lgbtq+ positivity on redbubble.
boop warning on some of the designs!
i thought these were super cute
edit:
i found her tumblr! it’s pagalini
(via sallymolay)
118 posts tagged truscum
50% of US Millennials believe gender falls on a spectrum
Half of all [US] Millennials believe that gender exists on a spectrum, and shouldn’t be limited to the categories of male and female, according to Fusion’s Massive Millennial Poll, which surveyed 1,000 people aged 18-34 about everything from politics to dating to race issues.
The findings suggest young people are moving away from a binary conception of gender, a major shift from previous generations […]
57 percent of female Millennials believe that gender falls on a spectrum, according to the poll, compared with 44 percent of men.
(“Region” refers to regions in the United States. AA means African American.)
If you take away my biological sex, you erase my transgender dilemma
Why is everyone so fucking against acknowledging their own biology? Like here’s thing: I’m a transsexual woman, but my biology is that of a male. Which means I have to worry about things that have plagued the men of my family (heart attacks, strokes, baldness). Like if i pretend my male biology doesn’t exist, what fucking use does that do me?
Sheesh. Am I woman? Yes. Am I biologically female? No. God.
Why can’t I just be a transsexual woman who acknowledges my biology without being called “truscum?” Ugh. I’m so sick of the way the trans community on tumblr demonizes anyone with an independent thought.
This one struck a cord with me. I see that the “assigned female at birth” terminology often leads to the conclusion that it does not matter what your biological birth sex is. If your gender identity is female, your body is female.
Being male to female transgender, this makes no sense to me, .
My body is not female. It is male. Every time I look in the mirror I see a man. That is the main problem! My sense of self is female, my body is male. Call it gender dysphoria, call it gender incongruence, but please do not tell me that this body is female.
That does not mean that I do not recognize that there are other shades of transgender, variants where there is no mind/body dissonance. Nor do I believe that you have to experience body dysphoria to call yourself trans.
But I really do not like the development of a terminology that makes it impossible for me to point out that my body is out of alignment with my inner identity.
And no, I am not a truscum separatist either. Far from it!
(The headline to this post and the image has been added by me, not by technically-missing. Image by ponsuwan.)
Trans Activist and Icon Calpernia Addams on the Thought Police
Too often tumblr trans discussions end in yelling and harassment based on “incorrect” use of language.
I am not saying that terminology isn’t important, it is, and words can really, really, hurt you, but I often wish people would look at the spirit in which a sentence is spoken. If someone with a good heart stumbles when navigating the LGBTQA alphabet and its nuanced terminology, by all means correct them, but do not attack them.
I would also wish the language police out there would read up on transgender history, and interpret the use of terms in both an historical and social context.
I would never call someone a “tranny”, nor would I recommend that others do so, but the word was actually used as a term of empowerment for many trans people once, in the way “queer” is today.
I admire Calpernia Addams. She has the history and legitimacy needed to raise above some of the more narrow minded activists, and speak her mind.
In this interview she makes another important point. Some of the language policing we see today is not caused by a love of all trans and queer people, but by a fear of contamination from drag queens, crossdressers and transsexual sex workers. This is, for instance, why the truscum separatists so desperately try to occupy the word “transgender”.
Here’s some paragraphs from what she said about tumblr activism and more.
People need to know their history, allow others to self-identify, and at least try to toughen the fuck up over the small stuff. And you can tell them that comes from someone who lived through the ‘80s and '90s, fought in an actual war and lost someone dear to anti-gay violence.
If your experience with the word comes from being “triggered” by it on Tumblr, then have a seat. I do not self-identify as a “tranny,” though I have used the term in protest against the thought police who want to reclassify it as a “slur.” I identify as a woman, though I will discuss being a woman who transitioned if it’s relevant or educational.
But I stand strong for people’s right to self-identify, and long before the small, vocal crop of college kids and older, separatist trans women joined the queer community, there was a historical tradition of trans people and even drag entertainers who shortened “transgender,” “transsexual,” or “transvestite” to “tranny.” Many of these are trans people of color. (Also see RuPaul on “tranny.”)
This word was a casual, fun self-identity for some people, most of whom have faced the most extreme violence and discrimination it is possible to direct at gender-nonconforming people, over many decades.
Last year I saw a wave of newly queer, ahistorical, mostly white, middle- and upper-class trans women storm in, grab language they didn’t participate in or invent and try to outlaw it.
I personally think they were just terrified that they might be associated with those “undesirables,” the drag queens and sex workers and impoverished trans women of color who happily used the word as a casual identity.
By the way, I use the traditional definition of “transgender,” which is an umbrella term for anyone who crosses gender lines, including the drag queens so hated by the separatists.
Photo by Adam Bouska
What is “autogynephilia”?
Autogynephilia is a term coined in 1989 by Dr. Ray Blanchard to refer to “a man’s paraphilic tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as a woman."
Blanchard argues that trans women are men; some of them "homosexual transsexuals” (attracted to men), the rest “autogynephiles” (men who are attracted to the image of themselves being women).
Blanchard’s theory has no clear factual foundation and is born out the same tradition that once invalidated independent women as “hysterics”, people of color as “hypersexual” and homosexuals as “fetishists”.
Blanchard still think of homosexuality as a mental illness. This has not stopped the autogynephilia term from being included in the diagnostic manual of the American Psychiatric Association.
The term has been actively used to invalidate and erase trans women’s identities by religious fundamentalists, conservative political activists, sexist researchers and trans-exclusionary radical feminists.
The term is also used by transsexual separatists (truscum and “Harry Benjamin Syndrome” supporters) who believe in a strict gender binary, and who fear social contamination from crossdressers and other transgender people who do not live up to their standards of “real men” and “real women”. They fail to see that according to Blanchard they are all self-delusional.
Leading trans-activists, as well as leading sexologists and health workers, have denounced the autogynephilia theory as being old fashioned, sexist and transphobic.
Trans philosopher Julia Serano does not deny that cross-gender sexual fantasies exist, but argues that they are a natural expressions of a suppressed gender identity. That trans people get aroused by the idea of having sex as their target sex should come as no surprise, as this is the only natural way for them to imagine themselves as sexual beings.
Acknowledging the fact that such sexual arousal exists, some gender variant and transgender people use the alternative term crossdreamer to refer to people who have such fantasies. In spite of what Blanchard believes, this group include all sexual orientations, and also people who have been assigned female at birth.
LGBTQA people should never, ever, use the autogynephilia term to describe transgender and gender variant people. The term is extremely misleading, invalidating and offensive!
Care of Transgender/Gender Nonconforming Youth
The paper Psychological and Medical Care of Gender Nonconforming Youth, written by Stanley R. Vance Jr, MD, Diane Ehrensaft, PhD, and Stephen M. Rosenthal, MD, gives a good overview of status of current research on transgender care.
What strikes me is their inclusive approach to gender non-conformity, from transsexuals who completely identify with their target sex on the one hand and other transgender persons, who present a wide variety of gender identities, on the other.
Here are some quotes from a review written by Will Boggs, MD.
The researchers stress that being transgender is no longer considered a mental disease.
“Recognize that a nonconforming gender identity, itself, is no longer considered pathologic,” Dr. Stephen M. Rosenthal from the University of California, San Francisco told Reuters Health by email. “However, many gender nonconforming youth experience significant distress (which can result in life-threatening behaviors, including suicidality) from the mismatch between their true gender identity and the gender identity that was assumed or assigned to them based on their physical sex characteristics present at birth.” […]
Doctors should not force the gender nonconforming youth into traditional gender roles.
“It is paramount that pediatric providers provide culturally competent care, specifically being accepting of patients who have gender identities that do not align with traditional norms,” the authors conclude.“ […]
The fundamental principle is to respect the life experience of children and teenagers.
”[…] [Rosenthal] said, “best available evidence indicates that mental health concerns in gender dysphoric youth significantly diminish or resolve when such youth are subjected to a gender-affirming model of care, optimally delivered in a multidisciplinary clinical setting.”
“Gender-sensitive care can be life-saving,” Dr. Rosenthal added. […]
This researchers also underline that gender identity and sexual orientation are two separate variables.
Dr. Veronica Gomez-Lobo put it this way in an email:
“Many people do not have binary gender identity and gender identity is different than sexual orientation. Thus some persons may want the full array of treatment: real life experience, cross sex hormones, and surgeries, and others may not want these. In addition a trans boy may be attracted to boys or girls or both. Thus discussions in order to provide the best care possible need to consider what the child feels and wants.”
There are numerous resources for gender nonconforming youth and their parents. Dr. Gomez-Lobo suggested these to Will Boggs:
http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/RG-gender_nonconforming_trans_youth.html
https://www.genderspectrum.org/
http://www.genderodysseyfamily.org/
http://www.transgenderchild.net/
http://www.genderdiversity.org/
There is also suicide prevention hotline - http://www.thetrevorproject.org/ - and a summer camp for trans youth:http://www.camparanutiq.org/.
What transgender really means
hey truscum did you know that when you tell a trans person that they are cis you are in fact misgendering them
how hard is this to understand. stop being horrible.
Hey tucutes, did you know, that being trans without dysphoria means you’re not trans?
How hard is this to understand. Stop being horrible.
No, grandtran, you do not get to define the word transgender. The common usage, as developed by the transgender community and associated researchers, is as an umbrella term for all types of gender variance.
Here are are the ways leading trans activists and health organizations define transgender:
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health, WPATH
“[Transgender:] Adjective to describe a diverse group of individuals who cross or transcend culturally defined categories of gender. The gender identity of transgender people differs to varying degrees from the sex they were assigned at birth”
The American Psychiatric Association (DSM-5 definition)
“Transgender refers to the broad specter of individuals who transiently or persistently identify with a gender different from their natal gender.”
American Psychological Association
"Transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.”
American Medical Student Association
“'Transgender’ is an umbrella term used by people in a number of different groups, including but not limited to cross-dressers (those who wear clothing of the other sex some of the time) to genderqueer people (those who feel that they belong to either both genders or neither gender) and transsexuals (an older term for people who take hormones and have sex-reassignment surgery (SRS) in order to transition to a different sex.“
The UK National Health Service (NHS)
"Trans and transgender are terms that are used to describe people who don’t conform to the traditional division of male and female.Trans embraces many different types of people and lifestyles, including:
- People who cross-dress (transvestite people). These people sometimes wear the clothing of the opposite sex, but don’t want to live full-time as a member of the opposite sex.
- People who feel that they’re both male and female, or neither male nor female.
- Drag queens, drag kings and other people who don’t appear conventionally masculine or feminine.
- Transsexual people. These are people who have a strong and constant desire to live and be accepted as a member of the opposite sex. Many transsexual people have gender reassignment treatment to make their appearance more consistent with their preferred gender. This often involves hormone therapy and surgery.”
Gender Equity Resource Center, Berkeley
- Transgender people are those whose psychological self (“gender identity”) differs from the social expectations for the physical sex they were born with. For example, a female with a masculine gender identity or who identifies as a man.
- An umbrella term for transsexuals, cross-dressers (transvestites), transgenderists, gender queers, and people who identify as neither female nor male and/or as neither a man or as a woman. *)
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
“[Transgender:] of, relating to, or being a person (as a transsexual or transvestite) who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person’s sex at birth.”
Trans activist Cristan Williams
“[Transgender is] Anyone whose physical makeup, emotional, sexual and/or self-expression is in conflict with current cultural gender stereotypes.”
Professor Susan Stryker in the book Transgender History
“I use [the term transgender in] this book to refer to people who move away from the gender they were assigned at birth, people who cross over(trans-) the boundaries constructed by their culture to define and contain that gender.”
Trans activist and philosopher Julia Serano
“Transgender is a big umbrella word that includes all sorts of people who in one way or another defy other people’s expectations regarding gender. It not only includes transsexuals, but also people who are gender queer that is who don’t identify exclusively as either male of female. In its broadest definition it includes people who are feminine men and masculine women.”*)
The broad umbrella interpretation is also shared by most other leading trans activists, including Janet Mock, Andrea James and Laverne Cox.
None of these definitions require gender dysphoria. There are definitions of the word transsexual that require dysphoria, but this does not apply to the broader terms trans or transgender.
References here, here and here. See also: What the DSM-5 says about terms like transgender, transsexual and gender dysphoria
The separation of humanity into male and female halves belongs to the doctrines and guiding principles that have crossed over into the flesh and blood of every person. Those who occupy themselves uniting opposites such as energy and matter, God and nature, one and all, body and soul, also unmistakably hold fast to the dualism of the sexes and, in fact, the masculine and the feminine are, in themselves, effective realities the duality of which admits no doubt.
But it is a mistake if one imagines that both are two fully separate entities, one from the other; to the contrary, the constantly present merging of both into one, the unending condition of mixing variables that begins with the man’s semen and the woman’s egg, each creating masculine-feminine, hermaphroditic organizations, this monism of the sexes is the core for the genesis and substance of the personality.
The German sexologist, LGBT activist and transgender study pioneer Magnus Hirschfeld in 1910.
100 years ago the leading researcher on homosexuals, crossdressers, crossdreamers and transsexuals dismissed simplistic binary models of sex and gender, and debunked the idea that trans people were mentally ill “fetishists” or “masochists”.
Read more about Hirschfeld’s groundbreaking work here!
Photo of Magnus Hirschfeld and friends 1920. Hirschfeld is the one with the glasses, to the right.
“Fag Hags Need More Gay”
Gay men and their female friends have some of the strongest bonds around, so how come they get such a bad rap?
Another great video by Rantasmo, covering LGBT culture. In this one he paints a positive picture of the role of the “fag hag” in gay male culture.
And yes, Rantasmo is gay, and he is the one using the term “fag hag”. The term was originally coined by gay men as a insult. These days, however, it is mostly understood as a positive term, both by the gay men who use it and the women who identify with it.
The fag hag conquered American TV through the Will and Grace series.
Today such a relationship is found in – for instance – the bonding between Steve and Claudia in Warehouse 13.
Gay organizers arrange fag hag competitions:
And LGBT stores sell fag hag buttons:
So if you want to howl at the moon and call the term “fag hag” a slur, please do so. But do not blame the fag hags.