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If a Black man had to seek permission from the government to be Black, many people would rightly consider it vulgar & egregious & would rightly be outraged. Though many people would rightly consider it vulgar & egregious that a Black had to seek permission to be themselves, they don’t seem to think it vulgar & egregious that a transsexual has seek permission from government to be themselves.
It is pretty much standard practice in all countries where transsexualism isn’t totally prohibited that a transsexual has to seek permission from at least two government approved agents for them to be themselves. The pursuit of happiness for transsexuals is more regulated then any other group in the LGBT community & I’m genuinely surprised that there aren’t more people who are outraged by this kind of restriction upon transsexuals pursuing their own happiness. I’m genuinely surprised there isn’t more outrage at the kind of regulations upon transsexuals pursuing their own happiness, because as I say if the same kind of regulations for blacks or homosexuals to pursue their own happiness then there’d be a great deal of outrage.
What is probably the biggest surprise about government regulating transsexuals pursuing their own happiness is that transsexuals themselves put up with it. Considering the amount of hoops that government gets transsexuals to jump thorough so they can simply be themselves, you’d think it would not only encourage transsexuals to protest unfair treatment compared with other minorities but encourage more transsexuals towards antiauthoritarian or antigovernment type rhetoric.
It’s surprising that there aren’t more transsexuals who are raging anarchists, when considering the amount of hoops that all governments that don’t totally prohibit transsexualism get transsexuals to jump thorough in the pursuit of their only happiness. I’ve encountered many weird & wonderful people of many differing stripes, but I’ve never encountered any transsexual whose an out & out anarchist & that has surprised me.
I can honestly say I’ve never encountered a ‘transsexual anarchist’.
The closest person I know of who could possibly be described as a ‘transsexual anarchist’ is Kate Bornstein who espouses a philosophy she calls ‘gender anarchism’ the basis of which is the dismantlement of the binary gender code which governs society. I think one could describe Kate Bornstein as ‘cultural anarchist’ rather then ‘political anarchist’ but I’m not sure one could describe Kate as a ‘political anarchist’. I actually don’t know what Kate’s political affiliations happen to be but I heard she endorsed Obama back in 2008. As for those transsexuals who follow Kate in espousing ‘gender anarchy’ though culturally they might be anarchist but politically they tend to be pretty much left-liberal.
Closest I’ve personally come to encountering any transsexual who could be described as anarchist have been a couple of transsexuals (I’ve known at differing times) who could be described as conservative-libertarians. These two transsexuals I’ve known who could be described as Conservative-libertarians were pretty typical of conservative-libertarians–they were cool with guns, pot, & porn being legal but like most conservatives nowadays they where were all hung up about Islam being the greatest threat to western democracy, etc. & wanted to bomb countries full of Muslims etc.
I’ve certainly met a few transsexuals who seem to be pretty anti-government as they seem to have a pretty cynical perspective of government, but probe them a bit & you find that though they might have a cynical view of the world they don’t believe in getting rid of government. They in fact want government to do a great deal, but they want the government to do stuff according to how they think government should be doing stuff which of course usually entails immigrant bashing.
Typically most transsexuals who are politically engaged tend to be of a lefty persuasion. Its no great surprise that the majority of transsexuals would be of a lefty persuasion because typically lefty parties such as the Democrats in the United States & the Labour Party in Britain have appealed to transsexuals wanting equal rights. The last Labour government certainly did go further then any other government has in instituting equality for transsexuals, but transsexuals still have to get permission from government to correct their own bodies so they can simply be themselves & be happy.
As a transsexual I certainly applaud the steps that the Labour Party has made in advocating equal rights for transsexuals & when in government instituting equal rights for transsexuals, but I still seriously object that even privately fund the correction of my body so I’m finally able to be myself I still have to get permission from government & because I don’t believe its justified!
You don’t have to get government permission to get a boob job. You don’t have to get government permission if you want to get a face lift, but if you want to have bollocks chopped off then you do need government permission. I thought of any political group pick up on all this would be the anarcho-capitalist strain of libertarianism. Considering anarcho-capitalists tend to strongly advocate self ownership, I’d of thought that they in particular would pick up on how unjust it is that transsexuals have to seek government permission to be themselves & yet I’ve never heard any anarcho-capitalist advocate against the government restrictions against transsexuals perusing their own happiness.
There are stereotypes of anarcho-capitalists being young White middle class men who live in mom’s basement & spending way too much time intellectually masturbating over Ayn Rand novels & obsessing about conspiracy theories surrounding the monetary system. Somebody said to me the other day about US libertarians that “they don’t care if you’re black, female, physically or mentally ill, disabled or just poor …” & this is another stereotype which I’d say is true from my encounters of anarcho-capitalists. You’ll hear plenty of anarcho-capitalists justly decry government prohibiting by force people ingesting whatever plant materiel thy want into their body because this affects white kinds sitting about mom’s basement smoking pot, but you won’t hear any anarcho-capitalists decry the fact government restricting transsexuals pursuing their own happiness because, hey, there aren’t any transsexuals who are anarcho-capitalists.
I guess the question remains as to why there aren’t any transsexual anarchists? Well the answer is about wanting to ‘fit in’ with the rest of society. The vast majority of transsexuals want to fit in to society as ordinary women. The vast majority of transsexuals want to be seen near as possible as ordinary women & therefore want to do their best to do so. Fitting in for a transsexual isn’t just about looking & sounding like any other woman as much as possible. It’s also about the kind of attitude a transsexual has culturally & socially & yes the political attitude a transsexual espouses. Anarchism is somewhat of a fringe ideology & to advocate such an ideology will put you at odds with society & transsexuals are already at odds with society for just being transsexuals. Transsexuals don’t want to be at odds with society & so aren’t going to advocate a political ideology which is going to put them at odds with society. Most transsexuals are going to take mainstream attitude culturally, socially, & politically because they don’t want to be at odds with society more then they are already at odds with society.
Most transsexuals want to fit in with society as near as possible as normal women, but most transsexuals sooner or later find out they’re not going to fit in as near enough as normal women & so the question remains why aren’t there any transsexuals screaming “fuck the government” & decrying “Why should transsexuals have to seek permission from the government to be themselves?”
Sophia Christina Botha
*cough* http://tranarchism.com/
I am a trans anarchist, and I know dozens of others, many who are absolutely political anarchists for all the reasons listed here that we should be, and many many more. Growing up Muslim in the US, I have almost no trust in the government, and strong feelings about the parts of the LGBT movement that seek to normalize us and our experiences. I’m not normal, and I don’t want to be. I have no problem being at odds with society, my goal isn’t to be accepted by society, my goal is to accept myself and become more fully myself. Anarchist transsexuals absolutely exist, we just don’t always talk about it, because of the legitimate fear of state reprisal.
This is an interesting thesis, Sophia, but I’m not sure it fits my personal experience very well. FWIW, I am politically active and engaged with strongly anarchist leanings, and I also find more in common with the transsexual experience than the transgender experience, yet I view my decision to transition as a deeply socially non-conformist act. My gender presentation is by no means vanilla, and neither are my politics. Changing my position within the gender binary is neither an affirmation nor a rejection of binary gender, and comparing my own experience with what I know of other transsexuals strongly suggests to me that growing up transsexual is entirely tangential to political orientation.
Multiplying the relatively low prevalence of transsexuals by the relatively low prevalence of anarchists, naturally yields a very small number, and I think that may adequately explain a perception that there are very few anarchist transsexuals. For me, the idea that there are particular shared elements of transsexual experience that naturally shape political ideology just doesn’t fit with the diversity that I see among transsexuals.
Hi,
I’m a lesbian female transexual activist and I wish I could go join you guys but nothing is simple.
First of all, I’m from the french canadian province of canada called Québec. Here like in New Hampshire, if i’m not mistaken, need to go under surgery to get our sex marker change on our paper.
Sencondly, here if you work you have to pay at least 33% of income taxe directly on your pay check. And add over it a sale taxe of 5% from the federal gouv on almost everything and a 9% taxe from the provincial gouv on almost everything. And don’t forget, every is more expensive than it should be because of the gouv. So I can farely said… I’m loosing more than 50% of my paid check to the gouv. Add the cost of living, its almost impossible for me to move.
Third, the law regarding immigration in the USA are outrageous. I can move for my work, but my employes isn’t in the USA. Or I study there, with the low income I’m allowed to have here, it’s almost impossible for me to pay for education in New Hampshire. or in last resolt I can mary someone from New Hampshire… LOL I’ll past that.
I still looking for a way to join you guys, but it won’t append tomorrow… I’m from the more corrupt province/state in north america, the more communist province/state in north america and the more taxe/income province/state in north america… but I still believe there’s a way for me to join the free state project as part of the LGBT community.
If you follow the news you’ll know we are having strike from students/union/anti-capitalism people every night here in montreal because they won’t everything “FREE”. I can’t stand this communist environment against freedom anymore. Mark this on paper the next Greace in north america it’s gonna be the province of Quebec in Canada.
I’m not hiding my transexuality, I’m proud of it. I’ll never be a “real women”, but I’m proud of the women I become.
Gouvernement always been an obstacle in my life and never human interaction as been an issue even in my situation. I believe in freedom, as long as we don’t harm others… And that’s exactly what I’m doing, but the government is harming me and I’m sick of it.
Sandrine Marquis
Simply me.
Sorry for my english, I was born as a french canadian and far from being proud of it.
I’m in transition. From female bodied to male bodied, and from libertarian to more anarcho-capitalist. My primary motivator for my shifting views has been through economics … but the logic has followed through in other areas, social, cultural, etc.
I’m in Virginia currently and I don’t really HAVE to have permission from the govt. At least, not that I am aware of… I just have to convince the private endocrinologist or private surgeon that I legitimately want and need the treatments… and for liability reasons this involves a private psychologists or a private psychiatrists…. which it probably would involve under a true free market. It doesn’t involve a govt body. The limits put on transpeople in the US has largely been from the medical community and not from govt dictate.
What I did need government permission for was to change my name.
Now… As the US govt gets more and more involved in medicine, I could see this changing… like the way it is in the UK, where a transperson literally has to have govt approval for surgery and hormone treatment… like most every other treatment they may want or need… unless they have money to go to a private doctor… who usually follows the lead of whatever the public doctor has said about the person.
Maybe where transpeople have to go to the govt for permission… they see it as a sort of securing of treatment, once they get through the gates- get approval. In a free market, in a private hospital, a doctor can always say No. Transpeople aren’t any more voluntary just because they’re trans… they just have more unique political pet projects. What transpeople want by wanting govt involvement is for govt to say, “You have to give this person this treatment… and probably for free or extremely discounted… to guarantee their treatment… (and in exchange they’ve agreed to let me give the final approval for said treatment.)” Its the classic exchange of freedom for security.
Sandrine, I don’t know of anyone who has the authority to define FOR EVERYONE what a “real woman” is. In my book, you are a woman and all women are real.