anthurium

There are virtually no spaces, even on the Internet, where transpeople’s voices are centered.

The recent brouhaha at Pam’s House Blendis only one example of this phenomenon.

It frustrates me, and fucken’ pisses me off, that any discussion of trans-issues rapidly devolves into calls for transpeople to justify their existence.

Understanding one’s own privilege is difficult. Being called out on privilege feels kinda icky. In my heart of hearts, I want to be one of the good allies, to never fuck up and say something transphobic or racist or sizeist or ablebodyist or whatever. However, I also know that activist perfectionism is problematic. The most important thing I can do to address my privilege is to listen when someone calls me out on it and take steps to address the problem.

The second most important thing I can do is to use the credibility my privilege grants me to call out other privileged people on their shit.

Generally speaking, I think that people who live with one major oppressive factor have the most difficult time understanding the dynamics of privilege. Cisgendered LGBs who continually marginalize trans-experiences are infuriating. Why must we reproduce hierarchical dynamics in our own movement? We can, we must, do better.

In the spirit of Peggy McIntosh’s White Privilege list, here is a list of ways my experience reflects my cis-privilege.

-I take it for granted that most people I meet will address me by my preferred gender pronoun.
-Most major health insurance plans provide reasonable coverage for most of the medical issues I could experience.
-My right to present myself as the gender I identify as generally isn’t questioned.
-I don’t have to undergo psychotherapy before I will be granted the right to make surgical alterations to my body.
-If I am subjected to gender-based violence, it is unlikely that I will be accused of bringing violence upon myself by lying about my gender.
-I don’t have to jump through costly legal hoops to change my state-identified gender.
-If I was to enter the penal system, most of my fellow inmates would have similar gender identities to mine.
-Clothing intended for persons of my gender is available for persons of my size at most stores (I know this is a sizeism issue as well).*
-I never worry about which bathroom to use.
-My gender presentation is unlikely to cause problems with my family and in my intimate relationships.

*Many of these factors overlap with other oppressions. For example, our culture certainly doesn’t make it easy for people of size to purchase clothing.

I want to keep adding to this list. Thoughts? Ideas?

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