Shit (Young, White, Class-privileged, City-based) "Radical Queers" Say to Each Other

We are a cisgender queer femme lesbian, a female-assigned queer butch lesbian, and a queer trans guy intending to reach those in our communities (who ID as white, radical/left & queer) through satire. We're poking fun at ourselves while also pointing out how some discussions get centered, some get glossed over, and some are avoided (ex. white "radical queer" uniform often including Mohawks = cultural appropriation). We hope the video is adding to/encouraging conversations about space white anti-racist activists take up, classism, downward mobility, gentrification, radical-queer-snobbery, Bay Area/coastal/urban centrism, and -- what else? Thanks to everyone who is watching and commenting!!!

Because of feedback we've gotten, we wanted to discuss white transmasculine-centrism in our communities. We also don't want this, or talking about whether or not the video is trans-guy-phobic, to be the centerpiece of these dialogues.

In Bay Area queer communities we're part of (and most likely elsewhere), (trans)masculinity is valorized, pedestalized, celebrated and consistently affirmed as ultra-queer, ultra-political, ultra-hot, and ultra-trans. This can make "trans" synonymous with transguys, invisibilizing all kindsa people including transwomen, transdykes, femmes who are trans, etc. This also invisibilizes folks who live in rural/non urban communities—where being a guy who is trans might not get the ultra-approval we're taking to task.

Patriarchy and racism make disproportionate space for exhibiting, talking about, and affirming white transmasculine identity and experience. This is connected to rampant femmephobia, sexism, making fun of lesbians, and is a straight-up reflection of the dominant culture's valuing of masculinity and demonizing of femininity. This impacts everyone, and we should all be thinking and asking questions about how the gendered terrain of our communities is always changing in ways that are more inclusive of certain identities, while being exclusive to others.

Trans guys aren't to blame for lesbian histories being dismissed. Yet we've often heard trans guys (and other people) equating lesbian identity/history with transphobia that targets transguys -- and this does exist, along with transphobia targeting transwomen -- in lesbian communities. Thinking about, talking about, and honoring lesbian history does not equal transphobia. And at the same time it's really important to challenge transphobia in our many communities!

From each of us:
-As a femme, I hear a lot of femmes and other folk say, "I mostly date trans guys." Totally. I've dated trans guys (and have many trans guys in my life who I love). I think we say this cuz (in hella femmephobic spaces) it makes us feel validated/seen/affirmed as "queer." That's shitty for everyone, cuz it actually is fetishizing and sells ourselves short.

As a femme, I'd LOVE to see more trans guys confront femmephobia, think about how much space they take up (both with their identity and in general), recognize how they are often disproportionately leadership-developed in political spaces, for example.

-As white trans men, we need to confront how we take up space -- physically, emotionally, in conversations, etc. We trans guys are often ultra-supported in our coming out processes and are listened to a lot. We should also ask our femme friends and our friends who are not trans men about their genders, how they experience queer communities, etc. We don't exist in a vacuum- we have certainly drawn on the strength and legacies of trans women, trans men, butch women, passing women (women who live/lived most or all of their lives as men), and so many people over time.

- White butches also have to recognize how we benefit from masculinities being privileged in some queer communities (not to assume that all people who id as butch or trans men present as masculine). As a butch woman, I often feel centered and invisible at the same time. People regularly assume that I use "they" or "he," or that I am trans, or if I'm not trans now, I certainly will be in the future. People make an effort to remember trans guys and some other masculine-presenting people's pronouns while not making the effort to remember pronouns of butch women or those who present in ways that are read as more feminine.

There's soooooo much more to say -- thanks to everyone for the discussions and feedback. We wanna keep talking!

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Shit
• Young
• White
• Radical
• Queers
• Say
• To
• Each
• Other

[laetaris]

I've spent enough time in the bay to know that this is a documentary, not a satire.

[tranarchy000]

this is really funny. ok and all the people commenting need to like calm the fuck down.

[MrSnugglebug83]

Luv it! :) 

[MzBUZZKILINGTON]

Way to try to make fun of yourselves and to show that you guys take yourselves too seriously and then pat yourselves on the back for doing so.

[blickblocks]

@sneakymonkeyable The idea that butches are endangered by being "recruited" to be trans men is a pretty transphobic one though. Yeah I agree misogyny from trans men is pretty bullshit. It's pretty bullshit for anyone though. I mean some trans women don't want to have anything to do with the queer community and buy into heterosexism too, so I can sort of see the parallel. These trans people don't owe the queer community any more than any cis heteros do. They don't identify with us.

[blickblocks]

@yrbabuena The fact that you refuse to respect someone's pronouns even in this hypothetical instance shows me that you are not willing to respect and consider an individual's lived experience either. Why are you using "he" and "him" when we are talking about a trans woman?