Archive for the ‘Truth’ Category
Friday, April 4th, 2008
[1]
Thomas Beattie [2] is hot right now. Pregnant transmen boggle our imaginations. Pregnant? you say. And he says he is a man??
How can this be?!?
Mr. Beattie's claims that the FtM community hasn't been very supportive of him. While I've only read positive support for his decision (on Facebook in particular), I've seen this negative behavior before. Way back in the '90s (which belies current statements that Thomas Beattie is the world's first pregnant man) Matt Rice got stalked on-line by another FtM, enraged that Mr. Rice would choice to bear a child after declaring himself a man. Vague and not so vague threats were made.
That degree of hatred suggests to me that we've not really evolved beyond our own instilled binary notions of gender. That after all this time, after Kate Bornstein [3] and Riki Ann Wilchens [4] and Judith Butler [5] and genderqueer, and fuck the binary, all of us - and most certainly transsexuals - believe that our biology is really real.
We believe that our biology - manifest in our bodies - really determines our gender.
But I want to delve into biology as it is manifest in our social and cultural practices. That is to say, I want to discuss how biology, and all of science, is socially constructed. The progressive left's efforts at gender radicalism point out - rightfully so, I believe - that gender is largely a set of socially agreed upon scripts. Where transfolks and genderqueer people run into trouble is when we change those scripts.
But in this rubric, while we have popularized the phrase gender as performance [6] almost ad naseum, we have not similarly popularized the phrase science as performance.
So I ask, why? Why, despite the efforts of feminist scholars Donna Haraway [7], sociologist Bruno Latour [8] and others, do we on the progressive left still believe that science is a set of facts that exist outside the instruments we have used to discover this facts, that these facts exist throughout time (i.e. metahistorical), and that these facts do exist outside our thinking about them.
In essence, we're still dating Newton [9] (universalism) while Heisenberg [10] (relativism) is our man.
Even as I write this last sentence, I'm thinking, "Oh God. Science! Math! Physics! Calculus! They are never going to read on." We ignore science because we're often not very good at it - if grades are the determining factor - but we do so at our own peril.
I wish not to be alarmist but rather to suggest that when we ignore science as part of the stories we tell about our gender, we fail ourselves. Failing to grasp all the plot points, and the complexities those plot points suss out, that adding this character Science to our story brings out, we resign ourselves to the very binary we seek to dismantle.
Over the next several posts I will talk about the history of science, the construction of scientific facts, the inaccuracy of terms like natural and biology, quantum mechanics, and how of this relates to Mr. Thomas Beattie.
Stay tuned and thanks for reading.
[1] http://jaysennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/performativity.JPG
[2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/31/pregnant-man-new-photos-r_n_94250.html
[3] http://www.tootallblondes.com/KatePages/kate_bornstein.htm
[4] http://www.3dcom.com/tgfs/docs/rikipt1.html
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Butler
[6] http://www.cla.purdue.edu/English/theory/genderandsex/modules/butlerperformmainframe.html
[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Haraway
[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Latour
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton
[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle
Posted in Cartoons, Truth | 9 Comments »
Thursday, September 7th, 2006
Head immediately over to Brownfemipower and this post [1]. Then go read piny's post [2]. Very fucking important stuff they are writing about.
[1] http://brownfemipower.com/?p=388
[2] http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2006/09/07/3709/
Posted in Anti Assclownery, Transphobia, Truth | 4 Comments »
Thursday, May 25th, 2006
Matthew Sanford is the yoga instructor. The guy in the wheel chair. When I tell other yoga folks that I found this cool teacher in Minnesota in a wheelchair jaws drop. "Really?" Sanford's reality flies in the face of the super twisting poses extolled on the cover of yoga magazines.But, of course, since our primary practice in yoga is to learn to live in our bodies, these other yoga folks recover.Matthew Sanford's work is a living reminder that our bodies are our allies [1], if we would let that birthright shine through the crap in our minds. We must work hard to quiet our minds. But unless we are dead, anyone can do this work. (And for those who are curious, Sanford has his students in downward facing dog).It took a devastating car accident, paralysis from the chest down, and dependence on a wheelchair before Matthew truly realized the importance of his body. He has been rolling into his body ever since. After the accident, Matthew spent the first fourteen years believing that his mind was shut out of his paralyzed body. He spent the next twelve years practicing hatha yoga and discovered how deeply he was mistaken. Living vibrantly through one’s whole body – whether paralyzed or not – is a powerful part of living.
[1] http://www.mindbodysolutions-mn.org/HTML%20pages/About%20Us%20Files/FounderBio.html
Posted in Truth | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006
[Click on image to save/download/print etc. Licensing terms here [1] etc.]Via [2] Homofactus Press:Publishers are responsible to all the communities who offer their life energy in exchange for the fruits of our labor. Had I published The State of Native America I'd be sending out press releases, blogging about how betrayed I feel, discussing what it all means both for activists and the study of history and I'd be working my lefty feminist ass off to stop publishing that version of the book. And I'd probably hunt down Churchill and Jaimes and chew them both out.[Disclaimer: I own Homofactus Press]
[1] http://www.jaysennett.com/blog/2006/04/why_im_not_in_the_tshirt_busin.htm
[2] http://www.homofactuspress.com/2006/05/south_end_press_needs_damage_c.htm
Posted in Anti Assclownery, Truth | Comments Off
Wednesday, December 7th, 2005
[1]
USA Today reported [2] that a majority of disability-related complaints filed [3] with the Department of Transportation cited airline wheelchair service as a big problem.
Failure to assist passengers in chairs was the number one complaint. Passengers:
also complained of damaged chairs, poor seating arrangements, inaccessible aircraft and excessive waits for stored chairs upon landing.
How I moved through the physical world changed as more and more hormones transitioned my body into a semblance of male. Physical deference, a sense of physical safety and an awareness that I had metamorphasized into a "big guy" solidified in my mind that significant physical changes to my body changed how much physical space the world granted me. And, that "land grant," if you will, also changed my perception of myself. The world and its inhabitants conspired to let me explore as much as I wanted to. It was my right.
[1] http://jaysennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/waiting.JPG
[2] http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/932636501.html?did=932636501&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT&date=Nov+28%2C+2005&author=Barbara+De+Lollis&pub=USA+TODAY&desc=Complaints+cite+airline+wheelchair+service
[3] http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/reports/cradi/ReportToCongress08302005.doc
Posted in Man, Queer, Truth | 6 Comments »
Thursday, November 3rd, 2005
[1]
Christianity meets Whiteness. Or, Christianity Meets Transsexuality. Or, Christianity Meets White Transsexuality.
You decide.
What I know is this: At Mrs. Rosa Parks funeral yesterday, Rev. Al Sharpton mentioned the countless numbers of black folks who sacrificed themselves in the fifties and sixties to make a better life for us today.
People like: Medger Evers, shot to death in the driveway of his home for attempting to organize black folks.
The four black girls who died in a church bombing (which prompted Martin Luther King Jr.'s statement, "all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.")
Still, black folks, and some white folks (many of them Jewish) forged onward and continued to love and fight for themselves and their children, born and unborn.
So when certain white people, like sex columnist Dan Savage, tell me that it is, oh so tough right now during George Shrub, Jr.'s presidency, I think, how convenient. How easy for middle-class white folks like Dan to pick up and leave when things don't seem to go their way for awhile.
How easy for evil to triumph.
I wonder how different our world would be if Myrlie Evers Williams and Coretta Scott King and Julian Bond and Charlene Teeters and Cesar Chavez and Rosa Parks and Ed Roberts (the father of the disability rights movement) had said, "fuck it! We're moving to Paris."
So lets all move to Paris, then. And let the James Crow, Jr, Esq. (the son of Jim Crow - hat tip to Rev. Sharpton again) grind up our poor queer kids and poor old folks and the all the permanently disabled coming back from Iraq who are white and black and brown and red and yellow.
Let us let evil triumph.
Yeah, fuck it! Let's leave 'cause we never really cared about these folks anyway. That's why we loved Bill Clinton so much. He made us feel comfortable in our numbness and disorientation.
Me. Me. Me. Me.....and evil triumphs, again.
So I take my cue from Henry Rollins, who, unlike Dan Savage, never once during his live show, spoke of leaving the U.S. Instead, he spoke about his belief in the American people and his love of all the great many things our country has produced like the Ramones, and Louis Armstrong. He shared about his numerous U.S.O. visits, including two to Walter Reed Hospital.
With every fiber in his body he spoke of the power of staying and fighting and loving and laughing.
It is also no surprise to me that he, among many things, really gets white privilege. He understands that he is part of a larger community. A community of people who have stayed on and fought for more goodness in the world long after it is fashionable, who aren't whiners, or worriers or do-gooders.
Thank the goddess they have stayed. If we had left the civil rights movement up to folks like Dan Savage, we'd all be fucked.
And since I'm not willing to let evil triumph, I'm staying put. Right here. Right now.
[1] http://jaysennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/christianity.JPG
Posted in Anti Assclownery, Queer, Religion, Truth | Comments Off
Monday, October 24th, 2005
[1]
I have decided that notions of a pure politics ~ where we exist free of the "man" (as defined individually) ~ doesn't exist in America.
My federal tax dollars take the form of bullets that end up in the skulls of babies and children. Buying gasoline supports the use of slave labor. So does buying chocolate. Whole Foods does not support bargaining efforts of the United Farm Workers.
In America our hands can never be clean. Notions of being better than the Right because I eat tofu or drive a fuel efficient car don't hold up against the suffering I generate through the simple acts of buying things or paying taxes.
So I have had to swallow gobs and gobs of sanctimony. While I believe my beliefs lead to greater justice, I balance those choices with the suffering other choices inflict. Or try to anyway.
Marketers still get to me. My footprint is still large ~ too large (like we'd need 3 1/2 to 4 earths to support my lifestyle for everyone).
But now I'm grateful for humility, the ability to discern wants from needs and the wisdom to know the difference.
[1] http://jaysennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/dg.JPG
Posted in Anti Assclownery, Queer, Truth | Comments Off
Friday, October 14th, 2005
[1]
Over the last two days, the Divine Ms. H and I have had the pleasure of Anna Camilleri's [2] company.
We chatted and shared stories and much affection and talked of many things.
One thing we all agreed on:
The last, and perhaps worst, victory of the oppressor culminates when we concede to them our right to tell our stories.
No matter what happens to us, no matter the legislation they pass, the rights they take away, the physical harm the inflict upon us, we must always communicate our truth.
We cannot buy what they are selling. Ever. No matter how tasty or pleasurable or real their stories seem, they can never be our stories. We can never let them control our minds.
Even if they kill us, we can, with our last thoughts, leave an intention for good and righteousness in the world.
Stay strong and keep sharing your stories, in whatever way you can, wherever you can, whether anyone listens or not.
Our lives and future depend on it.
[1] http://jaysennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/cheap.bmp
[2] http://www.annacamilleri.com/
Posted in Anti Assclownery, Queer, Truth | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, September 21st, 2005
to:
Ona Marae
Nick Kiddle and
Jennifer Gee
for posting excellent words.
(Now I must convince them to continue to blog here every now and then. They make me write better!)
Connections. We live in and through them all the time. Every moment we live on earth.
They make life matter. Few people know who we are and fewer even care about us. Those who care make my sun rise.
Those who make my sun set chat and don't do. Talk and don't walk (or roll or scooter).
I thank Ona, Nick and Jennifer for doing what they said they agreed to do. When I needed them to do it.
Accountability, agreeability and follow-through. Rare qualities possessed by three shining gems.
Posted in Truth | Comments Off
Tuesday, September 20th, 2005
I still await deployment by the Red Cross.
The scope of need boggles the mind.
200,000 + survivors living in Red Cross shelters over 27 states.
500,000 + meals per day served by Red Cross volunteers and paid staff.
85,000+ volunteers serving the needs of Red Cross clients.
40,000+ additional volunteers needed to meet the immediate needs of survivors.
[Note: The Red Cross still provides services to survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing.]
The Red Cross responded to the aftermath of Katrina by changing their volunteer policies. Previously they only deployed long standing volunteers of one year of more to federal disasters. For Katrina they have trained, and are training, spontaneous volunteers. Since late August, the national office changed the training manual nine times to meet the changing needs of Katrina survivors.
The Red Cross expects to have had over 1,000,000 face-to-face contacts with survivors.
Flexibility remains a value I struggle with. Yet stability arises from flexibility. Standing upright, I fall over when I force myself to remain rigid. When I relax and stay flexible and let my body sway with my breathing I remain upright.
The Red Cross' flexibility allows them to save lives.
My biggest epiphany: I cannot claim bragging rights for assisting survivors through a hardship deployment while letting my home responsibilities slip. I remain accountable to my family and my choices and my ethics.
I cannot let go of small things in lieu of greater glory. Tasks needing completion in the present call for action. Hardship deployments, no matter how wonderful and necessary and extraordinary, remain in the realm of the future.
How I do anything is how I do everything.
Posted in Anti Assclownery, Katrina, Truth | Comments Off
Wednesday, August 31st, 2005
[1] Why do we feel compelled to judge others living in dire conditions?
Do we honestly believe we would behave differently when faced with the exact same conditions?
And since the majority of images I have seen on CNN of the so-called "looters" appear African-American, I should reword my previous question.
Do we white folks honestly believe we would behave differently if we had spent the last 36 hours on our roofs, only to wade through petrochemically laden flood water to arrive at a Walgreens and say, "gosh, I need water. I don't know when I will get fresh water again. And who knows about food. But I don't steal!"
Right.
And what of the quick and long decisions, regret, guilt? Drowned in a flood of media hysteria and convenient forgetting and ratings everyone loots with a gleeful heart. But we forget that as long as rampant poverty exists people will meet their needs in whatever manner possible.
Does anyone really feel better about themselves watching people who have lost everything lose a little more by stealing? And if we really cared about looting, should not our tax dollars have been getting EVERYONE out of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama who could not get out on their own? Then recovery personnel could spend money on cleaning up the area, instead of saving people and stopping those damp, thieving, pesky, hungry, people.
Yes, I know about the computers and the TVs. But food will spoil. Experts claim New Orleans won't have full electrical capacity until September. At the earliest. I won't even mention the mold growth problem and whatever environmental damage occurs because of the brackish, polluted water from Lake Pontchartrain swallowing up the inventory of corporate convenience. Inventory they can write-off as part of their insurance claim
My short-term solution. Walgreens and Rite-Aid, Target, Walmart. All of them need to donate everything from their stores.
"We ask the police to let victims of this terrible tragedy pass through our doors unimpeded. Walgreens (or Target. WalMart, etc.) is officially donating all items in our stores to the victims of this terrible, terrible situation. We stand with them in their time of need and pray for their health and the recovery of everyone during this horrible time." Then they provide the addresses of all stores donating items.
My long term solution requires more work on our parts.
If, as Socrates claimed, the mark of a moral society can be found in how it treats its most dispossed members, then we have failed. We have failed the poor and the elderly and the children left behind to suffer in the wake of Katrina. We have failed our own children as they watch us get hopped up on hysteria and anger over trivial items like televisions and food and water.
Ultimately we have failed ourselves. We choose to fall prey to our baser instincts. From our armchairs we moralize about situations we thankfully may never have to experience. In so doing we visit a wrath upon the survivors Katrina could never have accomplished.
We also foster the seeds of hatred in our heart. We loot from our compassion to feed our fear. In the end, we are the biggest losers of all.
[1] http://jaysennett.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/armchair_moralists_2.jpg
Posted in Anti Assclownery, Katrina, Truth | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, August 17th, 2005
From Crimethinc [1]:
[2]
[1] http://jaysennett.comwww.crimethinc.com
[2] http://jaysennett.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/poster_1.jpg
Posted in Anti Assclownery, Man, Truth | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, July 13th, 2005
Have you ever believed in something, really and truly, fought for it, propaganized it near and far and then life intervenes and you make new choices with new friends in new places and one day come back to that belief, and say, "what was I thinking??!!"
Yesterday I read a post [1] about That’s Revolting: Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation at Jen's fab blog, Transcending Gender [2]. The press release blurb reads, in part: Elisa seMbessakwini writes as an intersexed person, born with ambiguous genitalia and subject to a lifetime of painful surgical procedures. But instead of a clichéd narrative about progressing towards a fixed and acceptable body, she provides descriptions of events that can not be defined as either fact or fiction. "Fixed and acceptable body" gripped my attention.
[1] http://www.jenburke.com/?p=187
[2] http://www.jenburke.com/
Posted in Anti Assclownery, Truth | 3 Comments »
Monday, July 11th, 2005
I read somewhere long ago that courage is not the absence of fear, but feeling the fear and doing the thing we are afraid of anyway. By this definition, Denise [1] is a true super hero. Confronting shame [2] represents a fundamental turning point in the lives of transsexual people.
Plus I have a soft spot in my heart for transsexual women, since I think they have a much tougher time of it than transsexual men.
Thank you Denise, for your honesty and compassion.
[1] http://musingsonlifelawandgender.typepad.com/life_law_gender/
[2] http://musingsonlifelawandgender.typepad.com/life_law_gender/2005/07/birthed_in_a_st.html
Posted in Truth | 1 Comment »
Friday, July 8th, 2005
I conclude this three [1] part series with links to opposing opinions of what ails sex workers. Immigration rights and sex worker rights are now being co-organized.
One of me commenters, me, writes:I think tho, that it would be good if the left could intead of polemisizeing against sex-work, try to make more links with these sections of the sex-worker groups. Help empower people instead of trying to save them (I know that's a generalization and it's a complex issue etc...).
[1] http://jaysennett.typepad.com/jay_sennetts_blog/2005/06/racism_and_sex_.html
Posted in Anti Assclownery, Truth | 2 Comments »
