You've probably heard about this charming incident, where two adolescent women at a McDonalds in Baltimore beat another young woman -- a transgendered woman -- until she had a seizure, because she had dared to use their bathroom; while meanwhile an entire store full of employees and customers stood about, most of them doing nothing at all, some of them laughing, several of them filming the incident?
(A few of them did something: at least one of them called the police; and a manager, ineffectually, attempted to stop them.)
Many people are upset and outraged. As am I.
But I'm disturbed for yet another reason. Long-time readers know my kid does not perform her gender especially well. She has short hair; she does not wear or want to wear make-up; she doesn't wear or want to wear girly clothing. She looks, on first glance, to the ignorant, somewhat boyish. (When we took her to be tested with the homeschoolers, for instance, all the boys thought she was a boy all through the testing, and she never informed them otherwise.)
So when we're out in public and she has to use a public bathroom, she's always terrified that someone -- some girl, she means, but anyone -- will attack her. I've been telling her it's silly, that that will never happen. But now this.
Shit.
56 minutes ago
1 comment:
I would argue that she performs her gender perfectly. What she doesn't do is perform stereotypical femaleness. Socially, that can be difficult, but she's doing great.
I'm horrified every time I hear about people beating on someone while others stand by without intervening. It's terrifying. And it's all the more terrifying in the case of a transwoman/transman or someone else who's got a marginal social position.
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