Lesbians who have been born and raised as women are NOT one fifth of the queer community's population! And it’s not just this one article. The huge photo
on the cover of the New Year's edition of the Bay Times" shows men as
men, men in drag and women with smiles and long hair (have you noticed
the huge percentage of young females who wear their hair long now?) Not a
single female butch among them. I am beginning to fear that little by
little, step
by step the male culture of the LGBT community is writing out those of
us born with
XX chromosomes.
And this is happening at a time when, more than ever, the
needs of women worldwide deserve our attention and activism. Women are
underrepresented in all spheres of life except for child birth and rearing in
all countries of the world. We are treated as dependent children who need male
guardians in some, made to cover our bodies, heads and often faces in others,
denied literacy and education in many, killed for minor infractions or dowry
issues in quite a few, surgically clitorectomized, infibulated and we have been
subjected to a wide array of horrific procedures like foot-binding throughout
the history of the world.
Here, in the Occidental world, we survive in what is usually
referred to as “Western Civilization.” Cultures here have always been hostile to our gender. The percentage of women in government, science,
technology, and all disciplines except for teaching, nursing, childcare,
librarianship and social work is astoundingly small. And when men enter these
“women’s fields” their ability to ascend to management is rapid and blindingly
unjust.
Women are underrepresented in all aspects of
society partly due to prejudice, but also because to be born a woman in
any part of the globe takes a
tremendous toll on self-esteem. We are not raised to believe ourselves
capable of great things. From the minute you are strapped into
those frilly pink what-evers, your chances of fulfilling any dreams
other than
marriage and children are significantly diminished. You will be
sexualized,
demeaned and degraded in a myriad of both blatant and subtle ways. And
if your family is also oppressed by ethnicity or socio-economic class
the struggle becomes that much more difficult.
Butch lesbians are no-frills feminist
culture warriors who challenge the norm of "femininity" by simple virtue
of existence. Against all odds we have unearthed some semblance of
self-love and respect in spite of, or perhaps because of the fact that
society
has no productive use for our style, not to mention our values.
If
a preponderence of butch-leaning lesbians transition to men it leaves
the majority who remain women in a more vulnerable position. Yes, people
have to be true to their biological gender but the fact remains that
becoming a man does reduce the problem of anti-woman oppression in an
individual's life. It can be used as an easy fix to a much deeper
problem.
