A fresh wave of compassionate, insightful feminist discussion debuted January 1 with the launch of the Conversations Project, housed on a special section of trans author Cristan Williams’s TransAdvocate blog.
The groundbreaking online history venture, found at Radfem.TransAdvocate.com, unearths extensive proof that radical feminism has always welcomed transgender people. […]
[via Advocate.com]
and a lot of what this comes down to is that “nonbinary” is not a functional term and does not comprise any kind of coherent or cohesive identity or group of identities under patriarchy. it’s not a social locator
you could identify as nonbinary and have literally any relationship with patriarchy & misogyny (from having the power to exploit it to being exploited by it). the term itself doesn’t convey that information
this insistence on the fact that lesbianism is an identity based in womanhood + prioritising womanhood is because “woman” is a social locator, it’s a clear indicator of a specific relationship to gendered violence where “nonbinary” is not. “nonbinary” could mean anything
when we say that lesbians have to be women (of some kind) who are only interested in relationships with women (of some kind), we’re referring to a social indicator (”woman”) to get a reference to a social location (”exploited by patriarchy”). some self-identified nonbinary people exist in that social location (i.e., the ones who “can be” lesbians), but obviously not all do
insisting that any nonbinary person can be a lesbian is to open the identity to people who have the power to exploit women, which is… obviously the opposite of the point. that’s what we’re objecting to
a little while ago I made this post (might be best to go skim that first), and since then I have gotten a lot of response from people wanting to contribute.
The point of the zine would be to address how nonbinary people experience sexism and gender-related oppression, and how nonbinary people fit into feminism, while addressing intersectionality and diversity of experiences and creating a discourse that doesnt hinge on dichotomies of any sort.
So I’m making this post to clarify what kind of pieces I want, and what kind of piece I do not want.
Personal stories and anecdotes are great, but my intention is for this zine to focus on the feminist theory, not to be a collection of stories. If you want to use accounts of your personal experience to illustrate or reinforce your thoughts on a certain topic thats fine, but im not looking for just a bunch of personal stories from ppl about times they’ve experienced sexism.
I’m not looking for input from anyone who equates the experience of being assigned female at birth, or being perceived as female, to having “female experiences”, or insight into womanhood. If your feminism isn’t trans feminism I don’t want it in the zine. CAFAB* contributors should have an understanding that the only “female/women’s experiences” are experiences had by women, including trans women. This means that any experience had by a trans woman (including being perceived as male, including everything that they experienced before realizing they were trans, coming out, or transitioning, including everything they will experience in their lifetimes even if they choose not to transition). So by extension, nothing experienced by someone who is not (at least partially) female, is a female experience. Only CAFAB people who have a thorough understanding of that concept will be welcome to contribute.
I’m looking for contributions from women! Trans women, cis women, nonbinary women, all are welcome. Since this zine is addressing an issue through the lense of feminism, an issue largely concerning whether not, or how, another group should be included in feminism, women’s opinions are top priority! Although the same applies, that cis women contributors should have a basic understanding that their experiences are female experiences because of their identities, not because they were assigned female.
I’m looking for contributions from CAMAB trans people! Whether or not you identify as women, your voices are important.
I’m looking for contributions from nonbinary people who identify partially on the feminine spectrum! Genderfluid people, androgynes, demigirls, anyone whose identity is partially or sometimes on the feminine spectrum and partially or sometimes somewhere else
I’m looking for contributions from people who do not identify on the female/male spectrum at all! Agender ppl, neutrois ppl, neutral, non-gendered, mavrique, aliagender, anyone who doesnt feel represented in male/female oppression discourse, I’d love to hear your opinions!
If you want to contribute, or if you have any questions, feel free to email me at lanepatriquin@gmail.com
_________________________________________________
*for clarification, CAFAB/CAMAB refers to anyone assigned X at birth who does not identify with that assignment. they are not intersex-specific terms.
Specifically, I want to hear from:
- people who explicitly identify outside of the male/female spectrum
- people who float between masculine and feminine identities
- people alienated by the male/female oppression dichotomy
- CAMAB trans/nonbinary people
- trans, nonbinary and cis womyn who have thoughts about how nonbinary people fit into feminism
often nonbinary people get overlooked in feminist oppression discourse and their place in feminism is unclear, or people attempt to oversimplify it by applying further dichotomies such as “men/non-men” and “women/non-women”
id like to facilitate discussion around this in a way that addresses the complexities of nonbinary participation in feminism and does not hinge on dichotomies.
some examples of things I want to hear about:
- how do nonbinary people experience sexism and gender-related oppression under patriarchy? diversity of nonbinary experiences under patriarchy, and intersections of oppression (including race, disability, neurotype, ASAB, class, etc.)
- does feminism include nonbinary people? which nonbinary people? how does it relate to NB people who not women, not men, neither women nor men, genderfluid, or who are simultaneously male and female?
- what are similarities between nonbinary and womyn experiences under patriarchy?
- what are differences between nonbinary and womyn experiences under patriarchy?
- identifying as a feminist/who is a feminist and who is an ally/whether there are certain NB people who should not identify as feminists
- how to participate in feminism as a CAFAB trans/nonbinary person without taking space away from trans women and CAMAB trans/nonbinary people.
- taking up space and differing to women as a nonbinary person.
- privileges experienced by nonbinary people (including diversity of experiences and intersections of privilege/oppression).
- Anything else related to this topic that you think would be important to discuss - I’m very open to input.
I’d love to hear from anyone interested in participating in this, sharing their thoughts, or even just talking to me about it to help me develop my own thoughts.
feel free to inbox me and/or reblog with comments.
