First, though, a few administrative things:
1. Don't forget that your 'Zine Project proposals (one per group) are due on Thursday at the start of class.
2. Also don't forget that you have some reading to do in preparation for Thursday's class.
3. As part of that reading, please complete the exercises on pp. 74-76 of Bornstein. You'll hand these in to me for credit toward your class participation mark, but we'll also be discussing your answers/experiences in class.
4. Remember that class will meet in Y224 on Thursday.
5. Please join us for the reception directly after class in The Knuckle (EA3001) for some free food and a cool discussion/strategy session about how to be an LGBTQ advocate.
6. My office hours are cancelled on Thursday so that I can do some stuff to get ready for all the exciting stuff that's happening on Thursday!
7. And lastly, Shannon's guest blog is below, and the link to hir website is just above, on the right-hand side menu. I encourage you to check it out!
And now, without further ado, Shannon's guest blog:
Hello, Sex, Gender, and the Body students!
I’m looking very forward to meeting all of you next
Thursday! Kim speaks very highly of you as a smart, insightful class. So i’m
sure we’re going to have a great dialogue with each other.
She suggested that i write a blog post introducing myself.
So here i am, wondering what the heck to say to you since i’m going to be there
in person. What could you possibly want or need to know about me in
advance?
I suppose that telling you a little about me is a good way
to start. And while there are many ways that i can describe myself (ain’t that
true for all of us?), here are some of the most important:
·
White;
·
Queer (in sexual orientation and gender
identity);
·
A strong trans ally for fifteen years or more;
·
US-born;
·
Native English-speaking;
·
Upper-middle class;
·
Able-bodied;
·
Well-educated;
·
An anti-racist ally;
·
Assigned female at birth;
·
A completely-recovered Catholic;
·
Partnered;
·
Monogamous;
·
Introverted;
·
Mentor to four gay/bi/queer/trans young men;
·
Politically radical;
·
Proud pet co-parent of an adopted beagle and
three adopted cats;
·
Dedicated to coalitional and intersectional
politics at all levels;
·
Social justice-focused;
·
The oldest of four children in my nuclear
family;
·
Feminist-identified since about eleven years old;
·
Middle-aged (barely, since i just turned 40 in
October);
·
Short;
·
Employed full-time in a job with great benefits;
·
Not very concise; and
·
Doing laundry right now for my trip to Calgary,
for which i’ll be leaving at 3:30am Saturday.
·
(Also, i am not a morning person.)
Is all of that relevant? Not really. But at least it might
be a little interesting.
I’ve been involved in queer-related activities and activism
since college, when my best friend came out to me as bisexual in 1993 and
blasted the lock off my closet door. (Previously, i was so far in the closet
that even *i* couldn’t find myself with a flashlight!) I was fortunate to have
had a relatively easy coming out experience since my politics were already in
the right place and my parents, while not necessarily happy to have a
non-straight child, were overall very supportive. In fact, my mom remains a
dedicated PFLAG
parent.
I’ve gone through a variety of labels since i first started
coming out: bisexual, dyke, lesbian, queer, and genderqueer – and that’s only
in the first twenty years after my coming out! Discovering transgender-related
writings was critical not only to exploring my own gender identity but also to
examining deeply the structure and function of binary sex and gender in Western
culture. Really listening to what others
have to say about their lives and experiences has both challenged me and enriched
my life academically, politically, socially, and emotionally in ways that i
can’t really articulate.
What started with reading Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues, on the
recommendation of multiple bookstore coworkers in 1995, has lead me down a path
that now finds me coming to Calgary for the first time in my life to talk about
transgender and activism at MRU. I can’t wait!
Finally, i should let you know that some of the material in
my Trans 101 might seem pretty basic: you can probably all define the
difference between “sex” and “gender” in your sleep by this point. The
elementary stuff will be only a small portion of what i’m going to talk about,
though. And, regardless, we have a chunk of time after the main presentation is
over when we can have a more in-depth conversation just among us.
Just one request: can you all order up some warmer weather
for me, please?
I’ll meet you all next week!
--Shannon E. Wyss
Hyattsville,
Maryland, USA (right outside of Washington, DC)
Friday, March 1,
2013
