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You know, there were periods during its coverage of the war in Iraw when I forgot that the Guardian, for all the lefty-loony-liberal claims made on its behalf by both fans and critics, is about as progressive and radical as Anne Widdecombe in a 'Free Nelson Mandela' tee. Good to have a piece come along that reminds you what this publication really stands for.
The title alone is cause to make you groan - I'm a girl - just call me 'he' - the byline is just as insulting, wilfully ignorant and misleading: 'Hip New York lesbians are calling themselves boys'. The worst passage is positioned near the beginning of the article, to set the tone:
The girlfriend certainly was hip. Not only was she sporting the vintage pizza delivery boy look that is fashionable at the moment among downtown lesbians, but she insisted on being referred to as "he", in spite of the fact that "he" resembled nothing so much as a cute, not even particularly androgynous, baby dyke.
I was just getting my head round referring to this 22-year-old girl as "he", when in came another girl with long blond hair stuffed up into a chimney-sweep cap, wearing a customised T-shirt that read, "Some fags fight back". My friend introduced me to the young woman and afterwards asked me if I'd noticed that "she" (although the woman in question refers to herself with the pronouns "hir" and "zie" as more nebulous versions of "his/her", "he" and "she") was packing, and that "her" breasts were bound? I hadn't noticed. I was looking at the TeaNY menu wondering how you could have macaroni cheese in a vegan cafe and then reasoning that if a girl can now be a boy and cheese can now be vegan, then maybe the chair I was sitting on was a teapot and the dog that Moby (a "bio boy") was patting was, in fact, an elephant.
Elsewhere, we are told that the "concept" of FTM transsexuals "seems a mad one", and that it is for those who "can't deal with the inequalities of being a "she"". References to a "trend", "hipsters", "an interesting new pastime", and other such sneering inferrals raise the tired old spectre of They're Only Doing It To Be Trendy.
The conclusion is theoretically a trans-positive one: After all, the idea of identity flux, of being able to be whoever you want, is an essential part of the times we are living in. - but is this not invalidated by all the condescension, dismissive belittling and refusal to accept even the basic rules of talking about trans people in a respectful way? |
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