Let's talk (briefly) about Chaz Bono and DNA
TW for Cissexism liek WHOA.
The American Family Association's Bryan Fischer has had a LOT to say about Chaz Bono's participation in this season of 'Dancing with the Stars'. Aside from calling Chaz a 'sexually mutilated aberration', he also had this to say:
"Chaz Bono is not a "he," Chaz Bono is a "she." She is a "she" in every single cell of her body, and will be until the day she dies. Her DNA from the moment of conception was indisputably female, and it will always be female.
No amount of surgical mutilation and hormone injections can change that. God designed her to be a female and a female she will be for the rest of her life."
The GLBT community is infamous for forgetting all about the 'T'. I was talking to a gay friend recently about the unjust treatment of trans prisoners and he said, "well, when you're talking about a transgender person, you're already talking about a really disturbed individual, like, someone who is in a lot of pain". He was actually advocating extra leniency in sentencing for trans* prisoners based on that, but in the same way that keeping women out of dangerous occupations is not actually respecting women, saying that trans*people should get intensive counseling rather than facing the same punishments as cisgender people is not respecting trans*people. As a note, I think our sentencing and prison systems are in need of a metric shit-ton of reform because our sentencing is inconsistent and our prison systems are broken, dangerous, and rife with abuse. But I'm getting off-topic.
The GLB part of GLBT rarely invests any real energy, time, or money into trans* rights and part of this is rampant cissexism among the community. Gay-friendly communities, blogs, and websites are not safe spaces for trans*people because not only does the cissexism exist, it exists largely without comment and without correction. I have seen a lot of, "Weeeeeeeeell, Bryan Fishcer has a point about her DNA," (emphasis mine) with little to no recognition of how this kind of ignorant rhetoric contributes to oppression and violence against trans*people.
Wait a second, Sonne, you might be saying. 'Ignorant'? How is this 'ignorant'? That's just the truth, isn't it? As another commentor said, when archaeologists a thousand years from now dig up Chaz Bono's body, they'll mark it 'female' because DNA is DNA is DNA?
Well, no, actually. Like most things in life, it's not that simple.
You see, DNA does not come exclusively in 'male' and 'female' varieties, neatly packaged and labeled like the 'for boys' and 'for girls' toys at the store. 1 in 300 men do not have an XY chromosome (J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Jan;93). No, seriously, next time you go to DragonCon or PAX, think about that: Of all the men in this crowd, 1 in 300 do not have an XY chromosome. Take a look at something called Cogenital Adrenal Hyperplasia or CAH for short. It's a very complex condition, but one of the effects is that people can be born with 'female' DNA and a penis, or 'male' DNA and a vagina, or any combination of DNA or any combination of genitals. We have assigned a binary to life, but life is much more diverse than we give it credit for. The brains of trans* people tend to behave more like those of cisgender people who share their gender than those of cissgender people who share their assigned sex. I want to make it clear that these neurological and biological differences are not required to lend validity to a trans* person's claim that zie is who zie is. I'm just saying that we behave as though human beings all fit into neat little labeled boxes while nature is defying those boxes at every turn. It's nothing more than willful blindness at this point - we are refusing to see the truth which is right in front of us. "DNA!" proclaim the haters. "It is ineffable!" Well, Chaz Bono may very well have traditionally 'female' DNA (I have no way of knowing whether that's the case and frankly I couldn't care less), but that doesn't make Chaz Bono a female. There is so much more to gender than what's coded into your bones - your brain chemistry, your genital arrangement, and your soul have a stake in this race, and when they don't all agree, the soul gets veto power, which is as it should be to ensure the greatest happiness and fulfillment of the individual in question.
Before I close, let's talk about this silly idea that, a thousand years from now, an archaeologist will dig up Chaz Bono and drop his bones into a box labeled 'female' without a second thought. Forensic anthropology is a living and growing field that has seen great advances in the last decade and will probably continue to see them in the next thousand years. We are already able to distinguish the skeletons of ancient trans* people from those of cis people in many cases. Sometimes this has to do with genetic markers, sometimes this has to do with the arrangement of the bodies, and any significant adornment and possessions with which they were buried. In a thousand years, forensic scientists who dig up Chaz Bono's body will not say "this was a female", they will say "this was a transman", because science marches on, y'all. If Chaz Bono died today and was autopsied tomorrow by a group of properly educated forensic scientists who had no knowledge of his identity, they would say, "this is a transman". But all of that, ultimately, is secondary to the fact that Chaz Bono is HUMAN, and treating him with disdain, disgust, and hatred, as if his very existence is damaging to children, as if he cannot exist without demanding that everyone else exist the way he is, as if he is mutilated and aberrant and unholy... is wicked.
The real problem with our society is not that a man has the freedom to change his body to better reflect his gender. The problem with our society is that we feel it's acceptable to demonize those who deviate from the norm. Trans* people are targeted for violence at a rate that outstrips the rest of the GLBT community, but outside of trans* activists, the rest of us can be bothered very little to do anything about this or even spread awareness of the problem. And when it comes to policing people like Chaz Bono, who dare to live in the public eye, we join in without thinking much about our responsibilities to be allies to those whose oppression so thoroughly intersects our own.
(( A note to trans* readers: I am genderqueer but I am not trans. As such, I have cis-privilege, which means when it comes to trans* issues I fuck up sometimes. I am trying to do better, so if I fucked up, please let me know and I'll try to correct it.))
The American Family Association's Bryan Fischer has had a LOT to say about Chaz Bono's participation in this season of 'Dancing with the Stars'. Aside from calling Chaz a 'sexually mutilated aberration', he also had this to say:
"Chaz Bono is not a "he," Chaz Bono is a "she." She is a "she" in every single cell of her body, and will be until the day she dies. Her DNA from the moment of conception was indisputably female, and it will always be female.
No amount of surgical mutilation and hormone injections can change that. God designed her to be a female and a female she will be for the rest of her life."
The GLBT community is infamous for forgetting all about the 'T'. I was talking to a gay friend recently about the unjust treatment of trans prisoners and he said, "well, when you're talking about a transgender person, you're already talking about a really disturbed individual, like, someone who is in a lot of pain". He was actually advocating extra leniency in sentencing for trans* prisoners based on that, but in the same way that keeping women out of dangerous occupations is not actually respecting women, saying that trans*people should get intensive counseling rather than facing the same punishments as cisgender people is not respecting trans*people. As a note, I think our sentencing and prison systems are in need of a metric shit-ton of reform because our sentencing is inconsistent and our prison systems are broken, dangerous, and rife with abuse. But I'm getting off-topic.
The GLB part of GLBT rarely invests any real energy, time, or money into trans* rights and part of this is rampant cissexism among the community. Gay-friendly communities, blogs, and websites are not safe spaces for trans*people because not only does the cissexism exist, it exists largely without comment and without correction. I have seen a lot of, "Weeeeeeeeell, Bryan Fishcer has a point about her DNA," (emphasis mine) with little to no recognition of how this kind of ignorant rhetoric contributes to oppression and violence against trans*people.
Wait a second, Sonne, you might be saying. 'Ignorant'? How is this 'ignorant'? That's just the truth, isn't it? As another commentor said, when archaeologists a thousand years from now dig up Chaz Bono's body, they'll mark it 'female' because DNA is DNA is DNA?
Well, no, actually. Like most things in life, it's not that simple.
You see, DNA does not come exclusively in 'male' and 'female' varieties, neatly packaged and labeled like the 'for boys' and 'for girls' toys at the store. 1 in 300 men do not have an XY chromosome (J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Jan;93). No, seriously, next time you go to DragonCon or PAX, think about that: Of all the men in this crowd, 1 in 300 do not have an XY chromosome. Take a look at something called Cogenital Adrenal Hyperplasia or CAH for short. It's a very complex condition, but one of the effects is that people can be born with 'female' DNA and a penis, or 'male' DNA and a vagina, or any combination of DNA or any combination of genitals. We have assigned a binary to life, but life is much more diverse than we give it credit for. The brains of trans* people tend to behave more like those of cisgender people who share their gender than those of cissgender people who share their assigned sex. I want to make it clear that these neurological and biological differences are not required to lend validity to a trans* person's claim that zie is who zie is. I'm just saying that we behave as though human beings all fit into neat little labeled boxes while nature is defying those boxes at every turn. It's nothing more than willful blindness at this point - we are refusing to see the truth which is right in front of us. "DNA!" proclaim the haters. "It is ineffable!" Well, Chaz Bono may very well have traditionally 'female' DNA (I have no way of knowing whether that's the case and frankly I couldn't care less), but that doesn't make Chaz Bono a female. There is so much more to gender than what's coded into your bones - your brain chemistry, your genital arrangement, and your soul have a stake in this race, and when they don't all agree, the soul gets veto power, which is as it should be to ensure the greatest happiness and fulfillment of the individual in question.
Before I close, let's talk about this silly idea that, a thousand years from now, an archaeologist will dig up Chaz Bono and drop his bones into a box labeled 'female' without a second thought. Forensic anthropology is a living and growing field that has seen great advances in the last decade and will probably continue to see them in the next thousand years. We are already able to distinguish the skeletons of ancient trans* people from those of cis people in many cases. Sometimes this has to do with genetic markers, sometimes this has to do with the arrangement of the bodies, and any significant adornment and possessions with which they were buried. In a thousand years, forensic scientists who dig up Chaz Bono's body will not say "this was a female", they will say "this was a transman", because science marches on, y'all. If Chaz Bono died today and was autopsied tomorrow by a group of properly educated forensic scientists who had no knowledge of his identity, they would say, "this is a transman". But all of that, ultimately, is secondary to the fact that Chaz Bono is HUMAN, and treating him with disdain, disgust, and hatred, as if his very existence is damaging to children, as if he cannot exist without demanding that everyone else exist the way he is, as if he is mutilated and aberrant and unholy... is wicked.
The real problem with our society is not that a man has the freedom to change his body to better reflect his gender. The problem with our society is that we feel it's acceptable to demonize those who deviate from the norm. Trans* people are targeted for violence at a rate that outstrips the rest of the GLBT community, but outside of trans* activists, the rest of us can be bothered very little to do anything about this or even spread awareness of the problem. And when it comes to policing people like Chaz Bono, who dare to live in the public eye, we join in without thinking much about our responsibilities to be allies to those whose oppression so thoroughly intersects our own.
(( A note to trans* readers: I am genderqueer but I am not trans. As such, I have cis-privilege, which means when it comes to trans* issues I fuck up sometimes. I am trying to do better, so if I fucked up, please let me know and I'll try to correct it.))