S.B, we ran with the same folkx in SF. I REMEMBER when the tranny trend hit SF, and OUR Castro community. Handsome handsome Butches I knew who were announcing they were making the switch. It broke my heart and STILL DOES everytime one did. They were no longer my Butch Dyke Sister. Now they identified with and wanted to be a DUDE.
They were doing everything to hide their femaleness which attracted me to them IN THE FIRST PLACE. Often once they began transitioning, they became very unkempt in appearance, more aggressive and harsh it attitude with their scraggly little beards.
Some began identifying with and FUCKING Gay men. They talked horrible about Lesbians. They rejected OUR world for the male one, male nouns, pronouns ect and some INSISTEF STILL being allowed into Dyke and Female spaces, corroding it in the process with their new man filled presence and energy.
The faggy ones were like soft dykes with beards, mostly fucking gay guys. But they werent lije the old fashioned FTMS who thoroughly wanted to be dudes and live MALE lives, who GOT OUT of Lesbian and Female spaces and either went to pansexual or male ones, or moved to another town, married their femme girlfriends, had hysterectomies so they would no longer bleed and went and lived consitently MALE lives
No talk of "men having babies(ftms) or Lesbians with penises(mtfs)".
But with the whole queerification of that particular in crowd, Butches you and I knew, it destroyed much of the SF Lesbian community, womyn only spaces, bookstores, coffeshops and hot tubs. Our gloroius womyn only play parties too. Disappearance of all our Dyke bars.
I saw first Artemis Cafe bite the dust, then one by one our womens bookstores, spaces, groups, Brick Hut cafe in the East bay Woman Crafts West an art/craft store of mostly Lesbian craftswomen wares, our Tradeswomen training groups, then begin to accomodate men, Women in Apprenticeship disappear which helped get me in the trades Osento, a Lesbian owned and operated Hot tub place I matronized regularly eventually allowed full transition transwomen in, but THEN FTMS, who claim they are MEN WANTED IN TOO. With their fuzzy beards and breastless chests and heavy body hair due to T.
Summer had enough, and like so many other Lesbian holdouts villified for keeping womens space, WOMENS SPACE, she decided to retire.
You left wayyy before we did in 2014.
We got sick of going to SF because as two Butches, OBVIOUSLY FEMALE, we were starting to be called by male pronouns. This happened mostly in SF. As if the gravest insult to a Butch was considering her FEMALE.
This didnt happen in the more Dyke identified East Bay. I couldnt stand to go to SF and see yet ONE MORE BUTCH I KNEW announce she was making the switch.
It was a trendoid "in" thing with IMMNENSE peer pressure especially amongst the young.
A macho one upmanship.
Not enough to be Butch, even a fierce Butch Leatherdyke.
No you had to pack, regularly, softies not just hard ones for sex or a play party.
Then breast binding became popular, which like a corset can bring real damage to the lungs or heart or ribs over time.
No not enough. Next was going on T, changing ones name to something more male, dress more male appearing, grow a mustache or a scraggly beard till full facial and body hair.
No not enough, next was breast surgery and most stopped there.
Having a big clit/minidick was enough cuz they KNEW the bottom surgery was dangerous, expensive, and would destroy whatever sexual sensation they had.
So most live in this limbo of male appearing on the outside and female underneath.
But like M. said, it became a ghosttown for Butches. We would go to the Castro, no more Butches. 20 somethings with their titties chopped off, myriad gay men and Femmes. All the handsome visible Butches GONE.
Convinced them after all that "You just wanna be a man." And thats EXACTLY what they became. Sorta.
Injecting the Patriarchy into their body with every drop of T. Literally.
Self hate at its finest. And all the strong Butch Amazon Lesbian Warriors gone. Transformed to some smoke and mirrors version of macho "manhood".
Fucking fucking SAD. - MasterAmazon
This unimaginable loss makes me cry for all the women once daring to chart their own path, the women living outside the male gaze, the male rules, the male domination, the women who were out there building, creating, sharing, nurturing our collective sisterhood, and the most radical of all,the women who were freely loving women.
ReplyDeleteThese "woke intersectionalists" putting mem and every social ill, imagined or real before any of the needs of themselves and their sisters have no idea what a treasure they gave away for a few worthless beans