This article was originally published in the September 1991 issue of Spectator magazine in the San Francisco Bay Area. I submitted it “cold” (unsolicited) to the managing editor, Layne Winklebleck, who liked it enough to print it and cut me a check for $67. This began my side career as a journalist and ten years on Spectator’s masthead.
I cringe a bit looking at it—I was still finding my feet as a writer—but the intent and heart is still clear despite my hamhanded prose. I have resisted the temptation to rewrite this first step into pro journalism. I also employed the contemporary language to describe trans identity and perspectives in that era, terms that were also evolving. “Transgender” only started to come into common use as a label until several years after this was published. (Don’t yell at me; I did the best I could back then.)
©1991,2023 by Christine D. Beatty
Aside from the people who condemn us for moralistic reasons, our greatest detractors are women of various persuasions who detest the oppression that we often symbolize by our values and demeanor. Unwittingly, many of us play a part in perpetuating sex-role stereotypes that are dehumanizing to both men and women. Though I write this article from the perspective of a male-to-female transsexual with a focus on women, there is no doubt that stereotypes can be just as harmful to men.
I don’t believe that cross-gendered people have an agenda of oppressing women or men, though we are undeniably products of a society that ingrains these ideas into us from an early age. Most “trannies” tend to be insecure about their identity. As a transsexual female, I catch myself obsessing about how I could be more “feminine.” I also tend to chide myself for lapses into “masculinity.” When I make such judgments I am subconsciously reinforcing gender stereotypes. It is not always easy to keep in mind that these values are NOT the last word on the subject of appropriate sex-role behavior. Nowhere is there a rule book on how males and females should think, feel or behave.
We [trans] tend to incur the wrath of women in several ways. Feminists dislike our image-consciousness, as though it is the clothes, makeup and demeanor that make someone a woman. We displease genetic (born) females, especially non-feminists, when we try to compete with them in a femininity contest. Just as annoying to women is when, out of ignorance or insecurity, we portray ourselves as caricatures of womanhood by using exaggerated mannerisms, putting on makeup with a trowel, or otherwise using the “more is better” guide to being a woman.
A slightly different variation on the theme of exaggerated femininity is that or the cross-gendered sex worker. Though some of us may have insecurities, it is reality that clients are paying for that look. In a market economy that is highly competitive, it pays to cater to a customer’s [sexist?] expectations.
Whoa! Before I give the impression that I believe all women should favor the Earth-lesbian, brown-rice-and-Birkenstocks look (which is just another stereotype), let me say a word or two in defense or garishly painted slatterns such as myself and other women who also use makeup. I see nothing wrong with women (or men) who enjoy using makeup. Even tons of makeup. Using the putty-knife approach to cosmetics is a personal choice, even though it looks silly at times. Similarly, the subdued use of makeup is also a choice that in no way makes or breaks one’s femininity.
The problem isn’t in appearance, it is in expectations. Stereotypes become a problem when other people start making our choices for us by saying what we should or shouldn’t do. I have no problem with the femme stereotype; it is my personal choice. I am no more wrong for embracing it than is another woman for eschewing it. We’re talking freedom here, folks! The American ideal, you know’?
What this article is leading up to could be described as a call for freedom of choice and the nonjudgmental application of that right. I know’ so many women who express so many rich variations of womanhood, and I consider none of them to be an absolute ideal. I have my own preferences, but they are no more valid than anyone else’s. My female friends are mostly other lesbians, and they all represent an amazingly diverse statement of what it is to be female. From the butchest motorcycle/leather dykes to the most ultra-femme lipstick lesbians, none are anymore nor any less women than the others.
[Trans women] could learn a lot from such women. Though many of us would doubtless continue to favor a femme look, we might begin to see that it is not appearance that makes a woman. Though I only wear makeup around them about half of the time, many of my sister lesbians tell me that they’ve seldom, if ever, thought of me as a guy, that my energy is that of a woman. I still prefer being made up, but it isn’t essential to my identity. In this way I can express myself as I like without taking away from any other woman’s values.
The main thing to keep in mind is that, though people do choose a form of self-expression that may be stereotypically male or female, neither women nor men in and of themselves are stereotypes. Being female or male is not a contest, though many people seem to think it is. Even if it were a competition, there are no rules to judge by except appearance, and that is a very shallow yardstick. Though people will continue to express themselves as they wish, it is a liberating thought to recognize inasmuch as one is able to remain continually true to oneself — that there is no wrong wav to be you.
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