Hold Still-Here Comes Your Label!
I certainly do my best to stay away from the insane world of labels. I recently read a column concerning the "correctness" of using transgender rather than transsexual. I don't remember which.
Personally, I identify with the transgender term myself...I think! The word seems to separate me from the transsexuals in that the word sex was used. I followed through the fact that sex is between the legs and gender is between the ears and I don't have the overriding urge to have a total sex change. Of course what I feel about those two labels doesn't matter. I am who I know I am not who I say I am - just to please society.
Also, my ideas don't stop me from writing about those who use labels to hate and bigot...Such as these two.
"A Twitter message about spitting led Towson lawyer and lesbian advocate Cathy Brennan to file for a peace order against a transgender advocate. Phylicia Sampson, a 28-year-old Baltimore resident, and Brennan, 42, were engaged in a heated debate on the social media site when Sampson wrote that she wanted to spit in Brennan's face. Brennan, a former member of the Boards of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore, said she has been a gay activist since 1995, but is of the opinion that transgendered women are male and should not have access to "female spaces." "The balancing interest and concern between lesbians and transwomen is an issue," she said. "This is an issue in [the LGBT] community, but I don't think this has bubbled into the main stream yet."
Really?
I have read more than a couple of Brennan's ideas and have felt she is a Rad-Femme hater/bigot. On the other hand the endless back and forth which resulted in the lawsuit is just counter productive. I suppose people just have to have something to do, even if it is just hate. That is one of the reasons why I don't dwell on labels. The wrong label with the wrong person only can lead to trouble. Maybe I can say I'm into "label stealth"?
Personally, I identify with the transgender term myself...I think! The word seems to separate me from the transsexuals in that the word sex was used. I followed through the fact that sex is between the legs and gender is between the ears and I don't have the overriding urge to have a total sex change. Of course what I feel about those two labels doesn't matter. I am who I know I am not who I say I am - just to please society.
Also, my ideas don't stop me from writing about those who use labels to hate and bigot...Such as these two.
"A Twitter message about spitting led Towson lawyer and lesbian advocate Cathy Brennan to file for a peace order against a transgender advocate. Phylicia Sampson, a 28-year-old Baltimore resident, and Brennan, 42, were engaged in a heated debate on the social media site when Sampson wrote that she wanted to spit in Brennan's face. Brennan, a former member of the Boards of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore, said she has been a gay activist since 1995, but is of the opinion that transgendered women are male and should not have access to "female spaces." "The balancing interest and concern between lesbians and transwomen is an issue," she said. "This is an issue in [the LGBT] community, but I don't think this has bubbled into the main stream yet."
Really?
I have read more than a couple of Brennan's ideas and have felt she is a Rad-Femme hater/bigot. On the other hand the endless back and forth which resulted in the lawsuit is just counter productive. I suppose people just have to have something to do, even if it is just hate. That is one of the reasons why I don't dwell on labels. The wrong label with the wrong person only can lead to trouble. Maybe I can say I'm into "label stealth"?
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