The RuPaul Drag T*Word Controversy

[Martina]

If you don’t wish to own [tranny] or any other word used to describe you other than “male” or “female” then I hope you are privileged enough to have been born with an appearance that will allow you to disappear into the passing world or that you or your generous, supportive family are able to afford the procedures which will make it possible for you to pass within the gender binary system you are catering your demands to. If you’re capable of doing that then GO ON AND DISAPPEAR INTO THE PASSING WORLD!

I think this person as well as the articles cited by Kate Bornstein and Lady Bunny have a point. There is a lot of hostility among some transwomen toward transwomen who have not been able to or who have decided not to have surgery. And there is a lot of hostility toward those who do sex and porn work and serve the fetishes of folks who want to specifically fuck transwomen, often pre-op. I imagine that the frisson of disgust and despair that some women feel when called tranny DOES have to do with being associated with this group. And, as I mentioned earlier, there is a hostility among some transwomen toward drag queens. I gather that the word tranny elides some of these distinctions which some transwomen, perhaps the more conservative as this article suggests, would like to have reinforced.

But this doesn't explain most of the reaction to RuPaul and the show's use of the word. I am sure that most of it is that the word is a disrespectful epithet used against them by ignorant people. I completely understand folks who don't want the word to gain currency among and acceptance by the general public.

I myself have been made weary by the intensity and reactivity of some trans activists. I referenced one instance -- about the ridiculous controversy about whether the word transgendered should be used. I also have had my experiences with trans folk -- usually transmen -- who pass and who become heteronormative to a fault. So, the idea of erasing a radical or alternative identity for the comfort of the privileged and passing does rankle some.

Still, I guess I am on the conservative side of the issue. I don't think the word ought to be used on TV.