Date:	2008-05-10 08:59
Subject:	a walk down memory lane...(and Northwestern details)
Security:	Public
Mood:	cheerful
Music:	a History Channel program on UFOs

My family recently sent me this article about a trans child in 3rd grade who has begun attending school as a girl rather than a boy. I see stories like these all the time, but this one particularly touched me because the child is attending Chatham Park elementary school, which is where I went to 5th & 6th grade. In fact, it is the school I was attending when I first began coming to terms with the fact that I wanted to be a girl, so the article really touched me.

I can't even begin to imagine how different my life would be if I would have been able to begin living as a girl back then...

In completely unrelated news: people have been asking me about the details of my Northwestern talk this week. Here they are:

Thursday, May 15 , 2008
5:30 PM
University Hall 122
Northwestern University 

...because I haven't been posting much except for event updates...like this one:
Four cities, four events!

hey all,

this is a quicky email to let folks know about a handful of out-of-town events I will be doing over the next few weeks:

April 22nd (this Tuesday!) I will be giving a talk entitled “Transsexual and Trans Feminine Perspectives on Sexism” at California State University @ Sacramento. At University Union Ballroom III, 7 to 9 p.m. More info can be found here:
http://www.csus.edu/bulletin/mondaybriefing/041408mondaybriefing.stm

May 3rd I will be presenting a paper entitled “A Bio-Experiential Model of Transsexuality” at the Transsomatechnics: Theories and Practices of Transgender Embodiment conference, Vancouver Canada, SFU Harbour Centre, May 1-3. More info can be found here:
http://www.sfu.ca/womens-studies/rwwp_conference/index.html

May 9th I will be performing spoken word at University of California @ San Diego as part of their Out and Proud Week. Eucalyptus Point, 4:00pm, with reception immediately following. More info can be found here:
http://lgbt.ucsd.edu/

and finally...May 15th I will be giving a talk entitled “Transsexual and Trans Feminine Perspectives on Sexism” at Northwestern University in Chicago. More details to come...

in other news...

Out Magazine recently invited me to interview Candis Cayne for their April 2008 transgender-themed issue. Look for the issue in your local bookstore or you can read the article here:
http://www.out.com/detail.asp?id=23534

and finally, for you website aficionados, this past weekend I updated a couple of pages on juliaserano.com – it is now only partially (rather than mostly) out of date. Of particular interest to some, I finally compiled a number of podcasts & video clips with me on the “AV” page – feel free to check it out:
http://www.juliaserano.com/av.html

that’s it for now...
-julia
http://www.juliaserano.com

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know about a few upcoming events I’ll be a part of:

1) Julia does Michigan! (no, not *that* Michigan)

Later this week I’ll be in Ann Arbor, Michigan for the following 2 events:

-- Thursday April 3rd I’ll be performing spoken word at the ShAut Cabaret. Also reading is UM Creative Writing M.F.A. candidate Randa Jarrar, author of the forthcoming novel A Map of Home. The event is at 8pm, 325 Braun Court across from the Aut Bar. $5 admission. A portion of the proceeds will to go Camp Trans.

--Friday April 4th I’ll be giving a talk entitled “Transsexual and Trans Feminine Perspectives on Sexism,” at University of Michigan. 3pm in 2239 Lane Hall, 204 S. State St. Light refreshments will be served. Sponsored by Women’s Studies, American Culture, The Institute for Research on Women and Gender, and the Lesbian-Gay Queer Research Initiative.

2) On tax day (aka, Tuesday, April 15th) I’ll be performing at UC Berkeley:

Acting the Part: Exploring Gender Identity in Performance: Queer Awareness Days

In addition to my spoken word set, there will be performances by local drag kings and queens followed by a Q&A panel.

6-8 p.m. at the Student Union, Naia Lounge

Sponsor: Gender Equity Resource Center

3) in the next few months it looks like I have performances/presentations coming up at CSU Sacramento, UC San Diego and Northwestern University. And in June I will be performing in three National Queer Arts Festival shows, so stay tuned for details...

-julia
http://www.juliaserano.com/

Date:	2008-03-07 14:06
Subject:	more Bailey/Dreger stuf...
Security:	Public
Mood:	busy
Music:	none

Hi everyone,
For those interested, I wrote a column that was just posted on Feministing.com that discusses a few recent developments regarding Alice Dreger’s “scholarly history” of the Bailey affair.

Also, I am happy to say that my “peer commentary” on Dreger’s article was accepted for publication, giving me the surreal experience of being able to say that I have a paper coming out in a sexology journal. Anyway, you can download a PDF version of my commentary here:
http://www.juliaserano.com/av/Serano_DregerCommentary.pdf  

I also recorded a somewhat long-ish podcast where I talk in detail about all of the problematic aspects of Dreger’s paper (there were too many to fit into my commentary). If you’re interested, that can be found here:
http://www.juliaserano.com/av/EvenMoreDregerCritiquing.mp3
 
enjoy...
-julia
 

Date:	2008-03-01 17:48
Subject:	I am not ashamed...
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused
Music:	missing the sounds of Deacon, who was just adopted today...

...about the fact that I google myself from time to time. I know that a lot of people will say that it's this really narcissistic thing to do - as if you must be completely consumed by what other people think of you and are saying about you. But I think it's a pretty natural thing social-wise. After all, if someone were to say "oh, we were just talking about you?" wouldn't you want to know what it is they were saying? To put it another way, wouldn't you have to be somewhat anti-social to not care at all what other people think of you?

Anyway, my purpose in googling myself is not to hear gossip about me (although I have unfortunately stumbled onto that kind of thing), but mostly to try to find book reviews that I was not aware of, or to see what people think about what I've written, etc. On occasion, I've gotten really great feedback or have re-thought some of the things I've written/said based on other people's critiques or misinterpretations of my work.

So needless to say, I Wikipedia myself sometimes too. Back in October, I was excited to see that somebody referenced my writings on the Stephen Colbert Wikipedia site under the heading "transphobia" - a reference to all the tranny and "she-male" jokes he makes. Anyway, I was so excited that I blogged about it. Shortly afterwards, that reference disappeared. I can't help but think that my post provoked that removal, but alas I'll never know...

Anyway, since then, somebody was kind enough to put up a Julia Serano entry on Wikipedia (I swear it wasn't me!). I'm also cited on a couple of trans/gender related sites. But what I just found out today, and what I'm really tickled pink about, is that somebody put up a page about something that I discovered scientifically. Here's what it says:

The K10 transport/localisation element (TLS) is an 44 nucleotide K10 TLS regulatory element from Drosophila melanogaster. K10 TLS is responsible for the transport and anterior localisation of K10 mRNA and acts to establish dorsoventral polarity in the oocyte ^[1][2].

Date:	2008-02-27 21:41
Subject:	Hate Mail
Security:	Public
Mood:	annoyed
Music:	Creeper Lagoon

So I sometimes receive disturbing emails. Sometimes they're from someone who fiercely disagrees with something I've said in my book or that I've posted on the web somewhere, and they're really mad about it. Sometimes it's a creepy webstalker who's particularly interested in/obsessed with transsexual women. But I don't receive a lot of actual hate mail. But occasionally I do. And here's one I received yesterday:

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:46:43 -0800 (PST)
From:	"Christopher Sinclair" <chrissin2@yahoo.com>
Subject:	justifiable homicide
To:	hi@juliaserano.com

i posted this to my YahooGroup earlier today...

Hi everyone,

it’s been a few months since my last update. this one will be very short – just one upcoming event and a few odds and ends. but stay tuned for future updates, because i have a number of out of town/university gigs coming up in the spring, plus i’ll have some news about new writing projects that i am embarking on! but in the meantime, here’s what’s going on right now:

---------

here’s a reading i’ll be doing this week:

My Sucky Valentine
a benefit for the Women's Community Clinic and the St. James Infirmary
this Thursday February 14th (Valentine’s day, of course)
at Artwork SF, 49 Geary, (San Francisco) -- doors 7, show 8.
 
it’s an awesome line-up:

carol queen
sherilyn connelly
simon sheppard
thea hillman
julia serano
lori selke
charles gatewood
thomas roche

hope you can make it!

---------

here are a few odds and ends:

Whipping Girl recently received an honorable mention in Alternet's best progressive books of 2007! you can check it out here:
http://www.alternet.org/stories/75534/?page=3

also, two more Whipping Girl-related interviews have appeared on the web since my last update:

here’s me on the fabulous podcast SRS-online:
http://www.srs-o.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=76&Itemid=1

and here is an interview Velvet Park did with me when I was in NYC last summer:
http://www.velvetparkmedia.com/?p=516

also for Whipping Girl fans, I’ve begun a series of frequently asked questions I’ve received about the book. here are the first two installments:

http://juliaserano.livejournal.com/5394.html
http://juliaserano.livejournal.com/6195.html

two new-ish pieces I’ve written now appear on the web:

the first is called “Performance Piece” – for those who were at Fresh Meat last year, it’s the piece I performed there. it now appears as part of the “Gay Utopia” project:
http://gayutopia.blogspot.com/2007/12/julia-serano-performance-piece.html

Also, last TG Remembrance day, I contributed another guest post to Feministing.com called “There’s Something About Deception”:
http://feministing.com/archives/008112.html

And finally, the Queer Cultural Center has recently made available a video snippet(s) of my performance at the 2005 TransForming Community show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qw2cb6Jcjg
for those interested in that piece (called “On the Outside Looking In”), a written version can be found here:
http://www.juliaserano.com/outside.html#outside
also, video clips of other people’s amazing TransForming Community performances can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/dzbuoa

that’s it for now...more later!
-julia
http://www.juliaserano.com/
 

Date:	2008-01-22 13:03
Subject:	“bio-penises” and gay utopia
Security:	Public
Mood:	drained
Music:	none

Despite their interesting juxtaposition in the subject line, I’m sorry to say that “bio-penises” and gay utopia don’t have anything to do with each other (at least not in the context of this post). Rather, they are two completely different topics that I want to talk about briefly here.

First, “bio-penises”:
As someone who’s written a lot about the issue of trans woman-inclusion in women-only spaces, I often get people asking me about the “penis issue.” A growing number of women’s spaces/events have adopted “no penis” policies, which only allow entrance to those trans women who have had undergone bottom surgery. Even more frustrating (to me at least) are those events/spaces that are promoted as being open to women and trans folks, but nevertheless have “no bio-penis” policies—a blatant double standard that requires trans women to have had surgery, but not trans men.

In my past writings, I’ve discussed how "no bio-penis" policies are 1) classist (as many trans women cannot afford surgery), 2) objectifying (as they reduce trans women to our mere body parts), and 3) phallocentric (as they buy into the male myth that the penis represents power/oppression/domination/etc.). In other words, such policies are not only anti-trans-woman, but anti-feminist as well. And common arguments that trans women's penises may "trigger" non-trans women invisibilize the fact that every day trans women are physically violated and abused for being women too.

Recently, this issue has come up with Lesbian Sex Mafia – a NYC group that has a “no bio-penis” policy. Members of the group opposed to the policy have put together an excellent argument against the “no bio-penis” policy. I highly encourage folks to read it, because it thoroughly counters almost every anti-penis argument I’ve come across in my own activism! Also, if you support their cause, feel free to sign their petition as well...

Now, onto gay utopia:
So last year at Fresh Meat, I performed a spoken word piece called “Performance Piece.” In it, I debunk a lot of typical gender/queer studies notions like “all gender is performance” and “gender is just a construct,” and so forth. It is really heretical and fabulous, and currently one of my favorite pieces to perform!

Anyway, a written version of "Performance Piece" can now be found on the Gay Utopia website. Here’s a blurb regarding what Gay Utopia is all about:

..........

The Gay Utopia is an online symposium devoted to exploring that ideal
 realm in which gender, sexuality, and identity dissolve.  It includes
 poetry, artwork, comics, personal essays, reviews, fiction, drama, slash,
 and more by Ursula K. Le Guin, Jennifer Baumgardner, Dame Darcy,
 Johnny Ryan, Ariel Schrag, Julia Serano, Michael Manning, Matt Thorn, Neil
 Whitacre, Edie Fake, and a host of other contributors.

The forum covers an enormous range of topics,from early animation to
 Restoration romance novels, from horror films to shojo manga, from the
 kinship structure of ferns to the relationship between men and trucks.
  Some highlights are:

--Scott Treleaven classic 1997 essay on an unusual use for the orgasm

--Tabico's insect-sex-zombie apocalypse

--Paul Nudd's vile recipes for chutney

-- Kinukitty on why teenage girls need more manporn

--gay utopia questions answered by a Giant Squid.

Incidentally, this forum has a fair bit of explicit adult content.
  Please proceed with caution if that seems advisable.

In other words, the Gay Utopia has something for everyone.  Please come
 by and check it out: http://gayutopia.blogspot.com

A map of the site is here:
 http://gayutopia.blogspot.com/2007/12/table-of-contents_18.html
..........

anyway, happy reading!
-julia

Date:	2008-01-10 07:06
Subject:	TransForming Community videos
Security:	Public
Mood:	artistic
Music:	birds chirping outside

So in the past I’ve mentioned the annual National Queer Arts Festival event TransForming Community, which is dedicated to exploring the friction at the intersection of contemporary trans and queer communities. (an anthology of the same name and theme edited by Michelle Tea and myself should *hopefully* come out sometime later this year – it’s been put on hold as our publisher has recently had to relocate...).

Anyway, the Queer Cultural Center (who puts on the festival) has recently YouTube'd excerpts of individual performer’s pieces from shows over in the last three years. There are 20 of them and they are all great, so you should definitely check them all out!

As you know, I’ve written exhaustively* about the issue of trans woman-exclusion, irrelevance and invisibility in queer women’s spaces, and how this invisibility is exacerbated by the increasing numbers of trans men who feel entitled to inhabit women’s spaces too. A lot of the performers brought up this issue in one way or another, so I wanted to highlight a few of those pieces:

of course, there is me ranting about the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival trans woman-exclusion policy

Shawna Virago (who is a personal hero of mine!) talks about a similar policy at a bay area women’s bathhouse called Osento

Michelle Tea has a few funny and poignant words about why trans men are “in” and trans women “out”

and finally, the piece that I find to be the most brave and moving is Prado Gomez’s piece (I raved about this back in June after seeing him perform it live). It addresses the hypocrisy of trans men who move through the world as men, yet distance themselves from the word “man” whenever they find it convenient. Personally, I feel that this video should be required viewing for all newly transitioning trans guys.

anyway, hope you enjoy them all! -julia

* when I say “exhaustively,” I don’t necessarily mean that I’ve said everything there is to say about the topic, but rather that I exhaust myself by writing so much about it.

Date:	2007-12-31 07:45
Subject:	Whipping Girl FAQ: on the words, transsexual, transgender and queer
Security:	Public
Mood:	awake
Music:	beeps & boops from Deacon (an African Grey we are fostering)

In this, the second in a line of posts that address some of the more frequently asked questions I’ve received about Whipping Girl (WG), I want to discuss the ways in which I use the words transsexual, transgender and queer throughout the book. I’ve received quite a number of emails from people who have had a transsexual experience and who appreciated many of the points I make throughout the book, but who were bothered that I used the word “transsexual,” and/or who were angered/disappointed that I positioned that identity/experience under the rubric of “transgender” or “queer.” Here, I hope to explain my reasoning and offer insight into where I’m coming from on this matter.

First, let’s start with the word “transsexual.” I chose to use it throughout WG because it is currently the only word in the English language that refers to people (like myself) who physically transition to, and/or live and identify as, a member of the sex other than the one they were assigned at birth.

Some people object to “transsexual” because they feel that it is pathologizing, because it was coined and is perpetuated by the medical/psychological/sexological establishment. Those who make this point often prefer activist terms like “transgender” or “transexual” (with one “s”). As I mention in the book, transgender is an umbrella word that includes many cissexuals (i.e., nontranssexuals), so it’s really not a useful synonym for transsexual (more on “transgender” below). As for transexual with one “s”, I honestly don’t think that it looks different enough from the two-“s” version to make a significant impact. Perhaps this says more about my spelling (in)abilities than anything else, but I never even noticed the difference between the two versions until someone pointed it out to me two years ago. And frankly, I’m so over the whole misspelling-as-an-activist-tactic thing. I understand why second wave feminists embraced words like womyn, womon, wimmin, etc., back in the day. But these days, more often than not, misspelling seems to be used in order to avoid issues rather than to confront them directly. I am of the belief that it is far better to reclaim words like transsexual – to say to the rest of the non-trans world “Yes, I’m a transsexual and I’m proud of it!” or (as I once said in a spoken word piece) “Transsexual is our word and you can’t fucking have it anymore!”

Also, the pragmatist in me has some issues with attempts by some to completely remove the term “transsexual” from any medical context whatsoever. Having physically transitioned and experienced how profoundly and beneficially female hormones have affected my physical and mental well-being, it would be naive of me not to acknowledge the medical component (and for many, the medical necessity) of sex reassignment procedures. Thea Hillman has a great line in one of her pieces about how maybe we need to consider depathologizing the word “pathologize.” While I am totally against the conceptualization of GID as a “mental disorder,” I think that there are ways in which our needs to physically transition and access appropriate medical procedures can be met without simultaneously undermining/marginalizing us as a community.

While some people dismiss the word “transsexual” because they feel that it is an overly medicalized term, others distance themselves from it from what might be called a pro-medicalization standpoint. The argument goes something like this: I had a medical condition (GID, transsexualism, etc.), but that was corrected/cured when I physically transitioned, so now I’m no longer transsexual. Often folks who take this position will say that they are not a transsexual any longer, but just simply a woman or a man. Others might call themselves a woman (or man) of transsexual experience (a phrase that I sometimes use myself).

First off, let me say that I too fully and unapologetically identify as a woman - no ifs, ands or buts about it. What seems to be the pressing issue here is that many cissexual people view the word transsexual as being mutually exclusive and incompatible with the words woman or man. So when I call myself a transsexual woman, they misinterpret that to mean that I am a “fake” woman or not *really* a woman. While this pisses me off, I don’t think that the answer is for me to abandon the word transsexual. To do so would mean for me to deny important aspects of my body and life history. Those of us who have the experience of having lived as both female and male at different points in our lives have very real experiences, insights and issues that other people do not have. I fear that if we refuse to position ourselves as transsexuals, then we will not have a platform from which to speak in our own voices and have our issues addressed. And our silence will inevitably create a vacuum that will quickly be filled by trans-ignorant assumptions about us and half-assed theories about us forwarded by so-called “experts” (i.e., cissexuals who claim to know us better than we know ourselves). This is exactly how things have been for the last half century and frankly it hasn’t served us very well at all.

This is why I think that we should reclaim the work transsexual while simultaneously (and forcibly) reminding people that that identity does not contradict our identities as women and men. This is precisely what I tried to do in the book.

A final objection to the word “transsexual” has to do with the presence of the word “sex” within it. There is a popular misconception that trans people transition for sexual reasons (e.g., to prey on innocent straight folks, to fulfill some bizarre sexual fantasy, etc.), and many trans folks seem to fear that the word transsexual (because of the word “sex”) enables those assumptions. One can see the de-sexualization of transsexuality in the growing use of the phrase “gender confirmation surgery” to replace “sex reassignment surgery.” I think it also plays a role in why many physically-transitioned folks prefer transgender to transsexual. It’s as if the words “gender/transgender” simply sound more polite and respectable than the words “sex/transsexual.”

Given how regularly trans people are objectified and sexualized by society, I can understand why some might prefer the more wholesome-sounding “gender” to the more naughty sounding “sex”. However, there is a problem here that stems from the use of the word “gender” in sociology, feminism, and other fields. While many trans people use “gender” as shorthand for gender identity, in these other areas the word is more commonly used to refer to gender expression or roles (i.e., masculinity, femininity, androgyny). This confusion leads many people to presume that transsexuals transition in order to become gender-conforming or because we uncritically want to perpetuate sexist gender roles, and so on. This is not the case, at least not for me and most transsexuals I’ve spoken with. I experimented with and expressed my femininity plenty when I was male-bodied. For me, transitioning was first and foremost about my physical sex, not gender expression. Being male-bodied felt wrong to me and being female-bodied feels right. This is also why I forwarded the term subconscious sex in the book, because I feel that for many/most of us the main issue is our sex embodiment rather than gender expression.

So for all of the above reasons, I went with transsexual. I don’t think that it’s a perfect word, but I think that it is the most useful/appropriate one at this moment in time.

I also received a lot of feedback from transsexual-identified people who were bothered/disappointed by the fact that in WG I include transsexuals under the umbrella terms “transgender” and “queer.” To be honest, a few years back, when I first heard this sort of critique, I naively assumed that the people who made such comments were probably expressing some kind of internalized homophobia. I’ve since learned that, while for some this may be true, for most others, the desire to distinguish transsexual from the words transgender and queer is based on valid political concerns, many of which I share.

In many ways, the “transgender” umbrella serves to dilute certain transsexual specific issues (particularly regarding gender identity and sex embodiment) by conflating them with issues of gender expression and presentation that are the primary concern for the majority of transgender-identified folks. Also, some transgender-identified folks (including Virginia Prince, who coined the term) have openly and regularly expressed anti-transsexual sentiments. In its rhetoric - especially its social constructionist/anti-essentialist tendencies – the transgender movement focuses most of its energy on transcending/shattering the male/female binary. This can marginalize those of us who can’t take the maleness or femaleness of our bodies for granted, and who are non-consensually “third-sexed” as a result (e.g., transsexuals and intersexuals).

Similarly, I can now understand why many transsexuals object to being included under the term “queer.” After all, the greater lesbian and gay communities have historically and repeatedly marginalized transsexuals. Since the recent ENDA brouhaha (where many LGB people and organizations pushed for the passage of a bill that did not include gender identity), I’ve heard many transsexuals suggest that politically speaking it would be far better for us to seek legal protection under disability laws than under the LGBT umbrella (btw, those who have a knee-jerk negative reaction to the former strategy should read Jennifer Levi and Bennett Klein’s essay in the book Transgender Rights).

While I personally identify as queer (in a large part because my life partner is also female), I can totally understand, given the history and politics of the situation, why many transsexuals wouldn’t want anything to do with the word “queer.” In my experience, the word “queer” too often reverts back to gay & lesbian, leaving those of us who are transgender, bisexual and/or questioning on the outside looking in, or having to constantly prove our queer credentials. From my perspective (and I talk about this in the book), queer politics almost seem designed these days to uphold and reinforce the distinction between queer & straight, rather than sincerely trying to make alliances across all lines to eradicate that distinction entirely.

Given the way that I feel, it might seem somewhat hypocritical that I use words like queer or transgender in my activism and writings at all. The reason why I do is because I believe in alliance-based activism, and think that it’s important for us to sometimes stand with people who are different yet share commonalities with our experience. While different from one another, all transgender people are marginalized by other people’s rigid views of gender. All queer people are oppressed by oppositional sexism. All female and feminine people are oppressed by traditional sexism. For me, the words “transgender” and “queer” are most similar to the word “feminist” – I see these words not as identities, but as political affiliations. In fact, I’ve spent a ton of energy critiquing anti-transsexual attitudes within queer and feminist politics precisely because I believe that strengthening those alliances is important. No one gender-marginalized group on their own can change the system – we all need to work together.

So in WG, when I describe transsexuals as falling under the queer or transgender umbrellas, it is not my intention to non-consensually label individual transsexuals as being queer or transgender. Like I said, I don’t see these words as identities (although I acknowledge that many people do). My purpose for doing so is simply to point out similarities that exist between the ways in which we are marginalized, and the potential that exists in forming political alliances based upon our related marginalizations.

I hope this helps clear things up. I know that all movements struggle with the language that is used to represent their constituencies and their issues. And sometimes words/terms/labels/identities that become adopted result in some people feeling outside (rather than inside) the movement. I feel that the language that I use as an activist constantly evolves as I become aware of such issues. It’s only through constant dialogue with one another that we can reach consensus on such issues or (in lieu of that) at least respectfully agree to disagree...

-julia

Date:	2007-12-16 19:40
Subject:	video on You Tube
Security:	Public
Mood:	artistic
Music:	dreaded x-mas pop

so I recently found out that video excerpts of  my appearance at TransForming Community 2005 were recently posted on You Tube. For those interested, the full written version of the piece I read/performed, On the Outside Looking In is posted on my website. Also, clips of the 7 other performers (Michelle Tea, Rocco Kayiatos, Lynnee Breedlove, Marcus Rene Vann, Thea Hillman, Max Valerio, and Shawna Virago) that evening can be found on You Tube as well.  Enjoy...

-julia

Here are couple things related to me for those interested:

Today (Wed. Nov 28) I will be reading at Modern Times Bookstore (888 Valencia St., San Francisco) for the Word Warriors Book Release Party. Other readers include Alix Olson, Meliza Banales, Daphne Gottlieb, Nomy Lamm. It starts at 7:30pm.

Also, this Thursday at 7:30pm, 91.7FM (San Francisco), kalw.org will be playing a rerun of the program Out In the Bay from this summer that includes an interview with me discussing Whipping Girl. It gets aired again on Sunday, Dec 2 at 2pm, and web versions are apparently archived on the Out in the Bay website.

Also there is a new interview with me up on the SRS-Online website. An mp3 of it can also be downloaded here.

Date:	2007-11-24 11:08
Subject:	Whipping Girl FAQ: the necklace issue
Security:	Public
Mood:	calm
Music:	the jazz station

Whipping Girl FAQ: the necklace issue

So a couple of people have asked me about the cover of my book Whipping Girl (which is pasted at the bottom of this post) – specifically the fact that the woman in the photo is putting on a necklace. Their concern stems from the fact that in the book I critique how media depictions of trans women often show them putting on feminine clothing and accessories. I make the case that the media relies on our societal assumption that femininity itself is artificial and contrived in order to portray trans women’s femaleness as inherently “fake.”    

So if the media depicts trans women in the act of putting on feminine accoutrement in order to emphasize our supposed fakeness, why would I do the same with my book cover?

Well, the first thing that needs to be said is that while book covers should reflect the content of the book, they are also (from the publisher’s perspective) a major part of how the book gets marketed. In fact, most book contracts for first time authors are set up so that the publisher – and the publisher alone – gets to choose the book cover (as well as the title). I personally know several writers who were not particularly thrilled with the title or cover chosen for their book, but there was nothing they could do about it.

Thankfully, I asked Seal for veto rights for the cover, which they gave me. We had conversations about what I definitely did *not* want. Most trans-themed books have one of two covers: the dreaded half-man/half-woman image or the hyperfeminine figure in high heels, dress and make-up. Both of these images go against the main themes of the book: that trans women *are* women and that femininity can be natural for those who gravitate toward it on their own accord. This second point raised a dilemma for us, because we wanted the cover to evoke femininity without playing into the idea that femininity is artificial or merely performance. I am not a visual person and I honestly had no good idea how to convey that, so I left it up to them.

Seal hired someone to work on the cover based on our guidelines. They came up with three different versions. One was dreadful, one was kind of neat but not a good match for the book, and the third was the one we went with. What I liked most about that cover was the fact that you don’t ever see the woman’s face. There’s this double bind with images of trans women where if the woman in question has masculine features, it plays into the idea that we are “really men,” but if she looks unquestionably feminine, then people often mystify her (wondering what medical procedures made such a change possible) or sexualize her (wanting to hear about her sexual motives or exploits). I felt that the fact that you can’t see the woman’s face might make the viewer more aware of the expectations and assumptions they have about trans women. This was perfect as the book discusses the ways in which trans women are regularly perceived and stereotyped in our culture.

The other thing that both Seal and I liked about the cover was that the image conveyed femininity without seeming overly contrived. The woman looks feminine, but doesn’t seem to be putting on a costume or an act for someone else. I immediately noticed that she was putting on a necklace and that sort of bothered me (for the reasons stated above), but it wasn’t super-high-femme or anything. It didn’t look “fake” to me. While it wasn’t optimal, overall what I liked about the cover outweighed the necklace issue. Seal was happy with it too, and since I didn’t have any better ideas, we went with it.

Interestingly, just before my book came out, two other trans-themed books came out that depict MTF spectrum folks putting on feminine accessories: Helen Boyd’s book She's Not the Man I Married (which depicts Betty putting on earrings) and Transparent (which depicts someone putting on eyeliner). Both books are very respectful of trans people and experiences and I highly doubt the covers were done that way to purposely show trans people as fake. I think it is more of an unconscious thing where book publishers recognize that imagery as compelling without recognizing how it can undermine trans identities.

-julia

Date:	2007-11-20 06:25
Subject:	TG Day of Remembrance
Security:	Public
Mood:	sad
Music:	silence

So today is Transgender Day of Remembrance. To commemorate it, I wrote a piece called There's Something About "Deception" which was posted on Feministing.com yesterday - it touches on the myth of deception and violence directed against trans people. That got me thinking about an old piece that appears in my first poetry chapbook called Either/Or. The piece was called "scared to death" - here it is...

scared to death

[author’s note: I specifically wrote this piece for, and first performed it on, the fourth annual Transgender Day of Remembrance (November 20, 2003). I dedicated it to the twenty-five people who were murdered that year for being transgendered]

few people make it through high school
without having at least one classmate commit suicide
for me, it was tony newman
in eleventh grade
he locked himself in the garage
with the car running
the act seemed so unlike him
he was one of the few popular kids
who everyone genuinely liked
and every time i saw him
he was either laughing
or making someone else laugh
apparently, he never spoke about being depressed
and he didn’t leave a note
so the reason he took his own life
remained a mystery
it lingered like a lump in people’s throats

i had a theory
that i never shared with anyone
i wondered whether tony felt like i did
i was transgendered
although at the time
i didn’t have a word for it
but i was good enough at math
to know that statistically
there had to be at least a few other people
keeping the same secret
and i don’t know if tony was transgendered
but i put two and two together
because i knew
that suicide had crossed my mind
a few hundred times
and i knew
that i’d rather be dead
than be caught dressed as a girl
and i knew
how much it hurt
to have thoughts that you don’t want
but you can’t turn off

and now i know
that this is nothing new
there are statistics that suggest
that up to 50 percent of transgendered people
try to end their life
if not by suicide, then indirectly through substance abuse
and everyday i consider myself lucky
to have made it this far
although sometimes
i still feel like i’m only one step away from the grave
because once every two weeks
someone like me is murdered
for being transgendered
and these are no unfortunate accidents
no victims of circumstance
these victims
are almost always beating beyond recognition
these are attempts at total obliteration
and i can’t help but wonder whether i am next
because at least once a week
i get up on stage and out myself
in songs and spoken word pieces
and i worry that this makes me a target
because all it takes is one asshole in the audience
who feels that his manhood
is threatened by my mere existence

but i remind myself
that there are many ways to die
and the slowest
most torturous one of all
is being scared to death
because being intimidated into silence
is like being suffocated
in both cases
someone else is taking your last breath
so tonight i speak
on behalf of an entire endangered species
because i know
that silence really does equal death
and i know
that the only thing that stops injustice is protest
and my words are a tribute
to every transgendered voice that has been silenced
whether by suicide
or homicide
or those who are still alive
but frightened into keeping quiet
and i hope
that this piece will be
one of a million small acts
that together
add up
to fighting back

-julia

Date:	2007-11-06 22:44
Subject:	Wisconsin and some interviews
Security:	Public
Mood:	blank
Music:	a train passing

Hi everyone,

just wanted to let folks in the Wisconsin area know that I have a few upcoming appearances in your neck of the woods this weekend!

Friday, November 9, 2007 6:00 PM
Whipping Girl Book Reading
Location: A Room of One's Own Feminist Bookstore
307 W. Johnson St.
Madison, WI 53703
http://www.roomofonesown.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp

Saturday, November 10, 2007
for those of you attending the Women's Leadership Conference 2007 at UW-Oshkosh, I will be speaking at 12:30
http://www.unitedcouncil.net/wlc/schedule.htm

Monday, November 12, 2007
I will be at UW Milwaukee giving a workshop 
This event is FREE and Open to the public
held in the UWM Union Wisconsin Room Lounge,
2200 E. Kenwood Blvd.
from 7pm-9pm

also, for those who are interested, there are a few more interviews/poscasts you can check out:

Seal Press Podcast
http://www.sealpress.com/podcasts.php

OurChart
http://www.ourchart.com/node/154585

GirlSpeak
http://youngchicagoauthors.org/girlspeak/interviews_trans_activism_with_julia_serano_by_alice_costas.htm

that's it for now...
-julia

Date:	2007-10-25 06:04
Subject:	waiting for my Colbert bump!
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused
Music:	crickets

So sometimes when I'm on Wikipedia, I search using my own name to see if anyone is referencing anything I've written. For the longest time, the only result was on the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival page where my essay Bending Over Backwards: an Introduction to the issue of Trans Woman-Inclusion is cited. But today, a second result came up: the Colbert Report page. After searching through it (it's a *humongous* webpage) I found myself mentioned under Criticisms of the show:

Transphobia

Jokes targeting transgender people, particularly transwomen, are a recurrent theme in Colbert’s repertoire. Examples of this include warnings about gender-variant pandas,^[59] suggesting that a woman guest was a “she-male,”^[60] and a reference to “trannies” as “dangerous characters” from whom soldiers need to be protected.^[61]

Despite the obviously satirical nature of the show, members of the trans community have spoken out about these and other perceived negative impacts of Colbert’s show;^[62]there has been no response from Colbert himself. The transphobic jokes often rely on the myth of the deceptive transwoman who lures heterosexual men into danger. Author Julia Serano has described how many in the media use this image as a plot twist, and how this portrayal affects transwomen’s lives.^[63]

To be honest, I'm having trouble juggling all of the various anti-trans controversies these days. The ENDA issue has of course (for good reason) been the focus of much of the trans community's energy. Then there's the whole Bailey/Dreger debacle (which I am currently writing madly about).  And now, unfortunately, it seems like SF's upcoming Gendercator screening has been orchestrated so that there is little room for an actual community dialogue (which was supposedly the original point in doing the screening). Anyway, here's the forwarded post:

Please attend transphobic filmmaker event this Friday in SF!!

I am currently working on a paper (which I plan to submit to a peer-reviewed psychology journal) that challenges psychologist Ray Blanchard’s causal theory of “autogynephilia” (which has recently gained attention via J. Michael Bailey’s book The Man Who Would be Queen). This theory posits that all transsexual women who are not exclusively attracted to men transition to female because we are sexually aroused by the idea of being or becoming women. Many trans women (including myself) find this theory to be flawed because it mistakenly confuses/conflates sexual orientation, gender expression, subconscious sex and sex embodiment, and it unnecessarily sexualizes the motives of countless trans women who transition to female for reasons other than sexual arousal.

To refute the assumption that lesbian/bisexual/“asexual” trans women are the *only* transsexuals who experience pre-transition fantasies about being/becoming their identified sex, I am hoping to collect applicable narratives from the following groups:

1) FTM transsexuals: narratives that discuss/describe any pre-transition sexual fantasies you may have experienced that primarily centered on you physically being or becoming male rather than on the physique of another person.

2) MTF transsexuals who are exclusively attracted to men: narratives that discuss/describe any pre-transition sexual fantasies you may have experienced that primarily centered on you physically being or becoming female rather than on the physique of another person.

To refute the assumption that “autogynephilic” fantasies *cause* transsexuality, I am hoping to collect applicable narratives from MTF transsexuals who are lesbian, bisexual or “asexual” in orientation and who:

1) were stereotypically feminine and girl-identified as young children and transitioned during late teens/early adulthood

2) never experienced pre-transition sexual fantasies that primarily centered on physically being or becoming female

3) did experience such fantasies, but only after consciously recognizing/realizing that you wanted to be female

4) regularly engaged in such fantasies pre-transition, but then experienced a sharp decline or a complete absence in those fantasies over time. (Note: if you fall into category #4, please include any reasons/explanations as to why such fantasies no longer arouse or appeal to you).

Narratives should briefly describe the pertinent details in 1 to 4 short paragraphs. There is no need to be overly graphic or detailed - just the basic facts will suffice. Please be sure to include the age at which you first became aware of your cross-gender identity/desire to be the other sex, and the age at which you first experienced such fantasies (if applicable). Narratives that are germane to the points I wish to make will be compiled onto a single webpage that will be used as supplemental data for my article. I can assure you that YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFO WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED OR SHARED WITH ANYONE. Obviously, other people will be reading these narratives, so be sure to omit any unimportant info that you feel might place your anonymity in jeopardy (e.g., where you live or work, names of partners, etc.)

For those interested, please send your narrative to me at hi@juliaserano.com - be sure to paste the narrative into the body of the email (no attachments please). Along with the narrative, please include the following information:
1) whether you are an MTF or FTM transsexual
2) whether you are sexually oriented toward men, women, both or neither
3) a statement along the following lines: “I certify that all of the provided information is true to the best of my knowledge, and I give Julia Serano permission to permanently post this narrative on her website and to include and/or excerpt it in her forthcoming article.”

The purpose of my article is not to discount or discredit trans women who self-identify as autogynephilic, but rather to finally take into account the experiences of the many trans women for whom sexual arousal was not a primary motivation for transitioning. In other words, this study aims to clarify the psychological literature on this matter, not to distort it further. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that you be completely honest and open in the information you provide. If I have reason to suspect that any narrative I receive is fabricated, I will not include it.

Feel free to cross-post this call for narratives on any trans-focused websites/email lists at your discretion. It is also available on the web at this link: http://www.juliaserano.com/artifactualAG.html

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email me at hi@juliaserano.com

Thanks in advance!
-julia

Date:	2007-10-14 10:19
Subject:	"the gays" are pissing me off!
Security:	Public
Mood:	angry
Music:	a bizarre peppy jazz version of the Beatles' "Day in the Life"

"The gays" are really pissing me off! And when I say "the gays," I'm not referring to people who engage in same-sex or otherwise queer relationships (a group which obviously includes myself). Rather, I am talking about the people who identify as gay or lesbian *only* and whose homocentric mindset leads them to think nothing of marginalizing and demonizing the countless gender-variant, bisexual, sex radical, economically disadvantaged and unapologetically feminine folks in their own community.

The most recent of many such incidents is attempts by mainstream gay groups (and, in particular, well-off gay men like Barney Frank) to remove gender identity from upcoming ENDA legislation. Such legislation would only cover straight-acting gays, but that’s OK because *they* are straight-acting.

And of course they always frame it as though the trannies are the big mad monster that’s is determined to destroy their otherwise “pure” sexual-orientation-only movement. I’ve heard such myths before: whether it’s the lesbians who claim that trans women will oppress them by supposedly “whipping our penises out” if we were allowed in Michigan Women’s Music Festival, the lesbian filmmakers who claim that trans activists are censoring them when we complain about transphobic films being shown at Frameline, or A-gays who claim that trans activists are “trans-jacking” ENDA. The gay and lesbian movements have marginalized trans folks for decades, and now they act as though they’re the oppressed minority.

...smallest violin in the world...

Anyway, since I’ve been too busy with other writing projects to rant about the ENDA situation more, here are a couple of links to folks who have written eloquently and forcibly about this matter:

On the Trans Group Blog (where I sometimes post), Helen Boyd compiled numerous ENDA-related links and wrote an excellent speech about the issue. Also, Lena Dahlstrom wrote about how legal defense groups are opposing the sexual-orientation-only version of ENDA. And I linked to Christine Simone's blog post in which she discusses how the most vocal critics against including gender identity in ENDA tend to be gay men, and how the rhetoric they use is often steeped in misogyny/trans-misogyny/femiphobia.

Susan Stryker wrote an excellent response to John Aravosis's naive and arrogant Salon.com piece "How Did the T  Get in LGBT."

And here's Gwen Smith's Transmissions piece on the subject.

That's it for now...-j.

Date:	2007-10-08 06:44
Subject:	I have fallen off the face of the earth...
Security:	Public
Mood:	calm

...but now I'm back!

Sorry I haven't posted here in a while. since getting back from my vacation/tour in August, I've been swamped with personal issues that thwarted my attempts to blog regularly. First, my home computer's internet/airport connection began failing and it took a couple weeks to fix (I am still super-behind on my emails). I was also dealing with sadness (our oldest cat and one of our birds passed away in the last month) and fear (as it looked like I might have skin cancer on my face again, but luckily this time it was benign). But now everything seems to be going much better...

Anyway, here is my monthly update (sorry for being too lazy to set up all of the links properly) ...enjoy! -j.

julia update for october 2007!

1)    October readings
2)    new pieces I’ve written
3)    more Whipping Girl press and reviews

hi everyone,

so it’s been about 2 months since my last email update. I spent September mostly in “hermit-mode” dealing with a couple personal matters and recovering after a hectic summer. The northeast tour went great - I was going to do a big blog post about it, but then life got in the way... Anyway thanks again to everyone who helped set up and/or who came out to those readings - I had a blast and am looking forward to doing it again soon!

anyway, here’s what’s going on this month:

1) October readings

here are some upcoming events that I will be appearing in:

October 10, 2007 -- I will be appearing at TRANSforming Gender 2007: Conference on Transgender Activism at University of Colorado Boulder. At 11:30am I will present a workshop called Transsexual and Trans Feminine Perspectives on Sexism and at 5:15pm I will participate in a panel discussion; other presenters include Helen Boyd, Matt Kailey, Dylan Scholinski and a showing of the film "Call Me Malcolm". The 10am - 5pm presentations will be at Dennis Small Cultural Center, University Memorial Center Rm 457, and the 5:15 - 9 p.m presentations will be at UMC Second Floor Senior Dedication Lounge.
http://www.colorado.edu/glbtrc/transschedule.html

October 13, 2007 -- I will be reading at Seal Press’s annual LitQuake event. Other readers will include Rachel Kramer Bussel, Jenesha “Jinky” De Rivera, Daphne Gottlieb, Samara Halperin, Victoria Zackheim. Modern Times Bookstore (888 Valencia Street), 7pm.
http://www.litquake.org/the-festival/lit-crawl/

October 19, 2007 -- I will be reading at make/shift magazine’s issue 2 Release Reading/Celebration! Hosted by the editorial and publishing collective, with additional readings by Irina Contreras, Myriam Gurba, Nomy Lamm, Kaya Oakes, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore. At Mama Buzz Cafe and Gallery (2318 Telegraph, Oakland, CA), 7:00 p.m.
http://www.makeshiftmag.com/

hope you can make it out!

2) new pieces I’ve written

So there are two – count'em, two! - anthologies coming out in the next month that include pieces I’ve written:

the first one (I believe) is out already:
Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution
edited by Alix Olson
foreword by Eve Ensler
published by Seal Press, 2007
it includes two of my spoken word pieces (“Sleeping Sickness” and “Vice Versa”) and a new essay called “Exceeding Expectations”
http://sealpress.com/book.php?isbn=9781580052214

The second one (I believe) comes out at the end on this month:
Desire: Women Write About Wanting
edited by Lisa Solod Warren
published by Seal Press, 2007
it includes a new personal essay of mine called “At Odds” in which I describe the way I experienced my desire to be female when I was younger.
http://www.lisasolodwarren.com/desire.html

also, back in August, I had the opportunity to post an article that I wrote about ongoing J. Michael Bailey controversy on the feminist blog Feministing.com. you can read it here:
http://www.feministing.com/archives/007609.html
also, if you’re interested in this topic, you can read two articles about this issue that either quote or mention me:
-Bay Area Reporter:
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=2274
-Advocate.com
http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid48612.asp

FYI, I am currently writing a long piece about this controversy that I hope to put up on my website by the end of the month, so stay tuned...

3) more Whipping Girl press

so most recently I was interviewed by Helen Boyd on her My Husband Betty blog:
http://www.myhusbandbetty.com/?p=1682

some of these other articles/reviews came out back in August when I was on tour, but here they are anyway for those who are interested:

Washington City Paper, August 15, 2007
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=2321

Toronto Xtra, August 16, 2007
http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=3&STORY_ID=3469&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=1

Capital Xtra, Thursday, August 16, 2007
http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=2&STORY_ID=3486&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=2

Now Toronto, August 23, 2007
http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2007-08-23/books_reviews2.php

Curve magazine, Volume 17 #8, August, 2007
http://www.curvemag.com/Detailed/830.html

There are also a couple radio interviews of me from the summer on the web that you can stream/download:

Strictly Confidential, July 19, 2007
http://server2.whiterosesociety.org/content/SC/StrictlyConfidential-(19-7-2007).mp3

Out in the Bay, June 28, 2007
http://www.outinthebay.com/archives.htm
(scroll down that page to find it)

Radio Free Transburgh
http://www.transburgh.com/emilia/media/1/transburghjuliaserano.mp3

Also, Seal Press (who published Whipping Girl) has a new podcast series – my interview should be added there soon...
http://www.sealpress.com/podcasts.php

ok, that’s it for now...
-julia
http://www.juliaserano.com