We are BUTCH Voices

We are woman-identified Butches. We are trans-masculine Studs. We are faggot-identified Aggressives. We are noun Butches, adjective Studs and pronoun-shunning Aggressives. We are she, he, hy, ze, zie and hir. We are you, and we are me. The point is, we don’t decide who is Butch, Stud or Aggressive. You get to decide for yourself.

Windy City Media: The transformative politics of gender

This article was written by Kate Sosin.
Appeared originally: The Windy City Times

Photo Credit: Sara Deragon
Pictured: (L) Krys Freeman – (R) Cara Thaxton

…The division between the two organizations comes at a time when college “women’s studies” programs are increasingly becoming “gender studies” programs and women’s organizations must revise their mission statements to include their transgender members.  Where women once created separate spaces in a male-dominated society, many must now accept that such spaces are often painted as exclusionary by trans rights groups. For some, it calls into question the very idea of what “feminist” means.

Feminist communities hit a major road bump in 1994 when a transgender woman was ejected from the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. The “Womyn-born-Womyn only” policy became a point of protest for transgender communities, who argued that the policy aimed to delegitimize transgender women as women.

…Both [groups] want to push past the differences and support each other. “We share a community,” Freeman said. “So there’s no way we can’t work together.”

 

Keep up with BUTCHVoices.com join the mailing list. Have an idea about the next BUTCHVoices event, send us your suggestions

BUTCH Voices is “Pro-Bono”