(no subject)
Aug. 17th, 2006 08:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adrienmundi(from a comment on someone else's blog, slightly edited to remove original reference, as it's a locked post; I'm basically posting here because I want to hold onto this for myself, though as always, commentary is welcome and encouraged)
It's probably obvious, but issues about passing, privilege, and starting possition have been on my mind a lot lately. A lot of my structural resentment (which is mighty) is tied up in external categorizations and assignment. I'm not a man, but it is extraordinarily likely that I will always be viewed as one by everyone initially, and quite likely long after that by most. The problem is that there are only two default settings, and from my starting place, no amount of hormonal tweaking will get me to where I can be 'other than man' (ie, woman). It's not 'woman' I'm after (and there's no way I'll play the policing/excluding games I've seen in most mtf/mt* folk) but fuck if I can't even inhabit social space in which my 'not man' status is visible or acknowledged. I don't even get the "well, sure, you're right, I'm not a man, but I'm not a woman, either"; it's not a choice for me. That's my beef with what I perceive as ft* passing privilege, but it's not at all my beef with ft* people; it's a constant, personal and humbling reminder that privilege problems are structural, not personal. Now, what to do about it? No fucking clue.
It's probably obvious, but issues about passing, privilege, and starting possition have been on my mind a lot lately. A lot of my structural resentment (which is mighty) is tied up in external categorizations and assignment. I'm not a man, but it is extraordinarily likely that I will always be viewed as one by everyone initially, and quite likely long after that by most. The problem is that there are only two default settings, and from my starting place, no amount of hormonal tweaking will get me to where I can be 'other than man' (ie, woman). It's not 'woman' I'm after (and there's no way I'll play the policing/excluding games I've seen in most mtf/mt* folk) but fuck if I can't even inhabit social space in which my 'not man' status is visible or acknowledged. I don't even get the "well, sure, you're right, I'm not a man, but I'm not a woman, either"; it's not a choice for me. That's my beef with what I perceive as ft* passing privilege, but it's not at all my beef with ft* people; it's a constant, personal and humbling reminder that privilege problems are structural, not personal. Now, what to do about it? No fucking clue.
