Comments for Sincerely, Natalie Reed

Comment on Trans 101 by anthonyallen

anthonyallen — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:32:46 +0000

Dear Natalie,

Some time ago, I had the opportunity to become good friends with someone who is going through a male-to-female transition. She started presenting as female early last year, and she had some trouble adjusting to the attitudes of people that she used to consider close friends. That’s how we met, actually. We both had suffered breakdowns that landed us in the same ward at the hospital. We became instant friends when the facilitator in one of our group sessions made an inadvertent Futurama reference, and we both pounced on it with the same quip at the same time. In fact, we became such good friends that when it was time to devise our coping strategies for the future, we named each other as part of our respective support networks.

Since being let out, there have been occasions that we have run to each other for advice, or just to vent. For my part, I don’t offer advice to her very often, she says that it’s enough that I listen, which I do. When I do offer advice though, the advice that I give is usually inspired by something that you have wrote about. And I just wanted to say thank you.

Thank you for helping me to see some of the errors that people who are ignorant of trans issues would make; errors that I, myself, would have made. Thank you for teaching me to be more accepting of not just trans people, but of everyone. Thank you for being such an incredible writer that I’ve never lost interest in what you have to say (that’s a big deal for me, actually).

Most of all, thank you for helping me to help my friend.

Comment on Born This Way (Reprise): The New Essentialism by nathanaelnerode

nathanaelnerode — Tue, 07 May 2013 02:18:08 +0000

This is full of win.

Comment on Trans 101 by Our Town | hellogendercat

Our Town | hellogendercat — Sat, 04 May 2013 07:20:23 +0000

[...] post started with me thinking about Natalie Reed's Trans 101. I will be talking about that and other posts by her quite a [...]

Comment on Complicity Vs. Cause In Trans-Misogyny And Violence by Insert funny pun on Goldstar here | Sarah Kerton

Insert funny pun on Goldstar here | Sarah Kerton — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:38:16 +0000

[...] Lesbians, even obnoxious ones, aren’t responsible for biphobia. Natalie Reed’s excellent blog (http://freethoughtblogs.com/nataliereed/2012/12/13/complicity-vs-cause-in-trans-misogyny-and-violenc…) on complicity versus cause in the RadFem debate explores the misdirection of our energies from the [...]

Comment on …F@#king Trans Women… by Physical Differences in Sexual Identity | Transendent Lives

Physical Differences in Sexual Identity | Transendent Lives — Wed, 01 May 2013 00:01:02 +0000

[...] Natalie Reed pointed out a while back, transexual bodies and genitals do not react, function, etc. in the same manner as cissexual bodies o…. As she points out, the penis of a cis man, a trans man, and a trans woman all react differently [...]

Comment on How Do I Know If I’m Trans? by Quotent Quotable #2 | hellogendercat

Quotent Quotable #2 | hellogendercat — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:21:27 +0000

[...] – Natalie Reed, How Do I Know If I’m Trans? [...]

Comment on “Ideal Bodies” by Queereka | AI: Reopening a can of worms

Queereka | AI: Reopening a can of worms — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:11:45 +0000

[...] A few articles that cover what happened rather well, in my humble option: Lindey West, Natalie Reed [...]

Comment on Gender Expression Is Not Gender Identity by Megi

Megi — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:33:21 +0000

I agree absolutely. I see no difference. “This deep something” tells me nothing and everything. Once it tells me that I am obviously a woman, and then it tells me that I’m not. I think it’s just comparing my behaviour to others’ or to man/woman concepts.
Well, I, for example, identify as human, because I see it. And as a science minded person, because I’m good at it. And as white woman, because I look in the mirror and see a white woman. Feelings tell me nothing about myself. I identify with my name, because everyone calls me so. These are just labels. Our way of thinking. How do we know that a table is a table? There are some “table criteria”. The object passes them or not. But it can be another thing for a different cultue. But it “is” not a table. We percieve it as a table. Just we percieve that “tableness”. What is true are actions. And objective, dry facts about the molecular structure of it.
I don’t want to offend anybody, but maybe not everybody has a built-in gender identity. Transition is good – if it helps feel right. Everything that helps people is good. But I find it quite a bad conviction that the two sexes’ brains differ. It produces some implications that are offensive and produce prejudice, glass cieling and so on. Of course, statistics are different, but not every case.
But finally it’s a thing to think about. Just to take into consideration. What is the real difference? Does it exist physically?

And I have a question. Can someone be trans and not know about it in whole life? And be happy of his/her body?

Comment on Gender Expression Is Not Gender Identity by Megi

Megi — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:17:28 +0000

Hm, I don’t agree with this fragment:
“is readers, how did you determine your gender identity? Did it take until you were old enough to ask what the difference was between boys and girls? And then when your parents said, “boys have a penis, girls have a vagina”, you checked your genitals, and arrived at the conclusion of your identity? Or did your sense of yourself as male or female precede anything even resembling a precise understanding of what those terms really mean? Didn’t you know which you were before even knowing there were anatomical differences between the sexes? How did you know not to object to your gender assignment?”
I my case it was like that: girls have long hair, boys short, so I’m a girl. I can remember it clearly. And I can remember very well that when I was about 4 years old, I thought that I’m a girl o n l y due to hair, and that if my parents decided to cut my hair, I’d be a boy. Objections? Logic is my land, so don’t fight it. (My behaviour was and is rather girl-boy neutral.) How do you reply to that?

Comment on Trans 101 by Dexeron

Dexeron — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:44:20 +0000

Thank you, Natalie. I’m sorry to see you go, because your posts always forced me to think, to challenge pre-learned notions and expectations. You’ve got a lot of valuable things to say, and I know you’re going to keep contributing in amazing ways wherever you go.