tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15401982.post115803420586628586..comments2024-01-11T19:21:29.397-08:00Comments on Julie R. Enszer: Womon-only SpacesJulie R. Enszerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18225279980205699210noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15401982.post-14350353711951745262007-08-09T18:50:00.000-07:002007-08-09T18:50:00.000-07:00I wouldn't mind adding to this, even at such a lat...I wouldn't mind adding to this, even at such a late date...<BR/><BR/>Too many seem to assume that transgendered people are "working to become the other gender". This can be a terribly false assumption, and smacks terribly of Reading the Book by its Cover. Helen Boyd repeatedly makes this mistake in her writings, which is unfrotunate, since too many people seem to read her work as the gospel of the T.<BR/><BR/>Many of the transgendered, who are not so overwhelmed with this lack of support for their point of view, will tell you that they always were that other gender. They are simply trying to win back the right to BE that gender from a society that forces them to fit into the mold their bodies indicate. <BR/><BR/>Employ a bit of empathy for a moment and visualize being a happy woman (for example) who, by some cosmic joke has suddenly found herself sown into the skin of a man, and then persecuted by almost everyone around them for every "mistake" when they fail to act as one. Despite having to live in this horrible environment until they are able to find some kind of escape, they are still their original gender the Entire Time. They are not trying to become, they are trying to find a way to stop pretending to be something they never wanted to be in the first place, even if they were not fully aware of the Why until later in the game. <BR/><BR/>Granted, in reality none of them are permitted that wonderful "happy [original gender]" memory to fight their way back to, but this does not mean they do not know. Nor does it mean that they are learning to be the wrong gender in the interim (must bridle against the entire process the whole time), until their escape.<BR/><BR/>If they are then to be persecuted for being survivors of this experience, then the maturity of this world still has a Long Way to go yet...<BR/><BR/>MikiAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15401982.post-1159236688097693792006-09-25T19:11:00.000-07:002006-09-25T19:11:00.000-07:00Hi, Piny,Excellent points. I appreciate you making...Hi, Piny,<BR/><BR/>Excellent points. I appreciate you making them.<BR/><BR/>JulieJulie R. Enszerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18225279980205699210noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15401982.post-1158803765894747062006-09-20T18:56:00.000-07:002006-09-20T18:56:00.000-07:00Piny,Thanks for the question. The full sentence is...Piny,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the question. The full sentence is:<BR/><BR/>In this paradox of embracing one gender and rejecting gender roles, enter transgender womyn, many of whom are entrenched in gender as a result of their experiences with transition.<BR/><BR/>What I mean by entrenched in gender is that my observation is that for many people transitioning an important element of the transition is studying and understanding what it means to be, think, feel, project, and even perform the new gender. So when I write entrenched in gender, I mean that people transitioning have been studying wtih great intensity and purpose the gender to which they are transition while simultaneously working to minimize the gender from which they have been living. I call that experience being entrenched in gender - understanding living and performing it in the transitional space from each side.<BR/><BR/>I think that the experience of gender transition is different than the experience of gender liminality - living betwixt and between the gender binary system.<BR/><BR/>JulieJulie R. Enszerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18225279980205699210noreply@blogger.com