have - we should not drown out their voices or use our experiences to trump theirs. But as long as we are respectful of these concerns, all of us have the right to discuss gender. In fact, we should all be discussing gender, as the only way that we will ever eradicate all the various sexisms that exist in the world is if we all stop projecting gendered expectations and assumptions onto one another.
There was a time when trans activists talked about the gender binary, not just to describe how we are oppressed by it, but to encourage the cisgender majority to think about how they are oppressed by it too. Maybe not to the same extent as we are. But nevertheless, if they fail to check all the right boxes (e.g., wear "gender appropriate" clothing, take up "gender appropriate" interests and occupations, behave in a "gender appropriate" manner) then they will be dismissed, ridiculed, or harassed just as we regularly are.
Nowadays, some trans people use the gender binary solely to discuss how we are marginalized by it, while cis people are privileged by it. Some go so far as to suggest that cis people do not have the right to discuss some of their experiences with gender because they are coming from a privileged position. And this is not just a "trans thing": some queers seek to silence the straight majority, and some women seek to silence men's perspectives and experiences with gender. While I think that it's gross whenever anyone denies their male, straight, or cis privilege (or when they exercise those privileges over others), I think that it is wrong to insist that others do not have the right to talk about their gendered experiences simply because they have some particular privilege or other.
If someone said to me that I should step aside and let people of color express their views about racism, and let disabled people express their views about ableism, they would have a point - not only because I am a member of the majority and experience privileges in those regards, but also because I don't ever (or at least extremely rarely) have to deal with racism and ableism personally. But all of us face gendered expectations, assumptions, and norms on a daily basis. Gender complicates all of our lives. We all have a story to tell.
We should be expanding conversations about gender, not limiting them to a chosen few.
I never think about being a U.S. citizen except when I am outside the country.
While I have had multiple health concerns over recent years, I am still predominantly able-bodied, and as such, I do not have to think about how to navigate my way through the world.
But gender is different.
Everybody has a gender - or more accurately, even if we don't identify with any particular gender, others will still (mis)perceive us as belonging to one gender or another. And we all are forced to think about gender all the time, whether female or male, queer or straight, trans or cis, agendered or gendered. There are always rules to follow, expectations to meet, assumptions to deal with, ideals that we will inevitably fall short of.
Some people have gender-related privileges of various stripes: male, masculine, heterosexual, monosexual, cissexual, cisgender, and normatively-bodied privilege, to name a few. Some people have more of these privileges, while others have less. But even people who have most or all of these privileges still have to deal with gender on a daily basis - the countless expectations, assumptions, norms, and so on.
All of us have the right to talk about gender, and about the gender-related issues and obstacles that we personally face. Granted, we should not do this in ways that undermine other people's identities or experiences. And we should be sensitive to people who do not have the privileges that we have - we should not drown out their voices or use our experiences to trump theirs. But as long as we are respectful of these concerns, all of us have the right to discuss gender. In fact, we should all be discussing gender, as the only way that we will ever eradicate all the various sexisms that exist in the world is if we all stop projecting gendered expectations and assumptions onto one another.
There was a time when trans activists talked about the gender binary, not just to describe how we are oppressed by it, but to encourage the cisgender majority to think about how they are oppressed by it too. Maybe not to the same extent as we are. But nevertheless, if they fail to check all the right boxes (e.g., wear "gender appropriate" clothing, take up "gender appropriate" interests and occupations, behave in a "gender appropriate" manner) then they will be dismissed, ridiculed, or harassed just as we regularly are.
Nowadays, some trans people use the gender binary solely to discuss how we are marginalized by it, while cis people are privileged by it. Some go so far as to suggest that cis people do not have the right to discuss some of their experiences with gender because they are coming from a privileged position. And this is not just a "trans thing": some queers seek to silence the straight majority, and some women seek to silence men's perspectives and experiences with gender. While I think that it's gross whenever anyone denies their male, straight, or cis privilege (or when they exercise those privileges over others), I think that it is wrong to insist that others do not have the right to talk about their gendered experiences simply because they have some particular privilege or other.
If someone said to me that I should step aside and let people of color express their views about racism, and let disabled people express their views about ableism, they would have a point - not only because I am a member of the majority and experience privileges in those regards, but also because I don't ever (or at least extremely rarely) have to deal with racism and ableism personally. But all of us face gendered expectations, assumptions, and norms on a daily basis. Gender complicates all of our lives. We all have a story to tell.
We should be expanding conversations about gender, not limiting them to a chosen few.
June 21, 2013
spread the word: Girl Talk 2013 less than a week away!
Be sure to buy tickets soon for Girl Talk's big 5th anniversary show, which takes place next Thursday, June 27th, in San Francisco!
As some of you know, Girl Talk is a (primarily) spoken word show that fosters dialogue about the many relationships (partners, lovers, friends, & allies) shared by queer trans women, queer cis women, and genderqueer folks (full description below). It is co-curated by myself, Gina de Vries and Elena Rose. This year's cast includes the three of us, plus Dominika Bednarska, DavEnd, Dr. Carol Queen, Jos Truitt, and Tara Hardy!
The show will be at the African American Art & Culture Complex (AAACC)
762 Fulton Street @ Webster
at 7:30pm
$12 – $20 sliding scale online; $15 – $20 at the door.
***IMPORTANT NOTE: all past Girl Talk shows have *SOLD OUT*, sometimes several days in advance of the show. We still have plenty of tickets left, but I highly recommend purchasing tickets online RIGHT NOW at:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/even...
Please spread the word wide and far!!!
Here is a fuller description of the show:
Now in its fifth year, Girl Talk is a critically acclaimed multi-media performance show promoting dialogue about relationships of all kinds between queer transgender women, queer cisgender women, and genderqueer people. Queer cis women, queer trans women, and genderqueer people are allies, friends, support systems, lovers, and partners to each other every day — from activism that includes everything from Take Back the Night to Camp Trans; to supporting each other in having “othered” bodies in a world that is obsessed with idealized body types; to loving, having sex, and building family with each other in a world that wants us to disappear. At Girl Talk, trans and cis women and genderqueer artists create a wide range of artistic work about their relationships of all kinds – sexual and romantic, friendships, and chosen and blood family. Join us for a night of performance and conversation dedicated to building sisterhood and queer community for ALL women.
More info about all the performers (and the show) can be found here:
http://queerculturalcenter.org/NQAF/p...
Here is the Facebook event page if you wanna invite your friends:
https://www.facebook.com/events/33187...
Girl Talk is sponsored by the Queer Cultural Center, and is a part of their annual National Queer Arts Festival.
P.S., Girl Talk has a Facebook page that you should check out and "Like":
https://www.facebook.com/GirlTalkShow...
As some of you know, Girl Talk is a (primarily) spoken word show that fosters dialogue about the many relationships (partners, lovers, friends, & allies) shared by queer trans women, queer cis women, and genderqueer folks (full description below). It is co-curated by myself, Gina de Vries and Elena Rose. This year's cast includes the three of us, plus Dominika Bednarska, DavEnd, Dr. Carol Queen, Jos Truitt, and Tara Hardy!
The show will be at the African American Art & Culture Complex (AAACC)
762 Fulton Street @ Webster
at 7:30pm
$12 – $20 sliding scale online; $15 – $20 at the door.
***IMPORTANT NOTE: all past Girl Talk shows have *SOLD OUT*, sometimes several days in advance of the show. We still have plenty of tickets left, but I highly recommend purchasing tickets online RIGHT NOW at:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/even...
Please spread the word wide and far!!!
Here is a fuller description of the show:
Now in its fifth year, Girl Talk is a critically acclaimed multi-media performance show promoting dialogue about relationships of all kinds between queer transgender women, queer cisgender women, and genderqueer people. Queer cis women, queer trans women, and genderqueer people are allies, friends, support systems, lovers, and partners to each other every day — from activism that includes everything from Take Back the Night to Camp Trans; to supporting each other in having “othered” bodies in a world that is obsessed with idealized body types; to loving, having sex, and building family with each other in a world that wants us to disappear. At Girl Talk, trans and cis women and genderqueer artists create a wide range of artistic work about their relationships of all kinds – sexual and romantic, friendships, and chosen and blood family. Join us for a night of performance and conversation dedicated to building sisterhood and queer community for ALL women.
More info about all the performers (and the show) can be found here:
http://queerculturalcenter.org/NQAF/p...
Here is the Facebook event page if you wanna invite your friends:
https://www.facebook.com/events/33187...
Girl Talk is sponsored by the Queer Cultural Center, and is a part of their annual National Queer Arts Festival.
P.S., Girl Talk has a Facebook page that you should check out and "Like":
https://www.facebook.com/GirlTalkShow...
June 5, 2013
julia update june 2013!
Hello, welcome to June, happy Pride month!
Speaking thereof, I will be participating in two Pride month events:
1) Thursday, June 27th will be Girl Talk's big 5 year anniversary show! For those unfamiliar with the show, it is an annual spoken word show (with some music and other art/performances) designed to foster dialogue about the many relationships (partners, lovers, friends, & allies) shared by queer trans women, queer cis women, and genderqueer folks.
In addition to being one of the co-curators of the show (along with Gina de Vries and Elena Rose), I will be performing in it as well. We have an amazing cast, including Dominika Bednarska, Gina de Vries, DavEnd, Dr. Carol Queen, Elena Rose, Jos Truitt, and Tara Hardy!
More info about all the performers (and the show) can be found here:
http://queerculturalcenter.org/NQAF/performance13/girl-talk/
The show will be at the African American Art & Culture Complex (AAACC)
762 Fulton Street @ Webster
at 7:30pm
$12 – $20 sliding scale online; $15 – $20 at the door.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Past Girl Talk shows have *SOLD OUT* up to a week in advance, so I highly recommend purchasing tickets online RIGHT NOW at:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/377312
Here is the Facebook event page if you wanna invite your friends:
https://www.facebook.com/events/331871970271565
You can find videos of last year's Girl Talk here:
http://vimeo.com/search?q=girl+talk+mark+mcbeth
full video of Girl Talk 2011 is available on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?p=PL6C0BC77CA710AB76
also, Girl Talk has a Facebook page that you should check out and "Like":
https://www.facebook.com/GirlTalkShow?ref=hl
Girl Talk is sponsored by the Queer Cultural Center, and is a part of their annual National Queer Arts Festival! For more info about their other June events, check out:
http://queerculturalcenter.org/NQAF/
2) Seattle Trans* Pride!
So the day after Girl Talk, I am flying up to Seattle to participate in Seattle's first ever Trans* Pride event!
Friday June 28th, 2013
The festivities begin at 5pm at in Front of Seattle Central Community College at E. Howell & Broadway St.
There will be a march, followed by a number of speakers (including me) and performers (including Rae Spoon & Ian Harvie).
The entire schedule and march route can be found here:
http://www.transprideseattle.org/schedule-route/
The Facebook event page for the event can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/270202573124834/
hope you can make it!
-julia
P.S., as always, here is my main website:
http://www.juliaserano.com
and I tweet fairly frequently:
http://twitter.com/#!/Juliaserano
I also post all my upcoming events and news on my aforementioned blog, and it also all automatically gets forwarded to my Facebook "writer" page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Julia-Serano/277728205577201?ref=ts
so I encourage you to follow me ( and perhaps "like" me) there!
Speaking thereof, I will be participating in two Pride month events:
1) Thursday, June 27th will be Girl Talk's big 5 year anniversary show! For those unfamiliar with the show, it is an annual spoken word show (with some music and other art/performances) designed to foster dialogue about the many relationships (partners, lovers, friends, & allies) shared by queer trans women, queer cis women, and genderqueer folks.
In addition to being one of the co-curators of the show (along with Gina de Vries and Elena Rose), I will be performing in it as well. We have an amazing cast, including Dominika Bednarska, Gina de Vries, DavEnd, Dr. Carol Queen, Elena Rose, Jos Truitt, and Tara Hardy!
More info about all the performers (and the show) can be found here:
http://queerculturalcenter.org/NQAF/performance13/girl-talk/
The show will be at the African American Art & Culture Complex (AAACC)
762 Fulton Street @ Webster
at 7:30pm
$12 – $20 sliding scale online; $15 – $20 at the door.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Past Girl Talk shows have *SOLD OUT* up to a week in advance, so I highly recommend purchasing tickets online RIGHT NOW at:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/377312
Here is the Facebook event page if you wanna invite your friends:
https://www.facebook.com/events/331871970271565
You can find videos of last year's Girl Talk here:
http://vimeo.com/search?q=girl+talk+mark+mcbeth
full video of Girl Talk 2011 is available on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?p=PL6C0BC77CA710AB76
also, Girl Talk has a Facebook page that you should check out and "Like":
https://www.facebook.com/GirlTalkShow?ref=hl
Girl Talk is sponsored by the Queer Cultural Center, and is a part of their annual National Queer Arts Festival! For more info about their other June events, check out:
http://queerculturalcenter.org/NQAF/
2) Seattle Trans* Pride!
So the day after Girl Talk, I am flying up to Seattle to participate in Seattle's first ever Trans* Pride event!
Friday June 28th, 2013
The festivities begin at 5pm at in Front of Seattle Central Community College at E. Howell & Broadway St.
There will be a march, followed by a number of speakers (including me) and performers (including Rae Spoon & Ian Harvie).
The entire schedule and march route can be found here:
http://www.transprideseattle.org/schedule-route/
The Facebook event page for the event can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/270202573124834/
hope you can make it!
-julia
P.S., as always, here is my main website:
http://www.juliaserano.com
and I tweet fairly frequently:
http://twitter.com/#!/Juliaserano
I also post all my upcoming events and news on my aforementioned blog, and it also all automatically gets forwarded to my Facebook "writer" page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Julia-Serano/277728205577201?ref=ts
so I encourage you to follow me ( and perhaps "like" me) there!
May 21, 2013
Know anyone at Times Books, Henry Holt, and/or Macmillan?
Know anyone at Times Books, Henry Holt, and/or Macmillan? Then I would super-duper-appreciate it if you could help me out. Here's how:
I am trying to speak to someone (anyone!) there who handles permissions requests. Many months ago I emailed them requesting permission to excerpt a passage from a Times Books book in my forthcoming book. I did this through the channels they suggested on their website (basically, emailing Permissions@hholt.com) and got an auto-reply saying they'd get back to me in 8 weeks. But they haven't. And it's been way over 8 weeks.
I've tried calling their main phone line (646-307-5095) to speak to someone at permissions, but after over 20 attempts, I have never gotten hold of an actual person. It appears to be a perpetual-hold phone system.
Time is running out on my end. So I am asking the internets for help!
If you just so happen to know anyone who works at Times Books, Henry Holt, and/or Macmillan, could you *please* do me the favor of putting me in touch with them? Or asking them if they can find out a phone number or specific email address for anyone who works in the permission department there? Or anyone who can help me get that info?
If you are able to help, please contact me via email - my address can be found on this page of my website:
http://www.juliaserano.com/contact.html
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!
Best wishes, -julia
P.S., I plan to delete this post once I am able to contact someone there. So if you see this post, that means I am still looking for help.
I am trying to speak to someone (anyone!) there who handles permissions requests. Many months ago I emailed them requesting permission to excerpt a passage from a Times Books book in my forthcoming book. I did this through the channels they suggested on their website (basically, emailing Permissions@hholt.com) and got an auto-reply saying they'd get back to me in 8 weeks. But they haven't. And it's been way over 8 weeks.
I've tried calling their main phone line (646-307-5095) to speak to someone at permissions, but after over 20 attempts, I have never gotten hold of an actual person. It appears to be a perpetual-hold phone system.
Time is running out on my end. So I am asking the internets for help!
If you just so happen to know anyone who works at Times Books, Henry Holt, and/or Macmillan, could you *please* do me the favor of putting me in touch with them? Or asking them if they can find out a phone number or specific email address for anyone who works in the permission department there? Or anyone who can help me get that info?
If you are able to help, please contact me via email - my address can be found on this page of my website:
http://www.juliaserano.com/contact.html
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!
Best wishes, -julia
P.S., I plan to delete this post once I am able to contact someone there. So if you see this post, that means I am still looking for help.
April 24, 2013
julia update april 2013
hello, here is a quick update regarding some upcoming presentations and performances that I will be doing:
This Thursday, April 25th I will be at Smith College giving a talk called "I'll See It When I Believe It: On Perception and Gender Entitlement." I was invited by a student group in the wake of the recent events there (and which I will address in my talk). The event will take place on April 25th in Weinstein Auditorium in Wright Hall, at 7:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public. More info can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/431607016930107
Friday, April 26 I will be at Stony Brook University giving a talk on "The
Intersection of Feminism, Queer, and Trans Politics. It will be held at the Poetry Center at 7pm. More info can be found here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StonyBrookTransSolidarityProject/message/604
Sunday, May 5, I will be reading at 'LIVE THROUGH THIS- ON CREATIVITY & SELF-DESTRUCTION' which is a celebration of the 2cd edition release of Live Through This, SABRINA CHAP, DAPHNE GOTTLIEB, CAROL QUEEN and MORE! Proceeds of the evening will go to fellow 'Live Through This' contributor, and gender warrior Kate Bornstein. 5-10 suggested donation, show at 7:30pm at the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco. More info can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/103293396540519/?group_id=0
Tuesday, May 14, I will be at Western Washington University giving a presentation called "A Holistic View of Feminism." It will be from 6-9 PM at Artzen 100, free admission. More info can be found here: http://as.wwu.edu/events/holistic-view-feminism/
I will also be a part of two wonderful events in June during pride festivities:
Thursday, June 27th will be Girl Talk's big 5 year anniversary show! In addition to being one of the co-curators of the show, I will be performing in it as well. More details about all the performers can be found here: http://queerculturalcenter.org/NQAF/performance13/girl-talk/
also, Girl Talk has a Facebook page that you should check out and "Like"
(btw, speaking of Girl Talk, an interview with me and my co-curators Gina de Vries and Elena Rose can be found in the latest issue (issue #13) of make/shift magazine! )
Finally, Friday, June 28, it appears that I will be participating in Seattle Trans* Pride! More details can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/270202573124834/
That's it for now, hope some of you can make it out! -julia
P.S., as always, here is my main website:
http://www.juliaserano.com
and I tweet fairly frequently:
http://twitter.com/#!/Juliaserano
for those interested in what I have to say when I have more than 140 characters to work with, I have a blog:
http://juliaserano.blogspot.com
I also post all my upcoming events and news on my aforementioned blog, and it also all automatically gets forwarded to my Facebook "writer" page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Julia-Serano/277728205577201?ref=ts
so I encourage you to follow me ( and perhaps "like me") there!
March 18, 2013
upcoming Julia college/university appearances!
Hello! Here is a quickie message about some upcoming out of town presentations I will be doing over the next month:
Tomorrow, March 19, 2013
Pacific University (Portland, OR)
http://www.pacificu.edu/academics/gender-equity/JuliaSerano.cfm
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)
https://www.facebook.com/events/510355485673150/
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Concordia University (Montreal, QC)
https://www.facebook.com/events/116000955254221/?fref=ts
Saturday, March 30, 2013
University of Texas, San Antonio
“Technologies and Locales of Knowledge: An Interdisciplinary Symposium Exploring Discourse, Meaning, and Power”
http://colfa.utsa.edu/english/events.html
more info here:
http://utsa.edu/academics/diversity/pdf/WHM_Schedule_of_Events_2013.pdf
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Clark University
http://allevents.in/events/Recognizing-All-Forms-of-Sexism-by-Julia-Serano/462969170450261
I will likely have a few more events in April, but they aren't formalized yet. more to come...
Hope you can make it!
-julia
++++++++++++++
here is my main website:
http://www.juliaserano.com
and I tweet fairly frequently:
http://twitter.com/#!/Juliaserano
for those interested in what I have to say when I have more than 140 characters to work with, I have a blog:
http://juliaserano.blogspot.com
I also post all my upcoming events and news on my aforementioned blog, and it also all automatically gets forwarded to my Facebook "writer" page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Julia-Serano/277728205577201?ref=ts
so I encourage you to follow me ( and perhaps "like me") there!
March 7, 2013
FAAB-mentality
I’ve been meaning to post this for a while now, as an explanation and reference for what I’ve been calling FAAB-mentality (described below). I originally wrote and performed this piece for the fourth annual installment of Girl Talk: A Cis and Trans Woman Dialogue in March 2012.
Baby Talk
I read blogs. And an unfortunate consequence of reading blogs is that sometimes you stumble upon statements that make you upset. Lately, I’ve been dwelling over one single sentence from a blog post that I read a few months ago. The author was a femme-identified cis woman who described her identity this way:
“I only say I’m queer to steer clear of sex acts with cisgender men whilst simultaneously accommodating my devout lesbianism and propensity towards dating trans men when the butch pool feels too shallow.”
I have become preoccupied with this quote, not because it is unusual or extraordinary - on the contrary, these are very commonplace sentiments among queer women these days. Rather, my interest in this quote stems from how perfectly it illustrates the subtle ways in which exclusion transpires in today’s queer women’s communities.
First, she defines “queer” in terms of her “devout lesbianism” and “steering clear of cisgender men.” Given her definition, a bisexual woman (such as me), who sometimes does have sex with cis men, must automatically be *not* queer—aka, straight. Ah, the decades old lesbian tradition of erasing the B out of LGBT.
Second, she describes trans men as though they are not *really* men, but just another variety of butch woman. Indeed, trans male acceptance and desirability in queer women’s spaces often hinges on this assumption, which is partly why so many FTM-spectrum folks who are on “T,” prefer the pronoun “he,” and move through the world as men, nevertheless disavow any male-identification.
But from my perspective, the most poignant aspect of this quote is that there is absolutely no mention of trans women. We are absent, irrelevant, just as we are in most queer women’s spaces. I suppose that this isn’t surprising. If, like the author, most cis queer women believe that trans men are really butch women, then trans women must really be men. And, given this, if they believe that dating men disqualifies them from being queer, then trans women aren’t even going to be on their radar.
Lately, I’ve begun calling this mindset the FAAB-mentality. FAAB is an acronym for female-assigned-at-birth. Both FAAB and its counterpart MAAB (male-assigned-at-birth) were originally coined by trans activists in order to challenge invalidating concepts such as “birth sex,” “bio boys” and “genetic girls,” and to stress that our gender identities are far more relevant than how the straight world nonconsensually categorized us when we were babies. Yet somehow, over the last few years, FAAB has been appropriated by many cis queer women who wish to convey their affiliation with trans men, and to distance themselves trans women as well as cis men.
For instance, the musician Bitch recently wrote an “open letter” explaining why her support of trans woman-excluding women’s spaces is not “transphobic.” She begins her letter by dismissing cis/trans terminology, then she reframes the issue in terms of FAABs versus MAABs. Again, this is not an isolated incident—one can see FAAB-mentality rear its ugly head in radical-feminist blogs, butch/femme settings, and trans events. I’ve even seen queer folks wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the word FAABulous.
So let me state for the record: I am not a fucking MAAB! I am a trans woman. And unlike all the so-called “FAAB FTMs” who move freely in queer women’s spaces, I identify and move through the world as a woman. The whole fucking point of trans activism is to get people to respect us for who we are, not for what the straight world expected us to grow up to be when we were mere babies. As far as I’m concerned, anyone who categorizes any trans person based upon how we were coercively assigned at birth is not merely being anti-trans, but they are quite literally engaging in baby talk.
But FAAB-mentality isn’t only transphobic—it’s also biphobic, specifically toward bi women who are sexual with cis men. It plays into baseless accusations that bisexual-identified women “reinforce the binary,” yet celebrates those who embrace the supposedly more righteous label “pansexual.” Now I have nothing against the term “pansexual” per se. But in queer women’s circles, it is often used as a code word to communicate: “I am sexual with everyone except cis men and trans women.”
Finally, despite all the cis femmes who have embraced FAAB terminology (as it allows them to partner with trans men yet still be considered lesbian), FAAB-mentality is highly femmephobic. After all, we live in a queer culture that valorizes sexual- and gender-non-conformity. So when FAAB-mentality defines womanhood in terms of being labeled “girl” as a baby, then the most queerest, coolest thing you can grow up to be is androgynous, or butch, or trans masculine. In other words, FAAB-mentality is inexorably linked to masculine-centrism in queer women’s communities. As a result, femmes are viewed as suspect, unless of course they prove their queerness by pairing with someone more outwardly gender-non-conforming than them.
So I say: let’s stop talking in baby talk! Let’s purge the terms FAAB and MAAB from our queer vocabularies. And most importantly, let’s stop viewing the world through the distorted lens of FAAB-mentality, as it inevitably causes femme, bisexual and trans women to be treated as second-class queer citizens. Instead of fetishizing birth assignments and masculine gender expression, let’s create new heterogeneous queer women’s communities that celebrate difference—where a woman doesn’t have to be born a particular way, or have sex a particular way, or dress or express their genders a particular way, or fulfill some kind of queer stereotype, in order to be appreciated.
endnote: I understand the need to talk about transgender spectrums, and to develop language that accommodates trans people who don't fully identify as trans women or trans men. Rather than using MAAB and FAAB, I believe that we should refer to people who have a MTF trajectory as being on the trans female/feminine spectrum, and those with a FTM trajectory as being on the trans male/masculine spectrum. And since people seem to love acronyms when referring to trans people (a tendency I personally find rather dehumanizing), we could refer to these categories as the TF and TM spectrums, respectively (where the “F” in TF can refer to either female and/or feminine, and the “M” in TM refers can refer to either male and/or masculine). I believe that this terminology is fully inclusive, and centers our experiences on our self-identities and self-understandings, rather than non-consensual birth assignments.
January 14, 2013
I'll be giving a presentation tomorrow (1-15-13) at Stanford Universiy
Hey folks, for those who are (relatively) local, I will be giving a presentation at Stanford University tomorrow (Jan. 15th)! It is a variant of my "Putting the Feminine Back into Feminism" talk, with some bonus spoken word. All the details can be found at this website, and are also pasted below...
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JULIA SERANO: What we think of blue and pink! TUESDAY Jan 15, 7:30PM, BCSC Family Room
JULIA SERANO
WHAT WE THINK OF BLUE AND PINK
JANUARY 15, 2013, 7:30PM
Black Community Services Center, Family Room
Julia Serano is a writer, biologist, spoken-word poet, activist. She has a lot to say about social conceptions of gender, and how "blue is for boys and pink is for girls" works out to affect everyone in different ways.
Her book "Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity" is a combination of history, personal experiences, biology and psychology.
This talk is meant to be accessible to everyone, whatever your background in feminism or social justice.
Please come scent-free if you can: bit.ly/bGazuI and bit.ly/KBqdhm
For access needs please contact esqg@stanford.edu
Facebook event: http://on.fb.me/11dhHOK
Sponsored by:
Stanford Students for Queer Liberation, Stanford STATIC, Stanford Feminist Studies, Queer Straight Alliance, ASSU Speakers' Bureau, GradQ: queer grad students at Stanford, with aid from the GSC
December 4, 2012
Follow up on DSM-still-considers-trans-folks-"disordered" post
First, thanks to everyone re-tweeted, re-posted, shared links, and commented on my Trans people still “disordered” according to latest DSM blogpost yesterday. The response has been overwhelming, and I'm sorry that I haven't been able to respond to people's comments and questions...
As I alluded to in that post, I was disappointed that the DSM's Transvestic Disorder diagnosis received so little attention at the time. But this latest interest/outrage encourages me that we may be able to work toward completely removing this diagnosis from the next revision of the DSM (DSM-VI?).
There are a few things that I want to add here as a postscript:
1) several people asked me what the official language of Transvestic Disorder is. So I went to the dsm5.org (the official DSM-V site), where all the proposed language once resided, but it is no longer there. Here's the explanation they give:
Because the draft diagnostic criteria posted most recently on www.dsm5.org are undergoing revisions and are no longer current, the specific criteria text has been removed from the website to avoid confusion or use of outdated categories and definitions.
How convenient...
So I went through my past notes and found the following update from May-17-2010. Note: it could have been subsequently updated, so I am not 100% sure this is the final language. In any case, here it is:
Transvestic Disorder
A. Over a period of at least six months, recurrent and intense sexual fantasies,
sexual urges, or sexual behaviors involving cross‑dressing.
B. The fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors cause clinically significant
distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas
of functioning.
Specify if:
With Fetishism (Sexually Aroused by Fabrics, Materials, or Garments)
With Autogynephilia (Sexually Aroused by Thought or Image of Self as Female)
With Autoandrophilia (Sexually Aroused by Thought or Image of Self as Male)
2) Fascinating shenanigans: This was not the initial language. As I mentioned in my last post, the initial language was specific to "heterosexual males" (cissexist psychiatry jargon for assigned-male-at-birth individuals who are sexually oriented toward women).
Those of us who fought against the initial Transvestic Disorder diagnosis did so on the grounds that it did not serve the trans community (e.g., unlike GID/Gender Dysphoria, it does not provide access to the means to legally and/or medically transition), that it pathologizes gender variance, that it sexualizes trans female/feminine spectrum people's gender identities and expressions, and that it was sexist (in that it singled out trans folks of a specific identity, trajectory and orientation).
In what seemed to be an unprecedented move (although I am not a DSM scholar), the DSM quietly expanded the language in May 2010 (after the period for comments had passed) to include trans people of all identities, orientations & trajectories. Presumably, this was done to avoid accusations that the diagnosis was sexist. So in other words, they used trans activist & advocate criticisms as an excuse to *expand* the diagnosis rather than remove or reform it.
3) Upon reading the above diagnoses, some might cite the requirement that such behaviors must "cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning" in order to argue that a trans person is not considered Transvestically Disordered if they do not experience such issues. However, this is not necessarily the case. The "distress or impairment" language is quite vague and open to the psychiatrist/therapists's interpretation. If I am fired from my job because of my manner of dress, and if this causes me distress, I could potentially be diagnosed with Transvestic Disorder. This has historically been a problem with diagnoses targeting gender and sexual minorities (as well as other populations that have been DSM'd), namely, that they do not distinguish between personal distress, and distress that arises secondarily due to social stigma and marginalization.
4) I am curious as to why all these news articles about transgender people supposedly no longer being considered "disordered" in the DSM suddenly appeared in the last few days. As I scoured the internet for such articles, I noticed that most of them were quite short, offered no critical analysis, nor did they seek comments from any trans activist and advocates who have been immersed in challenging the DSM.
This has led me to believe that the DSM must have sent out some kind of press release touting their supposed "trans-friendliness," and that several gay, queer and LGbt outlets that are largely oblivious to the nuances of trans politics simply engaged in copywriting based on the DSM press release. Granted, this is speculation on my part, but I'd love to hear what went down behind the scenes to cause this bizarre flurry of inaccurate news stories...
-julia
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further postscript added 1:15pm 12-4-12:
via a friend of a friend, I was able to access what I think may be the final Transvestic Disorder language, described as being "Updated April-28-2012":
Transvestic Disorder
A. Over a period of at least 6 months, recurrent and intense sexual arousal from cross‑dressing, as manifested by fantasies, urges, or behaviors.
B. The fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors cause marked distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
Specify if:
With Fetishism (Sexually Aroused by Fabrics, Materials, or Garments)
With Autogynephilia (Sexually Aroused by Thought or Image of Self as Female)
With Autoandrophilia (Sexually Aroused by Thought or Image of Self as Male)
Specify if:
In a Controlled Environment
In Remission (No Distress, Impairment, or Recurring Behavior for Five Years and in an Uncontrolled Environment)
So this is mostly the same except for some word rearrangement in part A, and in the addition "Controlled Environment" and "In Remission" as specifications. This latter language is new to me, so I haven't had a chance to digest it yet. But the thing that immediately jumps out at me is the "In Remission" clause. This seems to expand the diagnosis even further. After all, regardless of one's current sexuality and/or manner of dress, one could still be considered as being Transvestically Disordered, albeit in remission...
