I don't know how many of the USians here have memories of waiting for the dentist and trying to solve the "WTF is wrong with this picture" puzzles in Highlights, but this recent Washington Post profile of Robyn Deane, Virginia governor Robert McDonnell's sister-in-law (who happens to be trans) really brings me back (a larger image is in the photo gallery here):
Feel free to play along. Select answers are below the fold.
As I noted above, Robyn Deane is the governor's sister-in-law (not his "brother-in-law").
Robyn Deane is not a man, and therefore not a "man in the process of becoming a woman." Ms. Deane is a woman.
"Transgendered". Enough already with the "transgendered"
"Deane wants Virginia and national lawmakers to pass legislation that prevents discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. She also wants to convince McDonnell to speak publicly about how being gay or transgendered is acceptable.":picture of Deane using hairspray:
Nice. Bonus points for including a picture of Deane with her face contorted and her eyes shut.
Bonus points for pretty much everything else in the gallery, including:
Deane is a woman who wears eyeliner!
Deane also wears nylons!
Deane is so feminine she even likes cats!
Deane also used to look like a dude!
Deane used to have what many people consider to be a dude's name! It was this!
In the first sentence of the profile, we learn that Deane wore heels this one time. And a red raincoat. (Welcome to [usually] acknowledged womanhood.)
Gay rights, LGBT rights, civil rights, whichever.
Gay or transgender, gay and/or transgender. Whichever. :cough:
The first paragraph under the sub-headline "Fighting for the cause" is mostly about Deane's medical concerns. It mentions sex reassignment surgery prior to describing the nature of "the cause".
Deane used to dress like a man, which is totes important because?
This is an article [ostensibly] about civil rights. It is in the Style section.
Bingo! Bingo, like, on multiple cards.
I wonder if anyone at the WaPo realizes the AP puts out an annual guide to not sucking at their job.
One might say that the WaPo buried the lede, but I'm honestly not sure what the lede is. It might be that there's this one activist lady who is distantly related to the governor, or it might be that said lady is ZOMG trans. Clearly, these are both important stories, ripe for trenchant analysis.
A lot of folks have written tons of stuff about the erasure of trans people's identities, Western society's need to portray trans people's identities as artificial, and the dismissal of femininity as artifice (see Julia Serano). I'm not going to get into any of that, partly because I have other work to do, partly because, wow WaPo, you know how to produce instructional tools.
Here's info on contacting the Washington Post. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to wearing women's clothes, or whatever the hell it is that I do.
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Didja notice the quotes from Democratic gay rights activists who want Ms. Deane to go away on account of how she might distract folks from issues that really matter? :sarcastic swoon:
Via Lynn. Also at Bilerico.
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