TRANScendental PHILOSOPHY

Rachel Dolezal is a civil rights activist and fomer adjunct professor of Africana studies. She pretended to be of African descent and was eventually discovered in her lie. In the wake of this discovery, Dolezal then claimed to be "transracial" and that this is analogous to being transgender. Of course, the public reaction from the black, activist, and academic communities has been to see Dolezal as nothing more than an imposter, even if one with benevolent intentions. Of course, people that know a lot about being transgender will reject the claim that being transgender and claiming to be "transracial" are analogous. But it is important to be clear about why. And when we are clear, I think that it suggests that transfeminist philosophy should take science more seriously than it does. This is a first attempt at my argument to that effect. So, why do we take being transgender seriously and not being "transracial"? In both cases, there is a claim made that...

When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s, film and television often employed men dressed as women as punch lines. Obviously, this plays the role of de-valuing trans women. This is how transmisogynistic values were internalized in trans women such as myself. I learned that I would be the brunt of jokes if I were to be open about who I was.  Unfortunately, this behavior is still common. In his new Netflix comedy series, Dave Chapelle starts off with some lame anecdotes about O.J. Simpson and then launches into a transmisogynistic discussion of Caitlyn Jenner, deadnaming and misgendering her. THIS IS NOT OKAY. It is not just harmless fun and if you support it by consuming this type of comedy, then you are constributing to the transmisogynistic power structure. DON'T DO IT. Being an ally means not supporting transphobia, even when it is "merely entertainment".

In my mid-thirties, I began my mid-life crisis (which didn't end until I started transitioning). At that point, I started crossdressing in private. On Sunday, my wife and kids would go to her mom's house and stay there for upwards of 4 hours in the afternoon/evening. So, I would put on one of her dresses, my favorite high heels (which I stole from her, and still wear often), and make-up. Then I would proceed to clean the kitchen while listening to Blondie, Joan Jett, ABBA, etc. I would dance. Badly. One time my wife came home early to retrieve something. She caught me dancing to ABBA while wearing her dress! It would have been better if she had caught me in bed with someone. We never had sex again after that. This was traumatic at the time, but it seems quite humorous now. By causing me to be in self-denial for so long, Mormonism led me to be deceptive about this part of my personality. My wife never knew about these feelings before this day when she caught me wearing one...

The purpose of this blog is to discuss philosophical issues related to and of interest to transgender, nonbinary, and genderqueer individuals.  I am a philosopher trained in logic and philosophy of religion originally. In a previous life, I was a Mormon theologian and a co-founder of the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology and their journal Element . I have since left Mormonism and, last year, I came out as a trans woman. For obvious reasons, I am re-tooling myself to do research in the sub-discipline of trans philosophy. This is my spot to expolore some of those ideas interspersed with personal stories from my life in the closet and after transitioning. Trans philosophy is necessarily personal since subjectivity plays such a central role in what it means to be transgender, nonbinary, and/or genderqueer. I invite respectful comments. But all transphobic comments will be deleted.