I didn’t have Internet access for a while so I wrote a giant 6000 word essay on why I don’t think trans is a radical concept. I don’t think anyone will want to read the whole thing, and I might never get it edited and tidied up, but I thought I would put up parts of it.
Trans people bother administrators the world over. Everywhere we are insisting on changing documents that were not meant to be changed. The solid and real part of the documents, that are tied to biology and history, things that cannot be changed, really. I imagine we may as well be arguing to change the place of our birth on our records, as well as changing our M or F, so far as the system is concerned.
So everywhere, we lobby. I do not see that we have yet a united front on what we are arguing for, with some wanting to change the M or F after surgery (which surgeries count?), or maybe after hormone treatments. Still others want to get rid of that particular piece of trivia altogether, an approach which I favour personally.
I do not think trans is radical in either of these domains, though.
On the administrative side, while there are occasional trans people who express views which I would say are radical, our demands of paperwork do not seem to address much “fundamental” in the world. Identification, paper trail histories, files and all that jazz all assume so much about the world. The troublesome birth certificate, for instance, requires a government to issue it. Passports become important historically only when these governments [[become coordinated enough]] to define and maintain borders between their jurisdictions which privilage some people over others in terms of humanity, both of which (the interior area and the line around it) are enforced, in the end, with military control.
Trans in and of itself does not challenge any of this. We do not, as a group, have much to say about the existence of identifying papers and their implications for us economically, socially and politically. We are troubled by the implementation. Because trans folk represent a random sampling of all people, and because the idea of getting rid of nation states and all the [[frills]] that surround them are not ideas which have well-saturated our varied communities, I would not expect to see the broad trans community embrace such legitimately radical ideas, or others.
The Solidarity ID (SID) project out of Concordia University is of interest I think, because it is an attempt to circumvent government-issued ID cards for “transsexual, transgendered and gender-non-conforming individuals as well as migrant, indigenous and non-status people.”1 SID creates cards which are primarily voluntary identification information. I think this is an interesting initiative and indicates a thorough understanding of trans people’s situation in the world in relation to others. They are fighting paperwork for their right to work and live, as are other groups.. Although realistically unlikely to “change the way personal ID cards function in Canada” as stated by Sarah Needles, I think the concept of challenging who has the right to create valid and legitimate ID cards does have radical possibilities. However, until this sort of analysis is cultivated by all trans people we will remain a reformist force in society.
At the end of the day, it is likely our demands to get rid of or alter certain boxes on certain pieces of paper will have as much impact as gay marriage: a number of people will have easier lives, a few others will be outraged, and everything generally goes on as it was.
1Needles, Sarah. ” ID Cards for the Revolution.” AlterHeros. AlterHeros, 26 02 2009. Web. 21 May 2010. <http://www.alterheros.com/english/Edito/?recordID=118>.
Trans people bother administrators the world over. Everywhere we are insisting on changing documents that were not meant to be changed. The solid and real part of the documents, that are tied to biology and history, things that cannot be changed, really. I imagine we may as well be arguing to change the place of our birth on our records, as well as changing our M or F, so far as the system is concerned.
So everywhere, we lobby. I do not see that we have yet a united front on what we are arguing for, with some wanting to change the M or F after surgery (which surgeries count?), or maybe after hormone treatments. Still others want to get rid of that particular piece of trivia altogether, an approach which I favour personally.
I do not think trans is radical in either of these domains, though.
On the administrative side, while there are occasional trans people who express views which I would say are radical, our demands of paperwork do not seem to address much “fundamental” in the world. Identification, paper trail histories, files and all that jazz all assume so much about the world. The troublesome birth certificate, for instance, requires a government to issue it. Passports become important historically only when these governments [[become coordinated enough]] to define and maintain borders between their jurisdictions which privilage some people over others in terms of humanity, both of which (the interior area and the line around it) are enforced, in the end, with military control.
Trans in and of itself does not challenge any of this. We do not, as a group, have much to say about the existence of identifying papers and their implications for us economically, socially and politically. We are troubled by the implementation. Because trans folk represent a random sampling of all people, and because the idea of getting rid of nation states and all the [[frills]] that surround them are not ideas which have well-saturated our varied communities, I would not expect to see the broad trans community embrace such legitimately radical ideas, or others.
The Solidarity ID (SID) project out of Concordia University is of interest I think, because it is an attempt to circumvent government-issued ID cards for “transsexual, transgendered and gender-non-conforming individuals as well as migrant, indigenous and non-status people.”1 SID creates cards which are primarily voluntary identification information. I think this is an interesting initiative and indicates a thorough understanding of trans people’s situation in the world in relation to others. They are fighting paperwork for their right to work and live, as are other groups.. Although realistically unlikely to “change the way personal ID cards function in Canada” as stated by Sarah Needles, I think the concept of challenging who has the right to create valid and legitimate ID cards does have radical possibilities. However, until this sort of analysis is cultivated by all trans people we will remain a reformist force in society.
At the end of the day, it is likely our demands to get rid of or alter certain boxes on certain pieces of paper will have as much impact as gay marriage: a number of people will have easier lives, a few others will be outraged, and everything generally goes on as it was.
1http://www.alterheros.com/english/Edito/?recordID=118 accessed May 22
ID Cards for the Revolution
By Sarah Needles , AlterHeroes
2009-02-26
