When umbrella terms cause offence - Christie Elan-Cane and 'Gender Queer' »
Mac responds to Christie Elan-Cane’s strong objections to ‘gender queer’:
This is very much a generational thing. I am gender queer. I’m also British. I’m also a young adult. The I use gender queer to refer to my gender because it is a queer gender identity. I am not female, I am not male. I am something between and out side that binary. It is not offensive to me. In fact it is the opposite, it is comfortable.
Trigger Warning: Homophobic and transphobic slurs
I do not mean to be age-ist in this statement, and I apologise if it comes across that way: I and many young gender queer identifying people do not find it offensive. It is clear from the statement saying that queer is more derogatory than faggot, that this person is of an older generation than myself. I personally and the vast majority of people my age view faggot as a more derogatory word. Whether it is being used by someone or against them, faggot is so much worse than queer as an insult.
End of triggering section.
It may be wrong for me to take the stage representing all people of the younger generations but it is even worse for this person to claim to speak for all ages. We younger people have very different attitudes than those who grew up with no exposure to non-straight/non-cis people.
Having gender queer in the WPATH validates my identity. It may not be perfect, it may not cover every non-binary identity. But if it was a choice of having it in there or keeping the WPATH guidelines binary specific, I know which I would choose and probably what you would choose as well.
I agree that this is very much a generational thing. Elan-Cane represents the generation before mine who were trailblazing the way for nonbinary and genderqueer people back when I was still in school - see this newspaper article from 1995 for example.
I’m in my 30s now, I live and grew up in the UK and have been using ‘queer’ and ‘genderqueer’ as my labels of choice since I was a teenager (ironically since seeing a Channel 4 TV series ‘Queer Street’on a BBC documentary Q.E.D.: Sex Acts that featured Elan-Cane among others), and had to fight tooth and nail for my right to do so due to how offended other LGBT people were by the term back in the late 1990s. I would successfully argue to be allowed to call myself queer, I was never allowed to call other people queer. I still know people in the UK LGBT community who take offense at queer as an umbrella term despite years of shows like Queer Eye and Queer As Folk normalising the term. And I still get ‘queer’ shouted at me as a slur, even now (although for me it’s very much a “Yes, very observant of you” reaction).
I absolutely agree with you that genderqueer is a label of power, recognition, comfort and validation for all those who use it and that it is right that it should be included and recognised by WPATH. I myself am genderqueer as well as nonbinary (and gender neutral, androgynous and transgender) and I’m committed to ensuring that all gender identities (and lack of identities) and expressions that don’t fit the gender binary are represented and celebrated.
I mainly reblogged Christie Elan-Cane’s opinion to raise the point that some people do find the term offensive when it’s applied to them, and that it can be problematic to use reclaimed slur words for umbrella terms when some people object to being put under their umbrella.
I was trying not to be ageist when I avoided saying that the opinion is particularly held by older people (I’d say it starts to be a trend in those aged 30 and older), but you’re right, I should have made it clearer that it was one person’s opinion and not fully representative. Also, whether ’f—got’ has passed into British speech from American culture seems to vary regionally, it’s something I’ve never heard used around here, but I hear that it’s more common in other areas.
And yes, I agree that Elan-Cane has a tendency to write in a single voice as if speaking for everyone outside the binary, and in doing so often erases people with different nonbinary experiences in just the same way as non-gendered people usually get erased in transgender writing.
I think activism work that sets out to be inclusive and representative of a plurality of voices and experiences, rather than a single activist’s opinions, tends to be more effective.
(via maccyp)
When umbrella terms cause offence - Christie Elan-Cane and 'Gender Queer' »
Veteran UK non-gendered activist Christie Elan-Cane objects strongly to WPATH’s new Standards of Care using ‘gender queer’ as an umbrella term to cover all nonbinary (not female or male) identified trans* people.
Note, in the United Kingdom ‘queer’ is our strongest sexuality and gender-related slur word, still the term of choice for ‘queer bashers’ (while the dominant American terms still generally mean cigarettes, meatballs or fire starting materials in the UK). As such it will always be contentious, painful and deeply offensive to some, regardless of our efforts to reclaim it.
I THOROUGHLY OBJECT to the use of the term “gender queer” in this document.
As a human being and a transperson of NON-GENDERED IDENTITY, I find this term INAPPROPRIATE AND OFFENSIVE.
It is a STUPID AND MEANINGLESS term.
I wonder how the highly privileged people who continue to apply this most inappropriate label to a socially invisible and disenfranchised group of human beings would feel if the same label were applied to them!
I request WPATH STOP using this inappropriate term to reference non-gendered transpeople – transpeople – human beings – who do not identify as male or female (a non-gendered core identity).
The Nonbinary vs. Genderqueer Quandary »
Marilyn of Genderqueer Identities talks about the distinction between ‘genderqueer’ and ‘nonbinary’ as labels and umbrella terms.
Our network aims to increase understanding about and advocate for equal access to services for all nonbinary, genderqueer and gender nonconforming people regardless of gender identity or expression.
gqid:
Recently, I have noticed a tendency for non-binary to be used as the go-to umbrella term for non-normative gender (gender not along the lines of man or woman, specifically) and as an alternative to genderqueer, and a tendency to perceive genderqueer as a specific identity rather than as an umbrella term. Currently, both of these terms are being, and have been, used in an umbrella capacity, and in the case of genderqueer only, as singular identity as well. Genderqueer, when used in its wider sense, is also meant to be a much larger umbrella than non-binary; queer gender (identity or expression) covers a lot of ground; non-binary refers to non-binary identities specifically. They’re not exactly interchangeable.
I have seen some assertion that genderqueer is/should “not” be used as an umbrella term, even at the generally great Queer Dictionary which claims that genderqueer is “sometimes also incorrectly used as an umbrella term”. This bothered me particularly because of the overwhelming amount of research and pouring over books and websites that I’ve done to uncover the history of “genderqueer” and its usages, many of which have defined genderqueer as an umbrella term. It would be more accurate to say that the usage of genderqueer may be shifting away from being used as an umbrella term in favor of non-binary when used in reference to identities rather than expression only, not that using it in this way is somehow wrong, or worse, that it never was used this way. Remember, the terms you prefer are entirely up to you! What you feel describes yourself best and considering the utility of umbrella terms are what is most important. I am writing this piece primarily to find out the relationship and differences between these terms.
To put this complicated issue as simply as possible: non-binary refers to gender that is not binary (not man nor woman) and genderqueer refers to gender that is queer (non-normative). Because gender that is not binary may be regarded as “queer” because it is not normative, it becomes easy to see why these terms have been used interchangeably. However, queer is also often used in a radical or political context, so some who may otherwise have considered themselves genderqueer may feel distanced from the term, or more closely aligned with it, due to this association. In short, genderqueer is often non-binary (except for in the case of referring to expression / performance exclusively), but not all non-binary identified people may consider themselves genderqueer for a variety of reasons, which I will discuss.
Responding to critique of 'Nonbinary' »
Earlier today, CN Lester posted an articulate and well considered constructive critique of the umbrella term ‘Nonbinary’ now commonly used within many genderqueer, gender variant and gender nonconforming communities.
The following response is adapted from the Twitter conversation I had with CN in response:
Despite having just announced a ‘Nonbinary’ visibility, education and advocacy network, I strongly agree with much of your critiques of the word.
I think it’s really important that we have these conversations about the language we use. I believe that any single word is going to be flawed and likely to exclude some by implication (just look at all the debates around the words ‘trans’ and ‘transgender’), so it’s important that we work to ensure the definitions and explanations in our resources and visibility work recognise and minimise these shortcomings.
I’m currently working on a Nonbinary FAQ and I’m aiming for it to address everything you’ve covered here. I’ve already had a couple of lengthy and heated discussions about this with some other activists and will be incorporating their perspectives and criticisms too.
And I say all this as one of the architects of the modern positive Asexual movement and author of the original asexuality.org FAQ. I hope I can use what I learned through helping to build a positive, inclusive community around a ‘negative’ word (asexual is defined by a lack of sexual orientation after all) to ensure that ‘Nonbinary’ does not become exclusionary or elitist.
Part of this effort in forming a community around this commonly used umbrella term is to bring people together under their common experiences rather separate under many individual identities. And that’s coming from someone who has been deeply frustrated by having to choose if I was ‘androgyne’ or ‘neutrois’ on community sites in the past (and ultimately joining and contributing to both, wishing I could bring their resources and communities together).
Please see the following for an example of my commitment to inclusivity and recognition of all identities and experiences under community umbrella terms:
Practical Androgyny: How transgender organisations can demonstrate inclusivity
The nonbinary visibility campaign planned will put just as much effort into increasing awareness of all the diverse identities under the umbrella as the umbrella term itself. We all gain from more people understanding identities like bigender, fluid gender, genderqueer, neutrois etc, and everyone gains from the freedom to define their gender identity (or lack of it) and gender expression in whichever way they wish.
I hope this has addressed some of your very justified and valid concerns, and thanks again for starting this conversation and giving valuable critique!
