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Random Thoughts on Forge Forward 2007
By Jay | April 3, 2007
In no particular order, I’ve written down my thoughts and feelings about masculinity after attending the Forge Forward 2007 conference:
- White privilege remains entrenched within white trans male space.
- In the privilege workshop I attended, several white trans men expressed ambivalence about owning their privilege.
- When they did own it, they apologized for it.
- Male privilege doesn’t feel like much when you are a very slight, femme-y, trans guy who gets gay-based…alot.
- Male privilege seems harder to understand in the absence of understanding race privilege.
- Even if genders disappeared tomorrow, we would still have to address race hatred and ableism.
- Several trans men have become even stronger feminists and anti-racists activists since transition and want to use their newly found privilege to work within their various communities to dismantle sexism, racism, homophobia.
- The ways in which white trans folks characterize solutions to our problems can sometimes exclude people-of-color on principle.
- Unless we begin to understand and acknowledge how our lives are diminished by white supremacy, ableism, and classism, our lives - but more importantly the lives of our future children - will irrevocably diminish.
Topics: White Privilege, Forge Forward 2007, Feminism, Masculinity |
