Pro-Choice, Writ Large

by Shaker Caitiecat, who was born intersexed, designated male, and was the most surprised little boy in the class when she got her period. She's not saying what her surgical situation is, because frankly, it's none of your business, but she's had 17 years as an immigrant to women's country, and has grown happier with each day since her enlistment in that Monstrous Regiment. Take that, gatekeeping fucknecks.

Inspired by Ali_K's excellent post earlier, it has occurred to me that some women I know (and many more I don't) will have a concept that can analogize how intensely frustrating the gatekeepers and gatekeeping around sex reassignment surgery (SRS) can be to some trans people.* I know for me it was a click moment that got me to a much better understanding of how some women feel about being pushed around on this topic. I didn't want to derail that thread, though, so I asked Liss if I could add a post of my own to cover the topic.

A number of you have borne no children, and intend not to bear any, so help you Maude, until you die. And I'm completely and utterly in favour of your right to decide that, whatever your age, and to have your body behave in the way you want it to, and to not be moralized at and patronized over your decisions. And I also know that many of you've found that doctors won't irreversibly sterilize a woman who wants it unless she's over a certain age, citing "large rate of regret later," as Ali_K beautifully debunked.

That. That right there is kinda what those trans people who choose to have (and are able to afford!) some surgery are feeling, when our doctors tell us that we're not committed enough in some way they've arbitrarily determined is important, and that we can't have our bodies be as we want them to be. That we're self-fetishizing freaks who only want surgery so we can get off to the image of our transformed selves.**

Those who don't and probably won't "pass" well, and have been refused.

Those who choose to eschew the whole "passing" construct, and are refused.

Those who are black, or Asian, or Latin@, or people of First Nations, and are refused.

Those who are fat, and are refused.

Those who are men once mislabeled as women, and are seen as social climbers, and are refused.

Those who are women once mislabeled as men, and are seen as gender traitors, and are refused.

Those who don't have a gender, or prefer a neuter designation, and are refused.

Those who are young, or old, and refused.

Those who aren't gender-stereotypical enough in their new role, and are refused.

Those who don't fit society's definitions of "successful," largely having to do with making a certain amount of money in a prestigious-enough way, and are refused.

Those who are homosexual/bisexual/asexual, in their proper gender role, and are refused.

Those who are polyamourous, and are refused.

Those who are kinky, and are refused.

Those who have partners in the trans spectrum, and are refused.

Those who aren't highly educated, or educated "enough," and are refused.

Those with mental distress: depression, bipolar, borderline, pretty much anything they can label us with, and are refused.

Those with existing relationships, often, who refuse to be divorced, and are refused.

Those from the "wrong" class, or level of physical or mental ability / ($TiredExcuseTrottedOut to keep us freaks from owning our bodies)—the intersectionalities here can be tremendous—and are refused.

And I think it's part of why so many trans people are feminist—because at its root, feminism is about the idea that all people should have the right to own their own bodies, lives, and choices: What is being transgender except to publicly declare ownership over our own bodies, lives, and choices? This resonates with many trans people,* on a very deep level. Feminism hasn't always had room for us in the past, but today, in a lot of places, it does. Not all, of course; some fauxgressives still feel we're fair game to be used as an insult, because, y'know, one of their best friends is trans, and they don't mind.

But I'm daily grateful for places like Shakesville, where that shit just ain't airworthy, and where I can find ways to understand other people's oppressions better.

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* Please note that it is not correct to say "trans people" or "all trans people" here; not all trans people feel the need to alter their bodies—some may do one aspect, and not others. This does not make them "not trans"; they get to construct their gender and make their body choices as anyone else does. We are not our surgeries.

** If you think I'm kidding, I direct you to google.com, where you can search the term "autogynophilia." It'd be funny, if it weren't costing trans people our happiness, our sanity, our lives.