Feminism and Anti-Trans Sentiment

After a certain rant published in the Observer, there has been a flare-up of what is seen to be an animosity between transwomen and feminists (as if these two groups can be lumped into two monolithic rivals...), stemming from outright transphobic sentiment from feminists. I'd like to start with saying that I see people as individuals, and judging them on gender expression is pretty much never going to be something that I do. I judge people on whether or not they are nice to others, and that's about it. 

Feminism was supposed to be about creating a world in which men and women were truly equal, and while there have certainly been an improvement in many societies, the world is still not an equal place, not even in countries where women are legally equals, and therefore our battles are not done. Part of what feminism has fought for is seeing women as people, and not pigeonholing them by their genitals, so it seems exceedingly hypocritical when people who call themselves feminists go around pigeonholing others according to their genitals. 

To the feminists who are quite a way outside stereotypical gendered behaviour:

On this blog I often write about stereotypically "feminine" things like dresses and makeup, fashion, etc. These are only some of my interests, and a lot more of my interests are things that are traditionally "masculine", and I know very well what it is like to be mocked, bullied, and ostracised by other women for not being girly enough, and treated badly by men for the same 'reason', and I know what it's like to have abuse hurled at me in the street for not presenting as "feminine" enough for the standards of lowlife drunks. 

{It was only a few days ago that I had "Oi! Mosher! F**k off you lesbo dyke, f**k off out of town, we don't want your kind, you aren't even f**king FEMALE" shouted at me by a gang of yobs in the town centre because I happen to prefer combat trousers, army boots, a trench-coat and a short hair-style to the short skirts, high heels, and long blonde-hair worn by many party-goers that January Friday night. I was also still listening when the same yobs shouted lewd sexual comments at the girls in heels and short skirts...}

I know that it hurts when you're on the receiving end of the prejudice against those who do not conform to gender stereotypes, but the existence of transgender people does not somehow confirm these insults to be right, and it is not another attempt to say that you, as a non-stereotypical woman, ought to go become a man, because women aren't supposed to be like that. It is the way some others want to lives, and it is not an attack against yours. 

To feminists in general:

If someone born in a biologically male-sexed body has surgery or uses other means to alter that body into one with female appearance, and live life as a woman, then they are going to receive a lot of the nasty inequalities aimed at women, as well as the prejudices that exist against transgender people. I can see why they'd want to join in with the feminist cause. Actually, I can see why any logical thinking person would want join in with the feminist cause; because anyone with any shred of empathy would realise that a world in which half the population are treated differently and as inferior to the other half is wrong. On a lot of feminist issues, whether someone is cis-gendered or trans-gendered should only really matter to their doctors and has no impact on the debate. Yes, there are certain health issues that can only affect cis-gendered women, and that things like reproductive rights issues are going to be particularly important to women who can get pregnant, but to outcast transgendered women from feminism because of this is equal to saying that cis-gendered women who have had hysterectomies, or are sterile, or whatever, cannot partake in feminism. 

Spend less time arguing about who does and does not get to be a feminist, and spend more time making the world a fairer place. Being mean to somebody else is not doing anything helpful to make others not be mean to you; this is playground stuff, I shouldn't have to explain it outside of work.

Oh, and never, ever get into the whole 'suffering Olympics' of trying to rank each other's woes and out-woe each other. Everyone's experiences are unique, and the amount of negativity they will get for being a certain minority will vary due to various factors. Really, this sort of behaviour is just pointless attempts at point-scoring. 

World Goth Day 2012

Today is World Goth Day. I can't really "get my goth on" at work, as I work at a school, with children and as not to inadvertently scare the children or worry the parents (there is still a lot of misinformation about Goths and what we supposedly get up to),  I dress rather sensibly and fairly normally. I did want to mark World Goth Day, though, so I put together a slightly more Goth-inspired outfit than usual. As I normally don't wear all black to work (I tend to wear black trouser suits with coloured tops) and I wasn't  wearing anything that did not come from a mainstream retailer, the outfit probably won't arouse suspicion about subcultural tendencies. 

⚜ World Goth Day

World Goth Day has been criticised as being a pointless event, but I don't think it so. A lot of us who live in places where Goths are not necessarily accepted but are at least mostly tolerated and who face only mild street harassment seem to take the ability to be ourselves in public for granted. There are people who, for one reason or another, are not able to be themselves to a reasonable extent (I guess we all make small sacrifices) on a daily basis and there are those who are trying to be Goth in places hostile to any form of nonconformity.  There are several instances globally of subcultural types facing very real threats, from ::Punks being arrested, shaved and put through "re-education" in Indonesia:: to ::Emos being killed in Iraq:: because they are perceived to be gay and because Emo is seen as a western thing. Even those of us who live in places like the UK and America, perceived as "safe" places to be subcultural, can face the threat of serious violence, such as the unfortunate case of ::Sophie Lancaster:: who was murdered for being a Goth.

World Goth Day is a day in which we stand in solidarity as a global community, a day to remember that we are not alone in our unusual tastes, and a day to remind others that they are not alone either. Despite the threat of prejudice and potential for violent, even deadly attacks, Goths and other subcultures remain. The founders of World Goth Day proclaim on their website, "There are quite a few Goths who have fought damn hard to retain their identity despite peer pressure, family pressure and indeed, any pressure to conform, and if you've gone to all that trouble to preserve what you believe is the 'real you', don't you think you owe it to yourself to shine for a day?"

It is also a day for those Goths who through location, family circumstances, time constraints or other such reasons, don't get to participate in the subculture as they once did. Some areas are running midweek Goth nights (not so good if you're working the next day, but good if it's cheaper than paying weekend babysitting rates). It's an occasion to bother getting dressed up for, to request Sisters of Mercy and The Damned on the radio, to wear those platform boots that have been lurking in the back of the cupboard unworn for a year. Yes, theoretically one could do these on any day, but making a special day of it is a bit of a psychological incentive.  

⚜ Outfit

The weather has been very warm (by Scottish standards), so I went for a floatier blouse than usual and no jacket or sweater. Usually I am wearing some form of jacket, cardigan or sweater, usually a blazer, but those are not relevant to this post. It has quite a high neckline, even if the top section is mesh, and the top of the more opaque section stops above my cleavage line. I do not think it appropriate to my position to be showing cleavage at work, and the sun is bright enough to burn my delicate pale skin. I always wear trousers a bit like this to work.  

I wish my bedroom was the same purple as the hall.

My watch was £8.50 in a charity shop, it has an extra-long wrap-around strap that I arrange differently every day, I think it is the perfect blend of funky and sensible. I don't normally wear a watch outside of work, but it's far too useful at work for me to not wear one. The necklace is Scottish, bought here and made here, with a "stone" of what I think is thistle-purple glass. To me, it is just an oval with interlace designs, but it is just Cross-ish enough to hopefully avert any suspicion caused by the Pentacle. I don't want to wear a Christian cross when I'm Pagan, but I also worry that some people may have heard equally venomous rumours about Pagans as they have Goths... Who knows what they think Goth Pagans get up to! 

Thanks to Raven for both of the photographs. 

My shoes are comfortable and sensible - a pair of those flat shoes with the decorative leatherwork terribly popular amongst hipsters at the moment (anybody know what they're called?). I walk several miles to work and back on foot so I need shoes that are comfortable, but I also need to look sensible and don't have the option of changing shoes, so I can't wear my hiking boots (that and they make my feet sweat when it gets warm).

My hair, by the way, is a dark aubergine colour. 


Not pictured are two other things I did for World Goth Day - one was clip one of my spiked cuffs onto my key-chain, and the other was wear a length of silver and black around my wrist. World Goth Day don't have special rubber bracelets, but a S.O.P.H.I.E bracelet would be appropriate; actually a S.O.P.H.I.E bracelet is always appropriate. I should really order one soon. 

Goth, Subcultures and Conformity

I originally published this on Dec 18th, 2008, on a previous blog, but over 3 years on I still find it applicable, especially as I still get the accusation that I'm failing to be nonconformist by conforming to a subculture, as if I actually adhere to the conformist/nonconformist duality nonsense.

I read a blog entry that now seems to have moved, or ceased to exist, originally at Subculture.Blat. I can no longer remember reading it, and appeared to be mostly in agreement at least at the time, although my opinions may have since changed and I can't remember what it was I previously agreed with, but there is one point I objected to. It is not paradoxical that we Goths look for acceptance in a Gothic community while distancing ourselves from the mainstream.

Most of the Goths I know are neither trying to deliberately distance themselves or deliberately join a group. Most Goths are Goths because they like the fashion, music and lifestyle.

Some Goths do make a point of rejecting the mainstream, of putting distance between themselves and wider society. I do. I have found popular culture vacuous at best, and dangerous at worst, and would like to have nothing to do with it. That is not to say that all people in mainstream society are bad people, they are not, it is just that mainstream society is centred around ideals that are often the polar opposites of my own, such as materialism, celebrity worship, consumerism, selfishness and instant gratification.

This rejection of these conventional ideals is not a purely Gothic phenomenon. It has been passed down through all the various subcultures from the Romantics onwards. It is why subcultures exist. Yes, some subcultures have replaced these 'mainstream' faults, and I do think they are faults, with faults of their own, but the thread of realisation that living a self-serving life of materialism, greed and instant gratification is a path to ruin has been kept. Some of these subcultures have changed the world. Modern society, modern conventional society as well as modern subcultural society, has been forever changed by the hippies of the 1960s, for better and for worse.

But rejection of the mainstream does not mean rejection of any form of society. We may have been outcasted by ordinary society, and we may have deliberately distanced ourselves from ordinary society, but this does not mean we do not want to be in a community, and do mot value altruism, friendship and participation in the wider world. No, all it means is we do not want to be a part of a culture whose values we reject, and are quite happy to form subcultures, and interact between various subcultures, in groups that are almost contemporary tribes formed by common ideals, fashions and mini cultures rather than by nationality or heritage.

It is not that we reject being accepted, it is that we reject being part of the majority, or at least this is true for me. It is not that I think myself "better off alone", just better off away from the annoying banality of the ordinary, away from an empty popular culture and a society that is consuming itself. Rejection of one group does not mean a rejection of the idea of groups. It also does not mean we want the mainstream to hate us. Actually, I, at least, would like to see popular society accept Goths as part of the world, and take on positive values from all the subcultural and counter-cultural communities.

Goths who are desperately trying to be as alternate as possible, with the sole intention of being as different as possible from everyone else are not the majority of Goths, and it is not a case of just trying to avoid conforming to anything. Most Goths realise that they are conforming to what is expected of Goth, and most of them aren't doing it to fit in, they're doing it because they genuinely like it. I still wear colours occasionally, and I listen to folk and classical music, and I don't think it makes me any less Goth, I think it just makes me more me...

I don't like people who deliberately try to be as different from everybody else as possible, trying to distance themselves and reject everyone, usually because they have been rejected by everyone, dressing "to shock others... ...forcing the world to recognise them, but refusing to be a part of it", simultaneously crying for attention and pushing the world away. It does not seem to me a mature way to deal with the situation. I acted like that when I was about 13 or 14, and it does no good. Thankfully most of those people, like me, grow out of it. Thankfully most of them grow to have enough true self-esteem to not require such social coping strategies.

I may be openly walking a different path to the mainstream, but I do not do so out of bitterness and a desire for attention. I do so because that is the road I wish to walk. I accept that I am human, completely human, and I do not think holding something in common with other human beings a fault. I realise that I have my faults. I suspect my road probably has faults I cannot see from where I stand. I do not see difference as a virtue, nor as a vice, just as something that is.

I may reject mainstream society, but I do not reject humanity, and I think a lot of people are good people, and a lot of people are moving away from the faults of modern society as those faults become ever more apparent. I have also noticed that what was the mainstream is slowly holding less sway. Progress seems to be being attained by inches, but there is progress.