Beautiful is such an ugly word.

You Know You’re Trans* When: #2399 You see a beautiful butch woman and feel that ever so strange mixture of desire and dysphoria.

Here’s the situation: a trans* woman who has not had genital surgery is about to sleep with a person, let’s say Mx.

mattachinereview:

blackenedbutterfly:

ceasesilence:

Mx. does not like penises and has made the assumption that the trans* woman (let’s call her Ms.) has a vagina. The question is, does Ms. need to disclose that she has a penis, or does Mx. need to disclose that ze doesn’t like penises? Well, let’s consider both options:

• If Ms. discloses, Mx. may respond violently. Look up “transgender woman murdered” in Google, (ENORMOUS TRIGGER WARNING IF YOU DO THIS) to see what kinds of violence she risks. 
• If Mx. discloses, ze risks hurt feelings and awkwardness. 

Hm, who should disclose?

If you say that Ms. should disclose, knowing the above, you are a bigot. 

If you say that Mx. should disclose, knowing the above, you might be a decent human being. 

HEY ALLIES what would you say

THIS IS A VERY GOOD POST

(via i-sauntered-vaguely-downwards)

So I’m kinda glad I stopped watching Glee when I did…

‘cause seriously even not watching I can tell they are fucking up on any sort of positive representations of trans* people.

reflecting on Against Me!: the tension between trans* and punk

invisiblyqueer:

Also posted at In Our Words

       i was planning on going out tonight, but things happened and i’m sitting at home thinking about Laura Jane Grace, of Against Me! coming out. i’m shivering as i read and re-read the lyrics to the acoustic tune that’s getting passed around my social media universe. As Laura hammers away at her guitar she screams, “Your tells are so obvious.” The last syllables are dragged out in a way that would be familiar to any Against Me! fan.

       Upon hearing this, the first line of the song, i flinch with pain of memory at the same time that i weep with joy. The heartache in this song is more obvious to me than any tell. It’s a familiar pain that i know all too closely.

       i’m irate at the parts of the media who have not switched the pronouns they’re using to describe her; i’m disgusted by some of the comments people have made on blogs warning her that she may be making a mistake. These make me think of my own struggles with pronouns and a brother who still “hopes i’m doing what’s right for me.” But–and this is incredibly unfortunate–this is a fairly standard level of consciousness around trans* issues in our culture.

       Mostly i’m left thinking about the specific intersection of trans* and punk. Coming across a dialogue between Rolling Stone’s Andy Green and the person who did the story on Laura, Josh Eells reminds me of the most painful fact about punk culture in this humble trans* femme’s experience: the hyper-masculinity. Eells says, “i think the reason that a lot of people have been so surprised – at least from what I’ve seen over the last day – is that a lot of people saw the band as “masculine,” for lack of a better word. Their music is so aggressive and [her] voice was so deep and raw and all these things we associate with maleness. It seemed like a very male band.”

       People’s surprise aside, this is not just about folks’ perception of Against Me!, it’s endemic of the nature of punk culture. It’s a youth counterculture that celebrates things that are acculturated as male belongings. Things like aggression, technical musical skill, outspokenness, anger, etc. are all put on a pedestal within punk culture.

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