Breastfeeding as ‘Perversion,’ the Art of Queer Stand Up, & Grindr Tea
Prism & Pen Weekly — July 9, 2023
by James Finn
Prism & Pen is both hard hitting and entertaining this week as we bring you stories from all over the rainbow. We lead with a piece about jaw-dropping anti-trans hatred, segue to the art of queer stand up, offer up a work of unifying poetic prose, and move on to how a queer fledgling is spreading love as an antidote to the anti-trans backlash. Plus, Nathan Chen spills some tea about gay men and Grindr.
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— Editor’s Picks —
Transphobia and Motherhood Policing: Breastfeeding as Perversion
How over the top is “gender-critical” transphobia? When a policy expert who happens to be trans spoke up about rising U.K. domestic water costs, activists rained down threats and hate — because they believed she breast feeds her baby.
That was too much for the ‘gender critical’ crowd, who erupted in full-throated, ignorant outrage. To paraphrase (though only very, very slightly):
“This is child abuse! A ‘man’ can’t produce milk!”
Worse:
“This ‘man’ is a paedophile! That child is being used as a ‘prop’ in ‘his’ fantasy!”
Finally:
“This man should be arrested” proclaimed arch-transphobe, Julie Bindel…
The Relief of a Queer Audience as a Fruity Stand-Up Comic
I know Johannes as a master of short fiction, but he’s also a stand-up comedian. In this piece, he lays out why performing for a queer audience is so different from telling jokes to a general audience. Also, check out a clip of his act!
As a gay man, and particularly as a gay man who’s very faggy and effete, who is most explicitly not interested in assimilating with cis-hetero society, I often find that my presence in some rooms can discomfort those around me. Straight men, particularly, often become nervous — people choose their words more carefully, or they clam up and don’t dare to speak at all.
Many of these people would say it comes from a fear of “offending” me, which is a polite way of saying they don’t know how to be normal when they talk to an obviously gay man.
I AM- YOU ARE: Gender, race, sexual orientation… they are beautiful
Stephanie’s piece feels like poetry as she demonstrates the bonds that tie marginalized queer people together, not just in common interest but with a common heart.
… I am the divorced gay man who feels safe with his female best friends, for I know they will not use me.
I am the asexual man who has no desire for sex, but longs for love and is expected to perform in order to keep the love of my wife.
I am the woman whose heart falls in love with people and sees no gender or orientation.
I am the woman whose ill body is on fire from chronic pain everyday, longing to be left alone and yet held all at the same time…
How I’m Making a Difference This Pride as a Newly Out Trans Woman
Newly transitioning, Saorse begins her piece with a nod to the pain she and so many trans people are feeling these days. Then she shows us what she’s been doing this year to share love. She may be a queer fledgling, but she’s pretty fierce.
This year I felt the pushback, the extreme right’s unknowing and unfeeling hatred for all things transgender. It’s hard to be transitioning now when so many politicians and their base supporters seem opposed to our mere existence… Yes, I felt the sudden change in the wind of politics from the dawning of a golden age of acceptance and affirmation a few years ago, to suddenly being targeted as a groomer, a pedophile, a despicable person …
— Essays and Creative Nonfiction —
LGBTQ+ Policy Needs More Than Thoughts and Prayers
In the past few years, I have gotten heavily involved in the policy realm of social work.
Recently, in my home state of New York, I worked on a project that included building a coalition of 14 different LGBTQ+ centers, agencies, and affirming spaces to sign on to a letter of support regarding New York’s Trans Safe Haven Bill…
Legislation without a process to effectively implement and provide oversight for said legislation is useless. Period. Full stop.
The Creation of Transphobia
What reactionaries are claiming the people at the march are saying is being said by a single person, or maybe a handful of people, whose identities we don’t know. You can clearly hear the “We’re not going shopping” chant over the “We’re coming for your children” chant. In this video, it doesn’t sound like many people were making the latter chant, assuming it was ever more than one person. Furthermore, we know transphobes like to manufacture hoaxes to try to paint trans people in a bad light. If that was their intent here, it clearly worked.
Cis Is Not a Slur. It Does Not Belittle Who You Are.
I was recently told by a woman who was born female that my use of “cisgender” to identify her experience was a slur that made her a subset of her gender. It struck me as odd. I see “cisgender” as a descriptive much like “she is an Italian woman” or “she is a Muslim woman.” I never said she wasn’t a woman. Cisgender just describes an element of her experience as a woman, so I don’t see the slur.
If You Misgender Trans People in Michigan, You Go to Prison (Not!)
Hey, did you hear how powerful the transgender lobby is in Michigan? Pull up a chair and prepare to be shocked. They’re passing a law that makes using the “wrong” pronouns for trans people a felony! And they’re calling it a hate crime! If you violate it, you can face a long prison term or a $10,000.00 fine!
How do I know? Fox News says so. Just check out their headline: “Michigan House passes bill that could make using wrong pronouns a felony, fineable up to $10,000”
Crazy, right?
Crazy wrong, actually.
How Reactionaries Sexualize Queer People
Whenever we’re dealing with topics surrounding the nature of what it means to be queer, we’re always met with more or less the same arguments from reactionaries. They all follow a similar pattern of focusing on the sexual nature of being queer to the point that they view being queer as something that is inherently sexually motivated, in a bad way.
Just a “Mentally Ill Male”? Why We Need to Talk About Cis-Ableism
The role of transphobia in the ‘debate’ around transgender rights is fairly well documented at this point.
As a transgender woman, it’s something I’ve unfortunately had to come to terms with seeing and hearing on a daily basis.
What’s less acknowledged, however, is the ableism around both mental illness and neurodivergence (forms of disability) which often underlies, and justifies, much transphobic rhetoric.
‘Moms for Liberty’ Are Neo-Nazis With Wigs and Lipstick
The American people, and Republican voters in particular, have been sold a lie. The lie is that “Moms for Liberty” is just a grassroots organization (lie) of concerned mothers with kids in school (often a lie) who simply want to have a voice in the education of their children. All false.
The truth: They have become a front group for militant and violent hate groups who realize that skinheads doing their Rambo cosplay schtick tends to put people off, so better to hide behind wigs and lipstick.
The Young Turks Continue To Promote Transphobia
One of the points that I made in my original articles on her was that this was, in all likelihood, something that would get worse. It appears that, unfortunately, I was correct in this assessment as Ana and Cenk have recently gone on a rant decrying trans people for posing a threat to the electoral success of the Democrats.
This particular segment from TYT came from a video where they discussed Donald Trump and some points he made about trans women in sports.
The Realities of Gay Dating Apps
I may be in my 30s but let me tell you, I can tap, swipe, and emoji with the best of them. I mean, who can resist the allure of such digital wizardry? But here’s the thing — as a gay man, I’ve often found that dating apps can be a bit of a mixed bag. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to kick them to the curb, but let’s just say they’re not always my knight in shining… emoji?
Now, you might be thinking, ‘Oh no, not another rant about the ups and downs of modern dating.’ And I get you. I truly do. But bear with me here because I promise it’s gonna be juicy.
When I grew my tits, I found my wits: The Transgender spirit in motion.
More often than not I’m gendered properly and I add a certain spice to the transaction.
Women, naturally, are the ones that understand. The men don’t know what hit them. They leave the counter either blushing or with their balls swelled two sizes larger to compensate for offended masculine sensibilities. As I scan their socks or jocks they often stand rigid, eyes like a stunned mullet and jaws gaping like an opened cash drawer. It’s like I prove that there’s life on Mars after all.
Asexual People Are Queer and That’s Why We’re Hated
A lot of the time when Pride is brought into discussion, we focus particularly on lesbian, gay, bi, and trans people. All this is great and necessary, don’t get me wrong, but oftentimes people end up simply not knowing about other people who are LGBT.
One example of this is asexual people. People generally don’t know anything about asexuality, and if they do, it’s almost always coming from harmful stereotypes promoted about asexual people through the media.
Turns Out, My Mayor is a Two-faced, Glad-handing, Anti-LGBTQ+ Bigot
That anyone — mayor, or average jane or joe — would equivocate the rainbow (being a symbol of love, affirmation, and acceptance) with the banner of a white-supremacist, antisemitic hate group ups this offense to an entirely new level of awful.
But that incident, as concerning as it was, proved to be relatively benign compared to recent revelations about Mayor Sawyer’s previously unrevealed private biases.
— Fiction Series —
Some 1,200 years after an interstellar colony ship intentionally crashed onto an already inhabited planet, a “killer bird” ship has arrived to mete out justice to the rebels’ descendents — starting with Ardyn, one of the heroes of this tale. Want to read this serialized story from the beginning? Just click the image above.
Dropping to his knees, Ardyn screamed as tears streamed down his face. He had known two of the people since childhood. Still crumpled on the floor, the armed men dragged Ardyn and four others up onto the platform, kicking and screaming. They forced him back onto his knees before immobilizing him with a forcefield.
Ardyn’s heart hammered in his chest, terrified of what was about to happen. So many regrets flashed through his mind, as his eyes flicked up to the figure on the platform above who was about to murder him.
Read episode 49: Abduction
Read episode 50: Execution
Read episode 51: Serendipity
That’s all for Prism & Pen this week. We offer stories to inform, entertain, inspire thoughtfulness, and prompt positive action. Here’s to the power of storytelling! Are any of this week’s stories your favorites? Leave the author a comment and make their day!
See y’all next Sunday. ❤️
Jim
