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Dec. 9th, 2013 03:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* As I wrote this, the authorities in Kiev were trying to disperse protesters in Kiev, Ukraine, with riot police. The protesters have toppled the last statue of Lenin. Apparently there was a violent attempt to clear them out last night their time, which failed. The riot police were gathering as I typed this so I can not tell you much in the way of details.
* Protests continue in Thailand. The Prime Minister has dissolved parliament and is planning to step down. The Government says they will stand down. Protesters are now calling for an unelected "people's government."
* It's been a brutal year for train wrecks (Spain, Italy, China, Quebec, NYC). A car full of mostly women passengers derailed in the vicinity of Jakarta and caught fire. It's sounding like the engineer and someone else have been confirmed dead but there are no casualty figures as of this writing, since they are still rescuing people and doing triage.
* "We're Still Watching You, Smith College :" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2013/12/were-still-watching-you-smith-college.html
* People tend to get defensive when there is conversation about privilege. Sometimes it turns out there is a fundamental misunderstanding about what it means on a day to day level. I find this example helps: Cis people never have to think about whether or not the hospital will let them bleed to death on the sidewalk if they are in a car accident. They get to assume the hospital will treat them. They don't have to think about the trans folk who get turned away because to some hospitals, we aren't really people and therefore they don't have to treat us in emergency situations. Do I want to take the right to be treated in hospital rooms from cis people? No. What I do want is for cis people to send some time thinking about what that feels like to be considered so less than than human that they will let you bleed to death rather than stitch your wounds, mocking you while you die. It means I want cis people to think about how precarious life is if you can be randomly denied essential services like emergency medical treatment, police protection, etc. with no consequences acruing to the people who deny you services. I want cis people to expend a little empathy and compassion on understanding why some of us are incredibly angry or fearful, or traumatized from beatings or police harassment or from being repeatedly denied medical care at all levels. I want cis people to not pull the tone argument or pretend these concerns aren't real and deadly serious. I want cis people to listen to the voices of trans people talking about how the micro and macro aggressions harm their lives, about the real effects of transphobia in the real world, instead of talking over them and trying to explain that those concerns are somehow invalid or dramatically less important than the imaginary threats cis people often believe trans people pose contrary to evidence. (Ex: No trans women have assaulted cis women in bathrooms, but there are plenty of examples of harassment and assault on transwomen in bathroom perpetrated by cis people). Most importantly, I want cis people to stand up for us when we are out of the room and to vote for and advocate us having basic rights like life saving emergency room treatment. I am not trying to take away anyone's right to emergency medical treatment; I want to make it universal. I am not trying to demonize cis-folk for getting stitches or treatment for a heart attack or whatever. I am merely pointing out that part of cis privilege is never having to think about whether that doctor/hospital/whatever is safe and will provide treatment rather than ridicule and that another part of cis privilege is being able to dismiss and belittle these concerns and a whole nest of other things that come with them.
I know I am privileged to live in a very safe city (comparatively little in the way of violent crime for it's population size, a solidly left LGBTQ friendly college town with trans medical services available at the poverty clinic). I am privileged to depend on the feds for my money with all their LGBTQ fairness regulations rather than a private employer who could drop me for bias without references. I know I have all sorts of privilege that comes from being white. (I do my best to listen to people; signal boost; try not to be That Sort of Asshole; do what little is in my power to move the culture on; call people out in every day life if I see or things that aren't okay; and live, write, and vote my conscience. I am far from perfect, and part of what's hard about fighting one's own privilege is that individual elements of it can be invisible to oneself.) I know that my access to education growing up is an aspect of privilege. That having had family support is a privilege a whole lot of people I know don't and may never have. And on and on and on.
Knowing that perfection isn't attainable, doesn't mean that the striving to be better and to make the world better isn't worth it, nor does it excuse us from trying.
When someone asks me to check my privilege, it means it's time for me to shut up and listen and then go think about what I just heard. I'm okay with that. It's a bad idea to let ego get in the way of learning something important, and it's definitely a bad idea to let ego get in the way of empathizing with someone experiencing real injustice. I am here to learn as well as spout off about the things that are in my bailiwick.
* "Scouting The Remains of Brooklyn’s Incredible Paramount Movie Theatre:" http://www.scoutingny.com/?p=7089
* "Found in the Trash: A Box of Otherworldly Notes:" http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/11/06/found-in-the-trash-a-box-of-otherworldly-notes/
* "The 12 Best Gingerbread Houses of 2013:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2013/12/8/the-12-best-gingerbread-houses-of-2013.html
* Protests continue in Thailand. The Prime Minister has dissolved parliament and is planning to step down. The Government says they will stand down. Protesters are now calling for an unelected "people's government."
* It's been a brutal year for train wrecks (Spain, Italy, China, Quebec, NYC). A car full of mostly women passengers derailed in the vicinity of Jakarta and caught fire. It's sounding like the engineer and someone else have been confirmed dead but there are no casualty figures as of this writing, since they are still rescuing people and doing triage.
* "We're Still Watching You, Smith College :" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2013/12/were-still-watching-you-smith-college.html
* People tend to get defensive when there is conversation about privilege. Sometimes it turns out there is a fundamental misunderstanding about what it means on a day to day level. I find this example helps: Cis people never have to think about whether or not the hospital will let them bleed to death on the sidewalk if they are in a car accident. They get to assume the hospital will treat them. They don't have to think about the trans folk who get turned away because to some hospitals, we aren't really people and therefore they don't have to treat us in emergency situations. Do I want to take the right to be treated in hospital rooms from cis people? No. What I do want is for cis people to send some time thinking about what that feels like to be considered so less than than human that they will let you bleed to death rather than stitch your wounds, mocking you while you die. It means I want cis people to think about how precarious life is if you can be randomly denied essential services like emergency medical treatment, police protection, etc. with no consequences acruing to the people who deny you services. I want cis people to expend a little empathy and compassion on understanding why some of us are incredibly angry or fearful, or traumatized from beatings or police harassment or from being repeatedly denied medical care at all levels. I want cis people to not pull the tone argument or pretend these concerns aren't real and deadly serious. I want cis people to listen to the voices of trans people talking about how the micro and macro aggressions harm their lives, about the real effects of transphobia in the real world, instead of talking over them and trying to explain that those concerns are somehow invalid or dramatically less important than the imaginary threats cis people often believe trans people pose contrary to evidence. (Ex: No trans women have assaulted cis women in bathrooms, but there are plenty of examples of harassment and assault on transwomen in bathroom perpetrated by cis people). Most importantly, I want cis people to stand up for us when we are out of the room and to vote for and advocate us having basic rights like life saving emergency room treatment. I am not trying to take away anyone's right to emergency medical treatment; I want to make it universal. I am not trying to demonize cis-folk for getting stitches or treatment for a heart attack or whatever. I am merely pointing out that part of cis privilege is never having to think about whether that doctor/hospital/whatever is safe and will provide treatment rather than ridicule and that another part of cis privilege is being able to dismiss and belittle these concerns and a whole nest of other things that come with them.
I know I am privileged to live in a very safe city (comparatively little in the way of violent crime for it's population size, a solidly left LGBTQ friendly college town with trans medical services available at the poverty clinic). I am privileged to depend on the feds for my money with all their LGBTQ fairness regulations rather than a private employer who could drop me for bias without references. I know I have all sorts of privilege that comes from being white. (I do my best to listen to people; signal boost; try not to be That Sort of Asshole; do what little is in my power to move the culture on; call people out in every day life if I see or things that aren't okay; and live, write, and vote my conscience. I am far from perfect, and part of what's hard about fighting one's own privilege is that individual elements of it can be invisible to oneself.) I know that my access to education growing up is an aspect of privilege. That having had family support is a privilege a whole lot of people I know don't and may never have. And on and on and on.
Knowing that perfection isn't attainable, doesn't mean that the striving to be better and to make the world better isn't worth it, nor does it excuse us from trying.
When someone asks me to check my privilege, it means it's time for me to shut up and listen and then go think about what I just heard. I'm okay with that. It's a bad idea to let ego get in the way of learning something important, and it's definitely a bad idea to let ego get in the way of empathizing with someone experiencing real injustice. I am here to learn as well as spout off about the things that are in my bailiwick.
* "Scouting The Remains of Brooklyn’s Incredible Paramount Movie Theatre:" http://www.scoutingny.com/?p=7089
* "Found in the Trash: A Box of Otherworldly Notes:" http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/11/06/found-in-the-trash-a-box-of-otherworldly-notes/
* "The 12 Best Gingerbread Houses of 2013:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2013/12/8/the-12-best-gingerbread-houses-of-2013.html