Blind Prophecy

I overslept this morning and was about an hour late to work. To make up for it, I stayed late. Since I wanted to see Julia Serano reading from Whipping Girl this evening, it left no time for the gym. With Pride this weekend followed by my first trip back to Vegas in a long time, I really didn’t want to skip the gym at all this week (I know it won’t make a huge difference in my body, but I’ll feel more confident).

Julia Serano was great. During the Q&A portion, I could tell which people had already read the book and which hadn’t. I asked a question about the Michigan Womyn’s Festival and their policy against trans women, with the follow-up question about whether or not “women only” spaces can really work. She basically suggested that when we take it upon ourselves to gender others (i.e., to make policies that legislate who is and isn’t a woman), we only reinforce prejudice. However, it we can respect how people experience their own gender–and if men can respect that (i.e. not claiming a female identity for the sole purpose of gaining access), then there’s a place for “women only” spaces on a case-by-case basis.

Afterward, I spoke with her briefly and told her how despite all my years of queer activism and working alongside trans people, her book inspired a “eureka moment” of understanding what cisgender privilege really means and how it clouds my world-view. After I left, it occured to me that the “eureka moment” was about more than just cisgender privilege, but it also made me more aware of my white privilege, male privilege, American privilege, etc. For the past ten years I’ve always thought myself a great ally of racial minorities, women, people with disabilities, etc., but I’ve rarely stopped to see just how much my own identity has affected my own understanding. As someone trained to be an organizational spokesperson, I’m in the habit of speaking for more people and experiences than just myself–a necessary evil in my line of work–but how often do I really have the experience and perspective to do so? I can intellectualize and empathize until the cows come home, but it’s not the same as having lived other people’s experiences of race or gender or sexual orientation. An immediate result of this realization is that I’ve decided to stop saying that I claim a bisexual identity for political reasons. In the past, I’ve said that although my experience is 100% homosexual, I wouldn’t put a heterosexual encounter outside the realm of possibility. While that is true, it’s not the same as having an actual bisexual identity and I really have no right to claim it, for political or any reason. Similarly, just because I’ve done drag in the past, I can’t claim to understand (much of) the transgender experience in any sophisticated way.

Anyway, tomorrow Ken and Jenna are throwing a potluck dinner party, so I’ll probably miss the gym again unless I can sneak out of work a bit early. I suppose I could pull Cherry Poppins (see photo; far right) out of the grave for Pride weekend and spend the weekend in a corsette, but I think that would attract the wrong kind of attention (even if I do have killer legs).

Filed under: livejournal by Jere Keys