Kate Bornstein

[switcherx]

check my video of Kate in Toronto a few weeks ago... watch?v=kKNIQ1XG0dk (it's always important to be able to pick up the dialogue clearly... I was early to be close to the stage.)

[boilerplate7]

My dad once told me a "joke". There were 2 rabbits running from a wolf, One rabbit says to the other, Do you think we'll make it? To which the other replied, Boy we got to make it! I said Dad I don't get it? He smiled and said, you will.

[CarolyntheGreat]

ABOUT JESUS; Who do you think you are that you believe you can interpret the will of an all knowing and perfect being? Are you all knowing? Are you perfect? If not, then I would hypothesize you would be WAY WRONG. What makes a person a man or a woman genetically and hormonally is a biological function having very little to do with what one person who is not all knowing and perfect in being might think in a snide quick comment. (Which would compared to Jesus probably be very little.)

[Ukka68]

She's a legend!

[SheLikesGiants]

oh how i adore kate!

[Leona1950]

Oh, lighten up. It's funny! I am a trans woman who has not "mastered" a feminine voice. This is all true, and hurts and makes one laugh because it is true. So much of the process is exactly as she describes it, and there is humor it that. Just because Bill Cosby makes fun of dentists, does not invalidate the voracity of dentists.

[HRTOACTIVIST]

LOL I was there that day! :)

[alexookpik]

so brilliant. brilliant brilliant. :-)

[MrHugLife]

Kate is a woman, so clearly not all women have super high-pitched voices.

If everyone in the world sounded and acted the same, life would be very boring indeed. Variety is what keeps life interesting.

People who have not lived life as a transgendered person can't understand how vital it is to be seen as the person you are inside. There is enough religious and social hate out there already. Try to understand someone else, and have some compassion.

[NessieSanzerbeard]

So much bitterness in these comments! I love Kate, and I absolutely adore Laurie Anderson!

[JohnWoo]

OMG, Jesus made you a man for a reason, don't go changing your gender.

[Juanchopepe86]

"OMG, Jesus made you a man for a reason, don't go changing your gender. "

Jesus told me to tell you that he doesn't give a shit.

[JohnWoo]

That's blasphemous, you're going to hell.

[Juanchopepe86]

"That's blasphemous, you're going to hell. "

There is no scientific evidence "hell" exists. There is not even scientific proof that the Bible was "divinely inspired" by "God".

What makes you think you are going to scare me with "hell"?

[switcherx]

@Juanchopepe86 your reverence in how you talk about Jesus is indicative of your lack of Christian beliefs, unless you can use it to suit your needs. God 'creates' people who are intersex - that is people who physically have traits of both genders. There is a vast variety of things in God's creation. Gender is what you feel you are (what's in your mind)... and Sex it's what's between your legs. If Jesus speaks to you again, I'd be sure it was Him... His first law is to love one another.

[Juanchopepe86]

@switcherx

"God 'creates' people who are intersex - that is people who physically have traits of both genders..."

Ok good. God created them and Jesus teaches to love other people regardless of their differences. But God's and Jesus' representatives on earth seem to miss that memo, and start doing the opposite of what Jesus teaches. This is what I stand for: Love everyone regardless of their differences because they are humans and they are not perfect, not because a book says so.

[Chappis91]

Thats between Them and their God.

Not YOU and their God, but THEM and THEIR God. So if they want to change thats between god and them.

So BACK OFF cause it doesnt concern you. It concerns them and God ok.

[JohnWoo]

Being a homo is a sin, ask Pope Benedict. So unless you want to burn in hell forever, you better repent.

[Chappis91]

I dont believe in heaven or hell, I believe in some deeper meaning.

Im not simple minded like you.

Honestly is your answer just going to reflect on what other people have to say? Come up with your own theories and idead.

[tinfoilfedora]

And, yes, transwomen almost universally hate Kate. She's arrogant and self-righteous. And diminishes the hard work and daily stuggle of real transwomen out there who are just trying to overcome the crappy hand life dealt them just to make some lame political statement. (And sorry but "hir" and "zie". Get real.)

[psyravi]

It is a real pleasure to see her guest speak if you ever have the opportunity. This video is taken out of context, so I am sure people will misinterpret it.

[layinontheground]

good point kabardinka, but i think that kate's ridiculing the essentialist framework that the speech therapist puts everything in ("women speak this way"); in other words, what's funny is that society at large 'expects' women to speak that way, when in fact plenty of "real" women sound a lot like kate. But you're right--unfortunately, any woman who doesn't conform to societal ideals will have to worry about the disapproval or ridicule of others, infinitely moreso if they're trans.

[kabardinkasf]

A prime example of cisgender privilege. Ciswomen and men don't (ordinarily) have to worry about their voices. Transmen, who take T for 4 months and sound passable, don't either. But transwomen, who's very identity (and safety) is called into question because our voices don't change, are ridiculed because of it. And Kate B. knows this, and uses it for 'humor' and ridicule. Zie is using our sense of womanhood and holding it up to ridicule and calling it false (and therefore, us as well).

[kabardinkasf]

This is one transwoman who's proud of the hundreds of hours of hard work I put into retraining my voice to its core and relearning to speak in a way which expresses and honors my womanhood. If Kate thinks that's artificial, too binary and reactionary, goodie for her. Zie and hir 'queercentric' voice can STFU. Don't expect me to respect her GQ hipness and rave about hir progressiveess... because it isn't so! And Kate's smugness is a big reason so many transwomen hold such a low opinion of hir.

[tinfoilfedora]

It sounds harsh but I completely agree with kab. Kate's completely ignored the fact that we work on our voices as a means of self-expression. Not as some submissive display of self-flaggelation in front of the patriarchal death machine.

Kate's formed an opinion that clearly buys into the very social stereotypes she's railing against. Sounds like another bitter transwomen that couldn't hack voice training.. sorry it takes hard work.

[kabardinka1]

Personally, I find this video rather snotty. It ridicules what transwomen need to go through to speak in a way that blends in with other women in society. If you want to pick apart socialized aspects of speech as it relates to gender, don't ridicule the very real needs of a vulnerable population for safety and living a life they feel connected to. Most transwomen don't consider themselves genderqueer the way Bornstein does.

[psyravi]

Thanks!

[Alfalfa6913]

Kate's my favorite.

You might wanna edit the description: What do you mean by "for transgender"? It should say "for transgender folks" or even better "trans folks" :)