I'll probably have more to say later, but just wanted to throw it out there that I especially liked this chapter and its emphasis on solidarity. Some key quotes for me and brief thoughts:

The struggles of those of us at this conference also overlap with the struggles of the women's liberation movement. We could gain strength by working together, along with all our allies, to fight for sex and gender freedom. That means the rights of people to define their sex, control their own body, and develop their gender expression free from violence, economic barriers, or discrimination — in employment, housing, health care, or any other sector of society.

None of us can ever be free while others are still in chains. That's the truth underlying the need for solidarity. Trans liberation is inextricably linked to other movements for equality and justice.

Very relevant to excellent points brought up previously by awth13 regarding the suffragette movement in the context of trans rights, and ze lays it out pretty clearly. Highlights the ridiculousness of TERF attempts to claim "feminism" while also also seeking to restrict the rights of trans people.

But just because an individual is drawn into the vortex of a movement, it doesn't mean that person will automatically be enlightened on every aspect of other peoples' oppressions — particularly that which they do not directly experience. Each individual still needs to overcome the bigotry that has been instilled in us from an early age. A gay man does not necessarily see the need to fight sexism automatically; a white transperson doesn't automatically see the need to fight racism. But the progressive momentum inherent in movements offers a greater potential for individuals to gain an understanding of the struggles of others-particularly in coalitions.

This (and the other examples in this section) to me highlights how important it is to continuously identify and purge the brainworms I might have that have thus far gone unexamined. In a strange way it also makes me think about the internalized transphobia programmed into me from a young age, having been raised in a conservative environment and in an era where media depictions of trans people were made to be ridiculed or gawked at, and the damage it did to me.

Why would we want to ask anyone to give up their own hard-fought-for place on the gender spectrum? There are no rights or wrongs in the ways people express their own gender style. No one's lipstick or flattop is hurting us. No one's gender expression is any more "liberated" than anyone else's.

Gender freedom — isn't that what we're all fighting for with every breath we take? Well, how are we going to win it if we don't support each other's right to be different from us? Each person has the right to express their gender in any way that feels most comfortable — masculine or feminine, androgynous, bi- and tri-gender expression, gender fluidity, gender complexity, and gender contradiction. There are many shades of gender that are not even represented in language yet. One could argue that leather people and nuns are their own genders.

People don't have to give up their individuality or their particular manner of gender expression in order to fight sex and gender oppression. It's just the opposite. People won't put their time, energy, and commitment into organizing unless they know that the movement they are building is defending their lives.

I've discussed this already in previous threads, but I again appreciate how ze highlights the importance of letting people identity as their true selves, as opposed to gatekeeping or forcing people into narrow categorizations. I also liked this related quote from Gary Bowen:

Once I figured out that "transgendered" was someone who transcended traditional stereotypes of "man" and "woman," I saw that I was such a person. I then began a quest for finding words that described myself, and discovered that while psychiatric jargon dominated the discourse, there were many other words, both older and newer, that addressed these issues.

As I read this quote I think about some of the terms I see pop up on social media, like the "brick" thing which is just.... Ugh. I feel like we should be continually challenging and refining the language and terms we use, and this is especially true for terms that are blatantly toxic.

WEEK 3 THREAD IS UP!!

Let me know if I missed anyone!

I finished reading this chapter late in the evening and I'm too tired to form my thoughts into coherent sentences, I'll be back to post about it probably tomorrow, but my chapo/hexbear poisoned brain saw

Frederick Douglass

and I just have to say: he's being recognized more and more

Wow, what a chapter! Like Cowbee said, the majority of it was just Les hammering down again and again that solidarity is a necessity for a successful movement. But there were some parts that made me drop my jaw:

We must challenge the misconception that transmen are automatically typecast as masculine and so their partners must automatically be feminine women. The entire range of gender expression can be found in the transmale population, including androgynous and feminine men, and drag queens.

The idea that trans men can be feminine or even be drag queens is even today a really progressive view. The fact that this book was written in the 90s just amazes me over and over again.

If you take this entire part and just replace "women's liberation" with "trans liberation", "Schlaffley" with "Rowling" and "Bush" with "Trump", it would perfectly describe our current situation. I'm not sure if Les wanted to play Nostradamus here, but it strongly reinforces the point sie makes that we absolutely need to have each other's backs. "None of us can ever be free while others are still in chains." is such a great quote.

The women's movement is right — females are socialized very differently and unequally. But the trans movement reveals a more layered and complex socialization process. Does a masculine girl absorb social education about what it means to be a "girl" in the same way as a feminine girl? Does a feminine boy grow up identifying with, or fearing, the masculine boys learning to swagger and take up space? How does a transsexual child or adult absorb the messages of how a "real" man or woman is supposed to act and relate?

I was heartened, for example, to see that transmen and transwomen had created a workshop at this conference to deal with how to work with each other most sensitively. I have heard some non-trans people criticize transsexual women for taking up too much space or being too overbearing because they were socialized as males. It's one thing for transwomen to discuss issues of socialization as an internal discussion in transsexual space. But it's a prejudiced and dangerous formulation for non-transsexuals to make. It's a fast and slippery slide from the rigidity of biological determinism to an equally narrow position of social determinism.

And it too closely parallels transphobic attacks that charge: "Once a man, always a man; once a woman, always a woman." This line of reasoning flies in the face of the fact that consciousness is determined by being. When a man or woman comes out as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, they become part of those communities. No one says "once a heterosexual, always a heterosexual." The consciousness of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people changes and develops while living through the oppression, and working with others to fight back. That is true for transwomen, as well.

I wish lib fems would read those 3 paragraphs and really hammer them into their brains. Because it's one thing if TERFs use it in an dishonest way to attack us, but it really grinds my gears when supposed allies copy this shit and use it to other us by forcing a male/female essence on us that just isn't there.

I still have to read the portrait, but even without it this chapter has been the best read I've had in a really long time.