#genderrebels

[jfrick]

Why I Quit Twitter

I started getting some harassing comments on twitter about how I look and my putting up the pronouns they/them on my bio. That shit gets me nervous, especially after one poster commented that “people like that should be shot into the Sun.” They were in response to a fairly benign political comment I made, basically indicating I didn’t think swearing publicly was presidential. Oh, the tweet in question was made 4 years ago! This is twitter! Facebook for the ADHD crowd! Not that I’m knocking ADHD. I’m probably undiagnosed ADHD. 4 years later, I still believe what I tweeted. I just might not have been so blunt about it. It’s not worth it, so I shall be getting my Newsfeed fix on Facebook and Tumblr only now. 

With regard to pronouns, I’m 47-years-old. I’ve been referred to as she/her that entire time, so I’m used to it. It does not offend me at all. The only thing I don’t like is being lumped in with women who love make-overs, shopping, and wearing dresses. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just not my jam, and there’s nothing wrong with me for being that way.

 I prefer to think of myself as a gender rebel. 

[mattador1]

Photos by Daniela Kantorova

Liberate Space Murals

West Macarthur Blvd. and MLK Jr. Way, Oakland

OaklandWiki: “As of August 9, 2014, all of these murals are gone.”

[page-2-ids]

Rebelish/Genderrebel: A gender that is itself a rebel/rebellious

The colors are ones that I associate with rebellion, as well as related things like punk

This was for the thirteenth day of my coining event! Prompt: Rebel

No suggested pronouns

[faithdabrookegenderrebels]

Red carpet superstars! #genderrebels #callenlorde (at Picture Ray Studio)

[chloepond1-blog]

I've got a busy weekend full of chores and boring things, looking forwards to getting through them all and relaxing. With wine. And cake. #notmanyfilters #selfiesaturday . . . . . #naturallook #trans #transgender #transsexual #transselfie #selfiesunday #selfiequeen #genderfluid #genderqueer #crossdressing #crossdresser #crossdress #tgirl #tgirlsdoitbetter #tgirlselfie #transisbeautiful #girlslikeus #justlikeawoman #transwomen #mtftrans #mtftransgender #boytogirltransformation #tgirlsofinstagram #prettytranswoman #genderrebel #breakinggendernorms

[queeranarchism]

There and back again, a non-binary tale

Time for a longish personal trans story thing.

Back when I was transitioning, it was common for trans groups to have 0 non-binary people in it and for trans people to say that non-binary people were extremely rare and most people were solidly trans men or trans women. That was also something doctors said, and accessing transition care while non-binary was extremely difficult or simply impossible.

Some of that lingers today but it has gotten significantly less. Above all, non-binary visibility has skyrocketed. To a far greater extend than 10-20 years ago, trans people know that being non-binary is an option and can name a few non-binary people. Let me repeat that: the fact that trans people know that being non-binary is an option and can name a few non-binary people, is very recent.

Back when that wasn’t the case, non-binary trans people who needed physical changes often had a ‘there and back again’ kind of transition. They identified as or pretended to identify as a transman or transwoman, did the full transition that way and much later went on to identify as and present as non-binary from that new physical place.

So a non-binary person might first do the entire ‘trans woman’ transition and then start binding their chest and wearing suits and maybe using he/him pronouns. Or a non-binary person might first do the ‘trans man’ transition but then start presenting femme and maybe using she/her pronouns. That was pretty much my journey and the first fellow non-binary people I got to know had journeys like that. Not every non-binary person did that, but over the years I’ve met quite a few who did. 

And let me be clear: we were not ‘regretters’, even if some of us reversed a few physical changes. We were not ‘actually cis’. If anything, we were about the queerest, transest genderrebels you could imagine. We took the road that, according to most doctors and most trans people at the time, was forbidden, was too weird, was too queer.

This journey still happens. Some non-binary people still physically transition because know deeply that who they are meant to be is a very femme person in a testosterone shaped body, or a very masc person in an estrogen shaped body, etc. And that’s awesome as fuck. All my love to all those people. I feel a spark of kinship with people who shape their non-binary identity in that way.

But due to the very fortunate circumstances of increased acknowledgement of the existence of non-binary people, it seems to me that this journey has become less common. And as a ‘there and back again’ non-binary, I can’t help but feel a little bit sad about that sometimes. Back then, I hungered for other non-binary people, because it seemed like there was nobody like me. Now, I hunger for non-binary people who go on this particular journey, because it still feels like there is almost nobody like me.

So if it seems that I rail with a special kind of rage against people who try to group all trans people in ‘transmasc’ and ‘transfemme’, or assume that all ‘afab’ trans people have a specific kind of experience and a masculine gender representation while all ‘amab’ people have an entirely different experience and a feminine gender representation. (God, I hate those afab/amab words. they’re terrible), I am angry because that is the denial of the experiences of paradoxical, weird, there-and-back-again trans people. Which means it is a denial of me. And I have heard enough trans people tell me that my experience doesn’t exist to last two lifetimes. I’m done with that.

Not sure where I was going with this. I guess it’s a simple: let trans people be paradoxical. Let us be difficult to explain. Let us disturb your narratives. Let us go there and back again. Let us take estrogen and groom our beard. Let us inject testosterone and wear dresses every day. Let us change our pronouns again and again. Let us be as fluid as we happen to be. Let us transition more than once

& if you can’t see the beauty of all our paradoxes, leave us the fuck alone.

[mxmarthasjupiter-blog]

Trans Species Beginning x Mx. Martha

The future is Trans Species, you see it on your Instagram, you know, the feature that allows you to affix a cute muzzle on your face paired with matching ears. See it often enough, you can see the user obtain a freeness only seen on the faces of people after they transition. Go on do a quick transgender transition timeline search and you will see the faces of people pre-transition looking sad with dead eyes  a top the fake smile plastered on their conforming faces until they get that correct dose of hormones (Estrogen or Testosterone) in their system becoming their true selves and take a look at the smiles, the posture, the comportment; every thing is brighter, more alive even, who knew the real self could be so liberating, so gravitating, so beautiful. Now see clips of the Instagram filter which allows the unsuspecting user to transmogrify into a creature that is both them and not them. This creature stands for what I am proposing as the future of binary/non-binarism. Because after gender know longer becomes a thing and it is coming yawl, gender variants will become normalized, assimilated. Society has a strange way of creating a dysphoria that guides society through evolution.

Now imagine if you will an Instagram user who does not identify as human, never felt comfortable in their body, hates the way society perceives them uses this filter and decides that they are happier being seen as a puppy, a dog or nonbinary human/canine and uses this Instagram filter solely for the purpose of validating their expression. Possible. In radicalism, such as homosexuality before trans, go ahead do the research and see the medical journals devoted to understanding homosexuality with no idea of the possibilities of a normalized successful and diverse LGBTQQIIAA+ culture. The study of gene expression does not begin on humans so they say but of “mice of men”, so, following past trends, Transgender and Gender non-conforming should normalize, how? I cannot tell the future, but I do know that once the bandage is yanked, the skin will not heal the same, the skin has adjusted to the potential of one being harmed again. Predicting the future social enigma requires thinking outside of the box in a way that is incomprehensible because the science does not exist.

What exist is the tools of affirmation to help placate the feeling of isolation. Internet for community, clothing, ideas, trends, and all it takes is one being great in life to spark the masses to take the necessary steps of self-evolution. Make the boiling pot cool enough and the masses start to want a taste. Imagine a world of people who feel as smart as a fox, people displaying plumage in social settings, athletes deciding that cleats no longer suffice because of the evolution of the human athlete. It is like that now anyway as we take practical advice from species other than human. If vegetarians identifying as an herbivore no longer have a need for canines, then what would happen? Would vegetarians finally process vegetables the way greens were meant to be. Transgenders were angels in secular worlds and we routinely flock the box office to see mutants duke it out. Before we obsolete the radar, we must relate to the true capabilities of the bat.

[chrissacooper]

it's #transdayofvisibility and it's a day to let our trans brothers, sisters, and nonbinary siblings know that they are seen, heard, valued, valid, and loved. also if we could get on this queer revolution asap that would be rad af, i'm just saying y'all. the entire queer movement was started by gender rebels. ✊ #stonewall #stonewallwasariot #transgenderdayofvisibility #tdov #tdov2019 #translivesmatter #transwomenarewomen #transmenaremen #transisbeautiful #transgender #genderfluid #genderqueer #nonbinary #genderrebel #queerrevolution #queerlivesmatter #lgbtq #lgbt https://www.instagram.com/p/BvrkKXSBcPA/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=nvfo6b9qoy1e

[gadgetgirl71]

Amazon First Reads for May 2020

It’s that time yet again, to choose one of eight books that Amazon First Reads lets Amazon Prime Members download for free. I always look forward to the beginning of each month to see what is on offer.

This months books are:

Contemporary Fiction

If You Must Know by Jamie Beck  Pages: 362, Publication Date: 1 June 2020

Synopsis: Life turns upside down for two sisters in Wall Street Journal bestselling author Jamie Beck’s emotional novel about how secrets and differences can break—or bind—a family.

Sisters Amanda Foster and Erin Turner have little in common except the childhood bedroom they once shared and the certainty each feels that her way of life is best. Amanda follows the rules—at the school where she works; in her community; and as a picture-perfect daughter, wife, and mother-to-be. Erin follows her heart—in love and otherwise—living a bohemian lifestyle on a shoestring budget and honouring her late father’s memory with a passion for music and her fledgling bath-products business.

The sisters are content leading separate but happy lives in their hometown of Potomac Point until everything is upended by lies that force them to confront unsettling truths about their family, themselves, and each other. For sisters as different as these two, building trust doesn’t come easily—especially with one secret still between them—but it may be the only way to save their family.

Thriller

Don’t Make a Sound by T R Ragan, Pages: 285, Publication Date: 1 June 2020

Synopsis: Her own past could be a reporter’s biggest story in this twisting thriller about murder and family secrets by the New York Times bestselling author T.R. Ragan.

Plagued by traumatic childhood memories, crime reporter Sawyer Brooks still struggles to gain control of her rage, her paranoia, and her life. Now, after finally getting promoted at work, she is forced to return home and face her past.

River Rock is where she’d been abandoned by her two older sisters to suffer alone, and in silence, the unspeakable abuses of her family. It’s also where Sawyer’s best friend disappeared and two teenage girls were murdered. Three cold cases dead and buried with the rest of the town’s secrets.

When another girl is slain in a familiar grisly fashion, Sawyer is determined to put an end to the crimes. Pulled back into the horrors of her family history, Sawyer must reconcile with her estranged sisters, who both have shattering memories of their own. As Sawyer’s investigation leads to River Rock’s darkest corners, what will prove more dangerous—what she knows of the past or what she has yet to discover?

Biography

Gender Rebels by Anneka Harry, Pages: 277, Publication Date: 1 June 2020

Synopsis: Meet the unsung sheroes of history: the diverse, defiant and daring (wo)men who changed the rules, and their identities, to get sh*t done.

You’ll encounter Kit Cavanagh, the swaggering Irish dragoon who was the first woman to be buried in London with full military honours; marauding eighteenth-century pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny, who collided on the high seas after swapping their petticoats for pantaloons; Ellen Craft, an escaped slave who masqueraded as a white master to spirit her husband-to-be to freedom; and Billy Tipton, the swinging jazz musician, who led a double life as an adult, taking five wives along the way. Then there are the women who still have to dress like men to live their best lives, like the inspirational football-lovers in Iran, who risk everything to take their place in the stands.

A call to action for the modern world, this book celebrates the #GenderRebels who paved the way for women everywhere to be soldiers and spies; kings and queens; firefighters, doctors, pilots; and a Swiss Army knife’s-worth more. These superbly spirited (wo)men all had one thing in common: they defied the rules to progress in a man’s world.

Book Club Fiction

Sorry I Missed You by Suzy Krause, Pages: 315, Publication Date: 1 June 2020

Synopsis: A poignant and heartwarming novel about friendship, ghosting, and searching for answers to life’s mysteries.

When Mackenzie, Sunna, and Maude move into a converted rental house, they are strangers with only one thing in common—important people in their lives have “ghosted” them. Mackenzie’s sister, Sunna’s best friend, and Maude’s fiancé—all gone with no explanation.

So when a mangled, near-indecipherable letter arrives in their shared mailbox—hinting at long-awaited answers—each tenant assumes it’s for her. The mismatched trio decides to stake out the coffee shop named in the letter—the only clue they have—and in the process, a bizarre kinship forms. But the more they learn about each other, the more questions (and suspicions) they begin to have. All the while, creepy sounds and strange happenings around the property suggest that the ghosts from their pasts might not be all that’s haunting them…

Will any of the housemates find the closure they are looking for? Or are some doors meant to remain closed?

Quirky, humorous, and utterly original, Sorry I Missed You is the perfect read for anyone who has ever felt haunted by their past (or by anything else).

Historical Fiction

Golden Poppies by Laila Ibrahim, Pages: 297, Publication Date: 1 June 2020

Synopsis: From the bestselling author of Yellow Crocus and Mustard Seed comes the empowering novel of two generations of American women connected by the past and fighting for a brighter future.

It’s 1894. Jordan Wallace and Sadie Wagner appear to have little in common. Jordan, a middle-aged black teacher, lives in segregated Chicago. Two thousand miles away, Sadie, the white wife of an ambitious German businessman, lives in more tolerant Oakland, California. But years ago, their families intertwined on a plantation in Virginia. There, Jordan’s and Sadie’s mothers developed a bond stronger than blood, despite the fact that one was enslaved and the other was the privileged daughter of the plantation’s owner.

With Jordan’s mother on her deathbed, Sadie leaves her disapproving husband to make the arduous train journey with her mother to Chicago. But the reunion between two families is soon fraught with personal and political challenges.

As the harsh realities of racial divides and the injustices of the Gilded Age conspire to hold them back, the women find they need each other more than ever. Their courage, their loyalty, and the ties that bind their families will be tested. Amid the tumult of a quickly changing nation, their destiny depends on what they’re willing to risk for liberation.

Legal Thriller

Legacy of Lies by Robert Bailey, Pages: 329, Publication Date: 1 June 2020

Synopsis: A small-town attorney takes on prejudice and corruption in this powerful legal thriller.

Small-town lawyer Bocephus Haynes comes home late one night to find District Attorney General Helen Lewis waiting for him. Her ex-husband has just been killed. She’s about to be arrested for his murder. And she wants Bo to represent her.

There’s a lot working against them. Just before his death, Helen’s ex-husband threatened to reveal a dark secret from her past. Bo has been in a tailspin since his wife’s death. What’s more, his whole life has been defined by a crime committed against his family, and he continues to face prejudice as the only African American litigator in Pulaski, Tennessee.

Bo’s back is against the wall, and Helen resigns herself to a dismal fate—but a stunning discovery throws everything into chaos. There’s a chance for justice, but to achieve it, the cost might be too much for Bo to bear.

Family Saga

A Decent Family by Rosa Ventrella, Pages: 251, Publication Date: 1 June 2020

Synopsis: For fans of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series comes a captivating family saga focused on a willful young woman’s struggles against her oppressive small town by acclaimed Italian author Rosa Ventrella.

In old Bari, everyone knows Maria De Santis as “Malacarne,” the bad seed. Nicknamed for her dark features, volcanic temperament, and resistance to rules, the headstrong girl can only imagine the possibilities that lie outside her poverty-stricken neighborhood.

Growing up with her mother, two brothers, and a tyrannical father, Maria must abide. She does—amid the squalid life to which she was born, the cruelties of her small-minded neighbors, and violence in a constant threat of eruption. As she reconciles her need for escape with the allegiance she feels toward her family, Maria has her salvations: her secret friend, Michele, son of a rival family and every bit the outsider she is, and her passion for books, which may someday take her far, far away.

In this exquisitely rendered and sensory-rich novel, Rosa Ventrella explores the limits of loyalty, the redeeming power of friendship and love, and the fire in the soul of one woman who was born to break free.

Literary Fiction

A Man by Keiichiro Hirano, Pages: 295, Publication Date: 1 June 2020

Synopsis: A man follows another man’s trail of lies in a compelling psychological story about the search for identity, by Japan’s award-winning literary sensation Keiichiro Hirano in his first novel to be translated into English.

Akira Kido is a divorce attorney whose own marriage is in danger of being destroyed by emotional disconnect. With a midlife crisis looming, Kido’s life is upended by the reemergence of a former client, Rié Takemoto. She wants Kido to investigate a dead man—her recently deceased husband, Daisuké. Upon his death she discovered that he’d been living a lie. His name, his past, his entire identity belonged to someone else, a total stranger. The investigation draws Kido into two intriguing mysteries: finding out who Rié’s husband really was and discovering more about the man he pretended to be. Soon, with each new revelation, Kido will come to share the obsession with—and the lure of—erasing one life to create a new one.

In A Man, winner of Japan’s prestigious Yomiuri Prize for Literature, Keiichiro Hirano explores the search for identity, the ambiguity of memory, the legacies with which we live and die, and the reconciliation of who you hoped to be with who you’ve actually become.

***Which book will you choose? I can’t make up my mind between: “If You Must Know and Sorry I Missed You”. Let me know which book you think I should choose.***

[lifedoulasally]

Best bathroom sign ever?!?!? Hat tip to my bestie's daughter (@formgiva) for taking this photo and sending it my way. I'm seriously torn as to which identity I prefer, though- merperson or centaur? I'm gonna go with both. #inclusive #genderrebel #bringingupgenderrenegades #genderfluid #bathroom #publicbathroom #genderspectrum #duluth #minnesota #lgbtq #nonbinary #gendernonconforming #signsofresistance #resist #rocksteadylife #lifedoula #washyourhands #transkids #genderidentity #mermaid #centaur #magic #both #whatever (at The Art of Hair on First) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq0L9aWHJcq/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=rtgx765gghyr

[sisterinspiration]

JUDITH BUTLER

Gender Troublemaker, Rebel, Pioneer, Intellectual, Visionary Philosopher

[faithdabrookegenderrebels]

New podcast episode up now! 

[chrissacooper]

friendly reminder you can find me on twitter, also that marsha "pay it no mind" johnson didn't throw bricks at cops for you to be transphobic, racist trash, brenda. 🙃 #marshapjohnson #stonewallwasariot #stonewall #gayhistory #blackhistorymonth #lgbt #lgbtq #queer #instagay #genderqueer #genderfluid #genderrebel #translivesmatter #transisbeautiful #tweetstagram (at Houston, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt091TvFajL/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1jinp45wz7m9q

[lifedoulasally]

They/Them; He/Him; She/Her; Zir/Hirs; name only. If you are unsure of someone's pronouns, just ask them. They will thank you for your ability to let go of your ego. #lgbtq #theythem #transkids #transgender #nonbinary #gendernonconforming #genderidentity #genderrebel #genderfluid #genderqueer #awareness #transgenderawareness #rocksteadylife #loveunconditionally #pronounsmatter #pronouns #ally #rainbow (at Saint Paul, Minnesota) https://www.instagram.com/p/BqNy1uNHr3V/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ijvtm7lfg0w7

[lifedoulasally]

Some amazing soul changed this bathroom sign to be 100% inclusive and I couldn't love it more! Thank you, random Parkway Pizza customer, for your act of gender rebellion!!! (Hat tip to my librarian friend, Erin). #inclusive #lgbtq #genderfluid #transgender #parkwaypizza #minnesota #minneapolis #genderquestioning #gendernonconforming #bathroomgoals #publicbathroom #publicrestroom #bathroomgraffiti #genderrebel #resist #riseup #transrightsarehumanrights #transgenderrights #transkids #nonbinary #genderspectrum (at Parkway Pizza Longfellow) https://www.instagram.com/p/BqGWycUHfi3/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=10enxxwrtzfji

[faithdabrookegenderrebels]

New podcast episode up now!