These offerings and musings are currently taking place on the ancestral, traditional, and stolen lands of the Seminole, Miccosukee, and Tequesta First Nations. These lands known as Miami.
These are stolen lands built by stolen people
The tactic transphobia of Progressives
The Southern Poverty Law Center recently put out a poll that I find fascinating, damning, and a serious warning of what is to come in the United States. It states that 7 out of 10 Republicans believe in the white supremicst theory which is known as “The Replacement Theory.” This theory states that Liberals are trying to replace conservative white people through immigration policies. This theory was once fringe, but it is now mainstream. As horrifying and ridiculous as this fact is, it is not a shock. The United States is a nation-state founded on chattel slavery, genocide, and legalized rape therefore this a counry whose soil I believe is ripe for change and possibility it is also ripe for neo-Nazi extremenist ideas fomenting themselves deeper into our national psyche.
The SPLC’s poll also highlighted that Progressives actually harbor lots of animus and retrograde ideas about gender a thing that I, as a Black feminist, had a growing suspicion was a thing. The survey reports that 27% of younger Democratic women and 42% of Democratic men believe transgender people are a threat to childen. And 23% of younger Democratic women and 46% of younger Democratic men believe that feminism has done more harm than good.
It appears that Democratic men over 50 are more progressive and feminist in their politics. Youth is not a prerequisite for one being Progressive.
As a Black feminist here’s what I know for sure in order for white suremacist idealogy to remain supreme it needs patriarchy and patriarchy is rooted in misogyny and it needs to adhere to a rigid understanding of the gender binary. In other words, racism requires a body hierarchy in which men are on top and only cisgender people exist and preferably those cisgender people are white, able-bodied, and open to reproducing preferably with other white people. The presence of Black people, Indigenous people, disabled people, fat people, non-Black people, transgender and gender expansive people threatens the homogenous white ethno-state that white supremacy is ultimately working towards.
This what makes transgender, non-binary, and gender expansive people sacred, beautiful, and necessary to our evolution and survival and also utterly magical. Gender expansive people show us all what is possible when you dare to enact the Audre Lorde ethic of defining yourself for yourself. Gender expansive people show us that there are very few immutable truths.
What the SPLC makes clear is that people across the political spectrum hold extremist views about gender. Earlier this year, I posted a long-from essay video that explored the question Does the Left also have an incel problem? In that video I concluded that the answer was yes. I believe that there are many progressive men whose gravitational pull towards Progressivism is rooted completely in them ensuring that they have suitable sexual choices. I think there are many men with Progressive ideals whose politics ain’t all that deep, but they know if they go full on red pill they will be like their sexless counterparts whose sexism and misogyny have locked them out of love, care, and community with women.
But men, as the poll suggests, are not the only culprits. Progressive women are really letting their transphobia hang out and I have been noticing this more since The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Many women who believe in abortion as a human right and see abortion as healthcare are also struggling to operationalize a gender liberation ethic and lens to this issue. Many women are enraged by the language of “birthing people” “people with uteri” and all other language that makes it clear that cisgender women are not the only people who get pregnant and have babies. These are women who are okay with transgender and non-binary people to an extent. In the minds of these women transgender and gender expansive people can only exist if women remain on top of the white supremacist body heirarchy and are able monopolize and own all experiences that is tied to feminity. The women who even idenify as feminist see womanhood through a biological essentialist lens, meaning having certain body parts and the ability to get pregant “naturally” are the prerequisite of womanhood. This is a dangerous and reductionist understanding of womanhood. Many cisgender women cannot get pregnant or have chidren without medical intervention. Are these women not real? What about women like me who happily and freely chose not to have children? Am I not real?
Womanhood is not an identity rooted in biology unless you think it is. ‘Woman’ is a sociopolitical identity and designation. Reducing womanhood to biology is to commit to advancing the white supremacist idealogy that is the gender binary.
If you politically align with Progressivism my question to you is this: what are you progressing towards? What kind of a world are you fighting for?
If you are a person who is attempting to practice anti-racism, the question I want to ask you is: How can we achieve racial and social justice without gender liberation?
A gender liberation ethic is critical to creating a society that protects and prolongs life. When was the last time you interrogated your inner colonizers transphobia and misogyny?
Consider asking yourself the following questions:
How can your allyship towards transgender and gender expansive people go deeper?
What is it about the gender binary being destroyed that scares you?
Do you think you can benefit at all from the gender binary being destroyed?
In what ways do you feel oppressed, stuck, or uncomfortable in your body and gender?
What about destroying cissupremacy scares you?
If you are cis: What makes you cisgender? How would you define your gender and your relationship to it?
When was the last time you rejected a norm that is associated with your gender? What informed this choice?
If you are cis: What privileges and power does cissupremacy afford you that you refuse to part with?
If you are cis: What is it about transgender children socially transitioning scare you?
Did lockdown change your relationship to your body or gender expression if so how?
Liberals, Progressives, Independents, Democratic Socialist and people who politically identify with Leftist politics are not X-Men. We are not special. We struggle with the same racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, classism, ableism etc as our fellow humans who identify with the hard Right. An anti-racist ethic that is devoid of gender liberation is just diet white supremacy.
VIEWINGS AND READINGS:
My Aunties (video) - “Stefan Lynch was raised by gay parents in the early eighties. He was cared for and loved by a group of adults, largely gay men, who he called his “aunties.” Stefan remembers the succession of AIDS-related illnesses in his family, including the death of his father in ‘91.”
I Don’t Google Anymore. I Tik Tok. - “Just like the advent of YouTube, the school of TikTok has provided a platform for academics, healthcare professionals, lawyers, construction workers, and more to lift the veil on their professions and, in doing so, share a wealth of knowledge that has been previously gatekept or isn’t always easily accessible. Today, #tiktoktaughtme has 6.6 billion views. Under the hashtag lies a plethora of video examples of hacks and advice that, for some, have been transformative, whether that’s learning sign language, or how to deep-clean a bathroom, or why you cough when a drink goes down the wrong hole.”
The Racist Roots of Work Requirements - “Work requirements not only deny families much-needed assistance, but they also discount much of their labor, ignoring the caregiving work that people provide to their loved ones, and pushing them into low-paid, insecure jobs that make it impossible to make ends meet. In order to redress these systemic failings that disproportionately harm Black families and create public policies that meaningfully support all families and the work they do, we need to understand how we got here.”
Be warned: for influencers, social justice is no more than a branding device - “Moon looks like just one example of the cynical and deeply unserious way that social justice operates among influencers: as a branding device. Melodramatic language (phrases like “taking a stand”) disguises the fact that what counts as activism on social media is inherently low-effort and low-cost. Even under these conditions, influencers are spineless. They frantically espouse support for causes that have mainstream buy-in and ignore controversial ones. The anti-racism black square in 2020, for example, was ubiquitous. Expressing views on Palestine is rare.”
The Rise of sides: how Grindr finally recognizes gay men who aren’t tops or bottoms - “Grindr added a position called side, a designation that upends the binary that has historically dominated gay male culture. Sides are men who find fulfillment in every kind of sexual act except anal penetration. Instead, a broad range of oral, manual and frictional body techniques provide a release that’s rich in emotional, physical and psychological rewards. Some adherents refer to these activities as “outercourse”.
Meet the Covid super-dodgers - “There are no winners in a pandemic. That said, if you’ve made it to the summer of 2022 without yet testing positive for the coronavirus, you might feel entitled to some bragging rights. Who’s still in the game at this point? Not Anthony S. Fauci. Not President Biden, who tested positive this week. Not Denzel Washington, Camila Cabello or Lionel Messi. Not your friend who’s even more cautious than you but who finally caught it last week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that nearly 60 percent of Americans had contracted the virus at some point — and that was as of the end of February, before the extremely contagious BA.4 and BA.5 variants became rampant.”
SLPC Poll Finds Substantial Support For ‘Great Replacement Theory’ and Other Hard Right Ideas - “In late April, the Southern Poverty Law Center and Tulchin Research conducted a poll of 1,500 Americans to examine the extent to which the extremist beliefs and narratives that mobilize the hard right have been absorbed by the wider American public.”
From Kim to Hot Cheetos girl : white people are ‘retiring’ from Blackness - “To be white, or not to be white? That is the question. Since the 2010s, conversations about cultural appropriation have dominated online spaces, from reminders about the importance of non-offensive Halloween costumes to articles about the Kardashians wearing cornrows and the problematic way in which people, particularly white people, dress at Coachella. For years, white people have consistently used the cultures of people of colour as costumes for play.”
LISTENING:
Conspirituality Podcast - Conspirituality is a weekly study of converging right-wing conspiracy theories and faux-progressive wellness utopianism.
The Higher Practice “The Quaking of America” Resmaa Menakem - “In today’s episode, we are joined by New York Times bestselling author Resmaa Menakem. Resmaa is returning to the podcast to discuss his new book “The Quaking of America”, where he takes a deeper dive into structural racism and its roots in American politics and the political landscape today. We discuss the January 6th insurrection and the path forward during heightened times in such a divided nation.”
LUTZE SIGHTINGS:
1. It's so Hard to Make Friends in Miami:
Check out this IG live I did for the @miamiherald, moderated by Lauren Constantino:
“Miami, as lively a city as it is, can be a difficult place to make lasting friendships. Even before the pandemic, many of us have struggled to make in-person connections, which are imperative for our sense of belonging — and even for our mental health. At all stages of life, there are times when we need to break out of our comfort zone and meet new people. Whether it’s starting over in a new job, getting over a break-up or losing a loved one, community is important — and in the age of social media, person-to-person connections can be difficult to navigate. But, making friends can be hard in a place like Miami — where ego and clout are king. We talked to Miami locals and transplants about their experience navigating friendships and finding community in Miami. Watch as our guests offer advice on making friends, discuss how they’re creating alternative social spaces and open up about their own personal struggles finding platonic love in Miami.”
2. Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause podcast episode-- Light and Shadow: The Politics of Body Liberation:
I was the guest for July’s “Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause” podcast episode. We talked about:
Anti-racist feminist frameworks and who controls the narrative about menopause and aging
Why it’s important to engage in narrative and culture shift work with Black people that disrupts white supremacy, patriarchy, misogyny, and heteronormativity related to menopause
How people can better advocate for themselves related to menopause and/or its onset with their health provider, employers, family members, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Platonic Love Mixer #2 was on August 27th, summer edition
Platonic Love Mixer #2 happened on Saturday, August 27th at a private location in Miramar. Check out this IG reel about it!
Patreon Shoutouts: We want to give a special shoutout to our patrons who pledged this month!
Obed C.
Elyse R.