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Jul. 29th, 2010 07:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adrienmundiThis is something I wrote for a local burn newsletter, in an attempt to try and minimize my own feelings of categorical exclusion and also plant some subversive seeds that might make it easier for me to stand up for myself. No idea if it will work, but it's something.
Your Preconceptions Might Be Misleading You:
A Transgendered Perspective on Burns
One of the most impressive and potentially liberating things about burn culture is its intentionality, the desire to create something open, expansive, creative and free. The ten principles lay out a basic framework that can serve as sign posts pointing participants in the direction of this loosely envisioned social space, but engaged participation requires personal commitment and reflection. I'd like to draw your collective attention to an area of concern that may not be immediately obvious, but that fall within the general burn domain of intentionality and inclusion. I'd like to talk to you about transgender issues.
First some basic concepts. Sex is rooted in bodies, and is usually assigned at birth and unchanged through life (think “It's a girl/it's a boy!” announcements). Gender is rooted in one's sense of self, how one relates to the self, sex, others and culture. For a lot of people, sex and gender line up in culturally proscribed ways such that the links between them can appear seamless or even invisible. (It's worth noting that one can be culturally congruent in regards to one's assigned sex and gendered sense of self while still taking issue with some of the more rigid pronouncements about behavior and manifestation. Someone can be an aggressive female tomboy or a sensitive domestically inclined male artist and not question one's sense of self as a woman or man.) For other people, that's not necessarily the case.
Some people are familiar with the concept of transsexualism, but it's still probably a good idea to go over some basic concepts. Transsexuals are people who don't necessarily take issue with the idea that people are either men or women, but do take issue with the positions they were assigned in it. Transsexuals fall under the transgender umbrella, but there are many other people who do as well. Some may view themselves as combinations of women and men, or (like me) neither men nor women but something else entirely. What ties ties trangendered people together is questioning the idea that sex equals gender according to the assumptions within their culture.
What does this mean for you as a participant in Alchemy? I'd like to look back at some of the ten principles, particularly Immediacy, Radical Self Expression and Radical Inclusion. Immediacy, in the sense of overcoming one's own barriers to one's inner self, as well as the barriers between the self and others, self and community that everyone creates at a burn, is definitely at play. Everyone probably carries preconceptions about gender with them, and this often enters into the very first moment of meeting someone. Think about language, for example. Instead of greeting someone with a gendered term like “brother”, why not substitute something more inclusive? Friend, burner, compadre, collaborator: the list is potentially endless, and an opportunity for playful creativity. Similarly, instead of telling someone “You're the coolest girl I've met here”, why not raise the stakes of the compliment and say they're the coolest person, free of categorization? Who wouldn't rather have twice the compliment, given the choice?
Radical Self Expression is definitely in the mix when it comes to gender. Engage the possibility that the muscular person in hot pants you think might be an interested girl might actually have an experience of self that is being expressed in a personal style you don't quite understand. It's still quite possible to enjoy the traits without attaching labels; a strong back, for instance, is always a strong back. Why not express yourself in that situation, if the spirit takes you? If you suspend your preconceptions, even incrementally, you not only give others space to be more themselves, you might also give yourself more room at the same time, and isn't that part of what it's all about?
Radical Inclusion: this is a big one. Everyone is welcome at burns, and everyone deserves respect. Being aware that your preconceptions about gender may make all the difference in someone else feeling a part of the burn community, as opposed to feeling like the same forces that make “reality camp” feel so unwelcome are present and unquestioned at burns as well. Be open to the possibilities others embody, and please, manifest your own. We could all do with more intentionality, presence, creativity and individuality. I'll show you mine if you show me yours.
* They may still, but their sense of gendered self doesn't rely on it
Your Preconceptions Might Be Misleading You:
A Transgendered Perspective on Burns
One of the most impressive and potentially liberating things about burn culture is its intentionality, the desire to create something open, expansive, creative and free. The ten principles lay out a basic framework that can serve as sign posts pointing participants in the direction of this loosely envisioned social space, but engaged participation requires personal commitment and reflection. I'd like to draw your collective attention to an area of concern that may not be immediately obvious, but that fall within the general burn domain of intentionality and inclusion. I'd like to talk to you about transgender issues.
First some basic concepts. Sex is rooted in bodies, and is usually assigned at birth and unchanged through life (think “It's a girl/it's a boy!” announcements). Gender is rooted in one's sense of self, how one relates to the self, sex, others and culture. For a lot of people, sex and gender line up in culturally proscribed ways such that the links between them can appear seamless or even invisible. (It's worth noting that one can be culturally congruent in regards to one's assigned sex and gendered sense of self while still taking issue with some of the more rigid pronouncements about behavior and manifestation. Someone can be an aggressive female tomboy or a sensitive domestically inclined male artist and not question one's sense of self as a woman or man.) For other people, that's not necessarily the case.
Some people are familiar with the concept of transsexualism, but it's still probably a good idea to go over some basic concepts. Transsexuals are people who don't necessarily take issue with the idea that people are either men or women, but do take issue with the positions they were assigned in it. Transsexuals fall under the transgender umbrella, but there are many other people who do as well. Some may view themselves as combinations of women and men, or (like me) neither men nor women but something else entirely. What ties ties trangendered people together is questioning the idea that sex equals gender according to the assumptions within their culture.
What does this mean for you as a participant in Alchemy? I'd like to look back at some of the ten principles, particularly Immediacy, Radical Self Expression and Radical Inclusion. Immediacy, in the sense of overcoming one's own barriers to one's inner self, as well as the barriers between the self and others, self and community that everyone creates at a burn, is definitely at play. Everyone probably carries preconceptions about gender with them, and this often enters into the very first moment of meeting someone. Think about language, for example. Instead of greeting someone with a gendered term like “brother”, why not substitute something more inclusive? Friend, burner, compadre, collaborator: the list is potentially endless, and an opportunity for playful creativity. Similarly, instead of telling someone “You're the coolest girl I've met here”, why not raise the stakes of the compliment and say they're the coolest person, free of categorization? Who wouldn't rather have twice the compliment, given the choice?
Radical Self Expression is definitely in the mix when it comes to gender. Engage the possibility that the muscular person in hot pants you think might be an interested girl might actually have an experience of self that is being expressed in a personal style you don't quite understand. It's still quite possible to enjoy the traits without attaching labels; a strong back, for instance, is always a strong back. Why not express yourself in that situation, if the spirit takes you? If you suspend your preconceptions, even incrementally, you not only give others space to be more themselves, you might also give yourself more room at the same time, and isn't that part of what it's all about?
Radical Inclusion: this is a big one. Everyone is welcome at burns, and everyone deserves respect. Being aware that your preconceptions about gender may make all the difference in someone else feeling a part of the burn community, as opposed to feeling like the same forces that make “reality camp” feel so unwelcome are present and unquestioned at burns as well. Be open to the possibilities others embody, and please, manifest your own. We could all do with more intentionality, presence, creativity and individuality. I'll show you mine if you show me yours.
* They may still, but their sense of gendered self doesn't rely on it
