Confessions of a GenderTrash Reject

Archive for February, 2009|Monthly archive page

Foucauldian Groin Jobs

In Theory Talk on February 11, 2009 at 4:55 pm

“Knowledge is not made for understanding; it is made for cutting.” — Michel Foucault

I wrote in READ MY LIPS that, borrowing from Marjorie Garber, you can get a tummy tuck, eyelid lift, toochus lift, face lift, nose job, and boob job, but you can’t just get a “groin job.”

Genitalia are something that society has invested special meaning. It is the only area of the body over which society exerts such direct control. Along with the face, it is one of only two areas which are identified and tracked, and the only one that identifies us from before we are born through our death.

My nose job was something I “had.” But because genitals are the primary marker of sexual identity, my groin job was something I “was.” That is, it identified my, and in turn, I was supposed to be identified by it. Read the rest of this entry »

Speaking of Genitals…

In Stand-up Bits on February 11, 2009 at 4:34 pm

One of the problems with being transgender is that the first thing everyone wants to ask about is surgery. Which is embarrassing. Who wants to spend the first 30 minutes of every conversation talking about their genitals? Who except every guy I’ve dated in the last 10 years?

Off the Map of Intelligibility

In Theory Talk on February 4, 2009 at 6:09 pm

What’s so queer about queer theory? Queer theory is mainly identified with homosexuality, the idea of gayness as different, as “queer,” as wrong as a “three-dollar bill.” But those of us who remember that usage — and I do, vividly — might recall to whom it was most often directed. It wasn’t muscle queens and macho gay guys, and it wasn’t the lipstick lesbians either. The one’s who were queer as a three-dollar bill were the fairies, sissies, and diesel dykes. Was it because of who they slept with? Not primarily. The queerness that was so different was gender.  Read the rest of this entry »

A Product of Soy

In Stand-up Bits on February 4, 2009 at 6:02 pm

I know I look “real” these days. I’m totally passing. In fact, I look so good that someone is always coming up to me after performances to tell me, “Gosh, you look just like a real woman.” Which is really wonderful, when you think about it, especially when you consider that I’m composed almost entirely of compressed soy by-products.