The others have some very perverse ties to the same sort of break down an identity and rebuild it in the “correct” manner documented in Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine This is documented in Phyllis Burke’s Gender Shock:Exploding the Myths of Male and Female and in Dylan Scholinski’s The Last Time I Wore a Dress.

Bailey is a wannabee “sex researcher”, a cultural artifact of the 1950s when “researchers” would immerse themselves in the “gay world” so they could write shocking reports exposing the secret world of “perverts” that lurks in every big city. A Year Among the Girls is one I remember that exposed the secret lives of the heterosexual transvestites.

Mostly this crap panders to the bigots and is pseudoscience at best.

McHugh is probably the most dangerous of the above motley cast of dubious characters. He is an extremist Catholic of the sort that have restricted women’s right to abortion and birth control, a sort of Catholic Ayatollah, He was the one who shut down the John’s Hopkins program, his machinations are documented in Deborah Rudacille’s The Riddle of Gender.

I’m of the opinion gender as a term has way too many uses and that there is a serious need to come up with some alternative terms. This was obvious as early as the start of the second wave of kids with transsexualism in the early 1970s. We tried to use “core gender identity” (the sense of self as male or female) over simple gender. Even then we saw the problem of the idea of “gender identity” reinforcing the idea of rigid gender roles. Julia Serano uses “core sex identity” which I think is even better.

When Tina and I came up with Women Born Transsexual it was a statement of our belief that transsexualism like normborn (Sophie Siedlberg’s term for cis-sexual) is innate. For what it is worth I think the same of transgenderism although I do not think they are necessarily related.

I work in retail and I see the massive amount of gender role training kids are subjected to every day. This is why I find the Swiss Army Knife uses of “gender” really tends to confuse rather than clarify. I have often pointed out that gender is not sex nor should it be used to describe male or female but rather should be used in conjunction with masculinity and femininity.

Part of why I am now able to talk more reasonably with some of the people labeled Trans Activists than I found possible some 10 years ago is that there has been a backing away from some of the more questionable “post-modern” positions and a greater embrace of things espoused by folks like Dr. Milton Diamond.

Paul McHugh is not a fascist. Nor, in point of fact, are the others. Blanchard and Bailey are both well known as atheists, as well.

Bailey is indeed a eugenicist. That is, he has a particular idea of what constitutes an ideal human and seeks to make that happen. He keeps that fairly low key.

McHugh works for the Catholic Church. His views are based in it and then cobbled together with rhetoric for defense. He’s very, very good at that, and should you ever have the opportunity to discuss things with him, be aware that he’s a rather slimy sort when it comes to women.

Bailey is the the source of the concept that gay is inherent as he’s proved it, more than a few times. And he financed a great deal of that research recently by publishing a hypothesis — a theory — without evidence because he *knew* it would create controversy.

IT was not peer reviewed was not subject to much scrutiny, and is, academically and professionally, of little value whatsoever.

This is because the concepts on which it is reliant were literally turned upside down while he was preparing and writing it.

Remember that the overwhelming majority of research and opinion in these areas prior to roughly 2001 was predicated on the notion that gender identity was formed.

And within the last 10 years — about the time it usually takes for a major shift to occur — that paradigm was utterly reversed. By the very proof used in the first place.

Basically these assholes are right wing Christo-Fascist bigots with an agenda that is far more akin to misogyny and fascism than to science or medicine and you are blaming people who are about as opperssed as a class as any one class can be for causing their own oppression.

Now admittedly I am coming from an anarcho-left perspective but I do not blame people who are oppressed for the bigotry that oppresses them.

For what it is worth I too had to meet quite a few sisters to meet someone like me. There were very few who were political who shared common interests. I have met far too many who are bigoted and narrow minded, who are untrustworthy back stabbers. The sort who rather oppress others than move up in life themselves, who are selfish in word and deed.

I’m not semi-public so I can function as a counselor. I write to keep the history from disappearing and because I do have a point of view, one that does changes with exposure to books and thought regarding various arguments. I have learned the mistake of joining mobs whose thinking is not reflective of my own.

It is vaguely a badge of honor to get trashed by certain people. If they are reflective of those embracing the HBS label then they are welcome to it and I shall stick with WBT.

Actually as true as that statement is. The reality is that it’s a lot worse than that. The TG activities and agenda is making life more painfull than it need be for a lot of people. Methods of dealing with TS children vary wildly around the globe and it is like living a lottery as to wether they get tortured into submission by Ken Zucker or treated like stable human beings and get puberty held at bay untill they are of that “age of consent”
Kleinfelters, and 5alpha treated with total disregard for the child’s needs. Is it fair to blame that on TG activism, maybe maybe not but I blame TG activism for North Western and I certainly blame J Money for Closing Hopkins which affected gender clinics world wide. Both events can be blamed on TG activism and both laid at the feet of Charles Prince of darkness for transsexuals.
I take your point about newbies needing comfort but I can tell you that what happened to the so called role models around in my day actually held me back it did not encourage me. Some transsexuals seeing the profile of the personalities that are around today may very well think “If that is what is going to happen to me, I don’t want anything like it” It’s how I felt back then. When I met my first “transsexual” live 3D face to face, I went home and cried because my dream was shattered. She was nothing like me. It could so easily have tipped me over the suicidal edge.
Fortunately I did eventually meet the real thing, so I lived to tell the tale.

The reason I brought up “stealth” is that most “true transsexuals” are just that (stealth) — or, seem to think they are.

Of course the fact of a shared medical condition does not make someone a good role model or life coach (by the way — did you see that Jason Blair, the ex N.Y.Times reporter, fired for plagiarism, has re-invented himself as a “life coach”?). I was simply stating that many “newbies” are looking for support — anywhere they can find it. Resources like Lynn’s and Andrea’s can be comforting.

I know I used the internet an awful lot just before and after my SRS. I’d suffered so many losses, I was isolated — any connection to others was welcome.

With maturation came the ability, and willingness, to be more selective. I learned to handle the post-op sexual predators, and realized (very quickly) that TG’s in the LGBT world were not looking out for me, were not concerned about my needs, and wanted to use me as window dressing for their movement.

At that point I decided I’d rather be alone than make that bargain.

A friend once described the TS Successes on Lynne’s pages as a list that amounted to “TS’s with jobs” It was a tongue in cheek aside but I know what she meant. There are a great many things in life that go towards making a person feel of some value and we all need to feel that we are actually worth something and not in terms of money; it’s a matter of self respect. Having a job especially in today’s economic climate is quite a feat!
To take up the point made about young transitioners and role models would mean I am likely to be accused of trashing Calpernia or Andrea and I don’t intend to do that. Even if I felt like doing it what purpose would it serve. The highest profile TS when I began transition was April Ashley, I still admire her courage but she was never a role model. I chose different people. I just don’t believe that because someone shares a medical condition they are necessarily a good life coach.

O.K. — I can understand that position — (here it comes) but — Does that mean the only acceptable role models are folks who are so stealth you do not know they exist?

How does that help the pre-op who is negotiating her new life? How does that help someone newly post-op who is so frightened of being “read” (or, the thought of being “read”) that they end up virtual prisoners in their own home?

We are all in a unique position — for us, success means disappearing. Granted, since the advent of the internet, long-term, stealth post-ops can post under pseudonyms. Still, the advice given by many long term post-ops really does not seem help “newbies” very much.

Both TS Roadmap and Lynn Conway’s list of successful TS’s serve to bolster the spirits of both pre-ops and those newly post-op.

Though I find their use of “transgender” to be somewhat questionable, it is a widely used term, easily understood — and, I guess you pick your fights where they will have the most impact.

For some folks, seeing that “public profile”, actually gives them hope — many fear they will NEVER blend in, will never be able to move on, and become stealth – be it due to family, employment, or just a need to stay in the same place. It takes a while for folks like that blend in.

At the same time — who wrote the rule saying you HAVE to be stealth? Some folks are not, and lead lives they find satisfying. Is it necessary to castigate them because their choices do not meet with your approval? I do not have to agree with them — but, as long as they leave me alone, why must I attack them?

I find it interesting that a person hiding behind a false persona, a false name, uses her entire blog attacking Suzan. Not only that, she uses every variation of Suzan’s name in what appears to be a way to make it simple for anyone to out her. This sort of attack simply because someone does not agree with you, and does not want to be attacked on her own blog, goes well beyond being rude.

Discussion is one thing — personal attacks are quite another.

Neither attacks from TG folks nor those from post-ops are acceptable. Disagreements are no reason to misrepresent, lie about, invent, reasons to escalate an argument to the level of feud.

Suzan and I lead very peaceful, prosaic, middle class lives. We are not involved with either LGBT, or TG groups. At the same time — we are two women living together as partners. That makes us lesbians — anything that affects the rights of LGBT people affects us. Those who complain about our support of LGBT causes seem to want us to go against our own self-interest — while supporting theirs.

Does that really make any sense to anyone?

I thought not.

Calpernia doesn’t know anything more about transition than anyone else does. The fact that she gives that kind of advice to new transitioners really bothers me. This insipid cult of personality that goes on in GLBT circles is creating an atmosphere of failure for people who just want to address their problems and move on.

Telling people they are never done is practically constitutes a recruiting tool for the transgender crowd. Where else is a person to go if they have that drumming in their head?