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newer-older-profile-gbook-notes- e-mail-dland transgender warriors. 03.08.02 at 9:03 pm 0 comments so far "if there is not struggle, there is no progress. those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation�want crops without plowing up the ground. they want rain without thunder and lightning. they want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters�power concedes nothing without a demand. it never did, and it never will." --frederick douglass so i finished 'transgender warriors.' and i've decided it's a worthwhile book. that sounds pompous. well, i now think very highly of it. a few points... [p. 85] the concept that passing is a way to escape oppression�why is it that we find trans people among ruling elite and priveleged leisure classes then? also, one's gender expression simply does or does not afford one with the ability to pass [without surgery, that is.] [p. 89] FURTHERMORE, the argument that people strive to pass only because they feel oppressed as women are homosexuals is completely unbased. well, we knew that, but. simply put, 'it is passing that is a product of oppression.' [p. 91] this isn't so profound, but it is deserving of emphasis. trans people cannot liberate themselves, just as 'no oppressed peoples can.' BUT, i was thinking... that... while all oppression is linked, a groups liberties were given in small groups. for example, not all women were given the right to vote, only white women. and not all black people were given the right to vote initially, only black men. so, i'm thinking that while, yes, we should work together with a lgb movement, perhaps it will be sometime before our liberties are realized. it's not so much that i'm not an optimist. however, it seems that in all likelihood, we will be left behind until glb politics are truly mainstreamed. and then we, too, shall be coerced to join. i personally enjoy my position 'beyond' boundaries... [p. 98] although, it would seem that this is the counter-argument for the point i just brought up: 'a timid denial that 'we're not like that' only serves to weaken the entire fight-back movement. we can never throw enough people over board to win approval from our enemies. should we try to argue that we're as 'normal' as those who organize against our civil rights? forget it! i am queer and proud of it.' you know, i think the whole point has been lost on me... [p. 117] AHA! this is why bio boys can get away with entering girls rooms, whereas i cannot. it's because they don't claim the privelege, whereas i do. i do especially because i know i can't count on passing in the men's room...people like me get harassed because we don't act like typical males when entering women's restrooms�i'm not wholly embarassed. their reactions [the women in the restroom] are not of embarassement, not of women's safety. they're of GENDER-PHOBIA.
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