I'm supposed to be writing a paper right now, one of two 15-pagers due between now and next Monday. Truthfully, I'm doing a bang-up job of not doing it. I've replied to emails, added new CDs to my CDNow wishlist, made risotto for lunch, tidied my room, and contemplated a number of things totally unrelated to my paper. And now, I'm writing an entry- I figured the least I could do would be to put some of my non-directional (or rather, improperly directed) energy into something I've been meaning to do, anyway.
[...]
Last week sometime, one of my co-workers read a little of a paper on radical transgenderists* I had left lying on the countertop. "I don't buy it," was his dismissive response.
"What exactly don't you 'buy'?" I was feeling feisty.
"Well, ah... you're born a man or a woman and, ah..." He was fumbling, desperately trying to keep his grasp on what he want to say. I saw my opportunity.
"There is nothing here for you to 'buy' or not to 'buy.' Other people's identities are not yours to validate or invalidate at will. You simply do not have jurisdiction- it's about as preposterous as me trying to tell you that I don't 'buy' that you are a student, or an employee here, or a person. Why is it that some people's identities are up for public debate, while yours is exempt from scrutiny?"
Well, I actually doubt I was quite that eloquent, but the content and vehemence were similar. Nonetheless, he recovered his wits enough for us to have a rather interesting discussion about priviliged identities and gender oppression. I didn't convince him entirely, but given the topic, I'm usually pretty satisfied just by having made someone think.
In the broader scheme of things, the kind of assumption of jurisdiction that my co-worker made without a second thought is at the root of my disgust with the ideology of the big-R-Right. Whether they're opposing a woman's right to abortion, a gay couple's right to marry, or a transgender person's right to use a public bathroom, the bottom line of each of these issues is that conservatives are trying to meddle in aspects of individuals' private lives that are simply none of their business. Given that this is the same political faction that collectively breaks out in hives at the thought of government controls on the corporate sector, the hypocrisy is slathered on pretty thick here.
As easy as it is to demonize a group of people as the root of all evil, it's a little more complicated than that. That's the trouble, you see- it certainly would be nice if we could just firebomb the Republican national headquarters and immediately realize the progressive agenda, but then, it wasn't Newt Gingrich who passed judgement on radical transgenderists at work the other day. It was another Macalester student, probably fairly liberal compared to the rest of the country, and by most accounts a pretty nice guy. He didn't set out to oppress anyone or even to piss me off. He's just a pawn in a system of thought and power that has gone way out of control, that is so pervasive as to be almost unnoticable. It hasn't escaped my eye, however. There may not be any easy answers, but as long as I have the energy to do so, I'm going to keep right on plugging away at the hard ones. The firebombing idea probably wouldn't hurt, either.
*Radical transgenderists are people who resist categorizing themselves according to a sexed identity.
[...]
On a less political note, I'm happy to report that my shameless gushing over Powell's in my last entry was not without its rewards: Upon checking my email the following day, I found that my mom had bought me a $25 "virtual" gift certificate. Yay Mom! I already spent it, of course, figuring that by the time the books actually arrive (in a week or so) I'll deserve a reward. I ordered Galatea 2.2, a novel that's been discussed over on Table Talk at Salon, and an anthology from Marge Piercy, one of my all-time favorite poets.
More shameless Powell's gushing: My total ended up being 55 cents more than the gift certificate, so I forked over my credit card number to pay the balance. Sure, it is a rediculously small amount to charge, but what else could I do? When I got an email confirming the details of my order, I found that those 55 cents had been wiped out due to some mysterious reduction in the shipping costs. Now, how cool is that? It may be a minor detail, but that's the point-- someone over there is paying close enough attention to the orders to be able to dole out little favors like that. I swear, they're trying to seduce me.