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Feb. 7th, 2007 06:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sophiaserpentiaThere's a scene in the movie Hedwig and the Angry Inch where Hedwig and her boyfriend Tommy are making out, and he reaches into her skirt... and says, "What's this?" And she replies, softly,
That phrase really stuck with me because i'm hard pressed to come up with anything else that so succinctly and elegantly summarizes what it is like to be transgendered.
Strained family ties, disapproval from clergy, laughter in the streets, unemployment, homelessness, broken marriages, estranged children, loved ones we have hurt or betrayed in one way or another; disjointed bodies at disparate stages of transition -- the remnants of facial hair as breasts begin to form; anger that has nowhere to go, and despair, and guilt, and untreated PTSD, and dissociative identity, and opening your mouth to speak and hearing someone else's voice come out... these broken circumstances are what we have to work with.
A while back i complained that there is no word for what we are. The word "transgendered" is a compound, a word with a prefix, classifying us as marked -- not real, not something with a true essence, but something else with a tainted essence. It is a medical term, reflecting the view that we are pathological and aberrant, in need of correction.
We direly need a real word. I think i'm going to use galla (pl. gallae). This word is transwoman-specific. I'm sorry, i can't think of anything similar for transmen, and maybe it wouldn't be appropriate for me to propose it anyway. It's an ancient word (so i'm not appropriating it from anyone who will miss it) which refers to a sect whose priesthood bore some characteristics in common with modern transsexuals. It's not a perfect word, really, but... it's what we have to work with.
"It's what i have to work with."
That phrase really stuck with me because i'm hard pressed to come up with anything else that so succinctly and elegantly summarizes what it is like to be transgendered.
Strained family ties, disapproval from clergy, laughter in the streets, unemployment, homelessness, broken marriages, estranged children, loved ones we have hurt or betrayed in one way or another; disjointed bodies at disparate stages of transition -- the remnants of facial hair as breasts begin to form; anger that has nowhere to go, and despair, and guilt, and untreated PTSD, and dissociative identity, and opening your mouth to speak and hearing someone else's voice come out... these broken circumstances are what we have to work with.
A while back i complained that there is no word for what we are. The word "transgendered" is a compound, a word with a prefix, classifying us as marked -- not real, not something with a true essence, but something else with a tainted essence. It is a medical term, reflecting the view that we are pathological and aberrant, in need of correction.
We direly need a real word. I think i'm going to use galla (pl. gallae). This word is transwoman-specific. I'm sorry, i can't think of anything similar for transmen, and maybe it wouldn't be appropriate for me to propose it anyway. It's an ancient word (so i'm not appropriating it from anyone who will miss it) which refers to a sect whose priesthood bore some characteristics in common with modern transsexuals. It's not a perfect word, really, but... it's what we have to work with.
