Self-Organizing Man

Once again, Blue, over at The Gimp Parade rocks my world.  I love Blue’s writing.  She is my latest intellectual crush, or, should I say my intellecutality is most definitely poly!

In a short, incisive piece on Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, Blue writes:

Well, actually, the villain isn’t disabled so much as “crippled.” Crippled. Crippled. Did I mention he is crippled? Well, Brown does. Over and over and over as Mr. Crippled Secret Villain limps around and other characters comment on the fact that he is crippled. This is to make sure that the densest reader understands that twisted on the outside means twisted on the inside. Why is he a villain? Because he’s crippled and that can drive a person to be not nice.It turns out that Mr. Limpy also has a henchman who is albino. Physically different means evil, remember. As so often happens, disability is used as metaphor for something else and not left to exist as a natural part of a character on it’s own.

Her description of the evil nature of crippled people as depicted in Brown’s work (and other works in popular culture) resonates with me as a transsexual.  Silence of the Lambs.  Dressed to Kill.

Trans folks, particularly, if not exclusively, MtFs, are portrayed as morally evil.    Evil for changing genders.  Evil for being ugly.  Evil for breathing, I suppose.  These characters are evil for trying to be something they are not. 

We cannot simply have our lives.  We, like people with disabilities, must be used as metaphors for something else.  As so often happens, disability is used as metaphor for something else and not left to exist as a natural part of a character on it’s own.

My fictional work is driven by this  need to show our transsexuality as a natural, ordinary part of our lives.

I appreciate Blue’s poignant, provocative efforts to expose the immoral and unethical images of people with disabilities in popular culture.  She teaches me to understand my world in new ways, reach out and build bridges to communities of people who are not supposed to be like me but with whom I have much in common.

Thank you! 

And if you have’t visited The Gimp Parade go now.  Be instructed and empowered.

[Update:  Still thinking about Blue's post and the interconnections amongst and between people with disabilities and trans folks.  Came across this quote, "A cord of 3 strands is not quickly broken" at Brand Mantra.  Eeek!  I'm combing politics and business...

Take note:

Common values provide additional points of connection between all individuals within and between systems. It's why companies like The Body Shop have strong brands; they see themselves in context of the larger social system, and the additional 'value connections' between individuals serve as reinforcements. "A cord of 3 strands is not quickly broken."

Connections through common values and contextualizing transsexual experience in larger social systems will provide mechanisms through which we can achieve greater emancipation and acceptance.  The days of transsexual this (or women this or gay that) are done.  We've proven that model only temporarily successful and permanently susceptible to dismantling under different political regimes.

Build bomb proof bridges.  There is no them.  Only a we not yet acknowledged.  Build a better brand.  "We are human.  The human ecosystem, like nature, is diverse.  Destroying, curtailing or denying parts of the ecosystem will eventually destroy the ecosystem."

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.]