Oh Wait, There's Radical Reading to Be Done on LiveJournal Too! So Many Radicals, So Little Time!

[queerbychoice]

From rampling: Bush May Use Nuclear Weapons on Iraq! . . . though since he certainly will use depleted uranium weapons as used in the Gulf War, the whole region's going to be thoroughly irradiated either way. Well, it already is thoroughly irradiated from the Gulf War, but you know, even more so.

From queerchoice: Watch nontranssexual Gayle foolishly attempt to answer questions about why other people feel a need to surgically redesign their bodies! Um, it would be nice if some real actual transsexuals would help me out here. jonesyak? bulletme? annaclaire? Your intervention would be appreciated.

Comments

[jonesyak.livejournal.com]

I just skimmed over the article, because I'm pretty tired, but I caught the word "aesthetics ..." Am I guessing that TG and TS folks are being accused of transitioning to be aesthetically pleasing? Hardly. Simply put, the transition is an attempt to reconcile the body with the mind. Body modification, on the other hand, is an attempt to augment the self in a way to stand out or be unique. Standing out is the last thing TS folks want to do -- they just want to blend in. And while there are a lot of body mods in the TS community, I think this stems from a sense of frustration on the part of trans-individuals to make their body into something remotely likeable to themselves.

Don't know if that helps you any, hope it does ...

Drew

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

Well, the bottom line is that the person is asking a question and awaiting an answer rather than asserting anything outright. So I don't think what needs to be done in response is so much a matter of refuting anything as just, you know, writing a little "This is what it feels like for me to be a transsexual" mini-essay/statement-of-what-it-is-like-to-be-you type of thing.

"Body modification, on the other hand, is an attempt to augment the self in a way to stand out or be unique."

But "body modification" is simply the modifying of bodies, and thus can be done for a wide variety of reasons. Some women who get breast implants are doing it because they haven't got enough breast tissue to look adequately "female" to themselves, and they simply want to be able to look like "a normal woman" - to blend in. And a lot of women getting breast reduction surgery simply want to look "normal" too, instead of having men gape at them on the streets all the time. It's true that some body modification is done for the purpose of looking unique, but some of it is also done for the opposite purpose. Even people getting facial piercings are often doing it as much to blend in with one specific subculture as to stop blending in with the mainstream culture.

In spite of that - yes, distinguishing between people who want to blend in and people who want to distinguish themselves was a useful clarifying point for my thought process. Thank you for it.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Hopefully my comments on TS issues are useful. As for the idea of Bush nuking Iraq. I definitely hope that if he does he (and with luck all Republican politicians) will earn the enduring hatred of the American people, but I fear that won't be true. The US is after all the only nation to use nukes.

I tried.

[(Anonymous)]

I tried, m'luv, I tried. Let's see if it helped, if a bit late.

-Mary Lunares