somekindofbecca:

edwardspoonhands:

A graphic I’m working on for tomorrow’s Vlogbrothers video. It’s a topic I’ve wanted to discuss for a long time, but have been somewhat afraid of making people angry. Let me know if there’s anything I got wrong. 

Hank I’m so glad you’re planning on making this video, I think it could be really important to a lot of people in the Nerdfighter community.

Honestly though, however you try to draw a graphic like this you’re going to end up missing people out. As you yourself have previously noted people just don’t fit clearly into distinctive little boxes, no matter how many boxes you divide us up into, nature defies simplicity.

However, in the spirit of your video here are some suggested amendments:

Gender Identity: Transgender isn’t a separate gender identity to male/female. The distinction you’re looking for is Trans*/Cis:

• Trans* covering anyone who doesn’t identify with the gender they were assigned at birth and raised/socialised as, i.e. anyone who is transgender or whose gender is otherwise varies from the Western socialised concept of a gender binary.
• Cis covering anyone who identifies with the gender they were assigned at birth, based on how their genitals looked, and raised/socialised as. Cis is basically the gender identity version of straight.

A person’s actual identified gender can then be male, female, genderqueer, gender neutral, agender, bigender, pangender, undefinded, or otherwise defined (I’ve probably missed some established gender identities off here for which I apologise to my followers!)

Gender Role: Should include androgenous/genderf*ck as well as masculine/feminine - some people don’t present or perform in line with the gender binary, just as some people don’t identify with the gender binary.

Sexual Orientation/Sexual Behaviour: I like that you’ve distinguished between behaviour and orientation, as this is something a lot of people miss. I would argue you should additionally distinguish between Sexual Orientation and Romantic Orientation, and Sexual Behaviour and Romantic Behaviour.

As an example; someone may identify as homoromantic, but asexual, so they’re interested in romantic relationships with people of the same gender, but not sexual relationships.

Another example; someone may identify as bi/panromantic but hetero/homosexual, so they’re interested in romantic relationships with anyone, but are only interested in sexual relationship with people of the same/binary opposite gender.

It may also be worth adding in androsexual, gynosexual and ambisexual, those being sexual attraction based on presentation/behaviour rather than gender identity, respectively masculinity, femininity, and both/either.

Followers - please add additional corrections to the graphic above and to my amendments if I’ve gotten anything wrong.

Let’s spread some GSM/queer knowledge people!

fuckyeahfeminists:

bidyke:

The Revolution Starts at Home - in PDF!

EPIC WIN.

http://www.incite-national.org/media/docs/0985_revolution-starts-at-home.pdf

liquorinthefront:

Transforming Family

“A beautiful snapshot of current issues, struggles and strengths of transexual, transgender, and gender fluid parents (and parents to be) in North America today.”

fuckyeavaguelycutetransparents:

THIS is how trans* education starts. With OUR kids showing them that we are ok, we are well, we are beautiful and we are moving towards happy. Then they spread that knowledge in an organic way.

BRILLIANT & ESSENTIAL!
Now we need transmale and non binary versions to make the full set then get them published into one of those mini book box sets x

artoftransliness:

Talk About It- A campaign from Original Plumbing that addresses adult suicide

pflagmom:

How to Be an Ally to LGBT People by UMass Amherst Stonewall Center

Be an Ally and a Friend by GLAAD

Resources for Allies by Safe Schools Coalition

Trans Ally Tips by UC Davis LGBT Resource Center

How to Be an Ally by the University of Utah

10 Things to Do as an Ally by PFLAG’s Straight for Equality

Guide to being a Straight Ally by PFLAG’s Straight for Equality

The Ally Project 

tooyoungforthelivingdead:

theseasonofthewitch:

sonneillonv:

freedominwickedness:

Drag performance originates from Western cis gay male subculture and is an overt expression of contempt for women in general and trans* women in particular. In both means and motive, it is a close parallel to the blackface and yellowface performances which were once a common element in minstrel shows: members of a privileged group dress up as members of an oppressed group and play out their own bigoted stereotypes about that group for the amusement of people who share that bigotry. Drag performance is a public playground for the rampant sexism and cissexism of the gay male community, gleefully reiterating and reinforcing every sort of prejudice against women.

Like the cis gay male subculture which spawned it, drag culture is especially contemptuous of trans women. This is illustrated by the way prominent drag queens such as RuPaul and Sharon Needles go out of their way to use their positions as popular media figures to spread dangerous misinformation about trans* people, to encourage the use of transmisogynistic slurs such as “t**nny”, and even to attack those who are respectful towards trans people. Drag queens are so rabidly transmisogynistic that they can’t stand it when others aren’t transmisogynistic.

To be crystal clear, this criticism does not extend to cross-dressing as an expression of nonbinary, genderqueer, and/or genderfluid identities or even cross-dressing as a sexual fetish. It is specifically about drag, as in public showbiz performances built around grossly exaggerated, exhibitionistic cross-dressing as an grotesque parody of women and/or trans women.

Drag is not fabulous. Drag is fucking offensive to all women, and especially to trans women.

I think this is a really interesting point of view.  I haven’t really sorted out my response to it yet, so I’m putting it here for the rest of you to consider, because I think there are some good points here that I hadn’t considered before.

This is definitely interesting and something I haven’t thought of before.

This reminds me a bit of how the blog post A toast to the women who taught me how to construct my own gender made me feel - I know the post is about someone who’s not cis, but

obv the person in the blog post should express their gender, and their issues with masculinity, in a way they feel comfortable with. however

(a) the logic of ‘women’s protection over femininity is to blame for sexism/cissexism/heterosexism’ is at best too simplistic and at worst way off base

(b) saying (as a non-woman) that you want to “possess the fury, glamour, and self-determination [of the women they respected] exuded” definitely made me uncomfortable. as a genderqueer person DMAB, I just don’t think that fury is ours to uncritically claim/appropriate. the ‘uncritically’ is important. I think we have to tread more carefully than just assuming we can have all the bits we like from various gender expressions without any sort of caveat.

maybe I’m way off base though, I dunno, talk to me about it?

abortiaclinique:

A Weekend at Camp for Gender-Variant Children

Above, a father helps his son into his dress as he prepares for the fashion show.

“The accompanying photos, part of a body of work by Lindsay Morris, were taken at an annual weekend gathering for gender-variant children and their families.The camp is organized by parents, and it moves to a different location each year. Most of the boys who attend dress and act ‘male’ in their daily lives, and the gathering offers a safe haven where they can express their interpretations of femininity with like-minded boys, their parents and siblings.”

[photo: New York Times]