trans

I'm an affectionate person, almost everyone I've dated or been friends with commenting on that. But whenever I am out in public with my fiancée, I become self-consciously affectionate. Not because I'm concerned about what nasty thoughts people might think about seeing such queerness, but because of what they fail to think.

This post is about what I consider to be one way of being the change I want to see. I think of it as a small public education intervention that I do almost every day.

We’re elaborately taught how to relate to ourselves as gendered beings. It’s been a long time that people have been building on the critical observation that there’s no natural connection between pink/girl or boy/blue, yet kids continue to be the targets of aggressive marketing that creates profitable niche interests—a collection of stereotypes from which gender binarized consumers are “free” to choose—and of subtler gender conditioning (as my friend Ember is finding out, swaddled babies, though indistinguishable, are praised as pretty or strong depending on how parents advertise their sex). I’ve mentioned how a lot of kids are skipping the closet and, consequently, finding themselves at the forefront of advocating respect toward sexual difference. What about trans youth? There’s been increasing attention to “gender creative” or “gender independent” kids as social space opens up in which to discuss, rather than repress, their behavior. Could these terms reflect a reluctance to apply the concept of transgender to youth of a certain age because of its association with sexual identity (I am thinking specifically here of the historical, medical roots of trans-related descriptors in the West that have stemmed from the word "transsexualism" coined as "transsexualismus" in the early 1900s by Magnus Hirschfeld and later "trans-sexual" by Harry Benjamin in the 1960s)? Conversely, does the usage of the trans label problematically continue to lump the T in with the LGB? (Not that the B gets much visibility, either).

Another week, another collection of web adventures.

• ColorLines shares responses to the claim of a "post-racial society."
• At TransGriot, Monica reports on an anti-trans* "bathroom bill" in Maine. If you're a Maine citizen, check the link at the end to see how you can help.
• Bitch contributor Sarah Jaffe unpacks the impacts the Bush tax cuts have had for their tenth anniversary at AlterNet.
• The San Francisco Chronicle's blog wants a Hangover cure.
• The Crunk Feminist Collective examines Kreayshawn's success and appropriation.
• Are you near Detroit (or stoked to travel)? Check out the Allied Media Conference 2011 on June 23-26!
• Bitch contributor Jarrah Hodge lists some of her favorite websites at Gender Focus.
• The Times gives their two cents about the enduring influence of Riot Grrrl.
• Feministing rounds up the paternalistic responses to Steven Levitt's already alarming statement, "If the answer is that I wouldn’t want my daughter to do it, then I don’t mind the government passing a law against it."
• AfterEllen talks about Jane Lynch hosting the Emmys this fall. Will you be tuning in?
• Debbie Reese at American Indians in Children's Literature looks at Census data and the effects of not having "American Indian" as a preset option.
• Queerty wants to know your take on the treatment of Kevin, the openly gay character in Archie comics.
• Shakesville passes on the news about Glenn Beck's next project: essentially a YouTube channel. Good riddance!

Thoughts? What else have you been reading online?

Today I'm sharing the second part of my interview with the delightful Christine Smith, the very talented artist behind webcomics Eve's Apple and The Princess. Check out the first part here, and then read our conversation about The Princess, flipping the script, and feminism after the jump!

Such sad news today: veteran Los Angeles Times sportswriter Christine Daniels was found dead today in her home. Suicide is the suspected cause. She was 52 years old.

Daniels made national headlines when in 2007 she announced in that she was transitioning from male to female. Then under the byline of Mike Penner, she wrote her groundbreaking sports column:

 

Is the Tampax campaign transphobic, sexist, subversive, or--somehow--all of the above?