Cunt-Inga Muscio
I've been reading this book every day since Christmas. My dear Naomi bought it for me although the title alone insulted her. This book has discussed everything from charting your period to Sylvia Rivera. I have read discussion on the way lesbians are treated, on life in a small town and the fact that whore, cunt, etc. were once considered complimentary words. Not once have I cried. Today I picked it up and started reading a section on transgendered individuals, I got past the murders, the lost jobs, the fact that they're completely left out of history. I discovered that for once when Pennsyltucky finally got it right, including transgenders in it's new hate crime legislation (an issue I first discussed at length while away at college), New York still won't include them. Still I did not cry. Even when she mentioned that approximately 1 million children in America have been raped, many of whom will grow into men who may never be brave enough to speak up. Finally I hit a quick sentence mentioning that transgendered people consider it a routine part of life that when arrested they are often forced to give policemen blowjobs. Why does this image send me over the edge? It's one of the few injustices in the book that doesn't directly pertain to me and it just made me sit here and quietly cry... I've known only two transgendered individuals in my life. One I barely know, the other probably wouldn't call themselves "transgendered" just someone who enjoys women's clothes... It's all a matter of perspective. Sometimes I confuse myself, sometimes the world confuses me...
Someone please read this book, I need to discuss it.
Someone please read this book, I need to discuss it.