Something involving ties and t-shirts . It would be as obvious as I needed it to be. Interesting and beautiful but also mysterious and steadfast and flexible without having to give up authenticity. My gender would be something. It would consume me but not burn me to ashes, not leave me in ashes….
Alright folks, here it is, at last, a digitally bound version of all the major content pages of the GENDER book. Now is the time for feedback from you, our amazing community.
Some of the changes to come are pretty obvious, like I mistyped “neutral” on that one page and some of the speech bubbles are still blank. Even if they’re obvious and we probably already know, go ahead and mention it anyway, suggest what you’d put in those empty bubbles! If nothing else, keep us honest in our great typo search.
Please keep your comments on positive (or at the very least, constructive) notes. Remember, we’re just humans like you doing the best we can. Thanks!
In community,
Mel Reiff Hill
resident artist, the GENDER book
PS- New here? To learn more about our book, please visit our website!
PPS- Make sure you press ‘expand’ by hovering over the middle of the book if you care to, you know, read the words.
Flamingo Rampant! Gender Independent Kids Books
Persistence contributor S. Bear Bergman has launched an amazing new project - Flamingo Rampant!, a children’s book series featuring trans characters. You can support this project through Kickstarter. Tell your friends!
There’s so much awesomeness in this project I just can’t even begin to explain. I know that it’s all ready reached it’s funding goal - but you can always donate more, and/or buy the books when they’re out. AMAZING.
(via artoftransliness)
This campaign, from Osez le Feminisme Belgique, is not what it seems. It’s a campaign against sexism and heteronomity in the guise of gendered children’s toys…
…and I love it!
(via hiohmegan)
Call for Submissions: Spectrum Magazine
Spectrum is a magazine dedicated to providing a place for gender queer individuals to speak out about information and issues that affect us all.
The gender queer spectrum includes those who identify as Trans, Bi-gendered, Femme, Butch, boi, Androgynous, Agendered, and many other gender terms that are not well known yet. This is a place dedicated to honoring the full expression of gender that humanity is capable of.
As a publication of ideas and perspectives, we offer a forum through which gender queer writers, scholars, and readers can use the internet to deeply explore themes of interest to our rich blend of identities.
We trace our roots to our gender queer pioneers at places like Stonewall that existed all over the world. We welcome and encourage today’s emerging queers as they discover their own gender identity and expression. Spectrum looks to spark discussion that is informed, and current while providing a much needed link to the history of the gender queer movement.
Submissions
We accept submissions of news, reviews, opinion, commentary, and nonfiction that has a gender queer subject/slant/impact and pertains to the following categories; **
News & Politics,
Love & Sex,
Media & Arts,
Hero’s & History,
Gender Theory,
Non-Traditional Families,
Global Events.
**Feel free to contact us before writing to gauge the usefulness of your story idea, but note that any and all manuscripts are submitted on speculation. We print the best and most appropriate material to meet the needs and expectations of our readers at the time. Your submission may not be accepted if we may have similar stories already, a backlog of features, or have already covered the topic in a recent issue. Don’t be discouraged; your piece might be perfect for a future issue. We will keep it in our archives for just such a purpose. We are happy to work with new writers who are queer or have insights of interest to our readers. All individuals who’s work is accepted will have a unique author profile which will include a bio and publication history.
Word Count
Due to the wide ranging subject matter we do not have a maximum word count. We are looking for concise event and review material as well as feature length articles. Minimum word count for reviews is 450.
How To Submit
Send submissions to Tribequeer@gmail.com:
– Attach the story in RTF or DOC formats.
– In the subject line put the SUBMISSION (in all caps), your name and word count.
– In then body of the email, put your name, pen-name (if any), contact information, a short bio, two to three lines, as well as any credits or relevant websites you wish to plug.
– The story should be double-spaced, in a readable font, and as you originally formatted it; paragraphs indented, italicized words in italics, etc. It is helpful to our editors if you follow the standard manuscript guidelines (Though no story will be rejected for failure to follow them to the letter).
Response Time
Spectrum will respond to your submission as soon as possible; our policy is to have a response to all submissions within 1 month.
Editorial Caveat
Stories should be thoroughly proofread before submission. We do understand that minor mistakes will slip by and we will correct them before publication on the website. Minor grammatical changes may be made to the story; however, we will seek the author’s permission before publication.
Publishing Rights
We do not ask for first North American publishing rights to your work; whatever you send us can be submitted again to another publication. If you do send us a piece that has already been published or exhibited elsewhere, please include the name of the venue and the date of your publication/exhibit so that we can post the appropriate credits. However, we do ask that you not send us any simultaneous submissions.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
A Love Letter to Femmes - by Sinclair Sexsmith
Maria See put the original call out for the Femmethology literally years ago, and ever since I first saw it I knew I wanted to contribute something to this unique anthology on femme identity. But what? I didn’t feel like I could necessarily speak from a place of authority on What Femme Is, there are hundreds – thousands! – of versions of femme, and no matter what I know about femme or how many femmes I’ve interacted with, I am an observer, a witness of femme, I don’t feel like I create it myself.
So what would I write?
I wrote a few pieces, brainstormed, but nothing I really loved. Nothing really got to the heart of what I was trying to say, which was … what? I wasn’t sure.
But it hit me on the very last day the editors were accepting submissions, and I sat down and wrote this Love Letter in one long sentence, and spent the rest of the day editing and polishing. I’m not going to reproduce the text here (you’ll have to buy the book for that) but I will present you, here, with a recording of me reading the love letter that appears in Visible: A Femmethology Volume Two.
Hope you enjoy it.
(via queerinkind)
"In Whipping Girl, I took on the ‘nature versus nurture debate’ because I feel that trans people are marginalized by both biological determinist perspectives (which assume that we are ‘defects’ or have ‘disorders’) and hard-line social constructionist perspectives (which ignore trans people’s self accounts and view us as ‘reinforcing’ the patriarchy, or heteronormativity, or what have you). Also, social constructionist claims that gender is just a construct, or merely a performance, inadvertently marginalize trans people because our genders are already seen as ‘fake’ and ‘inauthentic’ (whereas cis people’s genders are seen as natural).
These days, I describe my view of sex, gender, and sexuality as being ‘holistic.’ Holistic refers to the fact that clearly both biological and social forces influence how we are gendered and sexual. This gets beyond the very narrow idea that it must be one or the other, but not both. Also, biology and culture are not monolithic, but rather provide lots of variation. Each person is biologically unique, and also uniquely socially situated. I think this helps to explain trends that exist in gender and sexuality, but also explains why many of us are exceptional, falling outside of both social and biological norms."
These days, I describe my view of sex, gender, and sexuality as being ‘holistic.’ Holistic refers to the fact that clearly both biological and social forces influence how we are gendered and sexual. This gets beyond the very narrow idea that it must be one or the other, but not both. Also, biology and culture are not monolithic, but rather provide lots of variation. Each person is biologically unique, and also uniquely socially situated. I think this helps to explain trends that exist in gender and sexuality, but also explains why many of us are exceptional, falling outside of both social and biological norms."
— Julia Serano, in an interview with Persephone Magazine (via mikroblogolas)
(via tgstonebutch)
"Drag is not the putting on of a gender that belongs properly to some other group, i.e. an act of expropriation or appropriation that assumes that gender is the rightful property of sex, that “masculine” belongs to “male” and “feminine” belongs to “female.” There is no “proper” gender, a gender proper to one sex rather than another, which is in some sense that sex’s cultural property. Where that notion of the “proper” operates, it is always and only improperly installed as the effect of a compulsory system."
—
Judith Butler, “Imitation and Gender Insubordination” from The Material Queer. (via westcoastdreams)
Woooord, Judith.
(via hickiesandhotpants)
(via tgstonebutch)
So important and useful, for medical professionals, for sexuality and health educators.
this is a good read pals, so check it out
(Source: cripqueer)
"There is most certainly a privilege to having a gender. Just ask someone who doesn’t have a gender, or who can’t pass, or who doesn’t pass. When you have a gender, or when you are perceived as having a gender, you don’t get laughed at in the street. You don’t get beat up. You know which public bathroom to use, and when you use it, people don’t stare at you or worse. You know which form to fill out. You know what clothes to wear. You have heroes and role models. You have a past."
— Kate Bornstein, Gender Outlaw (via foldedpaperstories)
(Source: voiceofthedogs, via fuckyeahkatebornstein)
From “A Series of Questions”, a project where the viewer is confronted with the inappropriate questions often asked of trans people. These new images —plus the ones which were already viewable online— are up at Weingarten’s site.
This series just keeps getting better.
Glad to see this going around again! It’s a great project. TW for anti-trans (or trans-ignorant) questions.
