cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/2006727

A landmark of trans and feminist nonfiction, Whipping Girl is Julia Serano’s indispensable account of what it means to be a transgender woman in a world that consistently derides and belittles anything feminine. In a series of incisive essays, Serano draws on gender theory, her training as a biologist, her career in queer activism, and her own experiences before and after her gender transition to examine the deep connections between sexism and transphobia. She coins the term transmisogyny to describe the specific discrimination trans women face—and she shows how, in a world where masculinity is seen as unquestionably superior to femininity, transgender women’s very existence becomes a threat to the established gender hierarchy.

Now updated with a new afterword on the contemporary anti-trans backlash, Whipping Girl makes the case that today's feminists and transgender activists must work to embrace and empower femininity—in all of its wondrous forms—and to make the world safe and just for people of all genders and sexualities.

you can order a copy here with code SERANO20 for a discount

embarrassingly i've never read this, but a new edition is the perfect time to change this! it's one of the big books people always talk about as a must read for understanding transphobia and transmisogyny, so now i'm doing that and i feel pretty comfortable recommending others do so as well

I believe I generally understand the concept of the (trans, not Star Trek) usage of "The Prime Directive" but as a cis person, I don't really seem to get why. If a person you know and are close to starts to act or talk in a way like they are possibly trans, why is it... not proper, for lack of a better term, to genuinely tell them "I think you might want to seriously explore these feelings"? It feels like you should? Like you should be reassuring to someone who feels like this?

Just wanted to publicise this library for folks. Membership is free and they run on donations to get queer literature out there on the world, especially where it would otherwise be inaccessible or unsafe for people. It is part of the Libby network.

Idk if it's just a product of their catalogue being small because they have just started up but unfortunately they didn't pass the Leslie Feinberg or Ursula Le Guin vibe check but it's still promising despite that fact.

Of course there's almost everything at your fingertips thanks to LibGen and similar sites but it's worth remembering that non-black market queer libraries directly support queer authors and promote queer culture, and not everyone is fluent or comfortable with pirating ebooks so this library meets a need that doesn't really get met elsewhere.

Looking for trans and queer comrades working on self-acceptance to start a reflection and growth group. It will be sort of like group therapy but with more emphasis on personal reflection. There would be weekly threads to share reflections and to find support with each other.

I started this sort of hokey new-age self-help book titled 'Gay Spirit Warrior' which provides a framework for becoming a liberated, anti-patriarchal Gay Man through processing internalized homophobia, and anxieties around being publicly out.

As I was reading the introduction, it was so easy to replace 'loving other men' with 'letting yourself be genderqueer.' I am really excited to start working through the book! But like all forms of reflection and growth, it is done best through community.

I am committed to spend about two hours each week reflecting, and imagine others could have a worthwhile experience with about half that time. If there are a few interested comrades, I would begin freely adapting the chapters of the book to be about general queer self-acceptance.

I will try to adapt the first chapter by Friday so comrades can have a better idea of what it entails! Probably this will be done by block quoting with interpretive notes.

I almost put this in c/neurodiverse because it's such a weird ramble thing. Where are you supposed to put stuff when you do stuff???

Anyway

The bear website was very slow the other day, so I sorted by "Most Comments" and started scrolling past mega threads. I liked the over-1000 comment thread from six months ago, that was pretty cool. I was surprised to see a thread about a Leslie Feinberg book, however, and this is where I discovered the rare lore of who TC_69, TransComrade_69, actually was: a based individual <3

I haven't read anything like enough theory; it's probably more than the average person but like, three books tops. And Combat Liberalism because lol lmao. When I stumbled upon this thread angrily yelling at me to read Beyond Blue and Pink or else be branded a lib, I figured I probably should, since TC_69 said so and all. Most of it's not that new to me, I'm pretty waist-deep in trans liberation ideas and stuff, and a lot of the fiction I read is related or adjacent to it--I first heard of Kate Bornstein from Nevada--but I feel deeply enriched for reading Blue and Pink.

It's not just that gender markers on passports and other forms of identification should be removed because they're a mechanism by which authorities oppress people based on their gender. Or even that Trans Liberation refutes the weird, shitty idea that crossdressers and drag queens/kings/etc are exaggerated performances, or worse "blackface for women!" which is something I have actually heard people of my generation really actually say. We still need Leslie Feinberg. The theory end of the experience is really great and the primary point, obviously.

But I think I like our history the most.

Reading these old 1990s queer theory books, with their references to even older queer events and people and shit, it's actually really nice! Sometimes it can feel like the current queer movement is floating alone and divorced from anything else, having randomly sprung out of like, late 2000s websites. Susan's Place is not always the type of history I wanna remember... Reading about the thoughts and the activism of our forebears though, that's fucking rad. Leslie Feinberg was so goddamn cool. I get a sense that instead of living in relative comfort purely because I am under the radar, I'm doing so as the benefit of hard work done by people like me, who came before me. Who weren't so different from me, despite being around to witness the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.

It really irks my shit when the average liberal queer person in many queer spaces doesn't seem to acknowledge any of this history we share. I guess it's stupid to think that every single queer person ever should read theory and be politically engaged(?), but the struggle for our rights & liberation is still very much an ongoing battle, and I feel like it's kind of very shitty to just disregard our history of activism. Type of USamerican queer person who figured "gay rights" was over in 2015.

I don't wanna bitch too much though, when instead I can be saying how much I appreciate receiving the words of our elders. It's pretty rad, for pretty much the only time in my life I feel a sense of, I guess heritage about it. Somethin' like that. I dunno what you'd call it because it's so rare that I do not feel 100% alienated from everything and everyone. It's nice not to for once. Thanks, TransComrade_69, wherever you may be.

Uphold TC_69 Thought

https://nitter.net/Aiphelix/status/1686802166764236818

https://nitter.net/supacreamss/status/1742023816291709329

(This was originally posted in the games comm, got removed but apparentlt that was just because inappropriate for the comm and its fine here )

For reference, I am a trans girl and pretty sure I'm Endosex. I do not know any openly intersex people IRL.

Is the term GRSM inclusive of intersex people, and if not and it should be, what alternatives besides LGBTQIA+ are? (I've heard Quiltbag and Mogai as well but apparently they are both problematic? Idk but apparently Quiltbag feeds into gay stereotypes and Mogai divides the overrall community but I have no idea).

I would appreciate responses from Intersex comrades if possible, but I'd love any form of help on this issue. Thanks <3

I have well meaning people at a party who are trying to describe their friend who is supposedly gender fluid but they dont really know how to talk about them? Do you just refer to gender fluid people as they/them until they tell you how they feel that day/week/whatever? Do you refer to them as what you last were calling them? Id look it up but im very drunk and i dont teuat googlr in this state lol

I swear I came across every other couple being exactly this when I lived in the US.

Have any queer vibes to share? Here's your place!

Talk about what’s happening queerly in your life - like coming out, getting HRT, questioning, and all that good stuff.

No cishets allowed!

Stormé DeLarverie, born on December 24th in 1920, was a biracial queer icon whose reported scuffle with police was the spark that ignited the Stonewall Riots in 1969. She is sometimes referred to as the "Rosa Parks of the gay community" or "Rosa Parks of Stonewall".

DeLarverie was born in New Orleans to a black mother and a white father, and spent the 50s and 60s as a "male impersonator" in the Jewel Box Revue, the period's only racially integrated drag troupe. Her gender-bending style of zoot suits and black ties was groundbreaking for the era.

On June 28th, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York City, a scuffle broke out when a woman, believed to be Stormé, was roughly escorted from the door of the bar to the waiting police wagon. The woman fought with at least four of the police, swearing and shouting, for about ten minutes. When she shouted to the bystanders "Why don't you guys do something?", the crowd began rioting and clashed with police.

"It was a rebellion, it was an uprising, it was a civil rights disobedience - it wasn’t no damn riot."

• Stormé DeLarverie

A Brief History of Stormé DeLarverie, Stonewall’s Suiting Icon

Megathreads and spaces to hang out:

• ❤️ Come listen to music and Watch movies with your fellow Hexbears nerd, in Cy.tube
• 💖 Come talk in the New Weekly Queer thread
• 💛 Read and talk about a current topics in the News Megathread
• ⭐️ September Movie Nominations ⭐️

reminders:

• 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
• 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
• 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
• 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
• 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog

Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

Aid:

• 🌈 LGBTQ+ Resource Post
• 💚 Resources for Palestine
• 🐌☕ Zapatista Coffee

Theory:

• ❤️Foundations of Leninism
• ❤️Anarchism and Other Essays

What states should other gender identities and sexualities get?

Personally I'm claiming New York for bisexuals

Have any queer vibes to share? Here's your place!

Talk about what’s happening queerly in your life - like coming out, getting HRT, questioning, and all that good stuff.

No cishets allowed!

Have any queer vibes to share? Here's your place!

Talk about what’s happening queerly in your life - like coming out, getting HRT, questioning, and all that good stuff.

No cishets allowed!

Does anyone have experience figuring out if they're aro/ace? This is all over been thinking about lately. I've realized I've never imagined myself in a relationship, I only tried dating because it felt like I was supposed to. I don't relate to the idea of having a crush or being in love. I've lived alone for the past 7 years and only went on dates when prodded.

I used to feel bad about it, like I was missing something, but also I realized I've never attempting dating completely unprompted.

I'm otherwise ok with myself. I don't feel like something's missing, but I do feel very awkward around other people since my life is a lot more solitary. Never having a romantic partner would be alright with me, but I'm struggling with my self-image and how I'm gonna relate to people for the rest of my life. Since I'm at an age where most of my peers have lives revolving around spouses and kids. Am I aro/ace then or do I gotta do more examination of myself?

Have any queer vibes to share? Here's your place!

Talk about what’s happening queerly in your life - like coming out, getting HRT, questioning, and all that good stuff.

No cishets allowed!

linky

Title

Have any queer vibes to share? Here's your place!

Talk about what’s happening queerly in your life - like coming out, getting HRT, questioning, and all that good stuff.

No cishets allowed!

I'm sure anyone using this would be thrilled to get my hairy non-binary ass pulling up

I was high as shit with a hot they/them