Hi, I'm a Lesbian who decided to learn about how difficult it is to be a white upper-middle-class man in society by disguising myself as one (like a transgenderist, but not really, because I am still a Real Wombyn) for 18 months and then writing a book about it. I didn't read anyone else's books about male socialization before or after doing this experiment because the institution of having to defend arguments with sources or logic is inherently patriarchal and thus oppressive. Anecdotal evidence is the only *true* defense to an argument because then, I don't need to rely on any patriarchal institution of reasoning.

Anyway, early in my experiment I was spending time with my bowling teammates, who are all incidentally lower-class white men. They occasionally make jokes about how they live in trailer parks and refer to themselves as "white niggers," but they're really not racist because they would never commit an act of violence against a black person for the reason of their being black! Honest! Seriously, lower-class white males are "the only minority it is still socially acceptable to vilify." They aren't *really* racist because they are no more racist than "everyone else"!

Why won't people believe me when I tell them this? Don't I as a witness have the authority to decide what is and is not racism in this situation?

Okay we all know the entire point of feminism is CHOICE. But I want to hear about where we draw the line! Obviously, we don't want women who want to look like porno sluts caving to the patriarchy and getting breast implants. They're totally ugly anyway just like face lifts and all other cosmetic surgery!

There is a MTF transgender I know who told me she is getting this surgery on her face that's supposed to make her look like a real woman. It sounds disgusting and I just don't understand why she just can't be more brave and tell the people who stare at her to fuck off! Probably because she thinks being mousy makes her more of a real girl too or something. SIGH. I hate the gender binary.

And why would anyone want to get breast reduction? What could be more woman-hating than that? It's like castration of motherhood!

Come on people, do you think primitive women in other parts of the world mutilate their bodies with things like this? Well, I guess maybe some, in really patriarchal cultures. I just know that it's not natural for doctors to cut you up unless you need your appendix or wisdom teeth out or something!

This study from patriarchal science shows that real womyn are developing the perverted transsexual paraphilia of autogynophilia. While I am all for transsexuals having their right to practice their dirty perversions, they need to do it far, far away from any real womyn. Due to these alarming statistics, I believe that we must be extra vigilant to keep transsexuals away from real womyn. Not because we hate them or want anything bad to happen them, in fact we love them, as long as they do not expose us to their filthy perversions.

I also blame leather dykes for exposing real womyn to perversion. Also, one can tell the study is one of patriarchal science as there is no true, womyn-loving political lesbian option. However, it does confirm what I have long suspected -- that exposure to transsexuals is harmful to womyn -- and may also be why none of them identified as womyn-identified-womyn -- and that we cannot risk them being in our spaces for our own sake.

Hi, since this comm is a bit lacking in good anti-oppression non-patriarchal sisterly sharing I thought I'd talk a bit about non-patriarchal cultures and languages and how they relate to my being a Honorary Deaf Lesbian.

When I became a lesbian, I decided I needed to be a separatist, and I figured that foreign countries didn't have patriarchy, so I learned beautiful and non-patriarchal languages like french, spanish and italian. Then I decided to take some asl classes too because it seemed like a beautiful non-patriarchal language too, and while I slowly learned more and more, I also realized hearing was man oppress act.

Deaf Lesbian friend ask me become interpreter where hospital, but I not think I ready. I interpret for my friend more and more Deaf Lesbians want me interpret. I take classes to interpret and graduate with best grades. First I not expert what Deaf culture but I learn and become. And I find culture free what man oppress. So I become interpreter why work and become expert what Deaf culture. Friends think me Honorary Deaf Lesbian.

(ooc edit: lol, I realize the piece mocked is old and obscure, but while obscure, the sentiment mocked is not, i.e. the idea that somehow asl is a less patriarchal language than english. In this case the inspiration is, however, a piece by a radical separatist lesbian terp in a '94 book... >.>)

In the 1980s, as lesbians lost confidence in their own visions, strengths, and possibilities -- as feminism came under attack and the sex industry went from strength to strength -- many turned to gay men as their models and began to define themselves as "sexual deviants." They developed an identity in total contradiction to that of lesbian-feminism. Lesbian-feminists celebrate lesbianism as the apogee of woman-loving, as a form of resistance to all the practices and values of male-supremacist culture, including pornography and prostitution. The libertarian lesbians who rose up to decry feminism in the '80s attacked lesbian-feminists for "desexualizing" lesbianism and chose to see themselves as "pro-sex." But the practices of this "pro-sex" stand turned out to replicate the version of lesbianism that had traditionally been offered by the sex industry. The brave new "transgressive" lesbians were the very sadomasochistic, butch/femme constructions that had long been staples of heterosexual men's pornography.


I wasn't aware that "leatherdyke" butch/femme porn has been made for straight men but I am not surprised.

Discuss please.

well, recently on the news. There is a pregnant transexual man( he originally is a woman) who want an appeal on court, for the law makes him to be the child's 'mother' instead of 'father', he wants to be the child's 'father'.
becuase of different gender roles, there are man who wants to become woman and woman who wants to become man.
what do you think about the whole transexual thing? I'm a bit confused about what gender roles really mean to us.

I am so split on the issue of Thomas Beattie.

On one hand, it is wonderful to see a wombyn using her womb to create new life from the moon...

But he's being patriarchal by shooting up male hormones, cutting off his boobs, and growing a beard! And having SEX WITH HIS WIFE.

Thoughts?

Have you gyns ever heard of Carol Adams? I am so glad I heard of her! You see, she has fully explained how eating meat is part of the patriarchy and must therefore be outlawed, because men use the phrase "piece of meat" to describe wombyn. Isn't it interesting how use of language can show us how the patriarchy has even invaded our dietary habits?

It's also good to know that she knows all about the transpeople trying to invade our wombyns-only spaces. I'm glad someone else is standing up for us against all those men who are pretending to be women (note that they even spell it patriarchally!) to try and get in our spaces so they can patronize us and sneak into our bathrooms. We have an ally in the fight against the patriarchal trannies! (I'm sorry if the word "fight" is too male and patriarchal. I will change it to something like "wombynly community's goal of helping our fellow wombyn by opposing the patriarchy" if my original wording is too violent.)

Does anyone else have any exceptional heroes to the wombyn's movement? I'm trying to learn about more modern wombyn heroes of fymynysm.

(Edited to make the spelling of "fymynysm" less patriarchal than the original, "feminism")

Hi there! I just discovered this totally awesome com! You guys gyns are the best feminists out there! I grew up with a lot of feminists like you around, and I loved every second of the amazing womyntoring I got!

I especially love it when they explained what kinds of prejudice are and aren't important, and the difference between minor instances of well-meaning ignorance that just need education, and horrible oppression of middle class white American women, like knowing that witch-burnings used to happen! For instance, did you know that my near-inability to get a job because prospective employers look at me, see my disability and assume I can't do anything that could possibly involve lifting, carrying, or standing is minor well-meaning ignorance? Or that the best way of dealing with people who ask complete strangers to make decisions for me because they take one look assume I can't be out in public on my own is very polite and patient explanations? Or that being grabbed by total strangers without permission is perfectly okay if they're just trying to help with my disability in some way? I didn't! Just goes to show what education can achieve!

Because of my new found commitment to extremely polite education, I hereby volunteer to play Token Disabled Friend to anyone on here. Feel free to ask me any intensely personal questions, so anyone reading can get educated and decide they don't want to be prejudiced ignorant anymore!  Not that any feminists need it, of course.  Also, feel free to suggest any non-patriarchal womyn-centric remedies!  I love being asked to spend my time, energy, and tiny disposable income on something that could possibly make me more like normal people!  Especially if there's no icky patriarchal science behind it!

ETA: Patriarchal language!  Sorry, gyns!  Hope no one was triggered!

I'm kind of torn on my opinion on Proposition 8. On the one hand, it totally invalidates lesbianism, which as we all know is the height of what feminism is.

On the other hand, I've heard that passing Prop 8 could invalidate hetero marriages, which are of course evil and a tool of the patriarchy. That can't be a bad thing, right?

I'm really confused as to what I should think about this. What's a wombyn-loving feminist to do????

I encourage everyone to join transgenderist communities in order to monitor the level of bullying and harrassment directed at freedom fighter lesbians like I know you all are.

I mean, really, what have THEY done for freedom? Are they anti-woman and anti-lesbian or what?

One doesn't have to look far to see the images of misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia in this particularly seedy industry. During the Superbowl this year, they showed a commercial that conflated perceptions of homoerotic love with effeminacy, both something to be avoided by two "manly" men.



I know that I am never eating chocolate, peanuts, caramel, or nougat again! Opression of women, trans people, and cacao beans, legumes, and commercial sugar crops are all issues that really "hit close to home" for me.

How can I respond when I am told, as a white person, that "its not about you" when I comment with my totally relevant thoughts on racism (or lack thereof) of something like that awesome poem, White Man's Burden or the movie 300?
And how do you gyns respond when a transgender says "its not about you" when you explain that you aren't transphobic, they just have male privilege?
I keep seeing how our thoughts and feeling and words aren't as valid as theirs, isn't this the same as white rich guys saying that girl's opinions don't matter?
And I also think that the voice of another oppressed person (as a pro-feminist and non-masculine man, I am more oppressed than transgenders as I am not reifying gender) or a fellow feminist is way different than that of someone who actually intends harm. And we don't intend any harm to transgenders or people of color, we just have to show them that the world will be better in a world that is both color and gender-blind! Thats like the opposite of "harm".

The moment I saw this, I KNEW I had to post it here!!


Yeah I know!! It's just so so so HURTFUL, especially when womyn do it! I mean, we're trying to revolt and we call ourselves men, sometimes, and it just makes my heart hurt so bad! I can't think of anything worse to hear in a movement-building space! And "gyns" sounds almost like "guys" anyway which is really cool so I use that (I think it came from someone on Heart's blog, but I don't remember.) Except sometimes I don't hear people clearly and I think they said "you guys" anyway and I just get so MAD. Like Patricia, I got her kicked out for saying "guys" but then I found out she said "gyns" after the collective voted her out, and I kind of feel bad.

I was just watching America's Top Model which has mostly been transgenderist propaganda and women of color taking out their internalized misogyny on white women. So like, this girl pushed the transgender out of her personal space and stuff, probably because the male energy triggered her. Later that led to a discussion where she informed everyone that she is, in fact, a very white woman and some other stuff. A bunch of the women of color got together and made her cry a lot. Anyway, later this woman was describing her experience and invoked the experience of "gang rape." The later is not something I have experienced but I can totally see what she meant by this because it happened to me in my Sociology of Gender and Race class. I never felt so low and the whole thing left me feeling traumatized for days. I understand I have white privilege and I totally respect that women of color might want their own spaces sometimes, like we want spaces away from male-to-constructed-females. But why is it always that one vulnerable white girl is attacked from every side? Why do they think that is productive? I know that white people did terrible things a long time ago but why are people taking it out on people like me?

I'VE SEEN THE LIGHT.

I was reading one of Heart's posts and I realized BDSM is evil. I don't care if I never get off again, being pro-woman is enough for me!

BUT OMG WHAT DO I DO WITH ALL THESE KNIVES?!!

So I just learned something about Alix Dobkin that I would have never known if I had continued to listen to the usual "queer community" people.

"Alix is against transexuals"
No way! I look to transexuals to break new ground and not to reinforce conventional gender stereotypes.
http://www.ladyslipper.org/rel/v2_home.php?storenr=53&deptnr=279

I mean, I don't know about the rest of feminist_lite but that sounds totally REASONABLE to me! Really, why DON'T more Ftm and Mtf transsexuals just style themselves as androdykes*, strive to develop some kind of distinct personality of their own, stop kidnapping our butches, and stop getting surgically mutilated? I don't get it.

And look, she even used the empowering spelling of transexual with one S that more of them should adopt like we have adopted womon/womyn. Subversive spelling is the most direct of direct actions. Obviously, she CARES and has just been trying to START A DIALOGUE! 

Please don't act like anti-semites and call me "transphobic" thx.

* - note to Mtfs: lolz just because I say you should look like one doesn't mean I want you in my dyke community!

Someone pointed me to the Stuff White People Like Facebook application and sadly I took this quiz though the racism of that blog makes me sick to my stomach. But it made me realize something.

Top 25 Whitest Networks
1. Creighton
2. Immaculate Heart High School
3. Stuart Country Day School
4. Tetra Tech
5. Citadel Broadcasting
6. Ossining Senior High School
7. Greece
8. Ripon
9. Central High School
10. SIU Edwardsville
11. Houston Downtown
12. École Centrale Paris
13. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
14. Baldwin-Wallace
15. Abuja
16. Colorado College
17. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
18. Albany Medical College
19. Hamilton College
20. Manatee
21. Opsware, Inc.
22. University of Manitoba
23. Douglas Anderson School of the Arts
24. Sarah Lawrence
25. Charles Sturt University

I went to #23 for half of my ninth grade year*. It's a public magnet school, and it's not that it was more disproportionately white than other "exclusive" schools - certainly not the private schools. We had a number of black people in the technical theater department. And omg SO many Jewish kids.

That leads me to the conclusion that this isn't specifically anti-white racism, but prejudice against those of us who, regardless of economic background, prefer bruschetta over buffalo wings, NPR over Clear Channel, Urban Outfitters over Target, Tarzhay over Wal-Mart, "Brooklyn" over everywhere else, and being freelance artists over selling out.

We need to be able to talk about this -ism, but we don't yet have the -ism pinned down. Cultural-capitaliaphobia doesn't quite work and I felt alienated by that concept in sociology class. Why do they need to imply that there's something WRONG with having taste? DontwatchTVphobia? :( I need to be able to own that which oppresses me and it starts with words!

Discuss.

*-[OOC: true story lol]

I really really hate that I am not "allowed" to think of myself as attractive. I guess I can, but I feel like I am supposed to keep it a secret. Why is it you are considered too fatphobic, or racist, or ableist when you talk about how you fit into society's standards of beauty and how this oppresses you? Besides, being healthy and pretty is better for us individually and for evolution as a species. I like to think I don't have a warped sense of how I look. I look the way I look, and I am aware of it. I don't think I'm unattractive nor do I think I am a "perfect 10". When I think of the future I try to have a realistic view, and part of that for me is seeing myself as a fairly attractive 30-40 year old. I am a vegan and can afford a more expensive animal-free diet, and have pretty good genetics so, is it wrong to assume I am going to remain "pretty"? Sure, things could happen. I am not stressing over that. Why is it we always have to view ourselves as less attractive than we are? Can no one have a realistic view of themselves? If you prick us, do we not bleed?

So, omg, I totally heard of this great bookseries Twilight. It's supposed to be like the feminist Harry Potter. But like, everyone keeps attacking these wonderful books and their totally feminist author!! I can't stand it!
they keep saying that the lovely Edward is abusive and stalkerish to the beautiful Bella, but I just hoped that they understand there are millions of women on this planet and they are different from us beings, and there are weaker women placed in the world, some who could take Bella’s shoes easily. And these mean people should know what, they are a lot stronger than we are at times. Bella for me is a lot more stronger than any other characters of the book. Plus it is never wrong to rely on someone, wanting to be saved.
They also try to say that the baby imprinting on an adult is pedophilia, but they are soul mates!!! It can't be abusive if he really loves her! It's not taking the baby's choices away from her, it is just destiny!

And Edward totally isn't abusive and controlling when he breaks her truck so she can't see her friends, he is protecting her from the evil werewolves!!!

I just love these books and I can't believe people are calling them bad and calling the author names. I just love when Edward's all mean to Bella at first but she puts up with it because he's so hawt and sometimes he's nice to her. Its twuu love!!!

I'm so sad though because so many young girls are reading the reviews from those mean feminists and are thinking that all feminists hate men. I just want to tell all those young girls that we are't all like that. ;_;

I also want to tell those meanies that "SORRY Miss I’m too good for regular books. Women like you just piss me off and GIVE US A BAD NAME! OK people SHUT THE FUCK UP,if people like this book stop dissing it and stop compareing it to FRICKIN harry potter!they are 2 different series.and in the 2nd book BELLA SAVES EDWARD FYI!!!!!!!!!!!so there bella is a great role model she cooks for her dad,takes care of her mother,and does her homework and is an excellent stdent!and smeyer said bella will go to colleage but as infinate time so ahe can do what ever.so in conclusin if you say twilight sucks YOU SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GO TWILIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"