Reaction to Bug Brennan's Blog: Transing the Dead: My response

Yes, homophobia and woman hatred are at the bottom of it. It’s not just the effeminate or female appearing MTF’s that don’t ‘pass’ as females, and regular bio females are murdered every day by men worldwide for not conforming, but so are Butch looking and acting women, women who do not conform either, nor are read as male, and eventually FTM’s will be murdered if word gets out they aren’t ‘really male’ by men…but for sure I know Butches that were sexually assaulted by men for being outside ‘appropiate female roles’ and murdered for same and ‘looking like Lesbians’ or wanting to appropiate male privilege and take up their space and be treated AS EQUALS and not sexualized by said men. Course they probably wouldn’t stop there and attack any female or effeminate man to enforce their power and sense of privilege.
Some cultures give them sanction to do so, like homophobic third world countries, and some subcultures, like gang culture, and lone wolves too. So what some might consider ‘trans’ violence is essentially homophobic violence and gatekeeping against any bio female who attempts to assert herself, is too aggressive and manlike, or any man appearing too womanly. It all still comes down to female hatred or those who are female appearing and not manly men, and keeping women and Dykes and Butches fearful to really be themselves.
And NO Joan of Arc may have been a Sacred Crossdresser for HER OWN reasons and visions, and as a DykeAmazon Butch I am too….but she NEVER EVER claimed she was a dude or a male. Trans also want to claim EVERY BUTCH or heterosexual gender
defiant woman is ‘trans’ too..when such is NOT the case. Doesn’t mean we want to be men, but WE WANT ALL THE PRIVILEGES MEN SO FREELY ENJOY AND NOT BE TREATED LIKE SECOND CLASS CITIZENS OR THE RAPE/SEXUAL HARASSMENT TOUCHABLE CASTE! FREE FROM MALE SEXUAL VIOLENCE!!!
So many of our Butch Dyke and crossdressing Lesbian sheros from the past, have now been baptised as Trans individuals instead, basically erasing the Lesbian past. This is much like revisionist history that Holocaust deniers do against the Jews(to take another similar tack), us Jews have to put up with, other than Mormons trying to baptise posthumous Jews and others to their religion). I saw this start happening in the early to mid ’90′s and it really angered me, cuz the crossdressers like Radclyffe Hall, and Gertrude Stein and all those American ex patriot Lesbians living in Paris and the others who wore mens’ suits and ties, were PART of Lesbian culture back then, and further back, Joan of Arc was one of our sheros with her bravery, like an Amazon, of following her visions, leading armies, sitting on her horse in her armour, and being a powerful independent young woman, who like MANY powerful crossdressing young women who assume male roles, without considering themselves to BE men, are often killed or censored or dismissed or married off and forced back into dresses….she refused and was put to death for it!
She was NOT trans, anymore than many of those ex patriot Lesbians surrounding Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas were. But hey, what does that matter?Soon the only definition of Lesbian will be a hetero male loving vision of all feminine women.
The rest will be considered trans and some version of male.
Goddess forbid…and every older Female Identified Butch considers themselves to be the ‘last of a dying breed’, sadly…
-FeistyAmazon
-FeistyAmazon

My Favorite Lesbian Musician of All Time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLM-xZnTsPA&feature=player_embedded

Linda Shearer..this is such a spiritual and empowering song for ALL DYKES and womyn!

On ButchDyke Oppression in the Workplace/Looking for Work

http://www.autostraddle.com/butch-please-butch-works-it-151510/#comment-269441

My response to the article above:

1. 
   

   MasterAmazon

   This is the first Butch article I’ve read that really describes what it’s like to deal with the discrimination of being Butch and trying to get work. I WON’T wear femme clothing to ANYTHING. Gave it up when I first came out. And all my clothes are men’s clothes, because that’s what’s comfortable for me, and that’s what fits. I do like my gems and jewels though, they’re big and not too feminine. So I wear some of my favorite jewelry that matches what I’m wearing, but not too ostentacious, I NEVER wear a tie to an interview because that would be too loaded and spell hardcore Butch Dyke too obviously, they already KNOW I am just by my short hair, demeanor and rest of my presentation, and too challenging, but men’s slacks, oxford shirt and vest. I’m not much of a suit wearer, so I don’t wear blazers and such, nor do I own one. I keep it simple.
   But my work for the last 20 years has been construction and though construction has never been a fit for my intellectual personality in many ways, the reason I chose it was SO I COULD BE BUTCH AND WEAR CLOTHES I FEEL COMFORTABLE IN! I also knew many, many other Butches who were groundbreakers in construction. But at my age, and my size, they see big supersized BUTCH Dyke Female, so which level of discrimination am I being refused work on, and that includes dispatching for construction jobs in my field? Is it because I’m Female, A Butch Dyke, Fat, or all 3?
   And we know that if you’re a skinny Butch Dyke, you’re gonna get the job over me, and if you’re a fat femme, it’s a toss up over a skinny Butch, but if you’re a Fat Butch Dyke, other than being of color, it’s a stretch for most, as soon as they see the fat and the female, they make all kinds of assumptions, and then the disdain/hatred for Butches as well.
   Some of us CANNOT be any other way, cannot pass for femme nor would we want to, cannot be this one day and that another. This is who we are, who we’ve always been, no matter what garments one puts on or takes off. And I HATE how being Butch and also Fat diminishes our opportunity for work.They’ve already done studies on fat women and how so many of us are in poverty and limited in job opportunity based on size. They’ve never really bothered doing studies on discrimination around being a Butch FEMALE. Not presenting as ‘this gender or that’ but being both Butch AND Female. Out of our place. And the ONLY place that Dykes and Butches have had a niche in the past was construction.
   We break into a field most women fear to go because it’s thought of as ‘unfeminine’ and then once there’s a critical mass of groundbreaking Lesbian/Butch pioneers, then more conventional women come into that field and surpass us, cuz ultimately that’s what the dudes want: skinny eye candy they can look at, even if she’s in a construction worker’s outfit with a pony tail and heterosexual credentials. Only my Butch Dyke Tradeswomen Sisters understand this.
   So, yeah, this a subject near and dear to my heart: as a Butch, as a Dyke, as a Female, and as a Fat/Big Dyke. And my greatest struggle, especially in this Recession/Depression that only wants the youngest, the cheapest, the fastest and basically to dump anybody over age 50, so now on TOP of all that, I have to deal with age discrimination which has tossed so many in the age range of 50-60 out of work, and unable to get work again at that same level of salary and skill…and responsibility, with all the bills and responsibilities and rent we have at our age, and health care we need.
   That’s because they don’t WANT to pay for our healthcare, our benefits OR our salaries, and that they can’t work us to death like they can young people making them go ever faster, while paying them more cheaply, and that they have yet to stand up for themselves and are moldable.
   There’s so many levels to this, it is so disconcerting.
   So here’s my suggestion: Lesbians/Dykes HIRE EACH OTHER. Make it a point to hire a Lesbian Sister, and help her out, a Butch, a nonfeminine female, a big Dyke, a Dyke of color, all of us who desparately need work but do not want to compromise our essential Selves to survive in this harsh world. Find ways to barter, to share, to give to each other, to grow REAL community, economic community together, so we can be ourselves, feel good about ourselves and not feel we are compromising our souls everyday. And no, I do NOT wear pearls!
   -In Butch Dyke Sisterhood,
   -FeistyAmazon

"Cisterhood is Powerful" by Bug Brennan

http://bugbrennan.com/2012/12/12/cisterhood-is-powerful/

I am strictly sharing the link here till she gives me permission for the full article. But it is worth your while Sisters (or Cisters), sounds like a Cistern gathering water, interesting imagery, but ANYWAY,  as another confrontation against the Cis(gender) nonsense!
                                                    -In Sisterhood,
                                                   -MasterAmazon

Here is the full article, with Bug Brennan's permission:

Cisterhood is Powerful

December 12, 2012

International

I need to be honest with you, Internet.
I am completely bored by the conversation about your gender, your gender identity, your gender expression. I find the endless selfies and YouTube introductory videos disturbing and evidence of a nation in the grips of a narcissistic delusion. I am weary of the hyperbole that any trans-critical analysis kills thousands of trans women every year (because, let’s be honest, we all know who kills trans women).
Indeed, trans-critical analysis isn’t that hard, and it is pretty obvious. And writers much more interested in it than I have skillfully unpacked bizarre post-modern concepts like “cisgender.”  So, my interest has waned, significantly, and I have been putting my political attentions towards other things.
But this cisgender thing, it just sticks in my craw.  It has become so completely accepted for Women who consider themselves to be Feminist activists to say things like “Everyone has a sex AND a gender.”  It has become required for supportive allies to affirm that THEY are cisgender.
Cisgender.
What is it?
Well, it used to be, if you were not Trans, you could call yourself “not Trans.” (Just like it used to be that you could say “I am transgendered,” but try doing that now and watch how quickly you are told to DIAF).
But it’s not enough to be “not Trans”  now. To create something like a “class” out of a group of special snowflake Men and Women (i.e., the Trans people), you need something to be in opposition to, to be contrasted with, to be “against.”
Enter Cis, man. If transgender means your subjective self-identification as a Woman or a Man, regardless of your actual sex, cisgender must mean your self-identification as a Woman, because you actually are a Woman. But, apparently, that’s not what cisgender means.
According to dikipedia, the entry for cisgender (which is no doubt endlessly edited by White formerly heterosexual males with careers in IT) is defined thusly:
“cisgender and cissexual gender identities are two related types of gender identity where an individual’s self-perception and presentation of their gender matches the behaviors and roles considered appropriate for one’s sex.”  
So, behavior and roles “appropriate for one’s sex.”
Hmmmm. Ummm. Hmmmmm.
So, I am Female. This means I have a Female reproductive system and am vulnerable to impregnation, like all Females, by Males (this is a class analysis. I know, believe me, I know, that some Females are infertile – that doesn’t change that they are (correctly) perceived as and included in the class of humans subject to impregnation).
What are the behaviors and roles considered appropriate for one’s sex?
This is a serious question.
What are the behaviors and roles considered appropriate for one’s sex?
If you are a Feminist (even a Liberal Feminist or a Fun Feminist), the answer to this should be “There are no behaviors and roles considered appropriate for my sex because Females can be and do anything.”
If you are not a Feminist, your answer might be “My role as a women is to be a Wife (fuckhole) and Mother (breeder).” But, more likely than not, your answer (if you are a Woman) will still be ”There are no behaviors and roles considered appropriate for my sex because Females can be and do anything.”
Because that is true. There are no behaviors and roles considered “appropriate” for the Female sex because Females can be and do anything.
So who is this “cisgender” label aimed at?
Let’s go back in time in the United States to post-World War II days. Remember, during World War II, millions of Women went to work in factories and enjoyed a new measure of freedom because their husbands, brothers, sons, uncles and boyfriends were off fighting Hitler. Working in a factory was not “considered appropriate for one’s (Female) sex” at the time, but necessity required it.  Oh, and let’s not claim all those Women are Trans, I am far too irritable to indulge that poppycock.
When WWII ended, those Women were fired from the factories so that their (insert male here) could go back to work, in the factory, where he “belonged.” And Women could go back to the kitchen, in the homemaking sphere, where she “belonged.”
Does this get us closer to what cisgender actually means? Is cisgender a class of Back to the Future Housewives who want to make you a sandwich?
Let’s look at another country: Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, Women and Girls are murdered for rejecting “marriage proposals.”  Those murdered Women were (most certainly) bucking the trend of the expectations placed on them by virtue of their sex. Are they “transgender”? They certainly aren’t “cisgender.” What is the proper language we would use for these brave Women seeking some measure of humanity?
And, what of the Women who comply with rigid social customs (probably, I would venture a guess, because of fear of violent repercussions if they didn’t comply). Are those Women “cisgender” for embracing the social roles and customs thrust on them by the dominant culture? Does calling them “cisgender” transform them from victims of Patriarchy into oppressors of men in dresses?
Back to the United States. We don’t live in the 1950s, and the Women’s Rights Movement actually happened (thank you, feminist Women for teaching us that Women can be and do anything, even though these post-modern sex positive morons make a mockery out of how far you moved the needle for Women. Also, thank you Marlo Thomas.)
“cisgender and cissexual gender identities are two related types of gender identity where an individual’s self-perception and presentation of their gender matches the behaviors and roles considered appropriate for one’s sex.”  
This definition, again, wants to bring us back in time, back before the Women’s Right Movement. It wants us to pretend that the Women’s Rights Movement did not happened. It wants us to pretend that there really are only two choices – you are either Trans, or you are upholding stereotypes about your sex. This definition does not withstand the critical gaze of anyone willing to examine it for more than two minutes.
Are you “cisgender”?
I’m not.
But if I *was* cisgender, let’s unpack that.
Even in the United States (where we think we are free and exceptional), Women are still socialized to be Wives and Mothers.  This is the dominant culture here.  We haven’t quite achieved the vision of the Women’s Rights Movement of Equality or Liberation (depending on your feminism). If all Women and Girls are socialized to accept their roles (based on the sex) as Wives and Mothers, “cisgender” seeks to punish them for being subjected to that socialization and (seemingly) complying with it/internalizing it. The fact that some Women and Girls have internalized these coded messages of what is acceptable for Women to be does not render their identity or presentation oppressive to so-called Trans people – it makes it oppressive only to themselves (but luckily, choosey choice feminism is here to tell you that you can CHOOSE to be a wife, mother, sex worker, whatever, so don’t question it).
Cis and Trans people – whoever they are – are both victims of the same old Patriarchy, either conforming to sex stereotypes and adopting those behaviors and roles Patriarchy says are appropriate for girls (again, ignoring that the Women’s Rights Movement ever happened) or “fucking with gender” in that way that does nothing but AFFIRM the idea that there are ways of being that correspond to your anatomy.
I am not cis. Millions of Women aren’t cis.
I am not trans. Millions of Women aren’t trans.
Indeed, millions of Women don’t know what the fuck this stupid endless conversation is about, because they are too busy trying not to get beheaded or raped.
Trans people, if your identity depends on telling Women who they are, if your existence depends on invalidating the lived experience of millions of Women and Girls, if you cannot be “oppressed” unless you create an oppressor class called “cisgender” and blame them for all your problems, I might suggest that Transgender isn’t as real, meaningful, deep or significant as you think it is.
Just a suggestion!-Bug Brennan

Valuable Dimensions of Friendship by RussianPrincess

I feel this post is so important, because here in California friendship is really more acquaintanceship than anything else...so disposable, and completely dependent on mutual availability, mobility, class equality(of the same class, or able to keep up) and convenience, or a step up the ladder.

So RussianPrincess shares with us HER values of what true friendship means to her coming from her culture, and I 100% agree with her, because my sense of friendship is really more the European kind, than the American.
                                                     -In Sisterhood,
                                                    -MasterAmazon

Valuable Dimensions of Friendship By RussianPrincess

In Russia we have different gradations for human connections and the language reflects corresponding words. Here they are in ascending order:
Stranger
Acquaintance (the one we periodically meet in public transportation, know his/her name, and exchange smiles, most people in my Friends List fall in this category)
Client service relations (owner-cashier at the nearest Esso (gas) station)
Coworker (this one would easily push you off his/her path to a promotion and step over your body)
Comrade (we share same political views)
Neighbor (sometimes we barely know them, but in an emergency they could be closer than a relative)
Buddy (hobby, or sexual play, or drinking, or f*** - but s/he is just a buddy, usually nothing serious)
Lover (relatively stable but not always exclusive sexual connection)
Direct family member (including spouse)
And a FRIEND. We don't have more than four or five of them during all our lifetime. And this person would be the first at your doorstep at the time of distress, and s/he never refuses to listen to you even if you are blabbering absolute nonsense. If a FRIEND rejects you in a moment of distress it hurts more than most initial problems. A lover or a spouse can cheat on you, even a family member can betray but a FRIEND can't.
And this part is taken from Inspirational Quotes website:
"Friendship is a relationship between two people who hold mutual affection for each other. It has two dimensions; quality and conflict. The quality of friendship is important for a person's well being and it contributes to the closeness of friends. The second dimension is conflict, which connects with the quality of friendships. High quality friendships have great ways of resolving conflict which ultimately leads to a stronger and healthier relationship. The value of friendship is often the result of friends consistently demonstrating the tendency to desire what is best for the other, sympathy and empathy, honesty, even in situations where it may be difficult for others to speak the truth, mutual understanding and compassion; ability to go to each other for emotional support, enjoyment of each other's company, trust in one another, positive reciprocity - equal give-and-take between the two parties, the ability to be oneself, and express one's feelings and make mistakes without fear of judgement."

My definition of Feminism

My definition of Feminism: Feminism is about the Total and Complete empowerment of all bio-females, both women and girls, throughout the world, Females from all races, all heights, all sizes, all ages, all sexual orientations, all nations, all religions or nonreligions. Period. And without compromise.