Ever since I sat down and decided that I was going to give being a published author a try, I have been very conscientious about the choices that I make and what I put down on paper. I know I am only a self published author using technology to my advantage, but certain questions should be raised.
What is transgender literature saying about the community as a whole?
Are you happy with the message?
How do you feel about terms like Sissy, Tranny, Shemale, Ladyboi, Slut, Bimbo?
Do you think the majority of stories accurately represent your struggles?
Do you think the current literature paints transsexuals in a positive or negative light? How so?
Comments
Sissy comment full of sissy verbs + sissy nouns sissy sissy sis
While some words and story themes drive me up a tree I have to remind myself that
it ain't none o' my business what authors want to write about or the terms they use.
They're not responsible for "representing me" in a way I approve of...
Well shit, I guess it really CAN happen here..,
.
We are new
To being out of hiding. Like the woman's liberation movements "Yes Plural " there will be some mistakes made as we redefine ourselves and shake off the dunnage of the past so for now we live with outdated terms and concepts.
Even we in the community are still sussing out just what we are and those definitions shift and move around not staying put.
Within a few cycles around the sun we as a community will hopefully toss the insults away and come up with those definitions which work for us. The dominate society is self defining and they also demand to define every one else. This is what we must reject and redefine our self's.
Within the literature 'portion' of the discussion I think here is a place where the old thinking has taken it's time dying out.
I know one of my goals in writing is to create people who just happen to be transgendered living through the challenges every one else does. But also explore the real internal world we have with in our selves.
I no longer see coming to grips and the becoming comfortable with being who we are as just one mountain to climb. But many hills and peaks to master as we grow into a complete self defined person comfortable in there own skin.
Huggles
Michele
With those with open eyes the world reads like a book
I think the picture is a bit lopsided but getting better.
To many stories proportionally speaking center on those word you mentioned, so it sort of gives a distorted view of things that does not reflect the average trans person, but they do reflect others. So they do have a place and their own valid points of view and entertainment value as long as people do not come to think they reflect all Trans.
I would not want to see such stories pushed out of the market but I would like to see more stories featuring transgender characters on their road to just fit in normally as the gender they are inside, plus more stories in other categories but where a main charter is just happens to be Trans or its is a side story within the story. I do believe we are getting there, and that your stories add to the positive view.
I also very much like the action and adventure or mystery where the gender change is becomes a key part to the story, it mixes up some traditional story fun with some real interests. I find those just plain fun but with some meaning in them too.
I hope I expressed this clearly,
~Hypatia >i< ..:::
TG Stories
When I first discovered TG fiction, most of it had pretty shallow plots with equally shallow characters and heavy on the fetish and titillation.
The stories found here that I've read usually have complex stories with complex characters in self discovery or trying to fit their square pegs into the round holes of society. While the fetish stories are still out there and serve their own purpose, I think the modern TG stories reflect better on the TG community with its greater sophistication.
Melanie
I very much agree with those
I very much agree with those comments. Thinking back 10 years ago and what I was reading and writing a little shiver runs up my spine.
My first foray into TG fiction was about a sissy (with a little magic). A lot of what I was reading on sites like FM and Crystals was heavy on the Sissym forced feminisation and the 'shy teen boy tries on a dress and bingo he becomes a beautiful woman' (like the 'Ugly Duckling' story).
Now, I won't even read stories like that. There are far too many still being posted on other sites.
In those years, society (At least here in Blighty) has changed a lot. Whereas someone coming out as Transgendered could make front page news for rags like 'The Sun' and other red tops, this is no longer the case.
We have TG Police Officers and even someone openely TG, Grayson Perry won the Turner Arts prize. We even have a TG member of the Camera Club I used to belong to.
Being TG and in the open is no longer the social fopah it once was. For that I am eternally grateful.
An Opinion
Okay, I’ve not gotten myself in trouble lately, so I guess it’s about time I shared my opinions and, as a consequence, been branded a ______ (you fill in the blank).
Item by item; here are my thoughts;
What is transgender literature saying about the community as a whole?
Answer: I’ll dodge this one since my opinion concerning ‘The Community’ would cause many here to stop reading and leave Erin little choice but to banish me to literary purgatory.
Are you happy with the message?
Answer: I once heard a quote; “If you want to send a message, use Western Union.†I myself endorse that sentiment. I am a story teller, period, not an advocate for a political cause or campaigner for social change. True, writers like Steinbach and Dickens used their stories to point out failings of their societies and were successful. But they succeeded not because of the cause they were championing, but because they put forth their message by telling a compelling story with well rounded and believable characters.
How do you feel about terms like Sissy, Tranny, Shemale, Ladyboi, Slut, Bimbo?
Answer: Words are tools, nothing more. They can be used constructively or as weapons. In a story, they tell the reader how a character thinks, what his or her belief system is without a long, boring narrative. A character gives insight to himself when he calls his girlfriend ‘slut’ instead of ‘love.’ To intentionally limit yourself to words the Political Correctness Police deem appropriate not only hamstrings your ability to tell a story, but falls into the push to replace the Queen’s English with Newspeak.
Do you think the majority of stories accurately represent your struggles?
Answer: If this were true, then I’d have to been; A confused college student who tried to kill himself off by doing a John Wayne, working for the CIA by becoming a Baccha, an effeminate French draft dodger, the son of an English peer who bid farewell to arms, a Dane wandering the lands between Saxon and Dane holdings, a pair of look a likes who swapped places in Tudor England, an Australian courtesan in Singapore, An English officer who takes the place of a German princess, a nine year old first degree mischling, a brother and a sister who hopped the gender line in order to serve King George III while dodging French revolutionaries, a twelve year old boy who loved Jane Austin and saved a girl from going down with the ship, an Irish officer who survived four years in the trenches but might not make it through the Irish Civil War and the son of an earl who turned his back on society and his heritage in order to fight for the birth of a new nation. Since I am not really any of those folks, at least not whole or even a lot, I guess the answer is no.
Do you think the current literature paints transsexuals in a positive or negative light? How so?
Answer: Good, well written stories with characters who have their stuff together do. Stories that are geared to one handed keyboarders and dwell on the fetish aspects of those who identify as transgender don’t necessarily do.
Okay, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Those who wish to, flail away, but be warned, I’ve been torn apart by professionals, so take your time and make your attacks count.
Nancy Cole
a.k.a. HW Coyle
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
The question...
The question that comes to my mind is one of what am I willing to do to promote "the cause." Certainly anything I write is not likely to be widely read enough to make a difference. However, some of the more prolific writers here may reach that arena. Anyone who finds BCTS, Fictionmania and the like are probably part of, or associated with (by family), the community. So I doubt that anything that appears on the web in a TG-fiction site will have any affect, because it's being "preached to the choir."
Writing something that has mainstream appeal and yet accurately portrays any of the trans community in a strong enough voice to make a difference is a fine line to walk and a difficult task, as you Katie, have demonstrated. The question is just what audience are we reaching?
If I want to affect what society as a whole thinks of when they think trans, then I have to be willing to come out to my neighbors, my doctor, my grocer, and even my church. I have to personally represent my T-community to the community at large. Until there are enough of us who don't hide our light under a bushel basket, the community at large will continue to see the negative and regard us as sexual perverts.
We, if we intend to "make a difference" need to be willing to take the lumps that any movement front liner has taken over the years. Writing about it isn't really likely to affect much outside our community.
Now if your goal is to get us T-folk to think better about ourselves, then your concerns are relevant.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin ein femininer Mann