Excellent essay summarizing well what's being erased. As an old (73) retired professional, female (academic) I lived with the sexual discrimination, harassment and assault, as have many, many women. I would like to challenge the white men who say that they don't believe in what's being done to do something about it. I applaud your taking a stand and speaking out. Except for a few writers, and most of them aren't white, I have yet to see groups of white men take a stand against these actions. Wonder why.
Somebody needs to create a museum of the erased and fill it with the lost stories and images, explaining how and why they were obliterated. The German museum exhibit of “decadent art” (collection of Nazi-banned works) was (probably still is) quite popular.
Must we choose between special recognition of arbitrarily-defined "marginalized groups," and erasure of the contributions and lived experiences of individuals who might be considered members of those groups? Welcome to the Oppression Olympics!
As a gay male (and a lifelong activist), I have a personal ax to grind here. The author complains, "Trans is out. LGB. The government redefines a movement in a way that is unrecognizable to those in it." And then there's "LGBTQ"!
Not so fast!
"Trans" people exist. They're just not what they crack themselves up to be.
This is a disability issue. It has nothing to do with "LGBTQIA+," let alone "Queer."
A person genuinely suffering from a brain-body mismatch (due to a neurological or hormonal anomaly) deserves the same decency, compassion and access to medical treatment (if need be) as anyone with a deformity or disability. (As for "intersex"? Some people are born with eight toes.) And bullying or harming the disabled (or those with a genetic anomaly) is an atrocity in its own right.
None of this requires that we redefine “male” and “female,” or adopt terms like “cis” and “trans.”
All the rest is cosplay.
“Gender" (as distinct from biological sex) is a social fiction. Indeed, among gay males, drag is about repudiating and ridiculing the very concept of "gender" -- not “affirming” it.
At age 74, I’ve fought all my adult life to advance a recognition that there's nothing “Queer" about same-sex attraction. I’m attracted to guys; I’ve never hidden that fact, and (as my parents raised me) I’m proud simply to be myself. I never signed up to "smash cisheteropatriarchy" in the name of some Brave New World.
Yes, I experience stereotypically "feminine" emotions -- but the operative word is "stereotypically"; those feelings don't make me female. Indeed, reconciling such feelings with respect for my male body has been absolutely crucial to my self-acceptance as a gay male. On behalf of a stereotype or social fiction, I’m not about to cut off my dick to spite my crotch.
Moreover, the implicitly adversarial notion of "Queer" (or some putative “LGBTQIA+ community”) is a self-serving, self-marginalizing corral into which we’ve been herded by “The Groups.” It dilutes and jeopardizes the hard-won, widespread acceptance (and self-esteem, as individuals) that gay people have otherwise already gained — along with our fight against those who medicalized our condition in the past! And those promoting that paradigm (thereby emboldening our adversaries) are running a protection racket, at our expense.
So, FWIW: Yes, I’ll pull up the ladder behind me when anyone (especially some apparatchik running a protection racket) starts clutching at my heels, dragging me down.
PS: Marsha Johnson (a drag queen) had a marvelous sense of humor and sense of proportion (“Pay it no mind!”) — unlike her would-be protector, the vile Sylvia Rivera, famously seething with hate. Furthermore, the ostensible presence of either of those individuals at Stonewall -- the source of the complaint about the "erasure" of "T" -- is itself a contested narrative, at best.
Excellent essay summarizing well what's being erased. As an old (73) retired professional, female (academic) I lived with the sexual discrimination, harassment and assault, as have many, many women. I would like to challenge the white men who say that they don't believe in what's being done to do something about it. I applaud your taking a stand and speaking out. Except for a few writers, and most of them aren't white, I have yet to see groups of white men take a stand against these actions. Wonder why.
They want a country that does not exist.
When do they take down the Viet Nam Memorial in DC that has everyone’s name?
Somebody needs to create a museum of the erased and fill it with the lost stories and images, explaining how and why they were obliterated. The German museum exhibit of “decadent art” (collection of Nazi-banned works) was (probably still is) quite popular.
Greetings Don, I like your posts!, it appears on my feed quite a lot so I thought I’d comment my sentiments.
You may enjoy an article I’ve written, given what you share, I thought you may find interest in it:
https://open.substack.com/pub/jordannuttall/p/a-cartographic-view-of-tartaria?r=4f55i2&utm_medium=ios
The good news as a number of the changes will be reversed by the next President.
Must we choose between special recognition of arbitrarily-defined "marginalized groups," and erasure of the contributions and lived experiences of individuals who might be considered members of those groups? Welcome to the Oppression Olympics!
As a gay male (and a lifelong activist), I have a personal ax to grind here. The author complains, "Trans is out. LGB. The government redefines a movement in a way that is unrecognizable to those in it." And then there's "LGBTQ"!
Not so fast!
"Trans" people exist. They're just not what they crack themselves up to be.
This is a disability issue. It has nothing to do with "LGBTQIA+," let alone "Queer."
A person genuinely suffering from a brain-body mismatch (due to a neurological or hormonal anomaly) deserves the same decency, compassion and access to medical treatment (if need be) as anyone with a deformity or disability. (As for "intersex"? Some people are born with eight toes.) And bullying or harming the disabled (or those with a genetic anomaly) is an atrocity in its own right.
None of this requires that we redefine “male” and “female,” or adopt terms like “cis” and “trans.”
All the rest is cosplay.
“Gender" (as distinct from biological sex) is a social fiction. Indeed, among gay males, drag is about repudiating and ridiculing the very concept of "gender" -- not “affirming” it.
At age 74, I’ve fought all my adult life to advance a recognition that there's nothing “Queer" about same-sex attraction. I’m attracted to guys; I’ve never hidden that fact, and (as my parents raised me) I’m proud simply to be myself. I never signed up to "smash cisheteropatriarchy" in the name of some Brave New World.
Yes, I experience stereotypically "feminine" emotions -- but the operative word is "stereotypically"; those feelings don't make me female. Indeed, reconciling such feelings with respect for my male body has been absolutely crucial to my self-acceptance as a gay male. On behalf of a stereotype or social fiction, I’m not about to cut off my dick to spite my crotch.
Moreover, the implicitly adversarial notion of "Queer" (or some putative “LGBTQIA+ community”) is a self-serving, self-marginalizing corral into which we’ve been herded by “The Groups.” It dilutes and jeopardizes the hard-won, widespread acceptance (and self-esteem, as individuals) that gay people have otherwise already gained — along with our fight against those who medicalized our condition in the past! And those promoting that paradigm (thereby emboldening our adversaries) are running a protection racket, at our expense.
So, FWIW: Yes, I’ll pull up the ladder behind me when anyone (especially some apparatchik running a protection racket) starts clutching at my heels, dragging me down.
PS: Marsha Johnson (a drag queen) had a marvelous sense of humor and sense of proportion (“Pay it no mind!”) — unlike her would-be protector, the vile Sylvia Rivera, famously seething with hate. Furthermore, the ostensible presence of either of those individuals at Stonewall -- the source of the complaint about the "erasure" of "T" -- is itself a contested narrative, at best.