[Soon]

Originally Posted by Heart

women exist along a diverse spectrum of gender and sexual identities, all the way from ultra-feminine to ultra-masculine. Being ultra-masculine does NOT make one a man anymore than being ultra-feminine makes one straight.

That, in a nutshell, is my point.

Heart

Thank you, Heart, for so succinctly phrasing what is wrong with Nixon's description.

Last night, I was IM'ing, linked the article, pasted the phrase in question and typed *UGH*...today, I thought about it more and, lo and behold, a mighty thread to read with much to ponder.

Many of you have already expressed (better than I could have articulated!) the reason for my automatic response of taking offense at her phrasing and equating her partner with a man.

Nixon has been with her partner since 2004--not that she needs to be the expert on anything--but god, please! People were already (I know b/c I follow the celeb goss) commenting upon Marinoni's masculine looks/presentation and same 'ol comments of *why not just be with a man?* Now, Nixon verifies (to the public) that a butch or masculine presenting woman basically IS a man...with boobs. She confirmed (joking or not, private understanding or not) what people already thought of butch women--they really are just women posing as men--so why not just be with a (real) man? (especially when you are with a FAKE man, an ugly looking mannish woman at that! <--variations of awful, disgusting comments that have been posted pre and post this article regarding this couple.

As far as whether Marinoni ID's as other than female/woman, here is a snippet of an interview with Nixon from the past who clearly states that she fell in love with a woman:

She continues, “I had been with men all my life and I had never met a woman I had fallen in love with before. But when I did, it didn’t seem so strange. “I don’t define myself. I’m just a woman in love with another woman.”
....
She notes, “I met this woman and I fell in love with her. In terms of my sexual orientation, I don’t really feel that I changed. I don’t feel any different than I did before.”

Anyway, regardless of where you fall on this issue, what a great discussion.