The Soul of SF Dyke March Part two

 

            The Soul of Dyke March part two 

            By Feisty Amazon

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  SF Dyke March debate on focus; trans/differing genders 'inclusion' ect. Part one
  by Feisty Amazon on Sunday, November 18, 2012 at 3:19am ·
  " being born with a vagina doesn't make you a WOMAN it makes you a baby with a VAGINA!" quoted from Huey Freeman....
  
  My response:  Ah...that's the point. It makes you a girl child! I mean REALLY! And only those of us born with a vagina were raised as girl children, with ALL that goes with it..whether we took on feminine behaviors or resisted them as I did, and so many other Butches. We have a unique connection based on girlhood and being female all our lives...and NOTHING will change that, which is precisely why Michfest is WBW space, and why we need it.
  
  And the second part: "- whatever their gender is and how they orient themselves in this world."..Dyke March will die because it is no longer focussed on Dykes and Dyke issues vital to MANY of us, and because it has been coopted by those of 'different genders'. A Dyke is a homosexual FEMALE...so within that...it is single 'gendered' or shall I say 'single sexed' and BY AND FOR same sex FEMALES/Dykes/Lesbians period! If you don't like that, then go to the Trans March the night before, OR Gay Pride which is for all, which is precisely WHY Dyke March was started in the first place: Lesbians felt that gay men primarily ruled over Gay Pride, and wanted a space BY AND FOR LESBIANS to show OUR Pride, and OUR solidarity. By including other 'genders' it is YOU who are tearing it apart. An identity cannot be ceaselessly coopted and appropiated and have ANY meaning left to it whatsoever! -FeistyAmazon
  
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  SF Dyke March debate on trans/other genders 'inclusion'
  by Feisty Amazon on Sunday, November 18, 2012 at 3:22am ·
  

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  •   Look, not all of us buy this brave new world of hormones and surgeries making a bio male 'female' because they exhibit a somewhat feminine appearance(though most don't pass as female in any capacity), and feminine behaviors...and then even those MTF's a bit more androgynous now are trying to coopt even Butch identity.
    
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  •  Nor do we fully buy that a bio female can be fully male(most won't have the genital surgery BECAUSE IT DOES NOT WORK!) One can make simulacrums of 'female' and 'male' and appropiate stereotypical male and female behaviors or try to imitate their gay and Lesbian counterparts. If you wonder about Dyke March, there are MANY Dykes sick of Dyke March cuz it no longer caters TO DYKES. There is a Trans March the night before, so I say, INSTEAD of appropiating Dyke March to make it fit into the trans mold, go all out at the Trans March INSTEAD, and leave the Dyke March to actualDykes and women loving women...emphasis on the WOMEN.
    
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  •  If you don't feel like a woman or female anymore, then Dyke March is NOT for you..don't 'expand the meaning' of Dyke March. It is NOT a pansexual anything goes identity, it is not meant to be a pansexual March, though the event itself may be, that is the crowd watching the performances at Dolores Park before the March.
    
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  •  Bisexual women allow their male boyfriends to be part of the March. Gay men feel they have the RIGHT to March since it's close to the Castro, and the biggest kudos I could possibly give to an FTM is the one who stood ON THE SIDELINES OUT OF RESPECT WITH A SIGN SAYING 'SUPPORTING MY DYKE SISTERS AS FTM BY NOT MARCHING!'. And some of us will never buy the born male MTF's as women or as female, no matter how much you try to pressure us into doing so. Many still retain their penises. If you do not, are living your life 24/7 as female, with all surgeries and such then you might have a small claim to certain mixed women's spaces.
    
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  •  But we are expected to kowtow to those who were married to women as men, who dated women as men, treating us in a similar manner that they did to their women as men..and us Dykes just won't have that sexism foisted upon us..or that cosmetic surgeries really do change what's underneath and years of male socialization...
    
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  • Next post. Don't know why there are the dots on the left, but will use them as paragraph breaks
    

  
  Dyke March, Dyke Pride, and Dyke Frustration and the necessity of Female Identified Butch groups part 1
  by Feisty Amazon on Wednesday, November 21, 2012 at 12:03pm ·
  
  Dyke marches were originally a form of protest and criticism of the failure of the mainstream gay community to address issues relating to women. That purpose is still relevent. Last year's Creating Change Conference had over 300 workshops and presentations, and one (yes, only one) specifically addressed the needs of lesbians. The word lesbian barely appeared in the catalogue. Yet, there were entire day-long tracks on issues relating to "gender identity" and "queer" sex. Lesbians have been erased in the LGBT political and cultural movement. Part of the problem is the conflation of sex with gender. They are two different things. Lesbians face discrimination because of the sex (female), not gender (cultural stereotypes based on sex).- Unknown author
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  • Feisty Amazon: This is why there is at least one or two 'Female Identified Butch' groups in the Bay Area, to COUNTER the message that Butch=Trans, as so many are being sold, and the very real pressure on young Butch women to instead of identifying as powerful, strong, independent Dyke nonfeminine FEMALE, they are encouraged by their peers, and other sellouts intent on the breastbinding/hormones/surgery message, to instead do these things to rather CONFORM to the so called 'gender binary' cuz they don't pass as hetero feminine female, instead of QUESTION those roles, be proud of their FEMALE Dyke bodies, and refuse hormones/breast binding and surgeries. But there is this real one up manship around young nonfeminine females these days in the queer community about 'when are you transitioning'? 'How well can you pass as male?" "where do I buy a binder", 'When are you going on 'T'? "When are you having breast removal surgery"? ect. ect. and those who are MORE male appearing have greater status in that crowd than those who are not, or refuse all these things, with guess what? Butch Dykes who are actually PROUD of being FEmale and Lesbian, lowest on the totem pole.
    

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    Dyke Marches, Dyke Frustration, Dyke Pride and necessity of Female Identified Butch groups part two
    by Feisty Amazon on Wednesday, November 21, 2012 at 12:04pm ·
    
    • And there is IMMENSE pressure on Butches overall and especially younger Butch Dyke women, to CONFORM to all this...and they have come to these groups and workshops(at Butch Voices, there wasn't even ONE female identified Butch workshop, so we had a separate one, where 50 Butches showed up!), speaking about those pressures, and working HARD at resisting the pressure to go on 'T', be called male pronouns, which is now the norm when addressing a Butch/nonfeminine female in San Francisco, resisting the pressure to breast bind, hide aspects of female appearance or female emotion. And there is NO TALK of the REAL HARM that these practices engender on the female body, the breastbinding which can harm the lungs, the heart and the ribs, like a corset in the early 20th century, the testosterone which can make you more prone to heart disease and potential cancers and the TOLL to have to pass as some version of male, while STILL INSISTING on remaining in the Dyke community(ies), and insistence on using male pronouns in daily life. There is no longer real PRIDE on just being a Lesbian, a Dyke, a woman, a FEMALE....in a Butch body...and THAT is very, very sad.
      
      
    • At the first Butch Voices in Oakland, there was ONLY ONE Female Identified Butch workshop, which again, 50 Butches showed up to, and the rest of us had our female identified workshop offers REFUSED...at least 5-10 local Bay Area Female Identified Butches, myself included, from many walks of life, races and ethnicities......so this is when we began to organize. We WILL take back our communities and sadly, it is very possible that The Dyke March unfortunately no longer represents us or our struggles to retain our female bodies/minds/spirits as Dykes, whether Butch, Femme or inbetween, any more than Butch Voices did! Or Creating Change, for that matter!
      
    • Backstory commentary for the next post.
    • This individual(Krys/Huey Freeman) was on the Steering committee of Butch Voices, and also one of the rudest to us who are WBW and Female Identified Butches in the whole debate here on the future of Dyke March.   She also has a website which she listed, about helping folks transition to FTM, breast binders, hormones, and 'health advice' ect for FTM's and as she calls us "Masculine of Center" or MOC folks(that is bio female Butches, Genderqueers, FTM's, ect.) WE had a whole debate at the last Butch Voices in 2011 around Masculine of Center and those of us who are Female Proud Butches felt it invisibilized our womonhood and our femaleness and that the term was too broad and did not speak to us at all. I call her 'theMinister of Ministry of Propaganda' which was and continues to be her job as a 'media consultant' and the whole arguement we had at Butch Voices where the board was expected to stay silent about these issues and 'stay on message'. Some of the more female and Lesbian identified Butches on the BV board refused to and thusly were tossed off...
    
    To Krys/Huey Freeman and holding us Butch Dykes back!
    by Feisty Amazon on Wednesday, November 21, 2012 at 2:20pm ·
    Look Krys, it's individuals like you holding us back, whether here or at Butch Voices. Trying to give your 'masculine of center' message which AT THE SAME TIME erases Dyke and especially Butch Dyke FEMALE identity. And we are NOT having it anymore. Neither does it address the tragedy of so many who feel they gotta go on hormones, breast bind or have surgeries to survive in this patriarchal world. It is part of the PROBLEM not the solution. One will never find empowerment through hormones or surgeries. One WILL through being a fully empowered Female supported by her Sisters and at least a basic feminism, which is sorely lacking. And adding to the silencing of OUR Female Centered/Proud Butch Dyke Voices!