The RuPaul Drag T*Word Controversy

[candy_coated_bitch]

Originally Posted by Martina

I didn't use those words, but I did say something like that. I did qualify it by the people *I* have known. I do think there are a lot of drag queens who are pretty uncomplicatedly cis. It's been my experience. I am not sure what's presumptuous about saying that.

I know you didn't exactly say that, which is why I clarified it was just my reaction. I think what *IS* presumptuous is assuming how any drag queen may or may not identify without knowing. And it doesn't seem as though that is what you are saying. But really--just my sense on a larger level is we are all having a discussion about someone's gender identity or lack thereof without full knowledge of how they feel about themselves--and by extension what right they have to use a particular word. That feels icky to me.

[Corkey]

I am Transgender, I do not use the word, nor do I think it is an acceptable word to use. RuPaul's gender aside it is offensive because Transgender people say it is. If one wants to reclaim the word for themselves that is the prerogative of the person who claims Transgender.
I do think it was done to other people, and so far I have not heard an apology from either the network or RuPaul. If said apology has happened and I missed it, well I missed it.

[Martina]

I totally go by what other people tell me they ID as.

People often think about gender in one of two ways. They either see a spectrum with lots of little points along it, and each of these is a gender, almost separate from the others. (I am wildly oversimplifying.) But basically, they understand that once someone has struggled with gender a certain amount, they are probably tg or genderqueer or gender variant or something like that.

OR, people can understand that there may be just a few genders, each rather elastic, each able to manifest in many different forms.

Either approach is liberating, and I respect any individual's conclusions about gender. (Of course.) BUT, I am more in the second camp. I do not love the list-of-qualifiers way of naming gender. I prefer expanding a few categories. I personally find that a lot more liberating than the string of qualifiers approach. I am not sure that the lived reality is much different for most non-trans folk. I know the string of qualifiers works for some, but I groove on subverting the big categories and stretching them till they scream.

So that may pre-dispose me to not assuming TG. It does not pre-dispose me to making normative assumptions.

[Corkey]

I look at the spectrum as a circle, not a line. It suits me.

[imperfect_cupcake]

I have no idea. All I know is the bigendered drag queens I know consider half their gender categories is trans. I also know unigendered straight cis drag queens. I also know uni-gendered lesbian drag queens. I could keep going with this. Drag does not auto connote gender. So I can't state all people who X are X genders and thus can't claim nuthin.

I'm a dyke. I also call myself a lezzo, a carpet muncher, a lezbean and a few other things. Why? Because I don't think there is anything intrinsically wrong with me at all. If someone calls me a lezzo, I honestly don't find it insulting. Cause its not an insult.

Some dykes feel differently. They hate it. That's fine. But they sincerely can't control what I don't find offesive and what I don't find offensive.

I'm going to assume that everyone in every corner of LGTBQ kinda feels the same way. Some people find something offensive and some don't.

[The JD]

Whether or not Ru Paul and the contestants are "entitled" by their own personal identification to use the word (that's how I see much of this discussion), it's taking place on a TV show, not their private lives, which creates another layer of context.

Participants on a game show/reality show tend to be incredibly self-aware of the "brand" they're trying to create, and try to market themselves in ways that will "sell." If you're hearing Ru Paul and the contestants use "tranny" and "she-mail", it's because the show's producers think that will sell ads. That seems to me to be much more problematic.

[Martina]

Real drag shows, especially ones with comedians, tend to be pretty politically incorrect. Saying "tranny" and "she-male" is pretty mild stuff compared to what some of the comedians say. Seriously, as a woman, you can get pretty offended at some of the humor. I usually love it although I have hissed a few (dozen) times.

Maybe they were trying to keep some of the flavor of that. I wonder what the audience demographic is? Largely men or women? Gay or straight?

[DapperButch]

"On Policing RuPaul's Free Speech" The TransAdvocate

http://www.transadvocate.com/on-poli...ch_n_13537.htm

"​I think the freedom of speech and policing arguments that have popped up around RuPaul are entirely disingenuous. Nobody is stopping RuPaul Andre Charles from using these terms as much as he likes in his personal life. RuPaul Andre Charles is a human being; RuPaul is a brand that Logo sells. Logo does not want the brand they’re selling to be associated with terms people use while they kill trans women. Period."


"If the value of your reputation goes down because you are associated with the terms people widely use when they’re killing oppressed people, then that’s the price you’ll pay. Claiming that you’re oppressed because you think you should somehow be exempt from the rules of social currency is a bogus argument."


"Yes, there are very specific contexts in which very specific groups use tranny, shemale and fish. They will continue to do so. All of these terms have a wider context and meaning outside of those very specific in-group usages. It’s a mistake to assume or expect that those terms won’t retain their larger contexts when used outside of those very specific in-groups and a national branded cable TV show is absolutely outside the context of those very specific in-groups. RuPaul is RuPaul precisely because he has social currency outside the context of that very specific in-group and yes, there’s a price one pays for one’s brand reaching that level of popularity and that price, IMHO, is totally fair. We all pay that same price, to one extent or another."

[Medusa]

I think there is something pretty specific going on in some ways with the controversy and how it actually began.

For a little history, I have watched the show since the beginning. I've watched all the seasons, follow the show and some of my favorite performers on Facebook, etc.

Carmen Carrera (who is a Transwoman but who performs as a "drag" performer) was a contestant on the show during the 3rd season and was one of the voices coming out against the use of the "T" word after the "shemale" or "shemail" skit debacle.

From what I remember, Carmen expressed irritation about the show using that skit and said it was offensive to Transwomen. I believe Rupaul and/or the Logo channel offered a semi-apology. (or at least it was "soft")
Thus began a LOT of backlash to Carmen from other RPDR performers saying that Carmen was "biting the hand that fed her" and that she was a "crybaby" and "word police".
There was also some discussion from other performers about how Carmen should have never been allowed to be on RPDR in the first place since she is not an actual drag queen but a Transwoman.

Carmen did state in a recent interview that she feels that "most of RPDR fans are Transphobic" after hearing remarks from some of her fellow contestants and performers.

Rupaul also recently defended his right to use the T word in an interview stating that he has used the word based on Transexualism.

From the outside, it looks like there is a gap between the men who perform drag as an art and the women who live as women but still perform as art. There have been other Trans women on the show (Willem, for one, and who hasn't TMK spoken out about this issue). I know that's an oversimplification.

I'm still reading all of the articles that have come out in the past few days. Commentary from LadyBunny, Rupaul herself, and other Trans activists. I have one pulled up right now calling this entire controversy "trifling bullshit".

Anyway, I know this is all over the place but wanted to chime in.

[candy_coated_bitch]

This is the thing that keeps bugging me: Who gets to say that RuPaul isn't "trans enough" to be part of the "in group" that gets to use the word tranny? Who? Who are the keepers of that key? The ones that wave the magic wand and grant any person that right to use it?

THAT is the part of the argument that kills me. That RuPaul is merely JUST a drag queen. JUST a performer. Not REALLY trans. Not ACTUALLY a trans woman--so what right does she have to use language that has oppressed trans women? Again, I am not trying to say that RuPaul has the same experience as trans women who live their lives 24/7 as women. Yes, that's a different thing. BUT the word trans*, in my opinion, covers a wide range of experience INCLUDING those who experience their gender as being in a state of flux. Do I know everything about Ru Paul's personal identifications? Nope. But from what I see she COULD fit into that category and I am not going to make a judgment over the fact that she doesn't deserve to use that language because she's not trans*. (I did look it up after Martina pointed it out to me, and RuPaul is indeed comfortable with both pronouns.)

EDITED TO ADD: The word "tranny" has been to used to oppress drag queens for longer than our modern conception of transgender ever existed. Queens were also historically the targets of heinous violence, just like the rest of our community. I am unsure why we think of them now as some kind of privileged class....And I honestly don't feel the onus is on RuPaul to prove to me that she's TRANS ENOUGH.

I do disagree with some of the points you posted in the TransAdvocate article, Dapper.

(separation because this rant is not aimed at you personally) I do believe there are situations when a person should moderate their speech and choose their words more carefully. But this is a show about DRAG QUEENS for crying out loud. Really? A Drag competition should be sanitary and PC? For me, part of the joy of Drag Queens is the fact that they push the envelope. Who wants to see a PC drag performance? Personally, I wouldn't waste my time. I think artists SHOULD push the envelope. And yeah, I consider RuPaul a fucking artist. I don't think RuPaul owes the community anything in terms of expunging her vocabulary because she has a TV show and a "brand". I want the opposite, as a matter of fact. I want the larger-than-life, offensive, nelly queen fucking BITCH that I have come to know and love in the past over two decades. I think she's earned that right.

I think that this debate about language is a good thing. The queer community, and the trans community contained within, are never going to agree on this. I know as many people who hate the word tranny as those who love it. And that's good. I will probably ALWAYS be on the side of the argument that reclaimed language is a good thing and if a person sees fit to reclaim that language, so be it.

Also--even right at this very minute on Logo's web site they state that their intent is to provide programming that is "OUTRAGEOUS" with characters that are "UNAPOLOGETIC". And in another quote I read that they seek to provide "FIERCE" programming. Well--that's what we got. Outrageous, fierce, and unapologetic.

[imperfect_cupcake]

I see she has clarified to mean tranny = Transexual. Not transgender.
Ok, I can see a Transexual person getting irritated by a transgender person calling them tranny. I can also see a black bi gender/gender flux (most bi gender/gender flux people use two pronouns, hello?) telling another performer to get over herself already. Has anyone actually *been* behind the scenes at a performance with Queens? Theirs caustic bitchy humour and very, very, VERY thick skin is an expression of part of what they have lived through in order to be themselves and perform. One of the only ways you used to be able to get a bloody job as a queen was to be a performer.
That would be equivilant as the only way you could be open and butch and still eat was to put it on stage.

In the UK they do an all Queens show of "the weakest link" a game show where you answer trivia questions , every one having a turn until someone screws up and loses the round. Then then vote off the least knowledgable person. When they Do a Queens version, they rip holes in the host, the audience and each other with sarcastic wit. That is the weapon of choice for drag performance.

I personally would be horrified if someone cis and straight I knew called one of my Transexual friends (who ID as Transexual) as "tranny" .

Coming from a culture where you skin is supposed to be thick, and the way to answer an insult is to answer back with something wittier and more caustic, or you get made into a target? A good comeback is worth 10,000 upset demands.

And that has been made into a TV program. Has anyone ever watched Never Mind the Buzzcocks? They rip the living piss out of each other for a laugh. I watch American musicians show up on that show and they look horrified, repulsed, upset, and offended usually until about 75% of the way through the show when they start to understand that the insults and sarcasm and wit is not to be taken in an American form of offence kind of way. You see them start to "get it" smile, and laugh. queens, as far as I remember, operate from the same place.

It's overly dramatic, caustic, sarcastic, catty and sharp. I don't know the intent behind the word. The intent could have been to hurt or the intent could have been playfully piss taking. I have no idea. I bet this has brought a whole lot of attention to Ru Paul's show though.

[Loren_Q]

Originally Posted by candy_coated_bitch

This is the thing that keeps bugging me: Who gets to say that RuPaul isn't "trans enough" to be part of the "in group" that gets to use the word tranny? Who? Who are the keepers of that key? The ones that wave the magic wand and grant any person that right to use it?

I agree with this. I can relate because as a petite butch cis-female I'm often told I'm not butch enough.

I'm also old enough where the 'T' word was used by transwomen, drag queens and transvestites (anyone else remember the 70s?)

Back then, I recognized it as a term they used for themselves and like 'Dyke' was a pejorative when used by someone outside of that tribe.

I still feel that way. I don't use the word, and today if a 'non-cross-dressing' cis-gendered person uses it I speak up. It's not theirs to use.

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by Medusa

Rupaul also recently defended his right to use the T word in an interview stating that he has used the word based on Transexualism.

CCB,

My understanding is that RuPaul does not identify as a woman, but rather as a gay man/male who performs drag (which he places under the umbrella of transgender. He doesn't care of someone calls him she...well, I would suspect not since usually when drag queens are dressed they refer to themselves as she). Have you read that he identifies as transsexual? According to Medusa's post that is what he means when he uses the term "tranny".

Although it may read differently, I actually don't have a lot of passion around this, but I think that things are pretty darn clear here. He says he uses the term tranny as slang for transexuals. My understanding is that most transexuals have issue with that term.

I am really having a hard time understanding why you are ok with a person outside of a minority group (transexuals) using a term that is perjorative in nature and is seen as a slur by the majority of the group.

[candy_coated_bitch]

Quote from RuPaul's Twitter: "I’ve been a “tranny” for 32 years. The word “tranny” has never just meant transsexual. #TransvestiteHerstoryLesson"

As I said before--the word tranny has a long history and Drag Queens and transvestites have been a part of that history. THAT's why I am ok with it.

This is the article where I got the quote: http://www.salon.com/2014/05/27/rupa...e_term_tranny/

I have not seen what Medusa referred to as RuPaul stating that the word "tranny" means just transsexual. Actually, I've read the opposite, as the above suggests. In the above quote he says the opposite. That tranny is part of his/her LIVED EXPERIENCE. Everything I have read suggests that RuPaul identifies with the word. I don't think one has to identify as a woman to identify as gender variant or as a tranny. That word has DECADES and DECADES of history--and yes much of it is in the context of tranvestites and queens. I am absolutely ok with someone that has that lived experience to use that word. I am ok with the people I know who are NOT transsexual women using the word tranny, if they relate to that experience.

I understand the word is offensive to many, I understand it is used as a weapon against trans women all the time. But I still stand by the right of anyone who identifies with a word to reclaim it and use it all they want. The word tranny existed before trans women even existed in the way we conceive of it in queer culture today. So, no--I don't think trans women own the word. If one looks at the etymology of the word it came into use mainly around Drag Queens and transvestites.

Do you really think RuPaul has not experienced considerable backlash for being who he is? For being a Drag Queen? I imagine the word tranny has been leveled at her MANY times.

I get that words like this can be violent and used as weapons. And I am not going to sit here and defend the right of just ANYONE to use the word tranny. However, I will defend RuPaul's right to use it. I imagine many don't agree with me and that's ok.

[Medusa]

And I'll further clarify that I was paraphrasing what I read and definitely could have misquotes Rupaul. From what I remember, he has never said he was "just" Transexual or "just" anything. I do remember that Rupaul has talked extensively about drag as performance (and not necessarily in those terms but the flavor of it).

I've always read and observed Rupaul (and yes, giving homage to the packaged value of what he and his managers present) as extremely body, gender, and self positive. I've appreciated Rupaul as one of the most visible Drag Queens in the world who has always appeared to handle racist and gender-phobic comments from his detractors with class and dignity. In short, I think Rupaul is pretty fucking fabulous.

Language is a tricky thing. Like, I love to identify myself as a fatass. A Dyke. A Faggot. A Honky. A Cunt.

I know several of those words make other people really uncomfortable. I've even had other people who don't fall into any of those categories tell me that I shouldn't use those words to describe myself because it makes them uncomfortable.

So here's where I get hung up. I've also had people who DO fall into those categories with me tell me that I'm "upholding the Patriarchy by calling myself a cunt" or "supporting racism by calling myself a Honky" or "exercising Fatphobia by calling myself a fatass" or "being Lesbianphobic by calling myself a Dyke" or "being Homophobic by calling myself a faggot".

And maybe all of those things are true.

Until they're not.

Can a fat, white, queer woman really be fat phobic, racist, Lesbianphobic, and Homophobic? Sure.

But that's only until I am speaking about myself and my own experiences by reclaiming language of a category that I fall into.

My views on language have changed a lot in the last few years. Hell, my views on what marginalizes and disempowers has changed a lot in the last few years. It might change again.

Right now, today, I feel like I get to describe myself howeverthefuck I want to describe myself. (caveat, caveat, caveat)

And, in large, I feel like Rupaul does too.

Now, caveat the fuck out of all of that by adding that Rupaul clearly has a responsibility to his community and the use of the T-word. I think if he wants to be accessible to Transfolks that he needs to listen to the concerns of the folks telling him that the use of the T-word hurts them. Whether or not he actually chooses to do anything about it might be up for discussion.

I also recently read that Heklina of the Bay area show "Trannyshack" will be changing the name of the show and even that has been drawing some severe criticism on both sides. Some folks arguing that she shouldn't "give in to the bullying of the word police" (or something to that effect) and some arguing that "she's only changing it because people are breathing down her neck". So basically, she's damned if she does and damned if she doesn't and hopefully, in the end, she'll do what her heart tells her is right.

Which leads me to ask folks this: Does the performance of art or the use of offensive terminology in artistic performances change your views at all about what words are allowed or not?

[candy_coated_bitch]

Originally Posted by Medusa

Now, caveat the fuck out of all of that by adding that Rupaul clearly has a responsibility to his community and the use of the T-word. I think if he wants to be accessible to Transfolks that he needs to listen to the concerns of the folks telling him that the use of the T-word hurts them. Whether or not he actually chooses to do anything about it might be up for discussion.

<snip> My response: I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a second. DOES RuPaul really have a responsibility to his community regarding whether or not he calls himself a tranny? Even if publicly? Do you feel you owe a responsibility to your community (whatever that may be) when you call yourself a dyke or a faggot or a honky or a fatass or a cunt? I feel very similarly to you when it comes to reclaimed language and my right to call myself pretty much anything I want.

I think RuPaul is being pretty in your face with his responses to this issue, and I actually think it's a good thing that he is pushing the envelope. I think he is being deliberate. RuPaul isn't an activist he's a performer, an artist, an entertainer. I'm not sure he is obligated to be ANYTHING just by virtue of being famous.

With that being said--I also don't think the other side of the argument shouldn't be heard, or that transwomen shouldn't be listened to when they talk about their feelings regarding the word tranny. That shit is real. However, should this mean someone should stop doing what they are doing because it hurts others? /end response

Which leads me to ask folks this: Does the performance of art or the use of offensive terminology in artistic performances change your views at all about what words are allowed or not?

My response: For me, yes it does. I will state up front that I am a pretty in your face kind of person, I see the value in pushing the envelope, and I believe that when something makes people uncomfortable it's an opportunity for growth an understanding. I LOVE art that challenges me, and I strive to be that sort of artist. I think if there is some purpose in using a word generally seen as offensive in a work of art, be it performance art or otherwise--I am not against that. But as in all things, there are lines. I am not the arbiter of where that line is--but I know for me what comes across as brilliant and challenging as opposed to gratuitous. It also depends on the artist, the intended audience, the situation. And generally a matter of taste.

...........

[Martina]

Originally Posted by DapperButch

"On Policing RuPaul's Free Speech" The TransAdvocate

http://www.transadvocate.com/on-poli...ch_n_13537.htm


"Yes, there are very specific contexts in which very specific groups use tranny, shemale and fish. They will continue to do so. All of these terms have a wider context and meaning outside of those very specific in-group usages. It’s a mistake to assume or expect that those terms won’t retain their larger contexts when used outside of those very specific in-groups and a national branded cable TV show is absolutely outside the context of those very specific in-groups. RuPaul is RuPaul precisely because he has social currency outside the context of that very specific in-group and yes, there’s a price one pays for one’s brand reaching that level of popularity and that price, IMHO, is totally fair. We all pay that same price, to one extent or another."

I agree with this argument.

[Martina]

Interesting article in Slate -- The “Tranny” Debate and Conservatism in the LGBTQ Movement --

It’s an interesting moment, to say the least, for the T in LGBTQ. Laverne Cox, an outspoken transgender woman and star of Netflix’s acclaimed Orange Is the New Black, will command attention at newsstands and grocery store checkouts across America from the cover of the June 9 Time magazine, acting as the entry point to an in-depth article on the improving lot of transgender people and policies across the country. And Cox is not alone—other transgender figures have gained visibility and influence with heartening speed in the last year or so, including Redefining Realness author Janet Mock and outspoken activist/model Carmen Carrera.

But even as the needs—for basic respect as much as fair legal treatment—of transgender people come to be acknowledged and better understood in the mainstream, a furor is growing within the queer community around the idea that progress means abandoning words and cultural affiliations that a vocal subset of trans people deem offensive. Tranny, the highest-profile of these words, is both a slur and a term of endearment, a brand that can sting and a badge that can be worn with pride. And when some people cherish a word that others despise, who can be said to own it, to possess the authority to declare it fair or foul? It’s a vexing question, but one that we must consider, because the answer will go a long way in determining what the LGBTQ liberation movement—and liberation is the key word—looks like after gay marriage.

For outsiders, the contours of this debate are surely hazy, so here’s a rough sketch. Tranny and words like it have long been used within the queer world, among many transgender people and especially in the drag subculture, as signs of appreciation or friendship, much in the same way that some African Americans employ the word nigger. While tranny can also certainly be used as a slur (outsiders should not use it for this reason), it is the kind of term that has been claimed by many as a celebration of their own queerness, an indication of their intention to futz with our society’s deeply ingrained gender binary. Other trans people, though, have always found the term derogatory, rejecting it out of hand.

Given the growing prominence of RuPaul’s Drag Race, it’s perhaps not surprising that the recent controversy was spurred by the show’s playful use of words, as we previously covered in Outward, like she-male. (Another precipitating factor was the renaming-under-duress of the Trannyshack, a famous San Francisco queer performance space.) Under pressure from activists and many fans, Drag Race producers and broadcaster Logo TV apologized for the offending segments back in March, editing out a “Female or She-Male challenge” and removing the long-running “You’ve got she-mail” bit from later episodes. But after the finale earlier in May, RuPaul himself has begun pushing back against what he sees as censorship, responding to a question about tranny on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast that “You know, I can call myself a nigger, faggot, tranny all I want to, because I’ve fucking earned the right to do it. I’ve lived the life …”

RuPaul’s comments have joined impassioned missives from trans artist Mx. Justin Vivian Bond, trans author and artist Kate Bornstein, and drag performer Lady Bunny, all of whom in their own ways echoed RuPaul’s view that “banning” tranny was an example of a conservative minority speaking on behalf of—and doing a certain kind of violence to—those for whom the term is, in the words of Bornstein, a “valid, vibrant, and vital identity.” Bond is particularly blunt on this point:

What [critics of the word] fail to recognize is that by banishing the use of the word TRANNY they will not be getting rid of the transphobia of those who use it in a negative way. What it does do is steal a joyous and hard-won identity from those of us who are and have been perfectly comfortable, if not delighted to BE TRANNIES.

Of course, there are compelling arguments against the word—that using it encourages outsiders to sling it in hate, for example, or that it implies all trans individuals are sex workers—many of which Bornstein thoughtfully considers in her post. It’s hard to see a resolution to all this at present. Spend a few minutes in the comments sections of any of the aforementioned pieces, and you will see self-identified trannies accusing their critics of PC tyranny, while the other side accuses them of internalized transphobia.

As a non-trans gay man, I don’t feel it’s my place to declare either side of this debate “right” or “wrong,” because tranny is not an identity I would claim for myself, I am not a part of the drag community beyond fandom, and I am sensitive to the fact that too many ignorant gay men throw the word around in ways that are not welcome nor totally benign. That said, I think at least one helpful thing to emerge from this uproar is a reminder that it is possible to be physically queer and culturally conservative. Indeed, it does not seem inaccurate to me to interpret some transgender people’s insistence on transitioning seamlessly from one gender to the other—to reinforce the gender binary, in effect, by eschewing the conceptual friction that third-way terms like tranny and even she-male engender—as a conservative impulse. Bond seems to recognize this as conservatism in disguise and has little patience for it:

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!

While it’s entirely possible that a person could “pass” for their chosen gender and remain queer in their approach to the concept of gender in general, I can’t help but find much of the anti-tranny rhetoric to be supported by a curiously conservative set of assumptions. That does not necessarily invalidate the anti-tranny point of view, of course, but I do think that many taking up the cause might reconsider whether they are standing as close to the cutting edge of queer civil rights as they might have imagined—dismissing the deeply felt identities, histories, and understandings of others as “offensive” somehow doesn’t exactly feel progressive.

And, as Lady Bunny suggests, we might think about whether expending this much energy on semantic infighting is distracting from more important battles elsewhere. I’m personally not sure if it’s a zero-sum game, but I am troubled by how, in our zeal to create a so-called “safe space” for ourselves, safe can so easily become code for ideologically pure. As history has borne out time and again, that’s not a space that’s safe for anyone.

[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.

[Martina]

Originally Posted by Medusa

Language is a tricky thing. Like, I love to identify myself as a fatass. A Dyke. A Faggot. A Honky. A Cunt.

I don't get wanting to reclaim honky. The others, yes. They are used by dominant groups to oppress others. But honky was typically used by African Americans to describe the group oppressing them. One of the things it connotes is an ignorant bigot who'd like to have his foot on your neck. How is that reclaimable? Being fat can be positive. Being gay is positive. Being a sex positive, body-positive female, yes, all good.

Being an ignorant bigoted oppressor? How is that ever positive?

I get reclaiming "white trash" because that was used against poor people by a more dominant group -- more privileged classes. I like that phrase. But honky? I don't get it. It's like telling Black people, "You don't get to be mad at me anymore."