reflection on my blog postings

Reflection

Looking back through the thirteen postings I have written during the entirety of this semester for this class, I whole-heartedly feel that my thoughts, along with myself, have expanded and developed in terms of the knowledge of the gender in America as well as my understanding of the diversity of individuals in terms of gender and sexuality. It seems so evident and obvious, from the early postings such as the one titled ‘A Whole New Experience’, that I had been newly exposed to such deep and not very widespread ideas and perspectives of the ‘non-normative’ genders that I now believe to naturally exist in society. At first, I must admit, I had been almost astounded and awe-struck by such strange (for me) ‘queer’ genders that I had never experienced or thought of before. Even though I had heard about gay and lesbian communities, I did not have any more than the rudimentary idea of them, not to mention transgender, intersex and other ‘queer’ individuals and what kind of disadvantages and troubles that they would have been and still go through in this current society where the binary gender system is deeply embedded and dominant.

I personally believe that reading the article ‘Claiming an Education’ written by Adrienne Rich in the beginning of the semester helped tremendously in my attitude toward this class. Instead of just passively taking in information from lectures or readings I have had to do, the article actually encouraged me to actively think about a lot of gender issues included in what I have read for class. Furthermore, I was eager to look up on internet and talk with my friends about extra information that I was curious about regarding various topics we have learned and talked about in lecture, but I did not fully comprehend or wanted to know more about.

Posting after posting, I see that I have gained and learned so much in this class and broadened my horizon when looking at the issue of gender. Understanding, analyzing and interpreting the various issues that ‘queer’ individuals faced was a rather difficult job for me due to my limited knowledge that did not help me much to relate to these people. However, organizing my thoughts and the array of ideas in front of me in order to write postings week after week personally helped me better understand the current situation and the transforming general atmosphere of gender in America.

 I recall that one of the earliest discussions and postings was about breaking down our notion of gender through the lens of the binary gender system that strictly categorizes all individuals into two distinct groups – male and female. Reading and writing about Patricia Hill Collins’s article about how the dichotomy of gender creates oppression and certain power dynamics among individuals opened my eyes to the whole new world of gender where there are no categories established such as male or female and every individual with distinct personality and characteristics. The fact that much discrimination and oppression arise due to our notion of stereotypes and ideas toward certain categories of people was as fresh as view as the vegetables in an In-and-Out burger. This idea further develops in my posting about ‘intersectionality’, an idea introduced by Kimberle Crenshaw in her book, ‘Mapping the Margins’. From the article, I learned that individuals’ circumstances could worsen not only due to their ‘queer’ gender but also by other aspects of their identity such as race, class, and many more.

A little peak into the pre-contact Native American views and treatment of gender was personally extremely intriguing and novel. Their nonchalant acceptance of individuals who are considered ‘transvestite’ or ‘transgender’ in our community is rather surprising and something that I could learn from. In addition to these conventional ideas and the existence of various types of gender, I also enjoyed learning and writing about the history of struggle of ‘queer’ individuals in the past such as the Stonewall riots and those demonstrated in Nayan Shah’s book, ‘Stranger Intimacy’. I have realized that closely perusing the past struggle and activism as well as their effectiveness in bringing about positive results could be a good way to learn and lead our society forward in not only issues regarding gender, but also class, race, and other categories that contribute in creating unjust inequalities between individuals.

I am utterly glad that independently giving my own thoughts to such issues and writing about them not only broadened my knowledge and opened up my perspectives toward such matters, but also developed my critical and logical thinking skills and improved my writing skills. Being a non-native speaker of English from Korea, I must admit that I had much difficulty expressing myself the way I wanted. However, long hours of reading, sitting in front of a computer and thinking about complex issues I had to comprehend and writing out what I had understood have significantly and almost discernibly made me more skillful in numerous aspects. The freedom given to me in writing my postings has been the ultimate motivation for me to work and think in my own unique way. 

Power and the Truth of Bodies

A Certain Kind of Freedom: Power and the Truth of Bodies by Riki Wilchins

In this particular chapter of her book, Genderqueer, Riki Whilchins points out the inherent flaws in the conventional binary system of gender and demonstrates to us how our knowledge will be expanded and ‘truths’ discovered with the abolished of the system. This chapter consists of four small essays in which Wilchins discusses different aspects of transgenderism as well as queer individuals.

It’s your gender, stupid! & Queer Bodies

Wilchins begins with the introduction of Judith Butler and her idea that in our society, gender is not decided by who we are but what we are seen to be. In other words, society decides individuals’ gender based on their expression of gender. Wilchins carries on with this idea that she eventually proves wrong and assailable. She argues that if our ‘looks’ or physical expressions are what determine our gender, then they could be disrupted by changing our looks and therefore, this type of reasoning is unstable. However, universally, this isn’t the case.

Then, Wilchins claims that gender is a set of “meanings and symbols – and the rules, privileges, and punishments pertaining to their use”. She further explains that every bahvior, action and things around us are either judged as ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ such as ships, clothing, sexual positions, pens, bowls, hand positions, etc. Because of what Wilchins refers to as ‘microexchanges’, individuals are psychologically and behaviorally coerced to behave in certain ways that are conforming to the expected ways of behavior and expression when interacting with other people. Individuals that fail to conform to the norms are coined as ‘queer’. After analyzing the pervading social conventions and expectations, Wilchins questions whether if one can, in the most fundamental sense, really be feminine or masculine considering the diverse innate characteristics and tendencies of each and every individual.

Wilchins brings out the general societal belief that “biological sex is considered to be the most basic and natural product of bodies”. She further points out that if biological sex and natural shapes of our bodies are considered acceptable, it is contradictory that humans have created the two gender groups and try to categorize people into one of the two groups. What can’t we just accept the differences and move on? The widespread medical practice on intersex individuals demonstrates the flaw in our way of thinking – enforcement of binary system of gender.

Wilchins emphasizes the human creation of distinct groups with fixed number of characteristics and strict enforcement of these groups. This leads to uniformity and threatens diversity – an essential element in finding the ‘Truth’ that we humans are so eager to explore and discover.

Changing the Subject

Wilchins begins by questioning what “identity” truly means in this short essay, ‘Changing the Subject’. She explores and asserts that “identity” is a social construction of an ideal state of any category that we have established such as ‘being a woman’ or ‘being a man’ and that no one is perfectly a woman or a man but an approximation of this ideal identity. She further declares that identity is not a natural fact of bodies but a history of human social construction of the ideals and a complex set of responses to social and cultural needs. Recently, we have witnessed the emergence of another distinct gender group, “transgenders” who have taken charge and actively participated in having their voices heard in the world where the conventional gender binary system forced each and every individual in either ‘man’ or ‘woman’ category.

As Wilchins enters the main discussion of gender and various social movements regarding transgender, she asks two major questions:

1.       1. Is this really a big change in people’s thinking?

2.       2. If so, how are such powerful effects achieved?

Wilchins makes it clear that with the advent of the emergence of transgenderism  and as people identified themselves as transgenders, she also obtained the sense of pride in her gender and body. According to her, she began to understand herself as transgendered and not a ‘man-woman’ anymore. This phenomenon also made her seek explanations outside the confines and boundaries of the language and various attachments and norms that come with it. No matter how much effect the movement of transgender individuals have affected the ways that people think of it, Wilchins accurately points out that “the attachment of meaning is a powerful took for making us experience ourselves in the world in very specific ways.” In answering the second question, Wilchins brings up the idea of “from the bottom up” power system which means that our notions and behaviors, therefore, identities, are shaped by our daily interactions with people around us and not by government regulations or other institutional power.

Wilchins ends the essay with crucial thought-provocative questions that would help us solve the problems that transgender individuals go through as well as issues regarding gender in general - "Do we want to fight as genderqueers?.... Or do we want to attack the notion of normative genders itself?"

Rise of the Intersex Activism

Fixing Sex by Katrina Karkazis

Chapter 8: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience

Katrina Karkazis dedicates this particular chapter of her book, Fixing Sex, to illustrating the clashes between the conventional medical authority and practice and intersexual individuals. She also vividly portrays the hardships that intersexual people go through and how activism arisen from it brings about a transformation in the medical field concerning intersex bodies and psychology.

Karkazis says that the social and medical development of the idea and treatment of intersex individuals arose from the broader social movement of and changes in the attitudes toward gender and sexuality. The successful emergence of intersex to public attention partially owes to other diverse movements such as “the feminist and women’s health movements, gay and transgender movements, and patient health movements” which according to Karkazis, “influenced the development of challenges to the traditional treatment paradigm for intersexuality.” In fact, gay rights and transgender movements, such as those that can be seen in incidents like the Stonewall riot as well as the riot at Compton’s Cafeteria, sought to broaden the understanding and acceptance of non-normative gender roles and sexual desire. The Stonewall riot was exceptionally a significant movement as it advocated for “legal and social reforms such as stopping police harassment, ending the criminalization of homosexuality, and protecting the civil rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender individuals.” These numerous social and legal movements were further supported by scholarly works especially in the feminist theory which provided an analytical and theoretical basis for the critique of the traditional treatment paradigm for intersexuality. These works across various disciplines raised questions and challenges to the existing conventional scientific and medical knowledge for gender bias and destroyed the ‘cultural presuppositions’ about gender. Eventually, the authority of the medical personnel deteriorated and the power over medical decisions shifted to those of the individuals concerned.

As the intersex movement sprung with the help of other similar preceding movements, intersex support groups began to emerge with the help of the Internet. These support groups that varied from official organizations and foundations to small personal groups were not created for any radical or dramatic social change for intersexuality but to help intersexual individuals to alleviate their pain and live more peacefully, sharing their experience and mutually supporting each other. For example, ks&a, (Klinefelter Syndrome and Associates) described itself as an organization “to educate, encourage research, and foster treatment and cures for symptoms of sex chromosome variations”, focused on and dedicated to addressing one condition as many other organizations are structured. Even though these groups helped a considerable number of intersex people to alleviate their daily pain and live their life as a minority, some individuals have found them inadequate for addressing questions and problems related to their conditions/diagnoses. These are the individuals that sought to actively protest and oppose the conventional medical knowledge and practice.

The intersex activism started off by aiming to address the conventional medical model of intersexuality and treatment. In a way, they were fundamentally rooted in antimedicalization movement. The conventional medical system viewed the intersex body as an abnormality and something that has to be corrected through surgery in early childhood to conform to one of the binary sex categories, male or female. It was this fundamentally flawed idea that the intersex groups and activists tried to address and rectify by claiming that individualized physical rectification does not eradicate an intersex individual’s discomfort and “illness experience”. However, it is the change in the fundamental idea that intersexuality and intersex bodies are absolutely normal, as normal as heterosexual bodies. 

The End.

Rethinking Transphobia and Power

Normal Life Ch.3 – Rethinking Transphobia and Power – Beyond a Rights Framework

In chapter 3 of his book, Normal Life, titled ‘Rethinking Transphobia and Power’ Spade gives us a detailed observations of how power and control operate in different ways at various levels. Spade begins by critiquing the current reform strategies adopted in order to remedy the problems faced by trans people saying that they misinterpret and misunderstand the nature of ‘power and control’ and the law in both. He asserts that reshaping our ideas about these problems faced by trans people and re-conceptualizing the sources of these problems are necessary in coming up with viable solutions that can actually work and improve the lives of trans people in society.

The first operation of power and control Spade introduces is the ‘Perpetrator/Victim Power’. According to him, this is an ‘intentional, individualized negative action, discrimination, exclusion and violence – it takes place at an individual level and there are always a perpetrator and a victim. For example, this type of power usage can be seen when an employer bases his or her decision to recruit an employee on the employee’s race, skin color, gender, and many more categories. Spade states that many of the law reform strategies established to defend the rights and lives of the marginalized, including trans people, address the problems that arise due to this ‘Perpetrator/Victim Power’. However, Spade argues that this is a mere superficial method of protection of the marginalized since there are still people that suffer under the protection by the law.

The second type of operation of power is called the ‘Disciplinary power’. Through disciplinary power are strictly established norms plus the coercion by society on people to conform to the norms. In a society, there are certain sets of rules and categories that every individual is encouraged to follow and fall under; for instance, maleness, femaleness, heterosexuality and homosexuality. When a person does not fit into a distinct category but deviates and displays erratic non-conforming behavior, he/she is immediately ostracized. Therefore, these categories formed by the social norms and the societal coercion are what constitute the disciplinary power. Spade believes that once people get used to conforming to the societal norms, the process becomes internalized in them and eventually, the categories become significantly powerful tools to control the population. An example of the use of disciplinary power is – “When activists form consciousness-raising groups that encourage people to question standards about how they see their own bodies and identities and replace those norms with other ideas they consider better, they are engaging with the disciplinary mode of power.” According to Spade, disciplinary control is inadequately addressed in today’s society because the law tends to apply on individualized perpetrator – victim mode of power, it challenges the disciplinary mode of power.

The last type of power that Spade raises is the ‘Population Management Power’ in which national campaigns, programs and laws that affect the entire population. Examples of the population management power include taxation, military conscription, welfare programs, and many more. As this type of power is influential nation-wide, it is much more significant than the individual level types of power such as the Perpetrator-Victim Operation of Power. Spade points out that the influential power of this type of power operation did not only equally distribute the ‘life chances’ to all citizens in the United States, but it also further increased the divide in racial wealth. For example, the expansion of the criminal punishment system in the U.S was promoted by racialized-gendered narratives. The underlying intention and the subsequent result of the program increased policing in poor neighborhoods while providing law enforcement with more tools for surveilling, arresting, and caging poor people and people of color. Dean Spade emphasizes the importance of looking at the problems through the lenses of Disciplinary Power and Population Management Power principles. 

Normal Life Ch.1

Text: Normal Life Ch.1

Neoliberalism and emphasis on ‘redistribution of chances’

Dean Spade, author of the book ‘Normal Life’, dedicates this particular chapter to laying down the groundwork for further development of his ideas. In this chapter, he presents to us how the discussions and social movements regarding gay and lesbian rights came into light. Moreover, he briefly discusses, toward the end of the chapter, the ways in which trans people can attain their own rights as well as equality.

Spade starts off by introducing the idea of neoliberalism, an economic and political theory that pervades throughout our society, especially in the United States. The idea of neoliberalism, on the surface, is something that anyone would advocate. Neoliberalism promotes ‘freedom’ and ‘choice’ at all levels of class and more widely, on the international level, advocates free trade, privatization and deregulation. On the contrary to its spurious external goodness, it has been observed that neoliberalism, through its ideals, increases the gap between the rich and the poor, takes away the social welfare schemes and basic healthcare services and deprives the low-class people of many more basic necessities without federal support. In addition, people who worked for private businesses were stripped of their job security and power as a part of the labor union. The effect of the implementation of neo-liberalism in the United States did not only negatively influence the people in the country but also families and individuals in other developing countries. Through treaties and agreements like NAFTA and FTAA, the United States exploited the relatively inexpensive human and natural resources of the less powerful countries such as China, India and many Latin American countries. As a result, people in these countries grew more destitute and desperate and started to migrate to developed countries, most notably to the United States, in pursuit of greater monetary compensation. The sudden surge in the number of poor immigrants in the United States and growing number of poor families within the country led to a greater enforcement of laws and regulations in the country. Various immigration laws and criminalization of petty crimes put the poor communities under much chaos and policing.

As most people’s social and economic life fell apart, public sector organizations began to emerge that were led by rich educated white lawyers to fill in the gaps left by the government such as providing basic social and legal services. These organizations did not attempt to instigate the ‘transformative social movement’ which would change the entire paradigm of the society, but aimed to include and incorporate the underprivileged and the minority (including gay and lesbian) through legal reform projects and many more diverse agendas. Amidst this fresh uprising, the sexuality/gender-focused resistance was institutionalized in the 1980s into non-profit organizations led by people of class and educational advantages. As mentioned before, the method of achieving equality for gay and lesbians was to try to assimilate them into society harmoniously.

Dean Spade argues that despite the successful achievements of gay and lesbian activists in earning their rights and convincing the public that their eccentricities as normal and natural, the path to formally recognizing and assimilating the trans people into society is entirely different from the path that gay and lesbian activists took. He identifies numerous obstacles and states ‘a crucial trans politics imagines and demands an end to prisons, homelessness, landlords, bosses, immigration enforcement, poverty, and wealth.’ Furthermore, he asserts that unless there are absolutely ‘equal opportunities’ and ‘redistribution of chances’ within the nation, trans people will not be able to attain their own voice and rights.

The Current Wave - Susan Stryker

Transgender History Chapter 5, The Current Wave, by Susan Stryker

In chapter 5 of her novel, The Current Wave, Susan Stryker demonstrates the emergence of transgender communities from the very beginning. The transgender communities and the public attention given to them, according to Stryker, began as early as 1960s. Despite its gradual growth in recognition by the public and their solid place in society, the trans community emerges as an important part of the larger society in the 1990s due to various contributing factors such as the spread of AIDS and the rise of feminism.

Starting in the 1960s, small organizations started to spring in order to promote and protect their identity as a transgender. Although the growth of these organizations seemed to be staggering, this didn’t stop them from carrying out their jobs through the bleakest times for transgender activism in the 1970s and 1980s. For instance, a transgender community based in Boston brought forth the International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE) in 1987. Its major focus was on the needs and interests on MTF cross-dressers, but it also aimed at increasing the general transgender constituency. In addition, small scale, self-financed, homegrown resources such as the J2PC foundation (established by Jude Patton and Joanna Clark in California) awoke as a result of various historical factors such as the end of the Cold War, rise of feminism and development of internet. These organizations, more than anything else, worked on enhancing social justice for trans people and communities.

Among the prominent activists were female writers who would redefine and reshape the public perspective toward trans people such as Leslie Feinberg and Sandy Stone. Leslie Feinberg, who had been transitioning from female to male in the 1980s, attempted to define and occupy the space between the two conventional genders. By doing so, and using other kinds of means, she also instigated the social and political gender-specific oppressions. Another influential female activist promoting transgender communities was Sandy Stone who through her popular novel, The Empire Strikes Back, gave the nascent transgender movement intellectual and political dimensions and agenda.

In the midst of the active participation of various organizations and trans community activists, feminism was on the rise. The discussion regarding feminism and power of women also opened rooms for the expansion of transgender feminism in the 1990s through which (although discussions on trans communities were limited) the idea and philosophy behind trans-gender communities grew dramatically along with others. For instance, Judith Butler suggests the idea of ‘gender performativity’ through her book, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. This feminist assertion can be related to the rather radical idea of gender identity which states that gender should not be defined by two distinct groups but based on the different kinds of acts that people ‘perform’. Since no two people act identically, expressing identity gender-related characteristics, every individual is different in terms of his/her gender identity and therefore, trans people are as natural as heterosexual and cissexual individual. This iconoclastic idea of indistinct and undefinable gender roles that sprang from feminism had an unexpected influential impact on the growth of trans-related ideas and communities as well.

Feminism was not the only factor that grabbed the public’s attention in the 1990s. The wide spread of AIDS epidemic also played a crucial role in sparkling  major discussions about trans people and their communities that were vulnerable to the disease. If not acted upon, these people would act as carriers of the disease to the entire population. First of all and most importantly, trans people, compared to the rest of the population, specially lacked access to healthcare system and suffered social stigma, survival prostitution and were given fewer educational resources due to discrimination. Recognizing the devastating effects that these factors would bring to the larger, more ‘normal’ world, AIDS funding entities directed money and various forms of financial resources to the trans communities as a prevention and harm-reduction strategy. This attention and resources given to the trans communities aided them in creating new kinds of alliance politics which disregarded the discriminations against ‘race and gender, class and nationality and citizenship and sexual orientation. ‘

It is tremendously intriguing and rather impressive to see different social uprisings and ideas are inter-connected and further aid each other in amassing attention and expanding each group’s interests hand in hand. Despite such a struggle that trans communities have been through and the paramount efforts of innumerable activists, I personally feel, based on my present life, that they have not justly been recognized and caught the public’s attention. The idea that each and every individual is different, regardless of what their socially labeled gender is, in their fundamental gender identity is something that everyone should realize by reflecting deeply on themselves.

Overcoming Obstacles As an African-American Transgender Woman – Anonymous

This article written by an African American woman reveals the story of her painful journey as a transgender. Her life before transition, she says, was a very unhappy one. She would always be in pursuit of her real identity, what her subconscious told her she was. She was perceived to be gay (because everyone thought she was a boy and she liked guys) and on the inside, she felt extremely uncomfortable and out of her natural place/body therefore, miserable. She indicates that she felt as if she was living a lie and that she wanted to find out who she really was.

She claims that deciding to be a transgender was something more fearful than coming out as gay or lesbian because society has rarely seen a transgender come out. It seems that her race, skin-color, economic status and family’s religious beliefs complicated, if not prevented, her decision to transition.  According to the author, in an African American Christian community which she was born and brought up in, changing one’s gender (being a transgender) was something completely illogical and defying what God had naturally provided. This fact, as the author speculates with definite certainty, would have resulted in vehement disapproval from her entire family. As a result, the author has no one to turn to and no one to understand her situation. The author proves to be a strong female individual even though she has ‘no hiding place’ and eventually does go through the transition despite all the disadvantages and ruinous consequences that it would bring. In the end, she admits that the transition, against all down-sides, was worth it and that she was finally happy.

I think that this piece of writing gives a perfect insight into life of transsexuals and how difficult it is to live as one, especially an African American transgender. I learned that one does not suffer just because he/she is a transgender, but also because of other aspects of his/her identity such as being an African American and a Christian in this case. I think that the last heart-felt statement of the author is very true – ‘Transgender people, live free and be true to yourselves, and always remember that education is the key, because knowledge is power.’ I believe that she means that through learning, people are empowered and they grow strong enough to take confident steps in life and do what’s right.

The strength that the author exhibits is admirable and the candid personal account and the advice of the author, invaluable. 

Whipping Girl by Julia Serano

Whipping Girl, Introduction & Chapter 5

The novel Whipping Girl, is an extremely personal account of the author’s (Julia Serano) views on how the transsexuals are viewed by the general public mixed with the initiatives and pondering that she suggests that the ‘cissexuals’ take in order to understand transsexuals in a more positive and accepting light.

In the introduction, she tells us that her novel is not going to be a reaffirmation of the current general ideas of sexuality and gender or like any other novels on trans-sexualism by non-transsexual authors, but something that takes a new path. Furthermore, she proposes to fill in the ‘gaps’ created by our lack of knowledge on gender issues related to transsexuals by coming up with new terms and suggesting more intimate ideas that we are not yet familiar with or never heard of. She goes on to elaborate that under the title ‘transsexuals’ that we have made and accepted so far, there are a variety of different forms of gender. It seems as though she tries to completely break away from the binary gender system that we adopt now and encourage the readers to think of each individual a special and different case. By doing this, she demonstrates how she will be able to eradicate the pre-conceived notions and prejudices that ultimately result in discrimination against transsexual people.

Serano gives us a glimpse of the general prejudices of the public that she plans to attack and rectify such as the idea and importance of disparity between femininity and masculinity in our society which plays a huge role in people’s minds and decisions. She asserts that the general notion that females who are ‘feminine’ are inferior to men who are ‘masculine’ inhibits people’s understanding of transsexuals and their lifestyles and life decisions. Her candid confessions and real-life examples of meeting numerous people and asking them about their views on feministic qualities and transsexuals make this novel an exciting and novel one.

In Chapter 5 of her book titled ‘Blind Spots: On Subconscious Sex and Gender Entitlements’, her main objective seems to be to encourage people to understand their own sexuality before they try to understand transsexuals. And when they do, it becomes easier and an obvious thing to understand them. The Chapter begins with her early years when she realized that she was trapped in the wrong body (in a conventional sense) of a boy while her brain told her to be more feminine than most boys. She introduces the idea of the conscious sex and subconscious sex which differ in a way that conscious sex is what we recognize us to be and subconscious sex is what our brain and the subconscious tells us what we are. For most people, these two criteria match (bodily and psychological gender). However, a lot of transsexuals find themselves at crossroads when the view their conscious and subconscious sex. For instance, Julia Serano herself was physically a male but her brain told her, from her early ages, that she had more feminine qualities. She defines the mismatch of these two characteristics to be a ‘gender dissonance’ which, if plagued by it for years, could result in depression and extreme mental and psychological stress which, in turn, arise from insecurity from the society’s dictating eyes.

She asserts that if we all understood the meaning of subconscious sex and come in terms with our ‘blind spots’ (refers to the ideas and notions regarding our sexual orientation that we take for granted), we will be looking at transsexuals and any other queer gender-oriented people as equal and same human beings. The idea that ‘normal’ people should identify themselves as not ‘normal’, but heterosexuals, a member of a large group of gender orientations (according to Serano), is literally convention-shattering and extremely novel. Getting rid of our blind spot and recognizing that each person’s sexuality and gender identity are different when it comes to the fundamentals, according to Serano, will improve our understanding of the transsexual community.