n California
Posted: 11 32010v 08 2006 Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It IS an identity, call it XX and it's existed at least for 120,000 years, back to the first bio female who bled the menstrual blood. Should we stand in all our armour and gauntlets with labryises in hand enforcing the boundaries like our ancient Amazons had the guts to do, defending their territories and sisters? These days the pen or the keyboard is mightier than the sword...but nonetheless we have our Labryises tattooed on our flesh and WE KNOW those womyn's mysteries that draws us to bio-female space and Dyke space honoring us in ALL our Amazonian powers of which Michfest is but one womanifestation...the largest one, the Crown Jewel of Lesbian/Amazon/DykeAmazon Nation.....our Dyke Marches have been infiltrated in the Cities, our clubs, our groups, and most of our Lesbian environments and businesses have been shut down or closed or altered so obviously by those wearing male parts or displaying male parts(breastless hairy chests, arms, ect and scratchy testosterone hormone induced voices and attitudes, or the mincing faux femininity of the male born who really have NO CLUE what bio-females go through on a worldwide basis, but still working hard on coopting our identities as women, as Dykes, as Lesbians), that some of us are those DykeAmazons Butch and Femme and otherwise alike who stand strong that THIS IS OUR TRIBE, OUR IDENTITY, and we have as much right to it as any other Nation or Nation State or Tribe or People...and the others continue to coopt and silence us!
Well guess what, we're exposing your crimes and your lies and your bullshit and WE WON'T STAND FOR THIS ANY LONGER! Michfest is no longer the ONLY place calling it as it is, and how much the trans movement is so male identified and actively lies about it's agenda as well as being incredibly anti-Lesbian and anti-Feminist, and I'm not talking a p.c. line here, cuz I'm not p.c myself, but I AM talking a strong Dyke line connected with the empowerment of bio-females throughout the world...and especially for Dykes, Butches, Femmes and others....STOP coopting us, and STOP SILENCING us....we're tired of your destructiveness to our communities, our spaces, our places, and the destruction of our very women, convincing them instead they gotta be 'male' because they dont' 'fit in' to some heterosexual rule of what a female can be.....just because you want to mutilate YOUR OWN body.
We'll continue to speak up in EVERY FORUM we can, to expose the lies and speak our Truths about our Tribe, our DykeAmazon Nation, Our Butches and Femmes, and Lesbians, our Womyn Loving Womyn who want nothing but other Dykes/Lesbians to love, who have their bio-female bodies fully intact! Not bending to the pressure. Or not born male.
-Labryis Swinging,
-MasterAmazon
P.S. Sisters the flame burns bright, you are NOT alone..we are a Tribe, a Dyke Nation, a people, and we will no longer be colonized in mind, body or spirit!
Showing posts with label Dykes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dykes. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Trans Movement is a Cult
I have come to the conclusion that the trans movement is nothing more than one big cult. There is so much pressure for young 'uns to transition, there is so much money going out to nonprofits from grants for trans spaces, places, healthcare, groups, law centers, ect. It's a movement based on a lie: a lie you can change and lie about your past, change driver's license and birth certificates, and invisibilize one's self to a degree that nobody can 'prove' any longer who or what one truly is. Much like a Lion in sheep's clothing...or a wolf.
In the meantime, Dykes can't have Lesbian only spaces with other bio-female Lesbians to talk about OUR issues like I did today. It was WONDERFUL to be around a group of Lesbians talking about the need for exclusively not just women only space, but LESBIAN ONLY SPACE which is nigh to nonexistent. With all the talk of gender binary, gender fluid, cis this and that, all a smokescreen. I have found most MTF's to be incredibly reactionary and conservative, way more conservative than most culturally attuned Dykes..that is Dykes who are PROUD to be Lesbian, to be Female, whether Butch or Femme, and craving a strong Lesbian community like we've had in the past, that indeed Lesbianism is revolutionary, because we can give our most intimate sexual, mental and emotional energies to women only or lesbians only if we choose to, and set boundaries and limits with men and other nonlesbians if we choose to.
We support all that is Female, rights for women, for Dykes, for Butches, for nontraditional jobs for us, for our full and total physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and spiritual empowerment. The trans movement does NONE Of this, and in fact tries to erase our efforts by crashing our spaces, and by making their needs and desires, our needs....and to ignore our needs to band together as bio-female Dykes....throwing out labels like bi and transphobic, when really we NEED our own space and our own identities, our OWN places to thrive without talk of men, hormones, surgeries to change sex, wanting to identify as male, or coopting our female heritage, bonding, oppression and spirits and sexualizing us as bio-males do(MTF's).
We NEED our own space. And we NEED to keep moving forward as Dykes and as women.....we need to look through the smokescreen and mirrors of the trans movement, the lies, and to follow the money: the gynecologists(even lesbian ones), the psychiatrists and psychologists, the surgeons getting rich off all this including the pharmaceuticals who know they can prescribe a lifetime of hormones and drugs if they can convince young effeminate men or butchy/masculine/tomboy girls and women that they REALLY ARE the opposite sex, and the further agenda: eliminating homosexuality altogether, as Iran would do: forcing such effeminate men or butchy women into transitioning so they will now have a heterosexual relationship. If not: the death penalty. The trans movement is essentially male identified at it's core, and benefits a conservative male system and medical system. IT DOES NOT BENEFIT LESBIANS, WOMEN OR BUTCHES, IT DIVERTS FROM OUR ISSUES AND OUR ABILITY TO ORGANIZE FOR OUR OWN: THE COMPLETE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN ACROSS THE WORLD, AND LESBIANS, SPIRITUALLY, RELIGIOUSLY, EMOTIONALLY, PHYSICALLY, SEXUALLY, PSYCHOLOGICALLY AND ECONOMICALLY. Indeed, it wants to erase us altogether! So indeed, in my eyes, and in discussion with my partner who was originally from a conservative religious background, It IS A CULT! And it recruits the young who diverge in any bit from the so-called 'gender binary'.
If you're 'gender fluid' THEN BE truly gender fluid. Then there's no need for surgeries, hormones or identity changing documents or the rest. Break all the boxes of society, and BE YOURSELF EXACTLY AS YOU ARE, without classes to be coached on how the 'opposite sex' behaves or walks or talks so you can 'pass'. Accept pan/mixed sex spaces then, don't crash our Dyke spaces or coopt them. Don't hide your past or falsify it..be true to yourself, and be truthful and rigourously honest to us. We've been lied to enough by men in and with power, and sold a bill of goods. Don't perpetuate that oppression! Stop the smoke screen and mirrors....and get real!
-MasterAmazon
In the meantime, Dykes can't have Lesbian only spaces with other bio-female Lesbians to talk about OUR issues like I did today. It was WONDERFUL to be around a group of Lesbians talking about the need for exclusively not just women only space, but LESBIAN ONLY SPACE which is nigh to nonexistent. With all the talk of gender binary, gender fluid, cis this and that, all a smokescreen. I have found most MTF's to be incredibly reactionary and conservative, way more conservative than most culturally attuned Dykes..that is Dykes who are PROUD to be Lesbian, to be Female, whether Butch or Femme, and craving a strong Lesbian community like we've had in the past, that indeed Lesbianism is revolutionary, because we can give our most intimate sexual, mental and emotional energies to women only or lesbians only if we choose to, and set boundaries and limits with men and other nonlesbians if we choose to.
We support all that is Female, rights for women, for Dykes, for Butches, for nontraditional jobs for us, for our full and total physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and spiritual empowerment. The trans movement does NONE Of this, and in fact tries to erase our efforts by crashing our spaces, and by making their needs and desires, our needs....and to ignore our needs to band together as bio-female Dykes....throwing out labels like bi and transphobic, when really we NEED our own space and our own identities, our OWN places to thrive without talk of men, hormones, surgeries to change sex, wanting to identify as male, or coopting our female heritage, bonding, oppression and spirits and sexualizing us as bio-males do(MTF's).
We NEED our own space. And we NEED to keep moving forward as Dykes and as women.....we need to look through the smokescreen and mirrors of the trans movement, the lies, and to follow the money: the gynecologists(even lesbian ones), the psychiatrists and psychologists, the surgeons getting rich off all this including the pharmaceuticals who know they can prescribe a lifetime of hormones and drugs if they can convince young effeminate men or butchy/masculine/tomboy girls and women that they REALLY ARE the opposite sex, and the further agenda: eliminating homosexuality altogether, as Iran would do: forcing such effeminate men or butchy women into transitioning so they will now have a heterosexual relationship. If not: the death penalty. The trans movement is essentially male identified at it's core, and benefits a conservative male system and medical system. IT DOES NOT BENEFIT LESBIANS, WOMEN OR BUTCHES, IT DIVERTS FROM OUR ISSUES AND OUR ABILITY TO ORGANIZE FOR OUR OWN: THE COMPLETE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN ACROSS THE WORLD, AND LESBIANS, SPIRITUALLY, RELIGIOUSLY, EMOTIONALLY, PHYSICALLY, SEXUALLY, PSYCHOLOGICALLY AND ECONOMICALLY. Indeed, it wants to erase us altogether! So indeed, in my eyes, and in discussion with my partner who was originally from a conservative religious background, It IS A CULT! And it recruits the young who diverge in any bit from the so-called 'gender binary'.
If you're 'gender fluid' THEN BE truly gender fluid. Then there's no need for surgeries, hormones or identity changing documents or the rest. Break all the boxes of society, and BE YOURSELF EXACTLY AS YOU ARE, without classes to be coached on how the 'opposite sex' behaves or walks or talks so you can 'pass'. Accept pan/mixed sex spaces then, don't crash our Dyke spaces or coopt them. Don't hide your past or falsify it..be true to yourself, and be truthful and rigourously honest to us. We've been lied to enough by men in and with power, and sold a bill of goods. Don't perpetuate that oppression! Stop the smoke screen and mirrors....and get real!
-MasterAmazon
Saturday, December 26, 2009
"Do Not Call Me Cisgender" by Uppity Biscuit
I am uploading this from a post I saw originally on the Michfest list from a member who uploaded it from "Uppity Biscuit". I feel this is such a powerful post that we NAME OURSELVES as bio-Females and as women/womyn/wimmin and Dykes! The website is:
http://uppitybiscuit.wordpress.com/
-M.A.
January 19, 2007
Do Not Call Me Cisgender. You Do Not Have My Permission To Name Me.
Posted by uppitybiscuit under Dykes, Feminism, Gay, Gender, Politics, Transgender
[28] Comments
Do Not Call Me Cisgender. You Do Not Have My Permission To Name Me.
Start/General definitions:
Cisgender is a neologism meaning “not transgender,” that is, a gender identity or performance in a gender role that society considers to match or be appropriate for one’s sex. The prefix cis- means “on this side of” or “not across” (cf. cisatlantic, cisalpine).
The term has been given credit as being created by Carl Buijs, a transsexual man from the Netherlands, in 1995. Additional roots show the name being used on a transgender website prior to 1995.
The term transgender was coined in the 1970s by Virginia Prince, a cross-dresser, transvestite, femmiphile, transgenderist in the USA.
End/General definitions
Do not call me cisgender. You have no right or authority to name me without my consent.
Cisgender is a word used by persons who have decided to name me without my permission.
Cisgender is not a name or identity that females, women as a class, have chosen for ourselves.
It does not come from us, as its origins are from a trans perspective, a person said to be a man, created by trans persons and used to name females/women as a class. Women have not agreed to be named by others, as has been done to us through history, being named, identified and defined by others.
You do not get to name me without my permission.
Do not call me cisgender. That is offensive to me. I am offended that you consider that you have power over me, and can name me.
Cisgender is an epithet, abusive, contemptuous and expresses hostility towards me.
I name myself. The names and words I use include female, woman, her, she, wimmin, womon, womyn. You have permission to use those words when addressing or referring to me.
You do not have the permission to call me names you have created for me, against my will and demand that I own them as mine.
Do not call me cisgender. That is your word, not mine.
Do not call me cisgender. I see that word as derogatory, more so when used in slang as a ‘cissie’.
Consider what you are doing to me when you presume to name me, and why I resist. You are naming me and as though I am powerless to name myself. You consider me less than. It is by your own words that you determine that you have the power to name me, that you have the power to define me … create a name for me, and that I have no right to resist.
Do not call me cisgender. You are demeaning me with your word.
I get to name me. You do not get to name me. You are not allowed to re-classify me according to what language suits your needs.
Males have been naming and defining women for a millennium and more. When you demand the right and proceed to take authority to name and define me, without my permission, you embody and keep company with male’s and man’s traditions. You violate me.
Historically, regarding all other human/civil rights movements, the idea was, oppressed people named THEMSELVES. They didn’t re-name their oppressors. To do so would have either been laughable or dangerous, mostly dangerous. Imagine black people telling white people that from now on, white people are going to be called ‘(whatever)’.
The fact that you presume to re-name me shows that I am indeed not your oppressor. You presume to re-name women because in fact women are NOT your oppressor, and even you know as much.
I am not your oppressor, although blaming women for the actions of the patriarchy is a common occurrence.
Do not call me cisgender. I am not less than or owned by you as property for you to name as you see fit.
Through your privileged position over me, you presume to re-name me.
Do not call me cisgender. That is your word and you have no right to name me. I refuse your word. You are not permitted to re-name me to suit your needs.
You do not have authority or permission to name me cisgender, a ‘non-’, or a ‘not-’.
I am a full human, a female, a woman; I am refusing to be renamed.
I do not embrace cisgender, your name for me. I am what I name myself.
I name me female, woman and myself.
http://uppitybiscuit.wordpress.com/
-M.A.
January 19, 2007
Do Not Call Me Cisgender. You Do Not Have My Permission To Name Me.
Posted by uppitybiscuit under Dykes, Feminism, Gay, Gender, Politics, Transgender
[28] Comments
Do Not Call Me Cisgender. You Do Not Have My Permission To Name Me.
Start/General definitions:
Cisgender is a neologism meaning “not transgender,” that is, a gender identity or performance in a gender role that society considers to match or be appropriate for one’s sex. The prefix cis- means “on this side of” or “not across” (cf. cisatlantic, cisalpine).
The term has been given credit as being created by Carl Buijs, a transsexual man from the Netherlands, in 1995. Additional roots show the name being used on a transgender website prior to 1995.
The term transgender was coined in the 1970s by Virginia Prince, a cross-dresser, transvestite, femmiphile, transgenderist in the USA.
End/General definitions
Do not call me cisgender. You have no right or authority to name me without my consent.
Cisgender is a word used by persons who have decided to name me without my permission.
Cisgender is not a name or identity that females, women as a class, have chosen for ourselves.
It does not come from us, as its origins are from a trans perspective, a person said to be a man, created by trans persons and used to name females/women as a class. Women have not agreed to be named by others, as has been done to us through history, being named, identified and defined by others.
You do not get to name me without my permission.
Do not call me cisgender. That is offensive to me. I am offended that you consider that you have power over me, and can name me.
Cisgender is an epithet, abusive, contemptuous and expresses hostility towards me.
I name myself. The names and words I use include female, woman, her, she, wimmin, womon, womyn. You have permission to use those words when addressing or referring to me.
You do not have the permission to call me names you have created for me, against my will and demand that I own them as mine.
Do not call me cisgender. That is your word, not mine.
Do not call me cisgender. I see that word as derogatory, more so when used in slang as a ‘cissie’.
Consider what you are doing to me when you presume to name me, and why I resist. You are naming me and as though I am powerless to name myself. You consider me less than. It is by your own words that you determine that you have the power to name me, that you have the power to define me … create a name for me, and that I have no right to resist.
Do not call me cisgender. You are demeaning me with your word.
I get to name me. You do not get to name me. You are not allowed to re-classify me according to what language suits your needs.
Males have been naming and defining women for a millennium and more. When you demand the right and proceed to take authority to name and define me, without my permission, you embody and keep company with male’s and man’s traditions. You violate me.
Historically, regarding all other human/civil rights movements, the idea was, oppressed people named THEMSELVES. They didn’t re-name their oppressors. To do so would have either been laughable or dangerous, mostly dangerous. Imagine black people telling white people that from now on, white people are going to be called ‘(whatever)’.
The fact that you presume to re-name me shows that I am indeed not your oppressor. You presume to re-name women because in fact women are NOT your oppressor, and even you know as much.
I am not your oppressor, although blaming women for the actions of the patriarchy is a common occurrence.
Do not call me cisgender. I am not less than or owned by you as property for you to name as you see fit.
Through your privileged position over me, you presume to re-name me.
Do not call me cisgender. That is your word and you have no right to name me. I refuse your word. You are not permitted to re-name me to suit your needs.
You do not have authority or permission to name me cisgender, a ‘non-’, or a ‘not-’.
I am a full human, a female, a woman; I am refusing to be renamed.
I do not embrace cisgender, your name for me. I am what I name myself.
I name me female, woman and myself.
Friday, October 23, 2009
The Lesbian short by Catherine Crouch, "The Gendercator"
I finally got a chance to watch this infamous film(by many trans standards) "The Gendercator", which got censored from the San Francisco Gay/Lesbian Film Festival 'Frameline', after it had been accepted. Certain members of the trans community sent 130 identical emails to Frameline, and they gave into the pressure. What about the Dyke and Butch Dyke community who desparately wanted to see the film?
After seeing it, I just wish it was a bit longer, developed the character a bit better, and was acted, shot and plotted a bit better, as well as lit with better cinematography than what Catherine Crouch offered up in those infamous 15 minutes, NEVERTHELESS, she got across the struggle many of us Female Identified Butch Dykes are facing these days. I'm not one much for the display of the stoner days, which I certainly participated in from the late '70's onwards till I got clean and sober in 1990, but such is the times of the film she is displaying.
The Butch she chooses to play the main character in her flannel as she wakes up in the hospital, is really adorable. She keeps stating she loves the 'sisterhood', and enjoys being female as all others around her cannot accept her for who she is, and that she must transition to survive in the future culture. This is about the size of it these days, as I see so many young Butch/boyish types making these very same choices, in a culture far more conservative than in the heyday of the '70's where feminism was burgeoning and our lesbian cultures were being built in an out loud and proud manner, and our lesbian institutions coming fully into place in the '80's. All that has been tattered and slowly eroded away as our lesbian businesses, from Osento hottubs, Artemis Cafe, The Brick Hut, The BayBrick, Amelias, Ollie's, The Driftwood, Old Wives Tales Books, Woman Crafts West, A Woman's Place, Mama Bears, Boaedecia's Books and even the gutting of the gay bookstore 'A Different Light', have all gone by the wayside. So many of our Lesbian institutions, refuges for our culture, our voices, mini Lesbian community centers, our Dyke Female oasises, all gone.
It has been replaced by LGBT/Queer/Genderqueer/Gay Male institutions that no longer reflect Lesbian sensibilities or a strong Lesbian voice, including that of Female Identified, Female Centered Butches. The talk is of surgery, hormones, transitioning, gender rights, and trans workshops, organizations, groups. Most women's/lesbian groups in San Francisco are for 'women and trans', or 'past, present and future females', completely diluting Lesbian and Dyke consciousness and our bio female proud to be female centered ways.....there is so much pressure on Butches and young boyish/androgynous/butch potential dyke types to transition, take hormones, genderqueer or consider themselves something male instead, to make that choice, that female=femme or something very soft, and butch=he, hy, hym, something male. Yes, a dualistic thinking.
Here's a quote from an article about the film, with Catherine Crouch herself:
"Jennifer Curtis: What motivated you to make The Gendercator?
Catherine Crouch: While we once believed that transsexuality was a relatively rare medical condition of gender dysphoria that is unbearable for a person, in the last six years I have seen a sudden increase in the number of young women who opt to take testosterone or undergo voluntary mastectomies. Why is this happening now? What has changed?
If we situate this in terms of the larger culture's misogyny, it seems to be a rejection of the female part of the masculine female. Why does a woman do this? Most often, the reasons given are: to avoid harassment, rape and ridicule as a gender variant ( i.e: butch or androgynous ) . It seems to me that what is also going on, but has not been explicitly addressed, is the desire to avoid being perceived by the world at large as female, and/or to avoid the label of lesbian. We should also acknowledge that it has become a trend among some young people who formerly identified, or would be considered by the lesbian community, as butch lesbians. Why can't we talk about this?"*
Yes, WHY CAN'T WE TALK ABOUT THIS? Why have we effectively been silenced? This affects us Butch Dykes most intimately, and YET we can't talk about our fears, our sadness, our grief at so many young Butch sisters going under the knife, because they can't accept themselves as both masculine and female.....or Butch/boyish/androgynous not fitting into feminine roles and female. That there seems to be no power in the female anymore and that feminism is dead. Why is it not o.k. to be percieved instead as a different kind of female, including our dykeness? Have we failed, or has the backlash against feminism, radical lesbianism, and the new carving out of womyn's roles, potentials and possibilities been so strong against us, that the only way our youth can reconcile their womon loving desires, and their tomboyishness, their rejection of socially constructed feminine roles, is to become 'male'?
This is an important film for all Lesbians, Dykes and Butches to see, whether you agree with it's premise or not. It is indeed thought provoking. And then the narcissism evidenced by the masculinized FTM's who brag about their surgeries and show off the results of their newly acquired 'manhood'. Then wrestle each other in a macho way, fitting into the male/female dualism that the main soft butch character defies as she resists becoming 'male', still proud of her femaleness, and craving her Dyke Sisterhood!
Also, Catherine Crouch herself identifies as a Butch, and several of her films have to do with being Butch/tomboy and not 'fitting in'. You can get on her website and see for yourself, order the film on DVD, along with 3 others, 2 out of the other 3 I liked, especially "Pretty Ladies", horny diverse Butch characters who are friends craving companions, and "One Small Step" about a young tomboy who falls in love with her girl neighbor and wants to marry her...I found all 3 of these films, to be thoughtprovoking and affirming, as a Dyke, a Butch, and as a Lesbian and growing up as a hardcore tomboy myself!
Check out: www.catherinecrouch.com
There are also articles of commentary on The Gendercator. Check 'em all out!
-In Butch DykeAmazon Sisterhood,
-MasterAmazon
*Windy City Times
After seeing it, I just wish it was a bit longer, developed the character a bit better, and was acted, shot and plotted a bit better, as well as lit with better cinematography than what Catherine Crouch offered up in those infamous 15 minutes, NEVERTHELESS, she got across the struggle many of us Female Identified Butch Dykes are facing these days. I'm not one much for the display of the stoner days, which I certainly participated in from the late '70's onwards till I got clean and sober in 1990, but such is the times of the film she is displaying.
The Butch she chooses to play the main character in her flannel as she wakes up in the hospital, is really adorable. She keeps stating she loves the 'sisterhood', and enjoys being female as all others around her cannot accept her for who she is, and that she must transition to survive in the future culture. This is about the size of it these days, as I see so many young Butch/boyish types making these very same choices, in a culture far more conservative than in the heyday of the '70's where feminism was burgeoning and our lesbian cultures were being built in an out loud and proud manner, and our lesbian institutions coming fully into place in the '80's. All that has been tattered and slowly eroded away as our lesbian businesses, from Osento hottubs, Artemis Cafe, The Brick Hut, The BayBrick, Amelias, Ollie's, The Driftwood, Old Wives Tales Books, Woman Crafts West, A Woman's Place, Mama Bears, Boaedecia's Books and even the gutting of the gay bookstore 'A Different Light', have all gone by the wayside. So many of our Lesbian institutions, refuges for our culture, our voices, mini Lesbian community centers, our Dyke Female oasises, all gone.
It has been replaced by LGBT/Queer/Genderqueer/Gay Male institutions that no longer reflect Lesbian sensibilities or a strong Lesbian voice, including that of Female Identified, Female Centered Butches. The talk is of surgery, hormones, transitioning, gender rights, and trans workshops, organizations, groups. Most women's/lesbian groups in San Francisco are for 'women and trans', or 'past, present and future females', completely diluting Lesbian and Dyke consciousness and our bio female proud to be female centered ways.....there is so much pressure on Butches and young boyish/androgynous/butch potential dyke types to transition, take hormones, genderqueer or consider themselves something male instead, to make that choice, that female=femme or something very soft, and butch=he, hy, hym, something male. Yes, a dualistic thinking.
Here's a quote from an article about the film, with Catherine Crouch herself:
"Jennifer Curtis: What motivated you to make The Gendercator?
Catherine Crouch: While we once believed that transsexuality was a relatively rare medical condition of gender dysphoria that is unbearable for a person, in the last six years I have seen a sudden increase in the number of young women who opt to take testosterone or undergo voluntary mastectomies. Why is this happening now? What has changed?
If we situate this in terms of the larger culture's misogyny, it seems to be a rejection of the female part of the masculine female. Why does a woman do this? Most often, the reasons given are: to avoid harassment, rape and ridicule as a gender variant ( i.e: butch or androgynous ) . It seems to me that what is also going on, but has not been explicitly addressed, is the desire to avoid being perceived by the world at large as female, and/or to avoid the label of lesbian. We should also acknowledge that it has become a trend among some young people who formerly identified, or would be considered by the lesbian community, as butch lesbians. Why can't we talk about this?"*
Yes, WHY CAN'T WE TALK ABOUT THIS? Why have we effectively been silenced? This affects us Butch Dykes most intimately, and YET we can't talk about our fears, our sadness, our grief at so many young Butch sisters going under the knife, because they can't accept themselves as both masculine and female.....or Butch/boyish/androgynous not fitting into feminine roles and female. That there seems to be no power in the female anymore and that feminism is dead. Why is it not o.k. to be percieved instead as a different kind of female, including our dykeness? Have we failed, or has the backlash against feminism, radical lesbianism, and the new carving out of womyn's roles, potentials and possibilities been so strong against us, that the only way our youth can reconcile their womon loving desires, and their tomboyishness, their rejection of socially constructed feminine roles, is to become 'male'?
This is an important film for all Lesbians, Dykes and Butches to see, whether you agree with it's premise or not. It is indeed thought provoking. And then the narcissism evidenced by the masculinized FTM's who brag about their surgeries and show off the results of their newly acquired 'manhood'. Then wrestle each other in a macho way, fitting into the male/female dualism that the main soft butch character defies as she resists becoming 'male', still proud of her femaleness, and craving her Dyke Sisterhood!
Also, Catherine Crouch herself identifies as a Butch, and several of her films have to do with being Butch/tomboy and not 'fitting in'. You can get on her website and see for yourself, order the film on DVD, along with 3 others, 2 out of the other 3 I liked, especially "Pretty Ladies", horny diverse Butch characters who are friends craving companions, and "One Small Step" about a young tomboy who falls in love with her girl neighbor and wants to marry her...I found all 3 of these films, to be thoughtprovoking and affirming, as a Dyke, a Butch, and as a Lesbian and growing up as a hardcore tomboy myself!
Check out: www.catherinecrouch.com
There are also articles of commentary on The Gendercator. Check 'em all out!
-In Butch DykeAmazon Sisterhood,
-MasterAmazon
*Windy City Times
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