A statement from the Earth First! Journal Collective
On several occasions the Earth First! Journal editorial collective has run pieces both online and in print either written by or about the Deep Green Resistance Movement. As a collective, we’ve considered DGR to have some value to Earth First! discussions around feminism, organizing principles, ecological analysis and critiques of civilization. In 2010 we published a piece by Lierre Kieth and Derrick Jensen, and in 2012 we inserted a section from the book Deep Green Resistance on militant approaches to the ecological crisis, which was written by Aric McBay.
The Earth First! Journal collective is dedicated to providing our readers with views from diverse groups, from Earth First!ers on the frontlines to conservative farmers’ struggling against the Keystone XL Pipeline or fracking; from the Move 9 and all political prisoners to Zapatistas, liberal climate change media stars, pacifist Quakers against mountaintop removal and bomb throwing anarchists in Mexico and Greece. It is our goal to print stories and analysis that spark relevant discussion, new alliances, necessary schisms and resistance.
However, in light of DGR’s continued assault on trans people, with language and analysis that denies the struggles of trans-people and even goes so far as to deny the value, worth and power of their existence in radical movements, labeling trans people as somehow “not real,” or as Post-Modern manifestations of individualism, the Earth First! Journal collective will no longer print or in any way promote DGR material. While we don’t need to agree with an individual or organization to find their words or actions relevant for discussion we will not continue to include those whose core expression of values continues to promote exclusion and oppression.
We may continue, from time to time, to publish articles that cover DGR actions and philosophy in order to continue the dialogue around the very serious concerns that have been raised over DGR’s organizational values and practices.
We formally request that Lierre Keith look deeper into the issues effecting trans communities in order to understand the damage her attacks on trans agency and motivations have caused and will continue to cause. Likewise, we request the same thing of all DGR organizers and furthermore request that DGR create gender inclusive workshops at future DGR gatherings.
We’d like to echo the words of Aric McBay, the predominant writer of Deep Green Resistance who, because of DGR’s transphobic stance, has severed himself from DGR:
“I left the organization at the beginning of 2012 after a trans inclusive policy was cancelled by Derrick Jensen and Lierre Keith. Many good people and good activists left the organization for that reason.
I find these transphobic attitudes to be disgusting and deeply troubling, and it bothers me a lot to have any past association with people promoting transphobia.
For me, trans rights and trans inclusion are fundamental to building effective movements and to building a world worth living in. Speaking as the main author of the book that inspired the organization in the first place: they are most definitely my core values.
And transphobia–like racism and sexism and classism and homophobia–is a poison that those in power use to destroy movements and ruin lives. When faced with such poisons, who needs COINTELPRO?
Solidarity between movements is the only hope we have.” [Read more from Aric here]
In a recent video posted to Youtube and shown above, a DGR organizer and those in attendance applauded and argued in defense of Lierre Keith’s assumptions that trans people are some sort of Post-Modern expression of liberal individualism and that trans womyn in particular are manifestations of patriarchy in disguise. As a collective we completely disagree with DGR’s conclusions concerning trans people. There are certainly situations where men with male privilege have appropriated the language and culture of genderqueer and trans, pretending to have no role in misogyny and patriarchy. But these are just further examples of the reach of patriarchy. The same thing exists in any radical community; men appropriate the language of feminism and anarchism to avoid doing real work and sometimes for far sketchier means. This doesn’t, however, mean that trans people or feminists aren’t real or aren’t important. Organizers with DGR have taken the fact that many males will appropriate just about anything for their own devices and then use this to deride the entire trans community. We think this is very dangerous. Trans folk aren’t pretending to be something they’re not in order to hide from the political repercussions of their gender. Trans people are brutalized because the culture of patriarchy fears their gender or place beyond a simply binary.
It is very dangerous, short-sided and pointless to further marginalize one of the most marginalized communities but also a community with great insight, agency and power in the continued fight against patriarchy. The oppression of women is inextricably linked to the oppression of trans people. Trans people have been honored in numerous indigenous communities across the planet. Trans people aren’t some sort of new Post-Modern manifestation of individualism. Trans people are people; people who have worked on the Journal collective and stood on the front lines of the ecological resistance.
With love, solidarity and wild resistance,
The Earth First! Journal Collective
P.S. check out this more detailed critique of DGR ideology by Sasha.
EF! DAM
Ecodefense
Earth First! Newswire 
Solidarity means no sitting on the sidelines. You’ve made me proud to be an EarthFirst!er all over again. Thank you.
Thank you for your public expression of solidarity with trans folks and denunciation of discriminatory practices of deep green resistance. I appreciate your commitment to social justice as well as environmental justice and your clear articulation of intersecting oppressions. I am with you and appreciate you in your firm stance.
Thanks for taking such a principled stance in support of gender non-conformists, queer folks, people of trans experience and feminists all across the gender spectrum, EF!
Let’s spread this far and wide…thank you sonoran office for making this statement. since DGR is about to fall apart, it’s good to have EF! call them out before that happens so that people everywhere know where we stand.
here’s how DigGeRs must feel right now:
Fall apart? LOL
Standing up firmly for the rights of women against bullying and intimidation is making DGR stronger than ever. Yet, if people who claim to be radical side with the bullies that tells more about them than about DGR.
And i wonder who would express their enthusiasm to dismantle a radical movement but a state agent or a jealous teenager.
Actually, by encouraging DGRs to jump ship now I’m helping build multiple radical movements, including EF!. There are many DGR individuals who have been, and will go on to be, awesome activists, independently or affiliated with inclusive, non-hierarchical, non-cultist groups and organizations.
You know who is marginalised? WOMEN.
Women aren’t bigots for knowing human biology. Penis is male. So are transwomen. Enough of this gaslighting bullshit.
Also, DGR isn’t falling apart. For every violent threat members have received from people determined to silence women who are simply claiming that “women are a class,” there have been emails from radical feminists around the world who agree and have been waiting for something like this.
women who are simply claiming that “women are a class,”
Nice attempt at goalpost-shifting here, but “women are a class” and “trans women aren’t women” are separate claims, and objecting to the latter does not imply rejection of the former.
I’m a woman, you insufferable twit, a cis woman even, and you don’t speak for me. There will come a day when you get what is coming to you and I will laugh and I will laugh and I will laugh. The deep, throaty laugh of a cis woman no longer ashamed to be in a body that looks like yours.
I officially LOVE you. 1000% solidarity makes me smile.
LOL WTF does this even mean?
And what, pray tell, do you believe is coming to him/her?…a stand up comedy routine?
*twinkles fingers*
i am a proud to call myself a radical and a feminist despite the fact that hateful and cowardly folks like these call themselves “radical feminists” hahaha [:::shudder:::]
the fact of the matter here is that transphobia is neither radical praxis nor feminist praxis. yall are gross for trying to appropriate the language of radicalism & the language of feminism in order to perpetuate your phobic hate.
…but it’s certainly not the first time it’s ever happened in history, and it won’t be the last, and those of us who truly will not compromise in defense of the earth – all all who call it home.
it’s always very important for radicals & radical organizations like earth first to take a stand against transphobia wherever it manifests – but it’s especially crucial to challenge transphobia when it manifests in spaces which claim to be “radical” or “green”.
it’s a special kind of greenwashing and astroturfing which is going on here with DGR – but it’s not very different than when walmart and mosaic and BP claim to be “greening” their ways. wolves in sheep costumes, all of them.
in solidarity with EEF! for taking a stand here. seeing this come out of the journal made me proud to say that i am identified with EF and EEF in particular – 2008 winter rondy, what’s up!
the fact that cathy brennan is trolling this post means that yall are doing the right thing, haha. as katt williams says:
“You gotta be grateful. You need haters. What the f**k is you complaining about? What the f**k do you think a haters job is: to f**king hate. Let them motherf**kers do their godd**n job. What the f**k is you complaining about? Ladies, if you got 14 women hating you on you, then you need to figure out how the f**k to get to 16 before the summer gets here”
xoxo from the swampy south
You may be unaware but there is a difference between biological sex and gender. As DGR notes, gender is a construct not a fact rooted in DNA. How they then move on to say that those who deviate from the established gender construct are somehow wrong is beyond me. Its quite easy to say there should be no gender…sure, and no classes and no races…but right now those social constructs and hierarchies exist and there is no point in creating a philosophy and world view that tramples on trans people.
You are also correct. Women are marginalized. We aren’t saying any different. There are many marginalized groups. Picking on one of them just isn’t of any value and is actually quite disturbing.
Ugh, you people are insane. WE KNOW THE FUCKING DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SEX AND GENDER.
Now who’s gaslighting, Cathy?
What I got from her lecture was the assertion than once a person is socialized as male or female, they can’t shake the privilege/disability no matter how enlightened the become later in life. They may become ‘revolutionary’ in their outlook, but they cannot span the gap from ‘privilege’ to ‘oppressed’ or visa versa. It’s a suspicious argument…a bit like arguing a male therapist can’t be effective in treating female clients. It presumes men and women are very different, while some of us think they’re much more similar than either group typically cares to admit. But, there is one statistic that’s inescapable, though not exclusive: males tend to act out violent tendencies in all respect far more often than females. Whether this is due to socialization or genetics is still an open debate.
The most profound thing she said was, nobody starts out wanting to be dominated/suppressed or exploited. The most dubious was her assertion that men were taught to value/respect themselves while women are not. I know far too many women with ample self respect to believe that. I also know men with far too little.
-amicuscuria.com/wordpress-
Some women have penises you bigot, get over it.
The crazy cat lady from Maryland has spoken!
Responding to transphobia with misogyny isn’t helpful
your understanding of human biology is laughable, physical signs of sex are not even remotely the most important ones and beyond that gender is entirely a social construct that was developed based on roles. Radfem scum your time has come.
I call out Earth First journal on their bullshit. DGR hasn’t assaulted anyone in the trans- community, it’s the other way around with more than 3 well-documented incidents so far.
And in all the accusations so far, I haven’t seen one single quote from DGR that expresses transphobia. Disagreement on gender analysis is not phobia, it’s no hatred, it’s not some grand conspiracy, it’s disagreement, period.
Yet, you seem so eager to divide the radical activism scene over petty identity politics. Good job, the capitalists and the state couldn’t be happier, you’re doing their work for them.
Adon is exactly right. Anyone looking critically at this situation will see right through what is happening. A radical analysis of gender is not a phobia and is not hurting anyone, except for of course those voicing the analysis who are constantly being threatened for doing so. It’s worth pointing out that the women who have voiced radical feminist stances have received death threats from men. To be clear, these are the people you are supporting EF!
That’s what any sane human would think but its hard getting thru to bullies and their followers that clearly seems to think its okey to attack women and also ridicule and using namecalling against specific people because they are not sharing their particular view on gender.
I know which side is winning on this planet, the very ones that runs this planet to death, because the very people that should stop the dominant culture from killing the planet is clearly filled with people that rather attack eachother until there is nothing left of this planet.
And any sane member of any organistation that wanna move beoynd this and “agree to disagree” on for example gender gets attacked by this bullies from every possible angle.
It’s really disappointing that no one from the trans community is actually discussing the different analysis of gender *at the root* of this contention. and honestly, I don’t expect non-radical folks to discuss that root because they’re not radical. Like the liberal, they do not see gender rooted in patriarchy, it’s just “something you are”; “Rad Fems are just hate mongering women, there’s nothing going on deeper than that.” and like the liberal, they will only toss ad hominem attacks at women when their bourgeois-individualist gender analysis is questioned.
EF! is not dividing radical communities or struggles. DGR is dividing movements. DGR has publicly denied and oppressed the identities and struggles of a whole diverse community of people, transgender people, who face death, rape, imprisonment, and harassment from the same patriarchy that ciswomen face. DGR is divided the struggle AGAINST patriarchy. When people deny the trans experience they are taking the struggle against sexism one step BACKWARD. Why? Because the identities of transgender people, genderqueer, people and queer people are all part of the struggle against patriarchy. When ciswomen ally themselves as fellow oppressed people with all those effected by that oppression, we only grow stronger, in the same way the our movements grow stronger when ties are made across race and class lines as well. Think of it this way, the more people defy the gender binary, that of women and men, the more people break down the validity of cismale dominance, the more gender becomes obscured. Gender itself is a social construct, being something that is created in order to oppress people (women and non-gender conforming people). So, when we strive to blur the lines of this gender binary, we make the two boxes (women and men) collapse. And when those boxes collapse, men no longer have a clear target toward women and all those who never fit in the boxes to begin with, which inherently are a threat to the boxes to begin with.
“It’s really disappointing that no one from the trans community is actually discussing the different analysis of gender *at the root* of this contention.”
Bullshit.
Would love to learn more about the “other way around” Adon. Can you please provide details. Also, its not one single quote. If you watch the video the organizer systematically breaks down the trans community into spheres of liberalism, individualism, post modernism, and even says they aren’t expressing truth in their gender. In other words, she uses all the catch words that radicals use to say someone or some group is a piece of shit. She also says, this is DGR’s analysis and its “not a debate” not open to discussion and that many in DGR have left over it. Its a party line that has pushed many people away. Perhaps we also too a hard line, and if it pushes those who want to pretend that trans people are some how lesser or not radical enough or too liberal away from EF! well, good.
And DGR did this. Its not like the world needed another video in which it is somehow “demonstrated” that trans people are a “problem” plenty of that out there already. DGR did this for sure. Whose next on your list of marginalized communities?
YES – and Thank You!
DGR has also oppressed native people “for their own good” in Pine Ridge. I am so happy to see EF! stand up to these bullies.
Gender identity is – by definition – subjective, individual, innate. This has been broken down literally hundreds of times. It’s just that you don’t give a shit.
Guess what? We don’t give a shit about catering to men’s special gender feelings. And so it goes.
The people violently enforcing their gender ideology are “trans people” – or, alternatively, MEN. They are doing it to all Women, and Lesbians in particular. It is shameful and repulsive, and no one is interested in debating this any more. Shame on you.
Yes, yes, yes. The two biggest problems I have with this video and with DGR’s overall analysis on gender and patriarchy is
#1- they focus waayyy to much on transexuals being ‘oppressive’ (and not too much analysis seems to be given to any other specific oppression associated with patriarchy, of which there are plenty)
and
#2 they try to paint everyone else who thinks differently as a piece of shit.
I feel like DGR uses a lot of #2 to establish control over their “membership” and not so much to further their causes. It looks a whole lot like brainwashing, IMO.
It’s totally fine to have a “RadFem” gender analysis. I can’t say I even disagree with a lot of it. What is not cool is defining what radical feminism looks like for everyone else and then declaring that all of those everyone elses are pieces of shit.
On a somewhat unrelated note, one thing I haven’t seen the “RadFem” internet commentors acknowledge (or seem to understand or attempt to understand) is the actual sexuality involved with transsexuality. Like, the having sex part of being a transexual. I’d like to see a “RadFem” or Rachel Ivey attempt to analyze Amanda Lepore’s accounts of having sex and having orgasms and do it without solely focusing on subordination and domination.
Mel Mona, can you site that? I haven’t heard of this and would like to read about it.
What are the 3 incidents and where can I read of them online? I’m aware only of the most recent.
I love it when the ones objecting to oppression/marginalization are accused of “dividing the movement”, as opposed to the ones doing the oppressing/marginalizing. If people would just shut up and wait their turn to be liberated, we could get so much done!
exactly… so sick of that shit
“Organizers with DGR have taken the fact that many males will appropriate just about anything for their own devices and then use this to deride the entire trans community. We think this is very dangerous. Trans-folk aren’t pretending to be something they aren’t in order to hide from the political repercussions of their gender. Trans-people are brutalized because the culture of patriarchy fears their gender or place beyond a simply binary.”
I think that this sums up what I feel is one of the major problems with DGRs official stance. Very well worded. This is a well worded critique and I think it is much more constructive and beneficial than the report of DGR and L&D. Thank you.
Trans people are brutalized BY MEN. But instead of facing this difficult reality – which, BTW, WOMEN are brutalized by Men – Trans people instead choose to create false hierarchies in which “cis” women allegedly oppress them. It’s gaslighting, abusive bullshit, it’s false and it’s wrong. All Women are harmed by gender, and none of us oppress Trans women because we are born into the oppressed class.
i agree that trans people and ciswomyn are both targeted by the patriarchy, and in that experience, there is surely solidarity, no? however, i disagree, as a ciswomyn, with your argument that “trans people instead choose to create false hierarchies in which ciswomyn oppress them.” when ciswomyn claim that transpeople are essentially not real (and/or subsequently invalidate their realities and experiences of oppression) that invisibilization & non-recognition certainly falls in line with my definition of domination. this viewpoint is also backed up by the dominant overculture which enforces & validates binary gender. in my analysis, this means that – yes, ciswomyn are actually standing WITH patriarchy when they oppress trans folks.
Cathy, there comes a point when a person as vitriolic as yourself does more harm to a position than furthers a discussion. If we ever actually found a trans group that had an “official” policy depicting “cis” women as oppressors then they would be getting a lot of flack from the radical community as well (well, at least I hope they would). I personally agree with a portion of rad fem literature and my major issue with DGRs position is very well summed up by the quote I presented from the article. It is unfortunate that a few rabid transphobic individuals like yourself have polluted the radical feminist critique to a point that its relevancy is eclipsed by pure hate mongering. Cathy Brennan, if folks don’t know who this is then just look her up and come to your own conclusions about the positions she represents.
odd, one of my former partners was abused repeatedly and it wasn’t by a man, she was driven to attempt suicide several times over, her crime? being trans. Assumptions are harmful, trans folks are harmed by people and society, not just one category of it.
Reblogged this on Shades of Silence.
Thank you to EF! for standing in solidarity with trans people in this struggle against the rampant transphobia within DGR. There are *many* anti-civ transpeople, like myself, who were skeptical of your position, but now feel more supportive of you than ever.
Dominant culture first, earth last! Good job in showing who your friends are.
EF! is not dividing radical communities or struggles. DGR is dividing movements. DGR has publicly denied and oppressed the identities and struggles of a whole diverse community of people, transgender people, who face death, rape, imprisonment, and harassment from the same patriarchy that ciswomen face. DGR is divided the struggle AGAINST patriarchy. When people deny the trans experience they are taking the struggle against sexism one step BACKWARD. Why? Because the identities of transgender people, genderqueer, people and queer people are all part of the struggle against patriarchy. When ciswomen ally themselves as fellow oppressed people with all those effected by that oppression, we only grow stronger, in the same way the our movements grow stronger when ties are made across race and class lines as well. Think of it this way, the more people defy the gender binary, that of women and men, the more people break down the validity of cismale dominance, the more gender becomes obscured. Gender itself is a social construct, being something that is created in order to oppress people (women and non-gender conforming people). So, when we strive to blur the lines of this gender binary, we make the two boxes (women and men) collapse. And when those boxes collapse, men no longer have a clear target toward women and all those who never fit in the boxes to begin with, which inherently are a threat to the boxes to begin with.
Get over yourself.
Jenna, you can’t build a movement by breaking a movement, that’s logic 101.
Apart from the fact that DGR is neither authoritarian nor cultist (and I personally don’t have a problem with hierarchy in some settings), if you want different types of organizations with different politics, go build or join one your own, because assaulting other movements is exactly what the state wants.
In the place where I live we were fighting today to save the last shelter of the last dozen sea turtles of an endangered Mediterranean species from a development project, what were you doing in the meanwhile? posting comments on the internet against another resistance movement? It’s definitely a shame, I hope North American in-fighting never reaches us here in the Mediterranean, no wonder your movements accomplished nothing in the last 100 years.
Thanks for your work saving turtle habitat, Adon. Seriously. I was busy masturbating at the time. Im not sure if the state wants that or not, but if they do I have videos available.
Why do I sense that the quality of your comments will degrade with every new one you make?
This is brilliant
I hope that this behaviour never reaches these parts of the world either and so far various radical groups are not jumping eachothers asses for disagreeing in some topics. Yes, there are disputes but there is an understanding of “agree to disagree” and there is also an understanding that there will be plenty of time to have disputes, fights and bulliness (for those that seem to get a kick to have that in their communites) when the battle to actually save life on this planet from the civilized sickness is over.
seriously, this isn’t a disagreement over a “topic”. it’s you telling us (i’m transmasculine) that we don’t exist/up hold patriarchy through our gendered experience and that sex workers uphold colonialism. it’s a disagreement over whether i’m a person with value or not. and frankly, it’s degrading to be expected to defend my personhood as if it’s a question that should even be entertained in the first place.
Sundazed, I’m getting really sick of the “You people in your part of the world” shit. Or this “You people in the U.S.” shit. It’s fucking condescending.
1.The radicals are split every which way in your part of the world, you have Marxist groups that make alphabet soup over tiny ideological splits that I can’t begin to understand, you have insurrectionary anarchist groups and pacifist groups who deride them for being violent or whatever. If you don’t know about all those splits and drama in your part of the country maybe you should quit watching us on the internet and get in touch with your local drama. Especially since, judging from your comments of the last week, you don’t seem to be able to fully grasp what’s going on over here.
2. If it seems like we can’t get our shit together over here, maybe instead of blaming it on us having the same debates people all over the world have, try understanding that we live under a more repressive state apparatus than anything you’ve encountered in your Scandinavian socialist enclave. Do you shit on Russians for not having more successful social movements? We’re not a fucking European country, our government is huge and heavy handed, we get 25 years in prison for shit that gets you people 3 and life in prison for shit that gets you 11.
S: I need to correct you one one thing. I am not at all claiming that you don’t exist, if I did I’m sure personal friends of mine that is transexual would not like me that much. So no I am not telling you such things but I am standing my ground that bully behaviour can’t be tolerated from any movement or any community that is claiming to fight for real, honest justice. The whole right-wing movement is doing exactly that (bullying and using intimidation against selected people and/or movements) what good can come out of behaving like that within movements that claims to be against such behaviour ?
I’m not upset by the critique against DGR itself, I get upset by the attitude in how this critique is handed out from some people.
And sure, I can say that I have overreacted in this and have gotten too emotionally involved in this and have written things myself that has not been okey, but I honeslty say I am sorry for that. Might not mean much perhaps but I still mean it.
north feralina: You are correct, I don’t fully grasp what is going on over there but I don’t understand why critiqe one might have against certain people or movements has to be written and / or discussed in such a bully way ?
See what happened when I applied some of that attitude myself, its not that fun now is it ?
I can also say that I am sorry for any uncessesary emotions I have caused, might not mean much but I still say it and mean it and thank you for taking me back to the ground 🙂
Yes, I understand that you have a Society (ran by a very intimidating goverment) that is clearly messed up on so many levels and we in this part of the world recive it in a different way in the form of the US goverments foreign politics and no I don’t shit on Russians. I don’t shit on members of USA either but I do wanna get rid of every bully in movements in which I though I was not going to have to see such such things, that ain’t that wrong now is it ?
Thank you for responding and again I am sorry that I let my own emotions get things a bit out of hand, from my part. I guess one never becomes fully secure when you see the bully attitude no matter what you discuss and, as someone pointed out, the web is by far the worst place in the world to discuss things.
But I learned my own lesson.
thank you,
ps. Sweden is not really a socialist country. Its a bit amuzing though that it seems to be such a common thought esp. from US citizens. Might I ask what that belief is rooted in ? .ds
Thank you for doing such important work!!
“you can’t build a movement by breaking a movement”
“assaulting other movements is exactly what the state wants.”
“posting comments on the internet against another resistance movement? It’s definitely a shame”
Perhaps you should take your own advice?
As long as DGR and RadFems seek to undermine the right of self-determination and lives of trans* individuals DGR and RadFems will doom themselves. Your words said it best – you can’t build a movement by breaking a movement. You are actually the one being played by the Patriarchy and you can’t even see it.
Interesting that you want to talk about North American movements not accomplishing anything in the last 100 years. That only shows how ignorant you are and racist above all. You seem to forgotten, the workers and anarchists movements of the 1920s in the US, the women’s rights movements in the early 20th century and in the 1960s to the present, the Chicano Puerto Rican Liberation movements from the 1960s and 1970s, the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, the struggle against colonization across Canada in the 1980s and 1990s, the Zapatistas in Chiapas, countless other indigenous sovereignty movements across Mexico, the US, and Canada, the queer and TRANS liberation movements across the US that are widely held responsible for the rights of queers and trans people today, as in the Stonewall Riots, Compton Cafeteria, and Cooper’s Donuts, forest defense campaigns, not to mention anti-globalization movement that had strong roots in Mexico, the US, and Canada, much of the inspiration for DGR and Jenson’s analysis was inspired by the struggles in North America in the last 100 years. Do not try to validate your stance against transpeople by nothing the lack of “accomplishments” on the North American continent in the last century.
A couple of points:
DGR didn’t oppress anyone, nor denying anyone exists, period.
Second, I’m Middlle Eastern, living in the Middle East, so don’t throw shit about how perfect it is where I live, nor throw other shit how you accomplished a lot of stuff. All the organizations that accomplished something in the States were hierarchical, strategic, and serious, like the organization you’re trying to break today.
And being on the other end that’s still receiving drone bombs and phantom bombers from your government, no you didn’t accomplish shit.
But now you’re posting comments on the internet about how terrible it is that other people posted comments on the internet…how is that saving the turtles, again?
And you’ve accomplished…And if our bullshit infighting doesnt reach you slightly located north of me commenting on the character of the dng? And why are they commenting on someone elses sexuality? What does that have to do with anything other than cheap shots of a smug bougeois writer and his asshole croneys?
Its sad that because of our privelage we get to pick and chose our ideology and our allys. Because backing the dng will reverse the destruction of Beruit in 1982? Derrick Jenson hates us. The dng wants a war of words let em have it. You don’t like it, fine. But they want to comment on what is a personal choice of orientation for others they’re going to get our opinion. Don’t like it? Don’t like us. Either way, if you’re basing your entire opinion of us off of this and a bunch of (a) news postings don’t care. Period.
on accomplishing nothing in the last 100 years…
fucking hilarious coming from a denizen of the land of the Mother of All Death Cultures.
Y’all have got quite a victory list from the last 100 years don’t you?
I’m so impressed that all of Europe is one big corporation free autonomous zone. Glad that y’all have made so much progress that y’all can afford to burn American trees for electricity to keep the lights on in the newly egalitarian Vatican City. jesus fucking christ, can y’all get any more pathetic?
“And transphobia–like racism and sexism and classism and homophobia–is a poison that those in power use to destroy movements and ruin lives. When faced with such poisons, who needs COINTELPRO?”
Exactly. Thank you for standing in solidarity with those who wish to confront patriarchy in all its forms within the radical community.
Allowing fascists masquerading as feminists to set a policy of exclusion is all well and good for their own choosey-choiced Kampf. I am glad they own up to their intolerance. If their gender-oriented ideological tenets trump an inclusive, unified effort, perhaps the planet is *Not* in such peril? I care not to police their meme-schema, I just marvel at their prioritization. Fiddle on, Nero. The planet must wait!
People are people — i hope that both organizations can reach a point where no one is marginalized or looked down upon. Those of us who value the earth and the things that are beautiful need to stay together or the people who destroy the earth for money and power will prevail.
Actually, no. I do not need to stand beside people who marginalise both myself and other members of the trans community. That is the exact same logic that manarchists use to push aside challenges to sexism within the movement so that we can ‘stop being devisive’ and ‘look at the bigger picture’. Bullshit. Have you ever heard of intersectionality?
Also I think it’s highly amusing that Cathy Brennan is posting on EF! considering that she has nothing to do with any of the other politics involved here. Clearly she just follows her transphobic cohorts around.
Can you define transphobia, please?
Look it up.
Let me get this straight…..
You’ll ban DGR becaue of it’s veiws, but you won’t ban misogynistic exploiters of women like Voina because you think it’s important to express all views even though Voina is clearly patriarchal and exploiting women?
You folks really are screwed up. I’m so glad I’ve never had anything to do with your bureaucratic bs of an association.
Take good care,
Scott
Scott, I thought we had this discussion. Voina is not “clearly patriarchal” at all. In fact, their members went on to form radical anarch@-feminist group Pussy Riot, which is now languishing in a Siberian gulag. Perhaps your adherence to DGR and incoherent analysis of Voina are part of the same problem. Oh yeah, Derrick Jensen already proved that in our last thread.
Thanks for your Solidarity,
Sasha
Scott, Voina was never given use of our Newswire as one DGR organizer was. We will still print pieces about DGR and Voina and others when there actions or philosophies are important to discussion but we won’t give them their own access to this. Its a matter of taking a stand. We’ve never given Voina use of our newswire. We might, however repost stuff relevant to conversation.
when you take off your shirt, are you exploiting yourself?
And now the original article you posted about this is gone from your front page:( I guess you didn’t like people defending DGR or making valid arguments. The new article should read, “Earth First! Censors DGR!”
For those that still want to see the original Earth First! article from the anonymous “Trashy” that triggered this it can still be found here (for now): https://earthfirstnews.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/dgr-meets-resistance-at-the-law-and-disorder-conference/
thank you earth first! this makes me cry! good on all of y’all!
Glad to see there is some thoughtful and critical dialogue (sadly, it is amdist some transphobic bigotry). But these are growing pains of a growing ecological movement. My hope is that the good solid organizers who found DGR and feel an affinity with it will help evolve it into a healthier place.
To understand DGR, its worth knowing the history of the RCP (Revolutionary Communist Party) and other Maoist groups which DGR is clearly modeled off of. In a telling example, the RCP once held a position of condemning homosexuality as a characteristic of capitalist decadence. The following is from a recent critique of DGR in Anarchy Magazine which touches on the subject: “The Party’s [RCP] official position was altered in the early 2000s; re-education camps are no longer invoked as a part of the solution to the homosexual problem, and the defense of LGBTQ people against right-wing attack is now promoted. But 25 years of homophobic indoctrination doesn’t disappear just because the hierarchs in the Party decree a change in policy. An authoritarian condescension — and not just toward queers — still operates at all levels of the Party, from the paper-sellers to the upper cadre.”
http://www.anarchymag.org/index.php/current-issue/39-latest-issue/82-the-beginning-of-the-american-fall
Remnants of the RCP can also be seen in DGR’s cult of personality, which the RCP maintains around the Chairman Bob Avakian who is in a self-imposed exile for charges against him which were dropped in 1982. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/01/27/free_bob_avakian/?page=full
Lierre Keith and Derrick Jensen helped spark some interesting debate over the last few years. At this point, they have about as much to offer the ecological resistance as Dave Foreman. https://earthfirstnews.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/dave-foreman-still-aligning-with-bigots/
The same is likely to be true of DGR’s relevancy if the movement is not consciously steered in a different direction, soon. Thus far, DGR can reference very little action generated by their rhetoric. Thankfully, this is not the case for EF!, TWAC, Rising Tide, Tar Sands Blockade/Resistance and dozens of other eco-action groups who choose not to exclude trans people (scroll down the EF! Newswire and see for yourself.)
“Sundazed” and “Adon Apamea,” whoever you are, it means nothing to me that you are from Europe rather than the US. I have seen the same and worse infighting in Mediterranean activist circles with my own eyes, in my limited experience. The problem you are having might be related to spending too much time at a computer and not enough in the streets (an issue the plagues could-be revolutionaries the world around).
For the wild,
Panagioti,
Editor, EF! Journal Collective
Nah, its typical American attitude to not bother about anything in the outside world you don’t have to point that out.
Again, I’m a Lebanese Middle Eastern.
Get your shit together.
Then 1) how the fuck do you think you know what’s happening in America and 2) why the fuck do you care?
I’ve replied to you more than once but my comments aren’t appearing on the website.
I’m a Middle Eastern, living in the Middle East, and not a European. And yes from where I stand, all this petty horizontal hostility seems absurd and counter-productive.
It’s unfortunate that many American radicals have digested the patronizing tone of their empire and use it when speaking with others.
Hey, umm so like the DGR is basically the RCP of environmental organizing. Also, just as I would not organize with racists I will not organize with transphobes. Fuck even Zerzan talks shit on DGR. I’d rather work with tarsands blockade liberals than DGR. This isn’t about horizontal hostility this is about fighting bigotry.
Glad this decision and statement was *FINALLY* made!
Thank you, Earth First! for taking the clear eyed view which cuts through cant to see the deep harm done by transphobia in DGR and other Left/Green circles. You’ve earned +1 ally, at least.
Solidarity!
Thank you EF!
Thank you for publishing this, EF!
Over half my life now i have been a frontliner. Yet, i have never really been part of any group due to lack of equality, continuing white male dominance in too many “organizations” and cliques that perpetuate pecking order mentality. I just have done my best to be part of masses of people against wars, defending trees, earth, sacred lands, protesting the WTO, IMF, WB, femicide and genocidal globalization. I worked for many years on the lands of Dine resisters to Peabody Coal at Big Mountain/Black Mesa, again as myself due to hippie hatred i endured. No matter what i try to do, there is always some wanna be judge, jury, executioner dissing me and my work. Nothing new, hell, i have even been subjected to death threats for speaking out against rapists to their faces, tho they did not threaten me to my face, just passed the word….
When i became part of occupy Seattle, the loudest bully there dissed me and i was further slandered by his buddies. That the bully boy was a queer seemed to give him protection i have never had doing my hard labors. Funny, i have never threatened anyone and yet encounter MEN and those women who admire them, who lie, slander and call me names. Now i see a new target in the attacks against DGR. If i were not a longtime veteran of struggle and slander, i would not be feeling as disturbed as i am by the nasty way people are rising to defend select transwomen . How come i have NEVER seen such an outcry when rape occurs? How come the bully boy in Seattle did not stir such an outcry after he threatened and harassed at least 10 women who told me themselves how he drove them away from occupy Seattle? Something is way off here. I am coming to the conclusion that we all are doomed cause divisiveness is too easily inculcated rather than educational, sane discussions.
Why keep the same methods of injustice going? Why? Reading something Lierre Keith wrote about transwomen does not tell the whole story. There is a trajectory here that needs close examination. People need to be educated about seriously dangerous right wing men’s movement that has vested interest in staging attacks as transwomen in order to infect any shred of a movement with this exact kind of rabid division. Please, do your homework around this issue. It is way too important to jump on a sweeping attack bandwagon when the context is way more complex than any statement i have seen so far against DGR. Please proceed with caution, integrity and deep truth or all of us lose, again.
I hope to see you at more public events, Swaneagle…was a bit disappointed you weren’t visible at Olympia’s most recent May Day celebration. I understand the FBI spoke with someone on Vashon Island recently. You? If so, I’d like to hear your side of that story. You make a lot of sense when you decide to write. Yes, there’s way too much bullying and violating the rights of others. Yet some (A)narchists seem to pride themselves on as much. Take care and stay strong.
-amicuscuria.com/wordpress-
Fuck off fascist
hahaha oh snap youre that “Amicus Curia” blogger/photographer from the PNW who collaborates w/ the cops and had yer superduperexpensive camera destroyed by anarchists who you were filming without their permission cuz youre a fuckin sketchball who no radical with any intelligence should ever be within 500 feet of without fuckin yer shit up! Lol so hows that been going for you lately
Get over yourself.
“The oppression of women is inextricably linked to the oppression of trans people.”
Beautifully said! Thank you for taking a stand!
@bugbrennan When did you start suppressing your feelings that you are transgender?
Redwood Rainforest is dedicated to preserving the temperate rainforests of the lush and verdant Pacific Northwest and we proudly support Lierre Keith and other intrepid feminists.
“Trans people have been honored in numerous indigenous communities across the planet. Trans people aren’t some sort of new Post-Modern manifestation of individualism. Trans people are people, rad fucking people. ”
I don’t know how to state this without offending anyone, but I’m highly offended by the shameless appropriation of indigenous peoples by the transgender community. As a person of native blood, it makes my skin crawl at the thought of a middle aged, white, male parading his penis around high school girls, and then claiming he is “two spirit”. Please don’t insult native people. People in Washington State will never forget transgender Colleen Francis and his little spectacle in the women’s locker room.
Transgender is slowly evolving into an Orwellian nightmare for girls and women on so many levels. I can say with all certainty that women are slowly waking up and realizing that the transgender agenda does not benefit us. While I respect Earth First, it tends to be myopic and loses tract of what the average, moderate citizen is thinking or doing. These are the people who elect politicians, and environmental groups need people in power. Simply look at the demographics. Women far outnumber transgender, and the Democrats know that the women’s vote is crucial to their success. The issue of transgender males in women’s restrooms, locker rooms, and showers could split the Democratic vote. The Republicans will use this as a stick to bash the Democrats. Despite what the transgender community says, this issue is not going away anytime soon. When it was just trans women harassing lesbians or so-called “rad fems”, no one really cared. After 45 year old Colleen Francis paraded his penis around the women’s locker room in Olympia, Washington, it’s an entirely new ball game. It’s not just rad fems and transgender anymore. It’s all women now, and women outnumber transgender. We have more voting power by a very wide margin. The Democrats need the women’s vote, and everyone knows the environmental movement is lost with Republicans in power. As for me, I’m a life long Democrat/Green, and I want the Democrats to stay in power. The incursion of biological males into traditional women’s private spaces is a very heated subject, and it’s not going away anytime soon. Don’t expect women to remain silent on this issue. Can the Democrats and environmental groups afford to lose even part of the women’s vote?
I went to U.C. Davis, and I’ve studied climate change and other environmental issues for decades. Indeed, we had an excellent Whole Earth Festival this year. I have respect for Earth First, but I’m so saddened to see them fall for transgender talking points and assorted catch phrases. The transgender community has no special expertise in the area of environmental issues. It only wants to push its narrow agenda which does nothing to benefit environmental issues.
I’m a female and an environmentalist.
“environmental groups need people in power.”
hahahahahhaha. yeah people being in (state) power has been really great for the Earth for the last 10,000 years. Onward to electoral victory DGR!
THOSE DAM (sp?) ANARCHISTS-
http://pastebin.com/Aeb67Bj1
305/919
Get over yourself.
You’re right that appropriating indigenous traditions is a problem in trans circles, but I’m just baffled how that leads you to the conclusion that trans people (and somehow you’re only talking about transwomen who haven’t had bottom surgery, as always) are all perpetrators of sexual violence. The daily reality is that trans women are harassed, assaulted and killed AS WOMEN with such regularity that it doesn’t even make the news. All trans and gender non-conforming people face a constant increased threat of gender violence. And yet you’re focused on one example of a trans person doing violence. You’re so stuck in outdated categories that you refuse to stand with your sisters as they (we) are being killed in the name of misogyny.
yuck, i stopped reading after “Democrat”.
WRONG SITE, YO
what the fuck has DGR even done that is so worth defending?
I’m usually not at a loss for words, but I simply cannot describe adequately how much the words you’ve written here have gladdened my heart. Thank you, very much. You are very rad yourself you know.
I originally read this article with a sense of relief. Somebody was in my corner. I was flooded with gratitude for the support shown for me, and people like me. Then I made the mistake of scrolling down to the comments.
I saw that show of support get ripped apart and labelled as bullshit. The transphobia relabeled as “harmless gender analysis”. The confusion and discomfort I live with everyday isn’t something trivial. It’s not a phase, it’s not an attempt to access patriarchal privilege. It’s my every waking moment. When I try to live my life in a way which lessens that inner turmoil and feels more natural, I shouldn’t have to apologize or defend myself. I shouldn’t have beer bottles thrown at me by men in trucks shouting “tranny dyke” as they drive away. I shouldn’t be treated as “other” just because I don’t have a gender to match my genitals. Call it gender analysis, call it by whatever fancy label you want, but at the end of the day these are the kinds of attitudes that make me look over my shoulder and hurry home at night. I’m not oppressing anyone, I’m not threatening anyone. I just want to stand up for my planet and the beings on it. I don’t want to be discredited by people who are fighting for the same things I am. I don’t want people to base their behavior towards me according to what’s in my pants (which is none of their damn business) or tell me I have less of a legitimacy because of it.
Thank you EF! for recognizing the struggles of trans people and standing up for us. I’ll just remember to stay out of the comments section next time.
Oh, and by the way, being told that by being trans I am somehow guilty of “performing gender,” by someone who is wearing a pretty paisley skirt, has long lovely curls, speaks through her upper nasal passages, and says “um” and bites her lip a lot, is kind of a laugh. I wear jeans, free T-shirts I got at tech conventions, and have purged my speech of annoying mannerisms and affectations, especially when giving presentations or speeches. People I meet are always visibly relieved when they hear my first name, because otherwise they seriously would not know which pronouns to use.
In other words, “performing gender,” my ass. I am what I am because that’s who I am, and that’s ALL.
“The oppression of women is inextricably linked to the oppression of trans people.”
The oppression of women is NOT inextricably linked to the oppression of trans people. This is just warmed over sexism which essentially states that women are expected to cater to the needs of everyone before we can even get around to taking care of ourselves. I noticed how he said “trans people” instead of biological males who have always demanded that women stop whatever they are doing and look after their needs. Please stop offending half the population of the planet. Females do exist, and since women outnumber transgender, we don’t have to go along with the transgender agenda. In all honesty, we owe them nothing at all. We have our own history and our own needs to attend to. Besides, what have transgender ever done for women? That is, except for demanding access to women’s restrooms and locker rooms, intact male genitalia and all. No, women don’t have to put up with it. What do we get out of it? I can’t think of anything, so please don’t try the old guilt trip thing about women being responsible for taking care of everyone else’s needs before our own.
Transgender women are women. It’s not about you.
I noticed how he said “trans people” instead of biological males…
That’s probably because not all trans people are MtF. Interesting how you lot tend to erase trans men, despite your belief that they’re actually still women. From your point of view, wouldn’t that be you erasing and silencing women?
Please stop offending half the population of the planet.
Please stop trying to speak for me
since women outnumber transgender, we don’t have to go along with the transgender agenda.
Women outnumber gay people, too (ignoring that there’s overlap in both cases), so we don’t have to go along with the homosexual agenda. Sorry, what? That’s offensive and the logic doesn’t add up? Sheer numbers don’t dictate whether a group is deserving of liberation? Interesting.
What do we get out of it? I can’t think of anything
Liberation from patriarchal gender limitations? Nah, not important.
Thank you for taking this stance EF! folks. I used to be a part of more eco defense stuff back in the day in Katuah – am now more involved in anti prison struggles with prisoners on the other side of the state…..Regardless, its nice to come across this and see people keeping it real. EF! has had a long series of internal battles, crises of identity if you will, over the years, trying to preserve the best of its roots while working past the xenophobia and latent racism and nationalism and sexism of some of its founders (abbey, foreman, etc.), and its fully in line with that struggle to take this stand. Dont listen to DGR defenders who say this “divides the movement” – these kinds of moments may be painful, but they are absolutely necessary. There are some divisions worth having. (And if you dont believe me, read a history of the popular front in spain!)
Feminism, particularly the non-liberal, anti-capitalist varieties, has also had to go through those internal struggles in the US. Much of it has a history of middle class bourgeious irrelevance, and even the radical and materialist varieties have struggled since the 70’s to get beyond certain issues in their own perspectives. One of these is essentialist notions of gender which, uncritically and without reflection, treat women as a “class” in and of themselves, with little qualification. Personally, i don’t think feminism or the struggle against patriarchy is losing anything to admit that the women who are struggling against rapist prison guards ARE NOT in the same “class” as the women politicians and women police who put them there. From my correspondence and conversations, im pretty convinced these prisoners dont feel “on the same team” as such women! Aside from this 2nd analysis that tended to universalize the vastly different experiences of different women, this perspective has fueled anti trans diatribes for years.
The irony here is that some of the most badass feminists I know are trans – both trans women, trans men, and genderqueer. The fact that people like Lierre Keith refer to these transmen as “traitors” seeking to “obtain male privilege” is unbelievably insulting, and shows just how few transmen she’s actually close to. I’m reminded in particular of a badass group of folks called the country kings, a drag troupe i used to co organize anti prison events with, constituted by transmen and women and who are all badass feminists to the core. They have taught me so much – and i cant help but hear Keith’s words in my head while thinking of them, and just…..laugh.
The other irony is that, even among the ‘ciswomen’ i know, many are attacked or face hate crimes or homelessness or unemployment precisely because they look “too masculine” or “dykish” – in other words, for being gender non conforming. TONS of lesbians im friends with have faced this, people who Keith would probably want to call comrade. Could it possibly be more clear that the violence used in our culture to police boundaries of gender is connected to the violence used to police our sexualities, all of which is connected to the violence used to police women? Could it be any more clear that for some women oppression means not getting to become a head of state able to start wars and hire cops and destroy the earth, while for other women it means a life of prison or abuse or wage slavery or cancer? Are radfems incapable of a more nuanced feminist analysis, beyond “women as a class?”
No one I know is arguing that trans women don’t grow up with certain kinds of privilege that other women wont experience. (For that matter, I dont know any transwomen who would say their experience is identical to a ciswoman’s, in part because there IS NO universally identical experience of ‘womenhood.’) If some people are arguing this, then theyre flatout wrong, but this hardly justifies the position taken by DGR and radfems, nor is it something one is likely to find in the pages of any well known radical trans or gender queer type authors, be it judith butler, leslie feinberg, or kate bornstein.
Ultimately, history has moved on; its no longer the 1970s. The burden of proof is now on radfems and DGR to demonstrate how feminism actually benefits from not recognizing trans men and trans women as the gender pronoun they choose, as people who face all kinds of discrimination and oppression, alongside queer and LGB folks. If they fail at this, as they are, they will be left behind. If their strategy is to police the boundaries of “woman” as a category, then they need to demonstrate how that actually helps the struggle against patriarchy. In part this bumps up against an inconvenient fact that most other, more recent waves of feminism (3rd wave, anarchafeminists, 4th wave, etc.) have explicitly recognized: ‘Woman’ is not a universal, consolidated class, nor is patriarchy a system of oppression disconnected from other systems of control and exploitation. Patriarchy exists, but it cannot do so without the other systems of capitalism and state power and white supremacy alongside which it has co-evolved. Patriarchy has no particular problem in the 21st century hiring women politicians, women CEOS, women cops, and women prison guards to keep these systems going. There are women who imprison other women for fighting back against their abuser. Being a woman does not automatically make you a comrade, or even someone on our side of the barricades. This does not undermine the basic foundations of feminism, but it certainly gives pause when considering the strategy of DGR and radfems of policing the boundaries of “woman as a class.” In such a context, why would we want to police the label? Why would we insult potential friends and comrades with an absolute refusal to recognize trans people, all in the name of policing “woman?” For that matter, why would we want to police at all?
Personally, given the choice between a transman co worker as a comrade or a born-female cop, ill choose the former. But thankfully i dont have to make that choice, because there are all kinds of badass anarchist women and trannies and queers and men and kids and old folks on our side, who are loving and worth all the respect and recognition we can give them.
So thanks EF! journal, for keeping it real.
(PS with joining the likes of chris hedges in hating on our peeps, did we even need another reason to drop DGR?)
Just a trans lady here feeling thankful for this statement.
Cathy Brennan is the most oppressed female millionaire banking lawyer on earth.
She should do the right thing for her fellow bigots and buy out & close down every burrito selling place within a 10 mile radius of all radfem meeting locations.
That’s paycheck loan banking lawyer, if you don’t mind. Yes – involved in supporting that industry.
I’m struggling to understand how transgender relates to the environment. Apparently, simply coloring a transgender symbol green is all that is required for the transgender community to gain credibility from Earth First. I do admit, however, that it’s a rather pleasant, “environmentally friendly” green color on the transgender symbol. If it weren’t so surreal, it would almost be laughable.
Trans* friendly environmentalists and savvy consumers abhor hormones in animals, especially animals that humans eat, but see no problem in giving puberty suppressing drugs to 12 and 13 year old children. I don’t want synthetically produced hormones in animals, so why would 13 year old children need puberty suppressing drugs or cross gender hormones at age 16? It’s my understanding, that with parental approval, children can start hormones at age 16. The transgender community promotes the use of puberty suppressing drugs for “gender identity disorder” in pre-teens and adolescents. In the entire history of human kind, has there ever been a time in which adolescence, a normal part of human development, has been intentionally delayed because of what essentially amounts to a psychiatric diagnosis? Testosterone, which has to be injected because it’s hard on the liver in pill form, is simply referred to as “T” by transmen. This is a prescription drug, and it’s just known as “T”. Transmen make videos of their first shot of “T”, being on “T” one month, “T” two months, etc. They pass this information back and forth, and in the process, whether they admit it or not, the transgender community is promoting “T”, a synthetically produced hormone for biological females. As to hormones and puberty suppressing drugs for children, environmentalists don’t want hormones in animals, but see no problem with puberty suppressing drugs and hormones for children. Please explain this to me.
Although they know full well that it can mis-align ribs, there are transgender websites that give away used breast binders to girls under the age of 21. Why does the female body need to be constricted? How is this natural? How does this relate to either feminism or the environment?
Has anyone from Earth First ever seen what “top surgery” on a biological female looks like? How will future historians view “top surgery”? Will they view it as a peculiar form of female genital mutilation? I won’t even go into “bottom surgery” on females.
In FTM “top surgery”, the female nipples and areolas are often literally cut off , resized, then sewn back on after the mastectomy. Loss of sensation is common, and every now and then a nipple graft doesn’t take resulting in a loss of a nipple.
Dr. Daniel Medalie performs FtM top surgery (double incision mastectomy with nipple grafting) Some might see this as a form of violence being carried out on the female sex:
copy and paste this link
http://www.surgerytheater.com/video/6423/Dr.%20Daniel%20Medalie%20performs%20FtM%20top%20surgery%20(double%20incision%20mastectomy%20with%20nipple%20grafting)
All of this is being carried out on female bodies because of a psychiatric diagnosis which is largely subjective in nature. When pressed, even some members of the transgender community admit that (a.) it’s possible to regret “transitioning”, and (b.) culture and peer pressure (everything people hear and see on the internet, etc.) can influence one’s decision to “transition”.
In summation, how does everything I describe above relate to either the environment or feminism? So, please, by all means color that transgender symbol green, but it’s not impressing me.
The real questions might be: how do analytical attacks on trans people, as DGR has done, relate to the environment and how does the movement for the liberation of trans people and all marginalized communities relate to the ecological resistance movement? Possible answer to question one, attacks on marginalized communities do nothing for our resistance movement other than to weaken it. Possible answer to question two, solidarity with and learning from other liberation movements, the liberation of women, people of color, trans people and all who are poisoned by the industrial and patriarchal nightmare is the only way forward to the total liberation of the planet and the creatures that call it home.
“I’m struggling to understand how transgender relates to the environment. ”
Because the trannies pee on all the plants and animals.
please don’t use that word, it’s a slur.
First, not all trans people want to use hormones or get surgery.
Second, you are typing on a toxic computer using toxic electricity spewing toxic chemicals into the environment. I assume you use plenty more unnatural environmentally damaging things, so don’t get all holier-than-thou on which unnatural methods other people choose to function in this oppressive society.
Just say you think trans people are icky and don’t use all this caring about hormones in the environment crap to excuse it.
Why don’t you go have an educational conversation with real trans people about whether they think hormones or surgery will be used or needed after the revolution?
Hey ya’ll! I’m not sure who wrote this up but thank you so much, I really appreciate it. I’ve been scared of EF! for years because of my experiences in EF! communities which did not give a shit about anti-oppression and I’m syked that there are many folks in the EF! movement who are pushing hard aganist that and creating strong communities of solidarity within the EF! movement.
I want to share a little about my process in terms of trans solidarity.
There was a time in my life where I was confused why trans women should be invited to “women’s spaces” and it made me feel bad that I couldn’t create a space for women assigned people which did not include trans women because I thought that those spaces should exsist. I was told this made me transphobic.
Well, at that time in my life I didn’t have any trans friends. Now I have lots of trans friends who I love very much. As I was growing closer to my trans lady friends, it became clear pretty quicky that that although we were socialized very differently, our struggles were SO SIMILAR. My trans women friends also lived in fear of rape, violence, cat calling, silencing, not have their feelings acknowledged, not being taken seriously, and all sorts of endless gender oppression. I truly feel like I am hanging out with a sister when I hang out with my trans lady friends who I love very much. For this reason it is clear to me that I need to prioritize solidarity with trans women, and create loving safe communitites for ALL women, wheither cis gendered or trans. Feminism is a movement to end oppression aganist all women, trans included.
I do still think that there is a time and place to have spaces which are respectfully for people who were socialized as female, as we have a very specific experiance that we might want to share in spaces only with people with that experience (which would include trans men), and I don’t think that has to be transphobic. I can’t speak for trans women, but I would assume there should be spaces only for trans women for that same reason.
I have been told that all women’s spaces should be inclusive to all women, and I must admit that I do not agree, and I do not think that is transphobic. That being said, I don’t feel like there are MANY spaces that should only be for female socalized people. I can’t express how much I love my trans women friends (who I do not see as TRANS women, I simply see them as women), how much I learn from them and how much they have helped me grow. I want to show so much love and solidarity to all my lady friends, no matter how they were socalized and I take my trans solidarity very seriously. I personally never want to create spaces that are only for people who are socalized as female because that is not my need, however I do understand that there is a certain experience one has if from the day you were born you are socalized to be inferior because you have a cunt.
All this being said, I think it is very important to choose SO wisely what spaces would only be for women socalized people. For example, groups which talk about or organize around rape, domestic abuse, or parenting and also general feminist spaces, festivals, general activist spaces, action camps, etc. etc. should include all women, regardless of how they were socalized. I think the only spaces that are appropriate to respectully be only for female socalized people might be spaces which are SPECIFICALLY talking about what it is like to be socalized as a women. In these spaces it would be very important to have times in which those women speak about solidarity with trans women and they should continue to analyse wheither their space truly has to be only for female socalized people. As for me, I don’t feel the need to make that distinction. I love for there to be all women in all the spaces I create.
There is SO MUCH solidarity to be shown to our trans women friends, its unreal. There are so many parallels and patriarchy effects us in very similar ways. It hurts me so much to think of how damaged we are as people to be so divided. PLEASE lets think of our shared experience and show solidarity and celebrate our differences without excluding people from spaces in ways which invalidate trans women’s lives.
To make the environment better, we must mandate transsexuality ouf of existence. Right Ms. Keith? What a horrible impact trannies have on our agenda. LOL. No really. wtf
Hi, my name is Cathy Brennan and I work for the patriarchy. And, actually support it!
http://hudco.com/profile.cfm?section_id=2&attorney_id=51
Now, you are wondering why I came into this thread. Obviously. Well, it is because trans women are icky. And they are gross.
Thanks for listening.
down with trannies up with patriarchy!!! w00t…I love my job!
“It’s not that I condone fascism, or any ‘ism’ for that matter. ‘Ism’s’, in my opinion are not good.” – Ferris Bueller ……
Dear Earth First News,
Thank you for letting me vent. We are subjected to transphobia on a daily basis and it is relentless. Transphobia causes an incredibly hi rate of death in my community due to murders and suicide. For some reason the radical feminists who hate on trans women don’t get this or maybe refused to acknowledge it.
One of the posters in this comment section has went so far as to hijack our TDOR (transgender day of remembrance) to justify her transphobia. Seriously, how fracked up is that? http://www.transgenderdor.org/
http://www.transadvocate.com/the-terf-appropriation-of-the-trans-day-of-remembrance.htm
Thanks for letting us speak.
Since I’ve always respected Earth First, I think it would be a good idea to point out that misogyny is every bit as evil as transphobia. In the turf war and contentious banter between so-called “rad fems” and transgender, some choose to see only what they want to see.
***Please be warned that the vile, utterly misogynistic threats directed towards “rad fems”, lesbians, and intersex people by the transgender community are very graphic.***
This happened in January 2013. It’s my understanding, that Jonathan Reid was banned from youtube because of threats of violence towards “rad fems”, lesbians, and feminists.
JANUARY 2013
“Jonathan Reid “Aeryn” Fulton (aka Aerynxv aka aeryn rebeka fulton aka aeryn reid aka aeryn rebeka fulton-chesnavich)
“EPIC ass-whipping coming your way Nicky. You are sooooo screwed. Shall I meet you at dunkin donuts? I’ll just watch your twitter and see where you are. This is going to be fun. It’s been a long time in coming. BTW I have it on good authority Cathy Brennan will have a terrible accident at this year’s dyke march. THAT”S been a long time coming to. I want your ipod as a trophy. I will get it. See you soon, sweetumz!
DIAF. All radical feminists will pay a terrible price. 2013 is going to be apocalyptic. We are so done with words. “Making a list, checking it twice, bringing some comeuppance wont that be nice? Planting radfems deep in the ground”.
If I threaten to eviserate Gallus Mag, and she presses charges, under USA law I have the right to face my accuser. Thus, I will know her identity. Autumn Sandeen is offering $10k for that info.
This year we are taking Michfest down. 2013 is the year of transequality. Suck it, Brennan! See you at the dyke march.
I want you all to realize, I’m; the ultimate Libertarian. If you are cool with me, I’m cool with you. IF NOT, LEAVE ME and MINE alone, or I will harm you. Violence is always an option, and I have studied to dispense violence all my life.
We trans womyn have to battle for our very right to exist and transition against hordes of Fascist JaniceRaymondiod lesbian bulldyke 2nd wave radfems. We do NOT appreciate self-loathing little boyz taking up for the trans-exterminationist diesel dyke crowd. If you come to terms with taking a man as your ex partner, you too can avoid chasing nasty cis-woman coochie and free yourself from cis-woman mind-fuckkery!”
I think I may go to this Michfest thing, just for the sake of posting all kinds of revealing photos of the local deichs, in various states of dress, ALL OVER THE INTERWEBS….No building bridges here, just pure, HONEST, and unadulterated hatred and intolerance for my ideological blood-enemies.”
http://gendertrender.wordpress.com/tag/aerynxv/
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Transgender activist Anthony Casebeer was caught making jokes about bashing in the head of a lesbian with a baseball bat. As I understand it, he later resigned from some GLBT organization for these comments.
“Pimp slap is not enough here: a nice home run swing to the head with a 38-oz Louisville Slugger is more in order. There’s no brains in her head to destroy to start with. It’s personal, and if I ever saw her in my windshield, I’ll be wiping blood off my white Buick. But I won’t be using the brakes.”.
Of course, the lesbian known as dirtywhiteboi67 has received numerous threats from transgender, particularly transmen. *Warning! This is very graphic.
“…..You are such a weak little old hag of a bitch. Get raped by a bunch of niggers you old crow.”
“You made this story up you fucking ugly OVER-THE-HILL sagging tits, fat ass ugly repulsive CUNT. You’re just jealous that you’re OLD AS HELL and can NEVER EVER transition successfully the way us young dudes do! We are the men you can never, ever be. Medical science, nanotechnology and genetic engineering is advancing in ways your tiny female, estrogen-dominant gossipy female brain can NEVER imagine. CUNT. And being 25 I will reap the benefits and you will just be a corpse. You’re not even masculine, this shit you’re doing here is totally female…gossipy manipulative psychological warfare. Why don’t you take your fat, over-sized, child-bearing hips sagging cottage cheese ass back in the kitchen and cook your disgusting wrinkled, obese crew-cut trainwreck you call a “girlfriend” another Swanson dinner you useless OLD HAG. KNOW YOUR PLACE and stop treading on us. Stupid useless cunt. No wonder there is so much misogyny…it’s because of bitches like you. Suck a fat one and get AIDS”.
SOURCE:
http://dirtywhiteboi67.blogspot.com/2011/12/so-much-fear-and-hatred-from-this-trans.html
Here is a can of “Rid Fem” spray that “Kills Rad fems Instantly” by “Trans Activists…A Family Company”
Below are other threats directed towards “rad fems” and feminists
dastardlyinfection:
“It’s probably for the best that I don’t go to feminist events
I have a tendency to flail my fists at people’s faces when in close proximity to shitty feminists”
Doldrumsinferno:
“Me too…it’s really really fucking frustrating”
http://violenttransarchives.tumblr.com/
“If I had any superpower I’d have the power to punch people through computer screens
Within a week there’d be no more radical feminism.”
http://violenttransarchives.tumblr.com/
“Brennan, go fuck yourself with a rusted chainsaw. Better cover it in various toxins too, I hear that those enhance the experience.”
http://genderbitch.tumblr.com/post/26227759103/fuc…
http://violenttransarchives.tumblr.com/page/2
“sometimes i get so irritated by people who try to belittle me for being trans. especially women. the thing that gets me is that they’re always disgusting looking, or you know, just plain ugly.
the only thought that ever comes to my mind is “i may have a dick, but i make a hotter woman than you do. so what exactly does that make you?”
but, instead, i remain calm. i laugh in their face, or make a joke out of them in some other way. you know, real sly-like. i act like it doesn’t bother me that a neanderthal of a woman is trying to lessen my worth, or my femininity. because let’s be honest… what do they know about any of that anyways?
regardless, it still takes every fiber of my being not to bash them in their putrid face with a brick.”
http://violenttransarchives.tumblr.com/page/2
I apologize to the reader for exposing him or her to this level of female hatred, but as I stated at the beginning of this post, it goes both ways. Isn’t it interesting that MTFs who feel so at ease threatening women would never think of intimidating non-trans males. By the way, males murder transwomen. Women aren’t doing it. Women just tell them what they don’t want to hear.
Ugh, this. So when cis people dox, threaten, assault, and bully trans people, it’s a few bad apples, but when individual trans people step out of line it’s “the trans community” who did it. This is the same oppressive crap used to tar minority communities since Day One.
So, for some unknown calculus of social justice, because several nasty individuals who happen to be trans (at least online) made physically aggressive and even threatening statements, it’s OKAY in this space for DGR to invalidate the social, psychological, and medical reality of trans people entirely with their half-baked theory of gender? That somehow if a minority community contains any “bad apples” whatsoever, it’s OK to use hate speech against them?
I find your opinion ill-thought and spurious. Spurious I say!!! :p
Your posting of this loaded list of nasty-tranzanarchist shillness does not go nearly far enough. No confirmed AT BIRTH wbw can rest safely until all transpersons are forcibly (if they resist) untransitioned and given intensive reparative psychological therapy. This has been what we knew was needed all along, and now more than EVER. Giving after-the fact justifications for our proactive stance, and positing a need for reaction is too close to appeasement, and forces us to muddle through hateful speech we otherwise would seek to avoid. Half-measures avail us nothing, and women are fighting for their very existence against those who would try to infiltrate our very essence! Tranz is an unnatural aberration foisted upon us by the patriarchal capital-industry-bigpharma overlords, and only with the most determined resistance and the absolute BANNING of transjacktivist “twanzitions” can the purity of womanhood be reclaimed. We have no need to be afraid to speak THE TRUTH.
reparative therapy for transfolks is nothing short oif murder. Even TORTURE doesn’t stop a transperson being trans, several friends wewre subjected to electro convulsion as a form of aversion therapy anbd still didn’t change.
Read through the comments and see for yourself. Of all the replies saying something nasty about trans* people, how many are directed at trans* women and how many at trans* men?
The answer is obvious. So why the disproportionate amount of hate aimed at trans* women? Why is their plan of attack based on ignoring or downplaying the existence of trans* men wherever possible? Let’s ask ourselves, ‘Why the erasure of trans* men from the conversation?’ What do they hope to gain from this?
The Spectacle of the Moment: Identity Politics Tag Team Wrestling
On one side we have the essentialist feminists, a team led by DGR. For decades they’ve been successfully flipping patriarchal essentialist ideas on their head to support their view that women’s experience of oppression makes them inherently noble, while all people assigned the male gender at birth by society are oppressors and enemies unless they submit entirely to the vanguard leadership of revolutionary females.
The essentialist feminists have been the undefeated national champions of identity politics tag team wrestling for quite a few years going, but now their crown may be in jeopardy from the new upstarts…the trans-gender identity politicians! These challengers believe that the oppression and struggle of trans-gender people makes them inherently valorous and revolutionary, while cis-people, especially cis-males, are always oppressors and reviled enemies UNLESS they follow the lead of the revolutionary trans-gender vanguard.
Keep your eyes on the spectacle everyone: nasty names will be shouted, literature will be vandalized, and burritos will be thrown – and in the end one identity politics wrestling team WILL be victorious at exhausting us emotionally, wasting our time on leveling the playing field of capitalist democracy, and just generally distracting us from the goal of tearing down the infrastructure that’s destroying the planet while enslaving and policing us, and building new anarchic experiments in living together without coercion, hierarchy and ecological destruction.
Stay tuned in to A-news as the saga unfolds!
fucking brilliant.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/l3ft-3y3/a-letter-to-dgr-and-the-radical-community-on-the-issue-of-transphobia/365026600265109
Hi all,
Like many others, I’ve been watching the recent conflict between DGR and its detractors revolving around the issue of transgender and transphobia. I am an anarchist. I am also a huge fan of DGR, both the organization and the book. I came to a greater appreciation of anarchist philosophy at the same time as reading both the endgame books and DGR, both of which have been hugely influential in terms of how I see the world, and the type of activism I engage in. I have much hope for the organization and have been discussing its ideas with others within the activist community in addition to taking the content to heart and practice.
During a discussion with a good friend of mine, he brought up the letter by Lierre Keith, of which we are all aware.
I was not familiar with it at the time, and was troubled by it’s overtones and message. He went on to express his view that DGR was a transphobic organization, a view which caused me a great deal of concern.
Over the following months, I’ve maintained my enthusiasm for the ideas of DGR, while feeling concern over the letter. I’ve heard similar arguments expressed time, and time again. I wasn’t quite sure what to think. I didn’t know if this was Lierre’s personal opinion, something taken out of context, nor did I understand its relationship to the overall ideology of DGR.
I watched as this issue was brought up repeatedly, online, without any clarification, up until the video of Rachel Ivey’s treatment of radical feminism was presented online.
After watching the presentation I finally understood DGR’s basic stance.
My partner and I, who are spending time learning permaculture in Europe, have been discussing the topic, and the increasing conflict that has erupted over the last few days.
Based on what I have seen and read, both sides to be fundamentally misunderstanding and/or misrepresenting the other.
DGR is presenting the idea that gender is a socially constructed class. A class with two artificially created roles, one of which, masculinity, is hostile to the other, femininity, through a system that validates and supports these roles, known as patriarchy. As such, the goal is the abolition of this class antagonism, and the abolition of gender itself.
Those who identify as trans seek to adopt one of the roles, and while they are certainly well meaning with unique and powerful personal experiences, if gender is a class to be abolished, and is inherently exploitative, than anyone who identifies with a gender, and views genders as linked to any group of social or psychological behaviors, is inadvertently supporting a false and harmful division within the human family. This appears to be the DGR analysis of both trans politics and any position which recognizes gender as anything other than a social construct which exploits non-males.
The goal is not to make a society where people can choose their space on the spectrum, but to eliminate the spectrum entirely.
This is why Lierre’s letter spoke using the comparisons that it did.
Race is discussed as another example of a socially constructed class with a dominant and subordinate role, and the nuances can be thought of in a similar way, if one holds this position.
This discussion is especially helpful for me, as a person of color. Frequently those within non-white ethnic groups are told that certain activities aren’t, for example, ‘black’. This is inherently offensive because the oppressive class are dictating artificial limits to what being ‘black’ is.
DGR seems to imply that there are no limits to what a sex should do, how they should dress or interact, because gender should be meaningless. By this logic, to call someone who is sexually male or female, or any other gender, trans does not make sense, male and female are invalid, fundamentally oppressive niches, and if someone wishes to dress a certain way, correct aspects of physiology, or take a given partner, it falls entirely within the limits of personal choice, a personal choice which can be liberating, and empowering as it defies the gender binary.
Again, following this logic, changing these things does not imply gender, just as how I speak has nothing to do with my race.
My race is largely tied to the oppression that people of color experience, things that are incommunicable to Caucasians. Similarly, they would argue that modern femininity is tied to oppressive and harmful socialization and treatment which no person who has not been raised as a female can understand.
I’ve been learning a lot over the past years, transitioning from general liberalism, to socialism, and further to the ideas of anarchism. I’ve been trying to excise the parts of myself that have been taught by a monstrous culture, and have been taking time to truly understand feminism, beyond the veneer of general goodwill and calls for equality.
I’ve learned, largely thanks to DGR, that listening is key. I am not a woman, there are experiences, thoughts, and feelings that I will never understand.
When my partner and I watched and discussed the video, she, who could be described as a queer feminist, agreed with the analysis, something I did not expect. She spoke with a deep sense of hurt about the invalidation of womanhood itself, the programming and oppression that women in modern society deal with. Something which, like my blackness, must be lived. The pain of finding your own voice, and the idea that this, womanhood, is not something one can understand fully who hasn’t lived the devaluation, self-criticism, disempowerment and outright hostility of dominant culture as it expresses itself to those with female anatomy.
As one would say: I don’t get it, I can’t ever really get it…but I get it.
Lierre made a reference to being trans-black, and in light of the analysis it is somewhat helpful
But when it comes to trans I think a better comparison would be those who are biracial in a society that reflects the values of white supremacy.
This is where the discussion has broken down, and we have jumped the track between ideological differences which should have nothing to do with how we treat our fellow humans, into a quagmire of deeply personal and painful territory.
Just as I respect and cannot truly speak for the female experience, I can neither speak for the trans community in any capacity. When it comes to those stories it is important to listen, which, in my opinion is what the DGR leadership and rank and file have failed to do.
If I cannot understand the pain that has arisen from female socialization, neither can I fully grasp the monumental hurdles and ostracism that the trans community faces. Even contemplating it is mind-boggling. While I do agree with the rad fem analysis, and that gender is a class based system, I also believe that some members of DGR have been transphobic in terms of presentation and tone. There has been a marked lack of respect for the trans community in commentary that trans activists feel is offensive. Jensen himself said that it is up to the people who are offended to determine what is offensive, and I largely agree. At the very least it should be an indicator that something one has said or done is awry or problematic. While I am not trans, the rhetoric surrounding the events has been the same tone used to reference ‘illegals’ by members of the American Right.
While I deeply respect what DGR does, and what they believe, while I find the analysis of gender compelling, over the last few days I have seen the criticisms of the trans community and trans allies validated by responses lacking in consideration, empathy or critical thought.
When we speak of the trans community, what about the two-spirit tradition present in pre-colonial America? Indigenous communities, matrifocal, sustainable cultures, have provided safe spaces for what we would call ‘trans’ long before the tide of monoculture, capitalism, patriarchy and it’s vengeful God.
DGR argues, and rightly so, IMO, that transitioning or identifying as trans is not a political tactic, it does not help to end the oppressions of cis-women, transwomen, transmen, or the queer community at large. But that side also neglects the obvious fact that this is not the point of transitioning, as it has been presented to me, that it is about alienation, association and is a deeply personal experience. Again, maybe the issue is not conclusively trans politics, but that it hasn’t gone far enough. If trans activism is usually liberal in scope, what does rad-trans look like, and is it that different from rad-fem? There is something lacking in the analysis, and I’d imagine that it is largely due to the marginalization of the trans community within DGR, and lack of real communication on both sides. In all of these discussions I’ve watched played out ad-hominem and mischaracterization on both sides, and it strikes me as a tremendously missed opportunity.
I think it’s time for some reconciliation and compassion on both sides here. There’s a lot to learn from both perspectives, and honestly, neither side in this debate are enemies. We have bigger fish to fry….you know, like the impending death of life on earth, the suppression, incarceration and torture of activists, wildlife, the queer community, women, and people of color…etc.
Based on what I’ve read, the attack in Portland cannot be justified. I can’t think of any good reason, all things considered, why physically attacking someone you disagree with, who has not, does not advocate, nor intends to physically threaten you would be ok.
But I also understand what it feels like to be marginalized, and how one sometimes reacts to those who you identify as an existential threat to your cultural identity.
Returning to some potential solutions, I’d suggest that DGR put forward an explicit and visible trans-inclusive policy, making it clear what the analysis is, and welcoming those who break down the gender binary. Support other victims of patriarchy, including those who do not conform, and if you honestly believe that the roles of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in any incarnation are harmful, then explain that clearly and compassionately. Make it clear that those who are trans or queer are not only attempting to reclaim their identities, and are seeking to express themselves, but they are in a unique position to be ahead of most of us in many ways, that they can break out of the box of gender entirely, that they can define themselves on their own terms and not according to the tired clichés of femininity and masculinity.
Secondly, once again, as someone who is male, I cannot speak for women, nor determine what is acceptable, preferable or helpful with regards to women’s spaces. If the women of DGR wish to maintain women’s spaces for those who are sexually or cis-female, that is not something I feel qualified to critique. Many black liberation groups have had similar policies with regards to race, and I both see upsides and drawbacks from it. I’d offer a third suggestion, however:
Make room for a trans caucus, or even multiple caucuses, to help inform and steer DGR’s positions, approach and rhetoric. Just as cis-women have unique perspectives and experiences, the same is true for the trans community. This would go miles towards alleviating the justified, IMO, concerns of those who identify as trans.
Personally speaking, my analysis is a bit different in many respects that I won’t go into here, but ends up at the same road as presented by the particular radfem theories put forward by DGR. I’d suggest that world is not black and white, that elements of queer theory, evolutionary sociology and a class based approach to gender are not mutually exclusive. I find tenets of each valid, and yet have come to the logical conclusion that gender is a socially constructed class which can, and should, be abolished.
I hope all parties find these words helpful; I know that some on both sides will disagree, as is your right, but I also feel like this offers a sane, and more importantly, a helpful middle way to resolve these conflicts, keep DGR on course, and include the great tools and analysis of DGR in the radical community, to the benefit of us all.
Food for thought,
L3ft
Thanks for your analysis – I know you’re well intentioned and trying to build bridges but I think you misrepresented the concept of what being trans means, the radfem view, and the radfem view espoused by DGR.
First, being trans* does not always mean one who is transitioning Male to Female or Female to Male (there can be many variations), and also, plenty of trans* people AGREE with the radfem concept that gender is 100% a social construct. But then why would people transition Male to Female if either side is a social construct? Because social constructs are still real things that exist right now, and using ‘man’ or ‘woman’ are helpful terms to describe different presentations and ways of being treated in the real world, even if in the future, after a gender identity revolution, the terms will be moot.
Radfems, while saying that all gender is a social construct, are the one radical group that tend to be active gatekeepers of who can identify as woman or not (some say this is because transwoman are still socialized as men, which can be true in some sense and not others, there is plenty discussion/refutation of this in previous comments). What I don’t get AT ALL about this is – when I think about after the ‘gender revolution,’ that is, after it is recognized that all gender is a social construct and society allows all people born their own self expression, will there be no more people presenting in skirts and makeup and higher voices and traditionally womanly interests? What we call “woman” now but will not be called “woman” then? Or will every one dress exactly the same, present exactly the same. I’m not arguing that there will still be man and woman in the post-revolution future, simply that there will still be presentations that closely resemble what those things used to be called, and everything in between and outside. I look forward to this future personally and I believe that fellow trans people and gender variant are making that future now, while radfems like DGR are standing on the sidelines screaming “NO NO YOU CAN’T DRESS LIKE THAT YOU’RE TRYING TO COPY US! You can only play with gender as a social construct if you don’t try to look like a woman! You’re appropriating our struggles because you weren’t born as oppressed as us!”
Now not all radfems are like that, but DGR is, and this is why I believe the bridges are burnt, and your analysis is completely failing in convincing me there’s any way to resolve this. DGR includes the kind of radfem who think transwomen only transition so they can get close to women and sexually assault them. There are leaked emails posted here on EF News where Derrick Jensen specifically said he did not allow a transwoman who wanted to join because she was a ‘man dressed as a lady.’ They publicly say they don’t allow transwomen in their spaces because they’ve been socialized as male and are therefore oppressive tools of the patriarchy. . . but they allow men. . . who have also been socialized as men. . . They believe transwoman are just over exaggerated caricatures of ‘real’ women that harm the feminist struggle, and that transwomen push ‘real’ women out of their spaces with their loud in your face manliness (I wonder if any of them have ever interacted with real trans people or just watched a few drag shows). These examples are not the result of radfems who simply disagree with the general analysis of gender – it’s DGR’s hatred and exclusion of transwomen, pure and simple. That’s why they’re transphobes, That’s why we can’t just accept that they view gender differently (most radical people I know view gender as a social construct anyways sooooo) – they’ve actively excluded transwomen and grossly misrepresented and purposely misgendered them, and I don’t think there’s any resolution that can be had without DGR having a major change of heart in how they view trans* people.
Oh — I saw this thoughtful critique and forgot to reply to one of your key suggestions:
Regardless of your particular position on the matter, rest assured that so long as Lierre Keith is one of DGR’s principal leaders and Cat Brennan is one of its ardent backers, you will absolutely NOT be seeing the creation of a trans-inclusive policy, any more than you will be seeing praise for anarchists from Derrick Jensen.
What’s mostly clear from all the intentionally and unintentionally hateful comments about trans people is that the loudest voices have very little experience with actual trans people. Reading these comments I’d think that trans folks are all just burly men with no mission in life other than trying to force their way into women’s spaces.
Many trans women go through their daily lives with everyone they meet assuming they were assigned female gender at birth. Many trans men are also assumed to be cis men. Others have all sorts of other assumptions put on them. People you know well may be trans without you ever knowing! When I say trans women are women, I don’t just mean that I respect peoples’ autonomy to navigate through the world, I also mean that the lady who you are sitting next to on the bus, who gets hit on by that drunk guy or looks dressed up for a date, might be a trans woman or a cis woman. Either way she’ll be treated like a woman for better or worse (usually worse). And the trans women who people don’t assume are women often get both misogyny and transphobia mixed together.
Seems tragic to have to say this, but necessary is the context of such hate, that most of us trans folks are primarily trying to get by in this world, to love, and grow, and struggle for collective liberation. We are constantly treated as invisible and/or grotesque, and yet when we ask to be treated as people deserving respect, we are accused of derailing revolutionary movements and focusing more on our personal needs than the wider struggle.
Thanks for your insightful and profound comment, emmy.
I am truly disheartened and disappointed by what has happened with DGR. I applaud you for letting your readers know where you stand
Oh yeah, please if you are not indigenous please stop name dropping our traditions, like “Two Spirit” if you do not speak our languages, participate in our culture you really do not understand it.
Wow, I can only say wow, Europeans are awfully strange critters and continue to baffle me everyday.
I am not an Earth First person I stumbled across this on accident.
Here is what I think, based on 4 decades of being a part of the American Indian Movement that has had an entire wing of the FBI dedicated to it’s destruction.
I think this whole thing has been invented on both sides to fracture and splinter the environmental movement to save the earth from ruin.
That is not to say that there are valid points being made by both sides from people who feel very passionate about their positions. What I mean is that I feel there are parties who are agents of oppression on both sides working overtime to fan the flames of anger between warriors of the truth.
I asked one of our spiritual elders tonight to ask advice on this. Our tradition is one which is constantly being misappropriated by Europeans and is commonly called the Two Spirited person.
As an indigenous person I know that our people had a place within our culture for people who were born to be warriors but also were born with womyn’s reproductive organs. People who were born to walk as womyn who were born with male bodies. These people were sacred and revered.
That said there are ceremonies for people born to the cycle of the moon, whose bodies give blood to the earth as the tides of the moon pass and who gave birth. There were certain ceremonies that only they could participate in and circles to talk in. These lodges were protected and revered.
There are certain circles that were for those who gave birth from their wombs.
There were other ceremonies and circles for womyn where all womyn including the Two Spirit womyn participated in regardless of their relation with the moon.
I asked my elder tonight if the two spirit womyn participated in ceremonies regarding fertility, and birth. The ceremonies of womyn whose bodies gave back to the earth during each cycle. She said “they did not” those ceremonies were not for them.
So for god’s sake please do not use our traditions to fit your arguments. Our people did not battle each other over such things. There was no need. All had their place.
There were no chemicals or surgeries. I am not condemning those who have those things today but I bring this up because I hear Europeans using our culture within these discussions to justify this position or that one.
So here we see here a battle between Europeans who emerge from a society of oppression who has no place for womyn to gather their power whose bodies are in harmony with the moon and give back to the earth. Nor does your male dominant society have a place for the two spirited ones to be respected and revered. We see a society that sees womyn and labels womyn based on their organs alone. That is dominated by men and is destroying everything in it’s path.
Here we see even those who are allegedly on a mission to save the earth and who are in harmony with the earth fighting tooth and nail over the definition of woman.You say there is one definition and so all who call themselves womyn are to be in all places at all times womyn.
I say a two spirited person is more than woman or man but a different person altogether. They are after all called a two spirited person. They are where they are to be in matters that pertain to them and they are not in places that do not pertain to them.
So I am asking in a good way and in earnest. Is this an issue of offence taken because some womyn who wish to share certain spaces that pertain to them are being attacked for this simple fact?
I can also say that womyn whose bodies gift to the earth with the moon endure a certain oppression that the two spirited do not endure in this socalled civilization you live in. I can also say that two spirited people endure an oppression that those reproductive womyn do not endure.
They are not the same oppression. They are vastly different.
The oppression two spirited people endure as being cast away as useless by this society drives them to many extremes trying to become accepted and feeling at home in their bodies.
There are no bad guys here. Please stop this insanity. If someone does not want to have a conversation with you, sleep with you, it may not mean they hate you, it may just mean that they can only share these things with others of their kind.
It would be insanity for womyn born with bodies who give back tot he earth to say their experience on this journey was the same as the two spirit. It is not. By the same token, it would be insanity for the two spirit to say they were on the same journey as the former.
It is also insulting for either party here Trans man, trans woman, or a person with ovaries, share the same oppression. They do not. The thing they share is oppression. Their journeys are different. Both deserve respect. Both deserve the space to be separate when they wish.
One thing I do know is that all this oppression that is being claimed one against the other in this argument, is almost laughable in the face of the genocide that has been and continues to be wrought upon our people and our land by all of you. It is amazing you are so determined to fight with each other over which one is being the most oppressed. Seriously? In Congo since 1998. Over 9 million people have been killed over the metals in your cell phones, Your oppression is not even on the map when I think of millions and millions the European people continue to inflict.
This fight was designed to keep white people for the most part and those obsessed with your politics fighting among each other, while your very existence is an infliction upon all the indigenous people of the earth and all their ways of life.
This anti-culture your people have produced is self absorbed, a bunch of whining over who can use the bathroom where the rest of the planet is desperate to just eat. Anything.
We actually get confronted as indigenous people about our continuing way of consumption of meat as oppression by many environmentalists. We never took more than we needed. Our animals on our land are being driven to extinction by whose way of life? By whose agriculture? You speak of animal rights? Where are you with the invasive species, pigs, pythons, and the like that are killing our animals on our lands? Let me guess many of you think they should be able to roam our land.Who brought the 2 million pigs roaming the southwest here? Who brought the 1 million feral pigs roaming Florida here? Who brought the roughly 400 million pigs on two feet to this land? You want to speak of oppression? Oppression is the hundreds of millions killed in the Western Hemisphere by Europeans. This continues on to this day to every indigenous people on this planet except the European.
I pray for all of humanity that you recognize the futility of these arguments and redouble your efforts on saving the earth and it’s people from the American beast!
I know people on both sides of this discussion (can it be called a discussion?) who are doing great and amazing work. They are beautiful people and the movement would be much worse off if they were not in it.
I implore you, Love each other. Honor each other. Love those who are fighting this evil system that oppresses each and every one of us. We need every warrior we can get.