Delayed Critique: On Being Feminist, Time and Time Again

Authors

  • Emma McKenna McMaster University

Keywords:

Transphobia, Fourth-wave feminism, Trans*, Temporality

Abstract

In this article, I argue for a systematic critique of transphobia in feminism, advocating for a reconciling of trans and feminist politics in community, pedagogy, and criticism. I claim that this critique is both delayed and productive. Using the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival as a cultural archive of gender essentialism, I consider how rereading and revising politics might be what is “essential” to feminism.

Résumé
Dans cet article, je défends l’idée d’une critique systématique de la transphobie dans le féminisme, en préconisant une réconciliation des politiques transgenres et féministes dans la collectivité, la pédagogie et la critique. Je soutiens que cette critique est à la fois tardive et productive. En utilisant le Festival Michigan Womyn Music comme archive culturelle de l’essentialisme de genre, j’envisage comment la relecture et la révision des politiques pourraient être ce qui est « essentiel » pour le féminisme.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Author Biography

Emma McKenna, McMaster University

Emma McKenna is a Ph.D. candidate in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University. She is the author of “‘Freedom to Choose”: Neoliberalism, Feminism, and Childcare in Canada.” 

References

Ahmed, Sara. 2006. Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Brown, Wendy. 2005. Edgework: Essays on Knowledge and Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Browne, Kath. 2011. “Beyond Rural Idylls: Imperfect Lesbian Utopias at Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival.” Journal of Rural Studies 27: 13-23.

Camp Trans. “Room for All Kinds of Womyn.” Camp-trans.org. Accessed March 28 2014. http://camp-trans.org.

Carlson, Kathryn Blaze. 2010. “Women’s Studies: RIP.” National Post, January 25. Accessed September 2, 2015. http://www.wgsrf.com/uploads/9/2/7/1/9271669/nationalpost.doc.

Chambers, Lori. 2007. “Unprincipled Exclusions: Feminist Theory, Transgender Jurisprudence, and Kimberley Nixon.” Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 19 (2): 305-334.

Cvetkovich, Ann. 2003. An Archive of Feelings: Trauma, Sexuality, and Lesbian Public Cultures. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Echols, Alice. 1989. Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America 1967-1975. Minneapolis MN: Regents of the University of Minneapolis Press.

Eichler, Margrit. 1999. “What’s In A Name? Women’s Studies or Feminist Studies.” Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture, and Social Justice 16 (1): 25-39.

Eliot, Patricia. 2004. “Who Gets to Be A Woman? Feminist Politics and the Question of Trans-Inclusion.” Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture, and Social Justice 29 (1): 13-20.

Enke, Anne. 2012. “Introduction: Transfeminist Perspectives.” In Transfeminist Perspectives: In and Beyond Transgender Studies, edited by Anne Enke, 1-15. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Freeman, Elizabeth. 2010. Time Binds: Queer Temporalities, Queer Histories. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Freire, Paulo. 1993. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York, NY: The Continuum International Publishing Group.

Halberstam, Judith. 2005. Female Masculinity. New York, NY: New York University Press.

___. 2015. “From Sister George to Lonesome George? Or, is the Butch Back?” Bully Bloggers, July 16. Accessed August 20, 2015. http://bullybloggers.wordpress.com/2015/07/16/from-sister-george-to-lonesome-george-or-is-the-butch-back.

Goldberg, Michelle. 2014. “What Is A Woman? The Dispute Between Radical Feminism and Transgenderism.” The New Yorker, August 4. Accessed August 28, 2015. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/04/woman-2.

Hemmings, Clare. 2011. Why Stories Matter: The Political Grammar of Feminist Theory. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Hurst, Evan. 2013. “Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival Bans Transgender Women From Attendance.” Truth Wins Out, April 12. Accessed March 27, 2015. http://www.truthwinsout.org/news/2013/04/34400/.

Irving, Dan. 2014. Trans-Activism in Canada: A Reader. Toronto, ON: Canadian Scholars Press/Women’s Press.

Jay, Karla. 1999. Tales of the Lavender Menace: A Memoir of Liberation. New York, NY: Basic Books, Perseus Books Group.

Jeffreys, Sheila. 2014. Gender Hurts: A Feminist Analysis of the Politics of Transgenderism. New York, NY: Routledge.

Kennedy, Elizabeth Lapovsky, and Madeline D. Davis. 1993. Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community. New York, NY: Routledge.

Kirby, Dawn. 2013. “What is the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, and What Happens There?” Slate, August 28. Accessed August 28, 2015. http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2013/08/28/michigan_womyn_s_music_festival_the_butch_strut_the_femme_parade_and_the.html.

Love, Heather. 2007. Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Lorde, Audre. 1984. Sister Outsider. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press.

McKenna, Emma. 2008. “Moving Beyond Fantasy: Lesbian Feelings, Utopias, and Performances Across Time and Space.” MS. University of Toronto, Toronto ON.

Merlan, Anna. 2015. “Trans-Excluding Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival to End ThisYear.” Jezebel, May 22. Accessed August 28, 2015. http://jezebel.com/trans-excluding-michigan-womyns-music-festival-to-end-t-1699412910.

Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. 2014. “Festival Information.” Michfest. Accessed August 1, 2014. http://www.michfest.com/festival/index.htm.

Nash, Catherine Jean, and Alison Bain. 2007. “‘Reclaiming Raunch’? Spatializing Queer Identities at Toronto Women’s Bathhouse Events.” Social & Cultural Geography 8 (1): 47-62.

Nestle, Joan. 1987. A Restricted Country. New York, NY: Firebrand Books.

Nicki, A. 2006. “Women’s Spaces Are Not Trans Spaces: Maintaining Boundaries of Respect.” In Trans/Forming Feminisms: Trans/Feminist Voices Speak Out, edited by Krista Scott-Dixon, 154-160. Toronto, ON: Sumach Press.

Noble, Bobby. 2006. Sons of the Movement: FtM’s Risking Incoherence on a Post-Queer Cultural Landscape. Toronto, ON: Women’s Press.

___. 2012. “Trans-.” In Rethinking Women’s and Gender Studies, edited by Catherine M. Orr, Ann Braithwaite, and Diane Lichtenstein, 277-292. New York, NY: Routledge.

Raymond, Janice. 1979. The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Scott-Dixon, Krista. 2006. “Introduction: Trans/forming Feminisms.” In Trans/Forming Feminisms: Trans/Feminist Voices Speak Out, edited by Krista Scott-Dixon, 11-33. Toronto, ON: Sumach Press.

Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. 2003. Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Serano, Julia. 2007. Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press.

Simon, Roger I., Sharon Rosenberg, and Claudia Eppert. 2000. “The Pedagogical Encounter of Hope and Remembrance.” In Between Hope and Despair:Pedagogy and the Remembrance of Historical Trauma, edited by Roger I. Simon, Sharon Rosenberg, and Claudia Eppert, 1-8. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Sreedhar, Susanne, and Michael Hand. 2006. “The Ethics of Exclusion: Gender and Politics at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival.” In Trans/Forming Feminisms: Trans/Feminist Voices Speak Out, edited by Krista Scott-Dixon, 161-169. Toronto, ON: Sumach Press.

Stone, Sandy. 2008. “The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto.” In The Visible Woman: Imaging Technologies, Gender, and Science, edited by Paula A. Treichler, Lisa Cartwright, and Constance Penley, 285-309. New York, NY: New York University Press.

Stryker, Susan. 2006. “(De)Subjugated Knowledges: An Introduction to Transgender Studies.” In The Transgender Studies Reader, edited by Susan Stryker and Stephen Wittle, 1-17. New York, NY: Palgrave.

___. 2007. “Transgender Feminism: Queering the Woman Question.” In Third Wave Feminism: A Critical Exploration, edited by Stacie Gillis, Gillian Howie, and Rebecca Munford, 59-70. New York: Palgrave.

Thobani, Sunera. 2007. Exalted Subjects: Studies in the Making of Race and Nation in Canada. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.

Vancouver Rape Relief & Women’s Shelter. 2013. “Statement Regarding Dr. Janice Raymond Speak at the Montreal Massacre Memorial.” Vancouver Rape Relief & Women’s Shelter, November 22. Accessed August 1, 2014. http://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/learn/resources/statement-regarding-dr-janice-raymond-speak-montreal-massacre-memorial.

Wiegman, Robyn. 2004. “On Being In Time With Feminism.” MLQ: Modern Language Quarterly 65 (1): 161-176.

Williams, Christan. 2014. “You Might Be a TERF If…” The TransAdvocate, September 23. Accessed August 31, 2015. http://www.transadvocate.com/you-might-be-a-terf-if_n_10226.htm.

Downloads

Published

2016-10-28