Thoughts on the ethics of disclosure and gender identity

Brynn Tannehill penned a piece for lgbtqnation on the ethics of disclosure for trans folk in dating, as in whether or not it meets some criteria of right or wrong to disclose (or not disclose) our status as transgender or our “gender history.” For the most part I agree with her arguments, and wanted to offer some additional thoughts.

By far the most predictable piece of white noise injected into the discourse is the claim of a cis person asserting they couldn’t date a trans person or find us attractive. The problem is… well, yes you could.

To clarify, there isn’t any consistent way to spot a trans person, because there isn’t any variance in our bodily characteristics that cisgender people don’t also have. Some women have hair loss. Some men have breasts. Some women are tall. Some men are short. The belief that trans people as a demographic can be identified upon sight is predicated in the belief that there is a certain way to “look trans.” This is how trans people have been using the washroom with you long before trans panic gained traction in 2014. Most of you never knew most of us were ever there, so we minded our business and left the loo like everyone else.

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Canada Primer p2: Canada, eh

Canada, aka Canuckistan, is a parliamentary representative democracy under a constitutional monarchy. Which is a really fancy way of saying we’re technically a monarchy, but the monarch’s influence on politics has been narrowly defined such that they have no “real” power. All laws approved by the legislative body must be signed off by the monarch’s appointee, the Governor General.

We keep the Queen because she generates ~$50 million/year in tourist revenue, which is more than the allowance afforded to the Royal Family.

“Underneath” the monarchy is the legislative body with the real power. It is divided into two parts, the elected Parliament and the appointed Senate. Any law approved in Parliament has to also go through the Senate, at which point it is passed off to the Governor General. As both the Governor General and the Senate are appointed, rather than elected, they seldom oppose the direction of the Parliament. (If it sounds insane that two thirds of Canada’s legislative body is appointed, I agree!)

Parliament is elected with a similar First Past the Post system we discussed from the Alberta primer. The country is carved up into districts, also called ridings, and each riding corresponds to a seat in Parliament. A person who wins the riding is called a Member of Parliament (MP). Theoretically, it is the Governor General who selects the Prime Minister among the MPs, a person who “holds the confidence of Parliament.” In practice, it’s the party leader of the party that won the most seats that becomes Prime Minister.

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Dear Sarah Ditum: Scapegoating trans women is never the answer, either

I’m gettin’ real tired of tedious “gender critical” horseshit.

The latest flapping firehose to hit my feed on this topic is Sarah Ditum in a grating piece titled “Scapegoating feminists is never the answer.” Although Ditum links to a specific piece she is responding to–which is more than I can say of PBog–she also interjects a number of assertions important to her argument without citations, leaving me to guess at whatever the fuck she’s referring to.

Because if there’s anything a convincing argument should do, folks, it’s leave you guessing.

Content Notice for the usual trans-antagonistic garbage plus t-word reclamation.

The piece Ditum responds to isn’t a particularly strong argument either, “Trans respect, not transphobia.” And if I’m cheesed off at Ditum for the stunning lack of citations, I have to at least level the same criticism at this author, Emily Brothers. It is, in short, a post appealing to UK’s Labour Party to take up the mantle of Gender & Sexual minority rights as a portion of its labour empowerment mission. But today’s post isn’t really about the inadequacies of Brothers’ appeal to Labour*, it’s about Ditum’s hamfisted response to it.

Ditum begins:

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Happy Chanakwamasolstidealia

Death to the world! Cthulhu’s come:

Let Earth abhor this thing.

Let every mind prepare for doom,

As anguish and woe he’ll bring.

 

Up from the sea, R’lyeh did rise:

The cultists awestruck dumb.

With ancient rites so wretched and perverse,

Cthulhu’s time has come.

 

Death to the world! Cthulhu reigns.

The Great Old Ones Destroy

With wrath and doom, so cruel and foul,

Replete with obscene joy.

 

He rules the Earth with dreadful might,

And through our ghastly dreams

His twisting turning tentacles

Elicit from us maddened screams.

Cthulhu’s time has come.

 

Party safely n’ shit.

-Shiv

SANTA MUST BE REAL: Canadian fascist loses libel appeal

Ezra Levant of Rebel Media infamy has been found guilty of libel a few times. He’s basically Canada’s Milo Yiannopoulos, who tends to spend one half of his time with spit-flecked howling into microphones about free speech and the other half filing lawsuits against his critics. Were Mr. Levant a foreigner, I’m guessing he’d be denied entry into the country for his activities. His website hosts a proto-fascist, he has helped the Wildrose curate Albertan political performance artist Bernard the Roughneck, and held a number of anti carbon tax rallies which degenerated into misogynistic, homophobic hysterics. In short, he’s the eye of a shit hurricane.

Between 2008 and 2014 Levant has been bouncing back and forth over the defamation of a lawyer. In 2014 he was ruled against and ordered to pay $80,000 in damages for his many unsubstantiated claims. He went on to appeal.

Now, not only did Levant lose his appeal two days ago, but he has been ordered to pay the expenses of the second trial too–$160,000 in total.

It’s an xmas miracle. Thanks Santa. Couldn’t have given me a better gift.

For the second time this week: Eat shit, fascists.

-Shiv

The subjugation of women performers is certainly compatible with the Trump ethos

David over on We Hunted the Mammoth has signal boosted the plight of the Rockettes, a troupe of dancers who are being strong-armed by their union to perform at Trump’s inauguration despite their objections. The dancers have expressed that they “oppose everything Trump stands for” and that they are understandably upset their employer is threatening to terminate them if they don’t dance for Trumpenfurher.

David echoes Amanda Duarte’s call to contact the troupe’s producers and their union to express support for the Rockettes who do not wish to appear at Trumpenfurher’s inauguration.

Duarte is encouraging people to contact the show’s producers as well as the American Guild of Variety Artists and the Madison Square Garden Company to express their support for all of the Rockettes who want to boycott Trump’s big party.

Email the producers directly:
Jill.DeForte@msg.com
larry.sedwick@msg.com

feedbackradiocity@MSG.com

Call AGVA (American Guild of Variety Artists)
as well
212-675-1003
make sure you express that if a Rock does not wish to perform, she shouldn’t have to and there should not be a repercussion.

Be firm, but polite. Help the boycotting Rockettes to just say no to Trump.

This is symbolic of the incoming administration’s attitude towards the autonomy of women–to them, it doesn’t exist at all.

Please support the Rockettes’ choice to perform or not perform.

I am writing in to express support for the Radio City Rockettes who have indicated strong disagreements with their employer’s contract to perform at the President-Elect’s inauguration.

Donald Trump ran on a campaign of unprecedented division, demonizing countless demographics in the United States and scapegoating them for the perceived grievances of more privileged Americans.

Trump is an unusual President, which calls for unusual politics. He holds nothing but contempt for the very democratic process which foisted him into power. And it is chillingly symbolic for the AGVA to coerce Rockettes into performing against their will for a President whose platform routinely advocates the elimination of women’s bodily autonomy.

Individual performers must be given the choice, free of coercion, whether to perform for the President-Elect. Anything less is tacit support for Trump’s authoritarian disposition.

Siobhan

Writer at FreeThoughtBlogs

-Shiv

Signal boosting: Women’s March on Washington

Details for the January 21st march on Washington are starting to precipitate.

The Women’s March on Washington will convene on Saturday, 10:00 am, January 21, 2017.

The starting point will be the intersection of Independence Avenue and Third Street SW, near the U.S. Capitol (see map below).

Women of America, the party that has held your reproductive health in utter contempt for decades has a stranglehold on every arm of government. Now is the time to give a pre-emptive #BlackMonday to the misogynists infecting your government.

Solidarity marches elsewhere:

SISTER MARCHES

STATES

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

 

-Shiv

Good news Thursday: French Fascist Marine Le Pen is broke

Candy-coated fascist Marine Le Pen seems to have found her party without purse-strings: The Russian bank financing the Front National campaign went under.

National Front leader Marine Le Pen is struggling to raise the 20 million euros ($21 million) she needs to fund French presidential and legislative campaigns in 2017 after the party’s Russian lender failed, the party treasurer said.

The Central Bank of Russia revoked the license of the National Front’s Moscow-based lender First Czech Russian Bank OOO in July and the party has still to find another backer, according to treasurer Wallerand de Saint Just. Saint Just said he’s seeking international financiers in countries including Russia because French banks have refused to fund his party.

I just want to repeat this, without comment:

Saint Just said he’s seeking international financiers in countries including Russia because French banks have refused to fund his party.

Eat shit, fascists.

-Shiv

Canada Primer p1: Alberta, eh

The Canada Primer series is to help all the non-Canadians I’ve picked up over this year’s blogging get some context as to what arm-flailing inanity our right-wing has picked up from your right-wing. It might also be a good place for fellow Canucks to catch up or review.

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