Activism Log I

Rachel Miles
Jeannina Perez
WST 3015 (Introduction to Women’s Studies)
14 February 2010

Activism
This week involved mainly planning. We met with Rebecca Marquez, our contact in Equal, in the UCF library this past Friday afternoon, 12 February 2010. Although fairly short (the meeting lasted only about an hour), we used the meeting to discuss changes to our project and the general plan for implementing it. We learned that because sexual orientation was just recently added to the Golden Rule, we will instead be tabling and raising support to add gender identity. Mainly, our responsibilities will include tabling in front of the Student Union, collecting petition signatures in our classes, and generally promoting the cause through social-networking—Rebecca mentioned creating a Facebook group and online petition for this initiative, both of which should be useful in publicizing and gathering support.

Reflection
A common point in this week’s readings was our society’s general refusal to accept women’s bodies. For me, this is an especially relevant point when discussing the transgendered community because of the further perceptions we have of transgenderism as being unnatural. If society teaches us that it is unacceptable for women to be larger than stick-thin, how can we expect it to accept a person wanting to change his/her physical anatomy drastically through sex-reassignment surgery so that the external sex and internal gender identity match? As feminists, we cannot help but be conscious of how strongly society pressures women to “feel safer starving than when eating” (Chernik 602), and to ultimately reject the bodies they feel most comfortable in to gain social acceptance. Similarly, transgendered people are often faced with a choice between feeling comfortable in their bodies and genders or feeling socially accepted. From the planning meeting with Rebecca, it seems as though our project will help to alleviate the hostile attitudes that impose this choice on the transgendered and gender-variant communities, making at least the UCF campus a bit safer.

Reciprocity
I am extremely excited about the change in our project focus from sexual orientation to gender identity. First, this means that sexual orientation has already been successfully added to the Golden Rule; hopefully, this is an indication that the Golden Rule committee is sensitive to and supportive of activism supporting the needs of the LGBT community, which would certainly be a positive thing to know going into our activist efforts. Second, while I support gay rights on general principle, I have more of a personal connection to issues surrounding the transgendered and larger gender-variant communities. About a year ago, my cousin came out as trans. My family whole-heartedly supports her, but we worry constantly for her safety, especially because violence against transwomen is so frequent and aggressive. For me, this project will be a way to ease my way into LGBT activism, as well as a way for me to feel like I am actually doing something to help make the world, in some small way, safer for my cousin and the general transgendered community.



Works Cited
Chernik, Abra Fortune. “The Body Politic.” Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Ed. Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 599-603. Print.