Barbie Gets Her Makeup Done
I’m guest posting over at Beauty Schooled, one of my absolute favorite blogs ever (wow, I feel like I should start clapping my hands and jumping up and down now). Find out more about alternative barbies there. OK, that may be slightly misleading, but you should still check out the post. And the rest of Virginia’s blog.
Kate on September 3rd 2010 in Uncategorized
Shelly responded on 03 Sep 2010 at 9:00 pm #
I find the use of the trans in this post and the other one pretty problematic. You’re using transness as a synonym for “omg not-passing/overdone/why doesn’t that ‘man’ realize he’ll never look like a ‘woman’/everyone can tell/too dramatic/too much”. And that’s transphobic. Transphobia is ugly. Using transness in this way only serves to shame those who don’t “pass” according to a stright, cisgendered definition of what it means to “pass” and to be “pretty.” A person’s honest gender expression is beautiful, no matter what. No matter what gender they were socialized as, no matter what you think looks “right” or “correct.”
Jennifer responded on 05 Sep 2010 at 8:33 am #
I’m seconding Shelly’s comment. You’ve obviously got some cisgender privilege that you’ve yet to examine if you find nothing at all problematic with the way you’ve used the term ‘transgender’ (or, as in the other post, ‘transvestite’). It is not your term to appropriate and use offensively. I particularly find the way you’ve used it (i.e. intending for readers to find it humorous) pretty appalling.
Christina responded on 05 Sep 2010 at 8:54 am #
Love the post. And love Beauty Schooled. You’re funny and on target as usual! I hope Virginia does your makeup.
Kate responded on 05 Sep 2010 at 9:25 am #
I’m not really sure how well two angry comments involving the word “cisgender” portray a broader reaction, but I actually am not thrilled with using transgender in this context, even though I’ve described myself as a “boy in a dress” before, too, and feel completely sure that I neither harbor fear of or hatred towards boys or transwomen.
Some of the transwomen I know are about ten times hotter than me in terms of standard feminine beauty. With my makeup on, I got immediate reactions from men, communicating that I looked beautiful. The (successful) performance of feminine beauty is something I’ve noticed in a lot of the transwomen I know. Many of them are better at it than me. I’m not comfortable performing femininity in an extreme way. Neither are plenty of transwomen. But it’s definitely a theme in the trans community.
But because trans issues are so sensitive, and because I certainly don’t have any interest in slandering transpeople, I’ll take down part of the title of this post, though I’m unable to change the actual text, over at Beauty Schooled. It might just be too soon to make jokes like this one!
Erica responded on 05 Sep 2010 at 2:45 pm #
Hi Kate,
I’ve been a pretty regular reader for a bit, but I haven’t commented before and I’m sorry my first comment comes in this form.
I have third Shelly’s and Jennifer’s comments regarding the rather offensive nature of your original post. They’ve already made clear why, so I don’t feel the need to expand upon that. However, I do want to respond to the non-apology you gave in the comments.
The fact of the matter is that regardless of whether or not you harbor any ill-will toward trans (space) women (for the record, I don’t believe you do), the words you used are ones widely regarded as offensive to trans people and are often used by people who wish to deny trans people’s dignity and humanity. Again, to be clear, no one is calling you a transphobic person, just a person who made (unintentional) transphobic comments. It’s far more problematic, though, that when confronted with the transphobic nature of your comments, you refused to apologize for them and instead chose to comment on the “sensitivity of trans issues” and whether “cisgender” is an appropriate term.* Your offer of an explanation rather than an apology makes it much harder to believe that you didn’t already know that your comments were offensive.
*On a side note, the term “cisgender” is pretty 101 level when it comes to discussing trans issues. I am a cis woman because my gender assigned at birth happens to match my current and desired gender expression. My friend Maggie is a trans woman because her gender assigned at birth does not match her current and desired gender expression. When we’re not discussing trans issues, both of us are just “women.”