Oh Tranny, Where Art Thou?
The Artist D
Recently an article by a transgender individual went viral on Facebook discussing an old yet very much alive issue in the trans community. That article, which you very well may have read, discusses with a clear roll of the eyes that this person really hates the word “tranny.”
Among all of her sighing and bewailing this columnist goes on to document the many times a cisgender individual, drag queen or gay man used the word “tranny” in a transphobic manner. I’m fascinated by the ease with which she shoves Lance Bass, Neil Patrick Harris and RuPaul into the box of transphobia. If anything at all these folks may be labeled as uneducated to trans culture. To immediately dismiss them and mark them transphobic is as bad as me labeling this transgender female a real prudish pain in the ass. I hardly know her!
I know that here at TGForum I am in the company of people whom paint the canvas of TRANSGENDER with a vast amount of different colors. Some may be as offended as the aforementioned writer is by the use of the word tranny. Some may hold a very strong opinion as to how “we” ought to be treated by the world and some others not-so-much.
I have to wonder how easily this person would dismiss me as it appears she does not reference one tranny that uses the word tranny. All her friends are terribly offended with this affront to their very nature. In fact some of her friends have even been asked what their “stage name” is. I have known a lot of transgender people and I don’t know anyone who has been asked what their stage name is. That is unless they were dolled up like a float in the Macy’s parade. In which case they should have a stage name!
I’m a gay transgender person who grew up in the middle of nowhere. I’ve been called “fag,” “queer,” “tranny” and much worse, a “worthless piece of shit.” Over time I have learned that I also fit another category called gender queer. People don’t like those words either. People don’t like a lot of words. All of which brings me right down to the bottom of words. What is a bad word used without bad intentions? What is a good thing said by good people which turns out badly?
She’s such a hot tranny mess. You’re so queer. Such a fag. And my best friends who are right *****! These are not derogatory terms when used in complimentary fashion. Just like these terms are not derogatory terms when used by innocent straight, cisgender, dragchildren in cultural conversations. If my straight friend feels like “hot tranny” means “The Artist D is freaking hot” then by all means, my friend! These are just words and while words do hurt, it’s the way in which they are said that is supposed to hurt. We should not hear “tranny” or any other word and bristle with rage. You can call me anything you want but it’s how you say it that is supposed to matter.
What’s a hateful slur if you don’t know it’s a hateful slur? It’s ridiculous. Then they say these people should know better. No they shouldn’t! How would they know better when they know almost nothing about us? Words are just words. Am I too young to know any better and does that matter? Just because I didn’t live through the history of the transgendered doesn’t mean I don’t know the power of words. They’ve been used against me too. Words only hold the power we allow them to have. I could be beaten to death while being called a tranny. I could be beaten to death while being called a Teletubbie too. I’d have to say the bigger problem is being beaten to death. Then again maybe I’m just a sticks and stones kind of person from all the verbal abuse I suffered for the first twenty years. Words will never be what keeps me down again.
I am a tranny. I know plenty of trannies. These people are not people who take it lightly. Tranny is heavily used in other parts of the world and not from a place of hate. These people are upstanding transgender individuals who happen to be pre-op, post-op and non-op. People all of the understanding that they know exactly who they are so it doesn’t matter what they may be called. Anything else is just all of us being oversensitive assholes.
Category: Transgender Body & Soul, Transgender Opinion
About the Author (Author Profile)
The Artist D is a true raconteur and provocateur! He has been performing online since the mid 1990s. A relic from the cam show age before MySpace was any space. Author of In Bed with Myself, an autobiographical tale of transgenderism and Internet celebrity. Executive Editor of Fourculture Magazine and host of the Kawfeehaus podcast.Subscribe
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