A Widdershins Girl

Adrienne Rich and “Amy Ray Syndrome”.

point of fact: Adrienne Rich was a transphobe:

“…Janice Raymond cited Rich in the acknowledgments section of her 1979 book The Transsexual Empire, writing “Adrienne Rich has been a very special friend and critic. She has read the manuscript through all its stages and provided resources, creative criticism, and constant encouragement.” In the chapter “Sappho by Surgery” of The Transsexual Empire, Raymond cites a conversation with Rich in which Rich described trans women as “men who have given up the supposed ultimate possession of manhood in a patriarchal society by self-castration”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrienne_Rich)

there’s a lot of whitewashing going on right now since Ms. Rich passed, often coming from cis people or CAFAB trans/genderqueer people, which is trying to minimize that Rich was such a virulent, hateful person. i understand that her poetry probably meant a lot to you, and when you try to erase her hatred, it’s saying that apparently it’s alright to hate trans women under certain circumstances.

and i feel where you’re coming from. when i was a little babydyke i really loved Adrienne Rich’s work and it was truly inspiring for me. it was only later in life, in my 20s, when i found out that this amazing person who stirred my soul, who wrote Dream of a Common Language, which was one of the first times i related to poetry, that i felt inspired to write, that i felt inspired to speak through verse…i found out that this person hated me.

Adrienne Rich inhabits a place in my heart much like Amy Ray; i never thought it much coincidence that they had the same initials, after all. Amy Ray, along with Emily Saliers, wrote music that was my refuge in my teenage years, that told me of a world outside a crappy small town in Connecticut and that there were more beautiful things in the world. The original, 1987 version of “Land of Canaan” occupies such a deep, important place of beauty in my heart that words don’t really sum it up well. it similarly hurt in a horrible way to find out that Amy Ray, too, hated me. i named this “Amy Ray Syndrome” not too long ago; when someone who makes epic, relevant art that touches you turns out to be such a goddamn phobe.

the problem with tolerating transphobia and sometimes excusing it, especially when it’s not aimed at the kind of trans person you are (remember, these people are obsessed with the exclusion of trans women, not trans men, folks), is that not only do we feel excluded and othered, or for those of us who are deeply transparent, that we can never disclose our trans identities publicly, but it also reminds us that some people are important enough to render us collateral damage and unimportant enough that it’s okay to let it slide.

i am not a fourth-class citizen, i am not a “man who has given up the supposed ultimate possession of manhood”, nor am i anything but a female person; i am not a target of your assaults via theory, i am not an infiltrator, and i am not an other. when you venerate people who support these things, you’re saying we don’t count. and, well, i’m pretty used to betrayal from cis queers and CAFAB trans/genderqueer people, but at the same time i really wonder why people who make this brilliant art that matters to me, art that moves my soul, see it fit to hate me because of something i have no control over being. i miss you, Adrienne Rich, but i wish you’d changed your mind so i could fully mourn you as a friend as opposed to someone who chose to be an enemy.

(via blackenedbutterfly-deactivated2)

Source: ericainchoate