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It's storytime, folks. Let me tell you about some of the gender harassment I've had to deal with as a cis lesbian minding my own business. https://twitter.com/JuliaSerano/status/1352691516557283330
I went to college when the internet was just becoming a thing in the mid-90s. This means that I wasn't able to research colleges or college cultures online, and wasn't able to get any info on whether the school I picked was LGBT-friendly.
My school's policy on paper was decent, but honestly, it was a much more conservative and heterosexist environment than I could have imagined, especially coming from high school in the midwest.
I figured being around 5,000 people around my age in California would mean better things for me as a queer person than my 2,000 person midwestern high school.
I was wrong. While I didn't get constantly verbally harassed, that was the only upside. The social exclusion was, if anything, worse, I couldn't date, and straight-passing couples started hitting on me for sex like I was an activity and not a person.
This is just to set the scene.
As a young lesbian, I'd always had to deal with a lot of people asking me WHY I'm "like that".
Was I abused?
Had I just never had sex with a man and didn't know what I was "missing"?
Was I going through a phase?
and on and on.
As a young lesbian, I'd always had to deal with a lot of people asking me WHY I'm "like that".
Was I abused?
Had I just never had sex with a man and didn't know what I was "missing"?
Was I going through a phase?
and on and on.
In college, this stepped up in a weird way I hadn't anticipated. A bunch of my friends went to the science-focused college in my five-college group.
I was minding my own business when some guy there asked me if I was genetically male and had a hormone disorder that made me present as female.
It's the most convoluted "why are you like that?" I've probably ever gotten.
It's the most convoluted "why are you like that?" I've probably ever gotten.
I stared at him. I don't even remember what I said, but I remember thinking that literally ANYONE could have had that going on, including him, and we wouldn't ever have a reason to know unless it caused a health problem.
How many cis people do you know who have ever had their chromosomes tested to make sure they're really the gender they identify with? I'm guessing that number is zero, unless they've had a health problem that necessitated that testing.
I guarantee you that if something like this passes, women like me will be the first ones sent for testing. Harassing trans women has always been the first step to harassing other queer people and people who are gender nonconforming.
I can also guarantee you that if I'd been interested in high school sports but had to have a full genetic workup to see if I was "really a girl", I wouldn't have played. I'd have been like "thanks but no thanks, go molest someone else" and gone to hang out with my friends.
I can also guarantee that this will be like other discriminatory legislation, where cis straight femme girls who are conventionally attractive will be able to get the requirement waived. It will just be a way to harass the rest of us out of sports.
Anyway here's a big hot FUCK YOU to the creep who asked me about my genes in college, thinking he was so smart despite not knowing what his own genes said about him, but who hadn't had enough education to understand that people like me are normal already.
PS: I'm probably a lesbian because I inherited the trait from my grandmother, who was also a high-kinsey queer person and the only time she was ever involved with a man was with my grandfather. Sadly she lived in a time when she couldn't be herself openly.
I still haven't had any genetic testing done about gender, and I've still spent my whole life experiencing sexism. Even if I got a genetic test and turned out to be XY, it's not like that would be a defense against sexism -
There's no situation where someone is bothering you and you could be like "well actually I'm XY so I'm really not a woman" and they'd be like "oh sorry sir my bad" and leave off. In fact it would make things orders of magnitude worse.
So to conclude, this is basically republicans wanting an excuse to get into high school girls' panties and pretend it's for legitimate reasons like excluding other high school girls from something completely unrelated to anything.
Next time you hear a conservative bring up something like this, ask them what testing they've had done and whether they know for a medical fact what chromosomes they have, what their hormone levels are, etc. Watch them backpedal, I promise it'll be hilarious.
If anyone reading this wants to throw some money at a charitable organization, please help out your local food bank. Winter is a hard time and this winter more than most. Here's mine: https://secure.2harvest.org/site/Donation#.YAsrHJNKhPs
Also you should absolutely follow @JuliaSerano, she is a biologist and a brilliant writer on trans and feminist issues, and you should read her books too - Whipping Girl is my favorite, really a solid examination of the ways femininity is devalued in feminist spaces.
