ezs comment #4

Credit:  http://theflounce.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/article-header-326x235.png

work cited:  How 4 Black Lives Matter activists handle queerness and trans issues by Deron Dalton

Sometimes, everything just works, y'know?

Last night, I was surfing the Net, when my good friend of the ethers Steve Shives was having an extended conversation with his pal Crocoduck.  Well, they were bantering back and  forth, when Steve used a word which made me pause: intersectionality.  He was arguing that rather than putting the people around the feminist campfire and another around the atheist campfire, they should be brought together..

Now, about Shives' remarks, I see good and bad in them.  Granted, the majority of feminists go hand-in-hand with the atheists, but what about those who are either devout, or those who are simply uncertain?  A good example of this would be Malala Yousafzai.  Does she get kicked to the curb (along with her Nobel medal) simply because of her belief in Islam?

Then the next day came along.  It's fascinating when a particular word comes along and reminds you.  This time it was through How 4 Black Lives Matter activists handle queerness and trans issues.  This was a rather long essay, an interview with Kleaver Cruz, Elle Hearns, Arielle Newton and Kei Williams.  What struck me was how this most ingenious of words, intersectionality, came through on such diverse essays.  Deron Dalton uses it in their introduction, as well as Elle Hearns.

Oddly enough, the one place where I saw intersectionality most at force was at Liberty University.  (Yeah, that's the one where Jerry Falwell made his name.  Oy.)  On this morning though, Bernie Sanders, as left as left can be - in the House or Senate - stood at Liberty's podium.  In his opening paragraph, he made clear the differences the two of them would face, abortion and gay rights.  But then he got on with those areas that they would agree, namely the stilted state of our economy.  Now, could you imagine the Occupy movement standing arm-in-arm with Liberty University students?

It's not as farfetched as you might think.

What was fascinating was watching the opening five minutes of Bernie's speech.  My rough estimate would be 10 to 25  percent gave Bernie a warm welcome.  But this wasn't merely polite applause.  This was raucous cheering.  The loudest cheering was equal rights for women.

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

I don't think the men quite got it.

Clearly, the fault lines were being drawn, mainly between the thirty and below and those who are forty and above.  Liberty faculty are scratching their heads.  It's not that the Bible doesn't play a central part in their lives.  It clearly does.  It's just that they are no longer looking at Jesus as a hectoring figure, a  sheep-or-goats dichotomy (mainly Revelation), to looking - closely - at what he actually said and did with his life.  (Mainly, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and to a lesser extent John) In other words, Jack Chick's screeds need apply no longer.

Now, looking at me through the ethers as you do, you have no way of seeing me.  Well, knowing me as well as I can, I am mainly white. (I say "mainly" because my grandmother told a story about a Kickapoo princess marrying a white ancestor, but without evidence, it will remain the stuff of legend.)  But intersectionalities have their way of creeping in, don't they?

Yeah, I'm a white woman, but I'm a white transgender woman. Also, at age 39, I experienced a stroke which essentially left my right limbs severely compromised.  (No tears, please)  I get around in a wheelchair quite nicely.

I remain quite fascinated by intersectionalities.  And those that remain, they have gone from an intrinsic part of my being (mainly my parents, but especially my maternal grandmother) to a useless appendage.  Eh, so I'm white. Big fat fucking deal.

And isn't that what humanity is all about?

Cheers,

Emily

ezs comment...

Credit:  http://theflounce.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/article-header-326x235.png

On occasion, when a person reviews your blog, you are intrigued by what he or she says.  I recently had an e-conversation with Ray Soulard regarding my thoughts in print.  As I told Ray, the conversations that I had were spare indeed.  I really don't like to blow my horn that much.  However, he said that I might have  valuable dialogue to engage in.  I thought about it, and, after some consideration, I decided it would be best to give it a try.

The one  that I chose to comment on was in The New York Times piece "Who Gets the Transgender Part",  by Brooks Barnes.  In the article, he starts by drawing a comparison between casting of transgender persons and those of African-American, Egyptian and Native American persons. It certainly is an alluring concept; unfortunately, it's also a fallacious one.

We live in times which are both promising and precipitous.  As we look forward, despite all the crap that goes on around us, things look so promising. At the forefront, Laverne Cox is playing Sophia Burset  in Netflix's "Orange Is the New Black".  Janet Mock is certainly out there fightin'; she is a transgender rights activist and a MSNBC fill-in anchor.  

However, what do we do if things start to fall apart?  What do we do if Laverne Cox is given her walking papers?  As much as I commiserate with our African-American, Egyptian, and Native American friends, there are stark differences.  Chief among them is the relative newness of the struggles.

*            *           *

Hollywood has a tried but true method for choosing its actors; get as much money as you can and then spend the bulk of it on the stars.  And it kinda works.  Once in a great while the accomplished actor/actress agrees to union wages, but this is such a rarity it's hardly worth mentioning.   Because the Hollywood stars are such a rare bird, they get the big bucks.  And such is the case of Eddie Redmayne.  If by chance you were in a cave, he starred in the title role "The Theory of Everything". Now, next came "The Danish Girl".  If you were the director, and you had a chance to get Mr. Redmayne to play the title role, would you do it?

Well... it's not as easy as originally thought.  If you were the director and one who had strong thoughts regarding authenticity in the movies, perhaps your choices would be different.  I respect that.

I can only speak for myself.  Yes, I am a transgender woman, but I also am a crazy movie buff, and thus I have certain expectations of the director.  Chief among these is providing the actress/actor's professionalism.  And to put it quite bluntly, Mr. Redmayne is a damn fine actress.  And when we see "The Danish Girl", we all win.

Emily