Today I start what I’m calling my Tranny Train Tour (even though it really isn’t so much of a tour, really). First I take the train* to Chicago, where by hook or by crook I end up in Hammond, Indiana so I can speak to the folks at Purdue University about transness and diversity on 10/27. Then – gulp! – I take the train from Chicago all the way to Dallas, TX, and wind up at Austin College in Sherman, TX where I talk to people and classes there about transness and self-determination on 11/1. Betty will be joining me there for a few days, flying in & out of Dallas.
Then I do the whole train trip in reverse: Dallas back to Chi back to NYC.
I’ll be back during the first days of November.
& For those of you anywhere near Purdue/Calumet or Austin College, do come and say hi.
Continue reading “The Tranny Train Tour”
Transgender Legal Rights @ NYC Bar Association
Our lovely and talented friend Donna is moderating a panel on Transgender Legal Rights this coming Tuesday, October 17th. Here’s the info:
A panel dicussion about current judicial, legislative, and political developments on the local, state, and federal levels, affecting the legal and civil rights of transgendered persons.
Where & When:
The Association of the Bar of the City of New York
42 W. 44 Street
New York, New York 10036
October 17, 2006, 7-9 pm
Moderator: Donna M. Levinsohn, Counsel, Warshaw Burstein Cohen Schlesinger & Kuh, LLP
Speakers:
- Pooja Gehi, Staff Attorney, Sylvia Rivera Law Project
- Sharon M. McGowan, Staff Attorney, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project
- Pauline Park, Chair, New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA)
- Franklin Romeo, Kirkland & Ellis Fellow, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
- Michael Silverman, Executive Director & General Counsel, Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc.
Me @ Columbia U., Tonight
I’m doing a reading from the new book and talking about queerness tonight at Columbia University tonight, 7pm, as part of their Queer Awareness Month events, so do come!
Directions/info here.
Answers (to the Feminist Quiz)
- In what year, and how, did American women get the vote?
1920, 19th Amendment - Who is the only woman the United States government has ever honored with a commemorative coin?
Susan B. Anthony - Looking at a photograph of famous women at the formation of the National Women’s Political Caucus, Nixon asked his secretary of state what he thought it looked like. What was the response?
A burlesque - When did the first issue of Ms. Magazine appear?
first Dec 20, 1971 as a 40-pg supplement in New York magazine
first full issue was in the spring of 1972 - What important document was issued at Seneca Falls, NY, in 1848?
The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions - When, and by whom, was the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) introduced?
1923, the National Woma(e?)n’s Party - What was referred to in Washington as the “Bunny Law”?
The sex provision in the Civil Rights Act - What common feminist slogan was first used at an anti-war protest in Washington DC in 1968?
Sisterhood is powerful - On the subject of slogans – The office of the editor-in-chief of a popular women’s magazine was taken over for nine hours on March 18, 1970 by a large group of women led by Susan Brownmiller. What magazine was it, and what was and is still the slogan of the magazine?
Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman - What was the Oak Room Invasion of 1969?
NOW sponsored an invasion of the men¹s-only clubroom at The Plaza in NYC - How was Our Bodies, Ourselves written? By whom?
12 white, middle-class women ages 24-40 in Boston, 1969 were involved in a group. The book emerged from a series of papers from the group. - When was the National Organization of Women (NOW) founded? What was its policy towards men at the time? Who was its first chair?
1966, men were very specifically INCLUDED, Dr. Kathryn F. Clarenbach - Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique is one of the most famous feminist works, and the theory is widely known. It is less well known that she has also written about the feminist mystique, in her later book, The Second Stage. What is this feminist mystique?
A false polarization of feminist and family‹a denial that the core of who a woman is is fulfilled by love, nurture, and home. It is possible to have a home, family and love and still be feminist, she says. - Who wrote the book Confessions of a Feminist Man?
Floyd Dell - On the fiftieth anniversary of women’s suffrage, there was a large demonstration on 5th Ave, NYC. What was the march?
[The first annual (not critical)] Women¹s March For Equality - Who was Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1975?
Twelve women - Who released the popular children’s album Free to Be You and Me?
Marlo Thomas - Explain the original purpose of the “powder room.”
men powdered their wigs there in Colonial times - When was the UN Decade for Women?
began in 1976, of all years! - When did NASA accept its first women astronauts?
1978 - Since what year have women outnumbered men in America?
1950 - What US college was first to allow women?
Oberlin (1833) - Describe the origin of the I.U.D.
pits were inserted into the uterus of a camel so it would not get pregnant on long desert voyages.
Thanks to Williams College for the quiz and the answers.
Feminist Quiz
- In what year, and how, did American women get the vote?
- Who is the only woman the United States government has ever honored with a commemorative coin?
- Looking at a photograph of famous women at the formation of the National Women’s Political Caucus, Nixon asked his secretary of state what he thought it looked like. What was the response?
- When did the first issue of Ms. Magazine appear?
- What important document was issued at Seneca Falls, NY, in 1848?
- When, and by whom, was the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) introduced?
- What was referred to in Washington as the “Bunny Law”?
- What common feminist slogan was first used at an anti-war protest in Washington DC in 1968?
- On the subject of slogans – The office of the editor-in-chief of a popular women’s magazine was taken over for nine hours on March 18, 1970 by a large group of women led by Susan Brownmiller. What magazine was it, and what was and is still the slogan of the magazine?
- What was the Oak Room Invasion of 1969?
- How was Our Bodies, Ourselves written? By whom?
- When was the National Organization of Women (NOW) founded? What was its policy towards men at the time? Who was its first chair?
- Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique is one of the most famous feminist works, and the theory is widely known. It is less well known that she has also written about the feminist mystique, in her later book, The Second Stage. What is this feminist mystique?
- Who wrote the book Confessions of a Feminist Man?
- On the fiftieth anniversary of women’s suffrage, there was a large demonstration on 5th Ave, NYC. What was the march?
- Who was Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1975?
- Who released the popular children’s album Free to Be You and Me?
- Explain the original purpose of the “powder room.”
- When was the UN Decade for Women?
- When did NASA accept its first women astronauts?
- Since what year have women outnumbered men in America?
- What US college was first to allow women?
- Describe the origin of the I.U.D.
(Answers tomorrow!)
John Money, 84, Dies
For more obituaries and articles, check the mHB message boards.
After consulting with Dr. Money in 1966, the parents of a young boy whose penis had been destroyed in a botched circumcision decided to raise their son as a girl. In 1973, Dr. Money reported that the child, who had been castrated and furnished with dresses and dolls, was doing well, and had accepted the new identity as a girl.
But in a 1997 report in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, a pair of researchers provided a detailed follow-up: the boy had repudiated his female identity at age 14 and had even had surgery to reconstruct his genitals.
The report caused an uproar, and Dr. Money was criticized in news reports and in a book on the case.
In 2004, the man who had reclaimed his sex committed suicide. His family blamed the effort to change his sex.
Dr. Money was mortified by the case, colleagues said, and as a rule did not discuss it. “Given what the field knew at the time, Money made the right call about what to do†with the child, said Dr. Richard Green, a former colleague and an emeritus professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “It’s easy in hindsight to say it was wrong, but I would have done the same thing.â€
Five Questions With… J. Michael Bailey
J. Michael Bailey is the author of the much-heralded The Man Who Would Be Queen as well as one of the authors of a groundbreaking study on bisexuality released last year.
1. So, Prof. Bailey, what amazing things have you discovered about tomboys? Have you worked out that we’re more likely to beat you up in the bathroom if you say stupid shit about us, like you do about everyone else you study?
Thank you, Helen. I’m glad you asked that question. In fact, the title of my next book is “Tomboys: The Girls Who, if They Existed, Would Be Dykes”. It is a nonscientific scientific popular nonscience book, so it is pretty easy to digest. I’m proud to say that much of the work that went into writing the book was conducting in and around the campus. We’re engaged in exciting, cutting edge research here at Northwestern, and, assuming that human subjects rules apply, or even if they don’t, we are doing it safely. I think. Yes, there has been some controversy stirred up by a few hysterical ‘tomboy activists’, or, as I like to call them, ‘dykes’, but when you are on the cutting edge of scientific nonscience popular science, you learn to take these, um, blows.
Mostly, these dykivists have taken issue with the last third of my book, which deals with the simple fact that tomboys do not exist. Oh, they think they do. Their parents may even think they do. But I can quote many esteemed references I’ve never actually read to bolster the point that people often are deluded and lying when they speak to me. I mean, it just isn’t possible that so many people dislike me or disagree with my work. It has to be delusion. Has to.
But, in answer to your question: yes. If tomboys exist, then, yes, please don’t hit me.
2. From your “research” methods in The Man Who Would Be Queen, you seem to hang out in gay/trans bars a lot. I do too, so I understand. But I hang out in them because I love trannies, while you seem to have more of a love/hate relationship with transwomen. What gives?
Any reasonable person will conclude that I am very sympathetic to the plight of gender nonconforming boys. Very sympathetic. Very, very VERY sympathetic. Any reasonably observant person who happened to be at my favorite bar, Chick or Meat, will conclude that I absolutely love young, hot, feminine trannies.
As far as love and hate, well, yes, it is only natural. I love my time with the hot ones. When I come home, however, I have to spend a few hours in my Punishment Closet. Longer if I had to settle for one of the uglier ones.
As I have written in my lovingly crafted book, there are two kinds of transsexuals: the Faggos and the Uggos. So you have the “Homosexual Transsexuals” (Faggos), and, let me tell you, they are all pretty hot. These guys tend to transition early, date macho, straight guys like me, and make money as strippers. Then you have the “Autogynephilic Transsexuals” (Uggos) who transition later, are pretty homely, and if they can get a date, it is usually with themselves. Usually these guys can only find work as low grade prostitutes (ones who charge about $25 for a handjob, which really sucks because they won’t break a $50 or cash an NSF check).I wouldn’t date one of those men. Unless I was really hard up.
Or I couldn’t find a Faggo.
I love the Faggos. I’ve even loved an Uggo or two in my time, though human subjects and several pending law suits mean I can’t mention their names. I am not gay, though, just so you understand. I’m married, and everything.
3. Do you think bisexual men are really gay and bisexual women are really bisexual because that satisfies your fantasy of watching two women together? Or it because all of your research is really a life-long struggle to convince yourself that your interest in chicks with dicks means you’re still really het?
Yes.
4. So what makes your plethsmograph really bump up?
I am so glad you asked me that, Helen. As a matter of fact, Everything gets my Penile Plethsmograph stiff. How do I know this? I’m not just a researcher, not just a dedicated scientist in search of the truth, not just an advocate and humanitarian who deeply cares about the plight of transsexual faggots. As someone once said, I can’t ask the troops to do something I wouldn’t do myself. And while that isn’t completely true, I do find that I prefer wearing a PP. All the time. Sure, it can be an inconvenience; for one thing, not a few people have asked me what the wires sticking out of my belt were for, and I’ve had to switch to wearing sweats most of the time. The side benefit is that the PP does really make it look like I’m packing some major Academic Rolls, if you know what I mean.
Let’s try a test. I have in my desk a selection of photographs. I’ll view them one at a time and give you the PP feedback. Here we go.
First up: A picture of Seigfried and Roy. With a soft, furry tiger. Oh, look, it’s a boy tiger. A big boy tiger. PP reading: “Tingly”.
Next: The Eiffel Tower. Long, tall, hard, erect, with a bulbous end. Years to build, by hundreds of sweaty Frenchmen in the hot Parisan sun. PP reading: “Ooo, la la!”
Next: Captain Kangaroo. Moustache. Side Burns. Deep, deep, deep pockets. Sailor. PP reading: “Ping Pong Balls!”
Next: A place of Nachos. PP reading: “Call Doctor if Erection lasts longer than 4 hours.”
Next: Tula.
Right, Helen, I’m going to have to get back to you. I need to, ah, recalibrate and rewire the PP. Yes, recalibrate. And change my pants.
J. Michael Bailey at Homecoming, date unknown.
5. I know you think you can tell a gay man by the sound of his voice, but did you know most gay men can tell you really like sucking cock if you suck cock all the time?
This has been a real source of frustration for me, Helen. When some in the Stanford audience giggled at some of the demonstrations in my talk (e.g., my playing the voices of gay and straight people), this was all in good humor. I can’t understand the fuss. It reminds me of when I was an undergraduate, and I demonstrated how you could tell the difference between real black men and white men in black face (in that groundbreaking study, white men with black face did not want watermelon). It was all in good fun. At least, it seemed funny to me, and that’s all that matters, in the end.
There is a difference, I would suggest, between cocksucking for pleasure and cocksucking For Science. I would not engage in the former. I admit that, in my nonscientific pseudoscientific science studies, I needed to sample–I’m sorry–collect information about the oral sex habits in the gay community. As senior researcher, it was encumbant upon me to collect this data first hand if possible. It was a great sacrifice, especially once my wife found out about it.
So, yes, I have sucked my share of cock. But you have to understand that I was not so much sucking cock as placing some strange man’s penis in my mouth, then stimulating this wonderful reproductive organ until ejaculation. There is a difference, and it does not mean I am gay. I swear, the hundreds of blowjobs I have given have meant nothing to me. Not a thing.
Except that one time in Bermuda. Oh, wait, that wasn’t for research. Can that be off the record?
(Happy April Fools, everyone! Thanks to Mad Megan Bailey for standing in for Mike.)
Monday in New Jersey
For anyone who can get to West Creek, NJ, this Monday night at 7PM, please do. A substitute teacher who happens to be trans is being challenged on her right to a job.
For more information.
Five Questions With… Loren Krywanczyk
Loren Krywanczyk is an undergraduate at Yale where he first organized Trans Issues Week in 2004, as a sophomore. The 2nd Annual Trans Issues Week took place in 2005, and Krywanczyk is currently planning the 3rd in the series.
< Loren (left) with his partner Vera
1) What encouraged you to start Trans Issues week at Yale?
I founded Trans Issues Week through my capacity as Special Events Coordinator of the Yale Women’s Center my sophomore year, a job that entailed putting together a speaker series during the spring semester. I was at the time purely woman-identified, and yet for some reason which I am still not entirely sure of I decided that it would be a good idea to devote the week to an exploration of intersections and tensions between feminism and trans/gender issues. I met with Jonathan D. Katz of the Larry Kramer Initiative for some direction in potential speakers, since I had very little knowledge of trans/gender issues or theory, let alone key visible figures in the field. Through contacting speakers and getting closer with the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at Yale, I received a one-month crash course in gender while throwing together what became the first annual Trans Issues Week at Yale. The week itself inspired me personally as well as academically, and shortly after the series my sophomore year I began incorporating genderqueerness and fludity into my own everyday life and intellectual pursuits. I guess you could say that a personal interest and activist/education-buildling initiative sparked my organization of the series, but even so I don’t know exactly where that personal interest stemmed from at the time.
Continue reading “Five Questions With… Loren Krywanczyk”
Guest Appearance
Author Josey Vogels has a couple of columns (“Dating Girl” and “My Messy Bedroom” she writes about sex online that are also syndicated in several Canadian newspapers. We “met” on a Book Television show a few months back.
She recently got a question from a young woman who was confused by the hot sex she had with her boyfriend when they were both in French Maid outfits, so she turned to me.
Do check out her online column on April 7th to see my ‘guest appearance’ as an advisor, or check one of these Canadian newspapers for the print version:
- * Hour (Montreal)
- * See (Edmonton)
- * Current (St. John’s)
- * Halifax Daily News (Halifax)
- * The Baron (University of New Brunswick)
- * The Interrobang (Fanshawe College, London)