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| The Butch Zone For all things "Butch" |
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#1 |
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Timed Out
How Do You Identify?:
Permanently Banned 10/24/2010 Preferred Pronoun?:
She. Relationship Status:
Married (one of 18,000) ![]() Join Date: Nov 2009
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Isn't "Male Privilege" akin to "White Privilege" in that because of gender (real or perceived) certain privileges are given even though not strived for?
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#2 | |
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Member
How Do You Identify?:
honeysuckle venom Preferred Pronoun?:
a pistol and a sugar cane Relationship Status:
I promise to aid and abet Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: in between poems where ceilings are floors and joe ghost floats achromatic toward day
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Quote:
Show me the privilege. What privilege are we automatically granting to our male id'd folks and transmen here that nobody else has? The privilege to say righteous shit and get away with it? I haven't seen that. Am I blind?
__________________
Class, race, sexuality, gender and all other categories by which we categorize and dismiss each other need to be excavated from the inside. - Dorothy Allison
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#3 |
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Timed Out
How Do You Identify?:
Permanently Banned 10/24/2010 Preferred Pronoun?:
She. Relationship Status:
Married (one of 18,000) ![]() Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Atascadero, CA
Posts: 4,933
Thanks: 2,309
Thanked 7,108 Times in 2,327 Posts
Rep Power: 0 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
I am not a carrier of male privilege, but I'd love to hear from others if they feel it is somethings butches/trans people incur.
The Male Privilege Checklist 1. My odds of being hired for a job, when competing against female applicants, are probably skewed in my favor. The more prestigious the job, the larger the odds are skewed. 2. I can be confident that my co-workers won’t think I got my job because of my sex - even though that might be true. (More). 3. If I am never promoted, it’s not because of my sex. 4. If I fail in my job or career, I can feel sure this won’t be seen as a black mark against my entire sex’s capabilities. 5. I am far less likely to face sexual harassment at work than my female co-workers are. (More). 6. If I do the same task as a woman, and if the measurement is at all subjective, chances are people will think I did a better job. 7. If I’m a teen or adult, and if I can stay out of prison, my odds of being raped are relatively low. (More). 8. On average, I am taught to fear walking alone after dark in average public spaces much less than my female counterparts are. 9. If I choose not to have children, my masculinity will not be called into question. 10. If I have children but do not provide primary care for them, my masculinity will not be called into question. 11. If I have children and provide primary care for them, I’ll be praised for extraordinary parenting if I’m even marginally competent. (More). 12. If I have children and a career, no one will think I’m selfish for not staying at home. 13. If I seek political office, my relationship with my children, or who I hire to take care of them, will probably not be scrutinized by the press. 14. My elected representatives are mostly people of my own sex. The more prestigious and powerful the elected position, the more this is true. 15. When I ask to see “the person in charge,” odds are I will face a person of my own sex. The higher-up in the organization the person is, the surer I can be. 16. As a child, chances are I was encouraged to be more active and outgoing than my sisters. (More). 17. As a child, I could choose from an almost infinite variety of children’s media featuring positive, active, non-stereotyped heroes of my own sex. I never had to look for it; male protagonists were (and are) the default. 18. As a child, chances are I got more teacher attention than girls who raised their hands just as often. (More). 19. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether or not it has sexist overtones. 20. I can turn on the television or glance at the front page of the newspaper and see people of my own sex widely represented, every day, without exception. 21. If I’m careless with my financial affairs it won’t be attributed to my sex. 22. If I’m careless with my driving it won’t be attributed to my sex. 23. I can speak in public to a large group without putting my sex on trial. 24. Even if I sleep with a lot of women, there is no chance that I will be seriously labeled a “slut,” nor is there any male counterpart to “slut-bashing.” (More). 25. I do not have to worry about the message my wardrobe sends about my sexual availability or my gender conformity. (More). 26. My clothing is typically less expensive and better-constructed than women’s clothing for the same social status. While I have fewer options, my clothes will probably fit better than a woman’s without tailoring. (More). 27. The grooming regimen expected of me is relatively cheap and consumes little time. (More). 28. If I buy a new car, chances are I’ll be offered a better price than a woman buying the same car. (More). 29. If I’m not conventionally attractive, the disadvantages are relatively small and easy to ignore. 30. I can be loud with no fear of being called a shrew. I can be aggressive with no fear of being called a bitch. 31. I can ask for legal protection from violence that happens mostly to men without being seen as a selfish special interest, since that kind of violence is called “crime” and is a general social concern. (Violence that happens mostly to women is usually called “domestic violence” or “acquaintance rape,” and is seen as a special interest issue.) 32. I can be confident that the ordinary language of day-to-day existence will always include my sex. “All men are created equal,” mailman, chairman, freshman, he. 33. My ability to make important decisions and my capability in general will never be questioned depending on what time of the month it is. 34. I will never be expected to change my name upon marriage or questioned if I don’t change my name. 35. The decision to hire me will never be based on assumptions about whether or not I might choose to have a family sometime soon. 36. Every major religion in the world is led primarily by people of my own sex. Even God, in most major religions, is pictured as male. 37. Most major religions argue that I should be the head of my household, while my wife and children should be subservient to me. 38. If I have a wife or live-in girlfriend, chances are we’ll divide up household chores so that she does most of the labor, and in particular the most repetitive and unrewarding tasks. (More). 39. If I have children with a wife or girlfriend, chances are she’ll do most of the childrearing, and in particular the most dirty, repetitive and unrewarding parts of childrearing. 40. If I have children with a wife or girlfriend, and it turns out that one of us needs to make career sacrifices to raise the kids, chances are we’ll both assume the career sacrificed should be hers. 41. Magazines, billboards, television, movies, pornography, and virtually all of media is filled with images of scantily-clad women intended to appeal to me sexually. Such images of men exist, but are rarer. 42. In general, I am under much less pressure to be thin than my female counterparts are. (More). If I am fat, I probably suffer fewer social and economic consequences for being fat than fat women do. (More). 43. If I am heterosexual, it’s incredibly unlikely that I’ll ever be beaten up by a spouse or lover. (More). 44. Complete strangers generally do not walk up to me on the street and tell me to “smile.” (More: 1 2). 45. On average, I am not interrupted by women as often as women are interrupted by men. 46. I have the privilege of being unaware of my male privilege. |
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#4 |
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Mentally Delicious
How Do You Identify?:
Queer High Femme, thank you very much Preferred Pronoun?:
Mme. Relationship Status:
Married to JD. Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Atlanta
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(gently)
I think one of the ways that Male privilege might play out in an online forum is that many (most?) men on this site will not have to constantly correct people on their preferred pronoun. (and this is, again, an example of a privilege that is inherited and not asked for) edited to add: recognizing also that most Femmes have this identity privlege as well. |
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#5 |
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Infamous Member
How Do You Identify?:
Dominant Stone Butch Daddy Preferred Pronoun?:
She Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: In A Healing Place
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Following up on Medusa's example, time and time again I have seen people online state that when they are not sure what pronoun to use they use the male pronoun to make sure they don't offend anyone. It is considered safer- less offensive. I have read this multiple times over the years and some from very well meaning people that I really liked and respected.
It is not the honest mistake that is the problem. Male is clearly valued over female out in the world- our butch femme online communities have been no different. I welcome the fresh start here on this website.
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#6 | |
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Senior Member
How Do You Identify?:
pervert butch feminist woman Preferred Pronoun?:
see above Relationship Status:
independent entity Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Oakland
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Quote:
sorry.......ain't buying or drinking that koolaid......... |
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#7 |
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Mentally Delicious
How Do You Identify?:
Queer High Femme, thank you very much Preferred Pronoun?:
Mme. Relationship Status:
Married to JD. Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 10,446
Thanks: 5,995
Thanked 42,684 Times in 7,831 Posts
Rep Power: 10000026 ![]() |
Let me just give a personal narrative here:
(while recognizing that my Femme voice might be intrusive on this conversation) I just want to say that I *do* resonate with parts of what e said. While I dont want to go into the whole "who did it more to whom" thing, I DO want to recognize that I , as a Femme, have INDEED not been as intentionally watchful as I should have been around my *own* involvment with marginalizing women-identified Butches. A good example: When I first logged on to the "other" site, I had NEVER heard anothe Butch referred to as a "he" or a "hye" or a "sir" on any level (outside of the "oh, Im sorry I thought you were a man" conversations when someone would mistake the woman I was dating for a man) I had mostly been around other Butches in clubs, at rallies, or had long time lesbo friends. We all referred to each other as "she". When I came to the "other" site, I noticed immediately that there were Butches who wanted to be referred to as "he, hye, sir", etc. At the time, it felt new and wonderful, a way for me as a Femme to show HONOR and RESPECT to that part of my Butch heros who exuded a way of being that words would not describe. But it felt good, it feel like fucking every established context that I had ever known. It felt empowering as a Femme because it felt like I was finally able to show just how much I "got it". Fast forward a month or two and I met Jack. Jack insisted from the very beginning, "Im a woman, don't call me he." I respected that. (because honestly? STILL hot.) So now fast forward about 8 years and Jack and I are now partnered and we realize one day after some bullshit on the other site that I have now defaulted to calling my parter a "he" when discussing her in conversations with other BF people. That Jack has stopped twitching when referred to as "he" by random folks online. That the whole thing just kinda felt normal. There was no feeling of "oh god we slid into hell" by taking up the "he", it just happened because I stopped correcting people, Jack stopped correcting people, and I think in some way, I let my fetishization of the masculine take over. Im not at ALL saying that this is what this means for everyone, but I think it might have been a tiny part of it for me. I own that with 100% responsibility. After a bit, Jack and I both made a conscious choice to have a discussion about how she identifies and wants to be honored. When she said to me, "I am a woman. I am a she. I am a Butch Woman", that was enough for me to do a 180 on my laziness (personal experience) around gender pronouns. I have worked steadily and thoughtfully to NEVER refer to my partner as a "he" again because its how SHE wants to be seen. This doesnt mean that I dont honor those folks who identify as masculine, I certainly do! I honor them and respect their path just as much. My own culpability in the erasure of not just female-identified Butches, but ....for fuck's sake...MY PARTNER...to some degree, speaks to my own...I struggle for words here....my own idealization of gender. My own immersion in the binary. My own static electricity with what makes ME most comfortable. Maybe it was just easier for me as a Femme on a site where the overwhelming majority of folks identified as "he" to talk about my partner. Maybe it felt more inclusive. Maybe it felt less "abnormal". The only thing I know is that I wanted to reverse my process because my partner's right to exist, not just in her body, but as a loved being with FULL understanding and honor from me, as the person who loves her, is WAY more important than me feeling comfortable in a cyberworld. This is all bockety and jangly but I hope people can see that I am owning my own small part in the erasure. I know that this issue isnt "all about me" but I want to be clear that I do NOT think it would be healthy of us as a community to create yet another binary where the masculine-identified folks or Transmen are 100% responsible for the erasure of female-identified Butches. I do think that there is work to be done around the inherent hierarchies that are created but I think we can all work together to do that work. With grace. With respect. With honor. |
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#8 | |
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Member
How Do You Identify?:
honeysuckle venom Preferred Pronoun?:
a pistol and a sugar cane Relationship Status:
I promise to aid and abet Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: in between poems where ceilings are floors and joe ghost floats achromatic toward day
Posts: 514
Thanks: 229
Thanked 735 Times in 228 Posts
Rep Power: 503698 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Quote:
I believe the automatic he, hy/she-ing has more often been the fault/responsibility of the butches who actually identified as female and their partners who participated in and/or allowed this to go on without speaking up. See, I do not and will not ever believe that the number of transmasculine folks compares. It can't have been that they were enforcing this behavior via the terrible power of misogyny. And like Medusa, I have been guilty of doing it myself - in a relationship where it went on for some time until we both looked at each other and asked, "Why?" Even she didn't know. It seemed the thing to do, and harmless enough. (It wasn't.) I have witnessed both you and Bulldog fight for your own recognition, however, and I was always and still am glad for this. What I argue here is what seems like a false dichotomy. I disagree that we can compare queer people or born-female-bodied ones who inhabit male space/identity as the Oppressor. As He Who Must Examine His Misogynist Tendencies More Than Us. It sets him apart. And I believe that 'setting apart' is the rub. Most transpeople, to my mind, are not receiving privilege. Not in this space, and not in any other. I disbelieve even an online space allows for it. I call the notion that they are misandry. Transphobia, possibly. I don't know. But it feels...wrong. We have all had these discussions before. I want every woman here - butch or no - to be recognized. I have always felt this way. But I also do not want to see an 'othering' take place where transfolk are somehow shouldering the responsibility of the misogyny that was born of a patriarchy that does not even allow for their existence.
__________________
Class, race, sexuality, gender and all other categories by which we categorize and dismiss each other need to be excavated from the inside. - Dorothy Allison
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#9 | |
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Member
How Do You Identify?:
Femmesensual Transguy Preferred Pronoun?:
He, Him, His Relationship Status:
Dating Join Date: Nov 2009
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#10 | |
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Member
How Do You Identify?:
Hardcore bullheaded grown-ass Tomboy Preferred Pronoun?:
She Relationship Status:
she loves my shaggy hair Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: The backroom of a night cafe plotting world domination
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Quote:
ETA: I think male priviledge is a very fickle thing when it comes to butches, and we all should take a look before just absolving ourselves of the need to check it based on other injustices we may receive as butches.
__________________
.......... In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. ~Albert Camus
Last edited by Jett; 11-19-2009 at 09:03 AM. |
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