The Pronoun Lowdown , livre ebook

Smith Street Books - Nevo Zisin

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113 pages

English

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Description

Dismantle the messy myth of gender with this colourful, approachable book.
We find ourselves at an exciting moment in history. For the first time, trans and gender diverse people are being seen and heard. Thanks to tireless activism, and an increased visibility worldwide, these lived experiences (the joyful, and the painful) are no longer able to be ignored. And so, The Pronoun Lowdown is here to demystify and celebrate trans and gender diverse excellence.
Woven together with author Nevo Zisin’s own pronoun journey, this colourful hardback sheds light on the complicated history of gender around the world, in language and across time. Nevo shares their ideas for how young trans and gender diverse folk might begin to navigate their identities, as well as simple suggestions for friends and family on how to provide the best support possible. And, as well as Nevo’s own anecdotes, these pages also salute the tireless work of other LGBTQIA+ trailblazers and activists – without whom this joyous book could never exist.
Everyone deserves to have their identify affirmed by their friends, families, and the world through which they move. The Pronoun Lowdown celebrates trans and gender diverse identities, in all their fluid and imperfect perfection!

Sujets

Gender Studies

Social Science

Sociologie, société et politique

Pronoun

Informations

Publié par	Smith Street Books
Date de parution	01 mars 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781923049215
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0384€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

About the Au thor About the Au thor Nevo Zis in is a queer, non-binary, Jewi sh writer , p erformer , acvist and public speake r, based in Naarm/Birr aranga (Melbourne) . The y run workshops in sc hools, as well as profess ional developmen t trainings in w orkplaces, about transgender identy a nd language. Ne vo is the author of Finding Nev o — a memoir on their gender transion that received the 2018 A ustralian F am ily Therap ists’ A ward. They ar e also a co ntributor to Kindred: 12 Queer #Lo veOzY A Stories , an A ustralian Yo ung A dult anthology . Nevo is a mentor f or Th e Pinnacle Fo undaon, one of Out for Aus tralia’s 30 Under 30 for 2019, and an ambassador for bo th We ar It Purple and the V ictorian Pride Centr e. They per form in Gender Eu phoria — a live show featur ing Australia’ s larg est trans and gender diver se cast. Nev o loves creang n y fair y things out o f polymer clay, dumpster diving and redistribung f ood to any one in need, and making bloody mary s. Photograph courte sy of L uka Wild, f eaturing appar el fr om Pr oud M inority.

Acknow ledgm ent Acknow ledgm ent of Co untr y of Co untr y This book was written in N aarm/Birra ranga (Melbourne) on the lands o f the Ku lin Nations, spe ciﬁcally the Wur undjeri and Boon Wurrung p eoples in so-c alled ‘ Au stralia’ . I’ d like to ackno wledge the tr ue custod ianship of thes e people and that s overeig nty has never been ceded. I wa nt to t ry to hold in m y heart , the gra vity and violence of bin ary , western n otions of gender and th e ways th ey have affect ed First Nat ions people not just on the gro unds of tra nsphobia but also deep-se ated whit e supr emacy , r acism and colonisation. I s trongly urge A ustral ian re aders t o connect with local Aborigin al and T o rres Strait Islander organis ations to pay t he re nt we owe as settlers . I pay re spects to Elders pa st, pre sent and em erging and especially ack nowledge Fir st Natio ns, LG BTIQ A+ Elders. Conte nt W arnin g Conte nt W arnin g Part s of this b ook discu ss violence committ ed agains t transgende r and gender diver se people , and other members of th e queer community. This violence still ra ges to day.
Nevo Zisi n
The
The
Pronoun
Pronoun
Lowdown
Lowdown
The
The
Pronoun
Pronoun
Lowdown
L
owdown Demys tifying and ce lebrating gender dive rsity
Introduc tion Gender Around t he Wo rld The Pink & Blue Hullabaloo The Box F ac tory ‘Ju st a Phas e’ Pronou n Pro prietary Quick Histo ries 6 10 14 16 18 20 22 32 40 44 46 54 56 58 60 Pioneers & T ra ilblazer s Gender and the Eng lish Languag e Honoriﬁcs: Mr , Mrs, and Mx Gender in Other Lang uages A Can of Lentil s Just Ke ep Swimming Asking About Pr onouns Misgendering
Contents
Contents
Contents
Contents
62 66 68 74 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 100 106 Chosen Names Neopronouns Repre sentation o n Screen Repre sentation in Print Seeking Support Support ing a Lov ed One For R elati ves & Fr iends Allyship Check your Pr ivilege Self- & Community-Care Recent De velopments Resourc es Glossary of T e rms Author's Note
Pro
Pro
Pro
Pro
I HAVE HA D
I HAVE HA D
A LONG AND
A LONG AND
COMPLICAT ED
COMPLICAT ED
RELATI ONSHIP
RELATI ONSHIP
WITH
WITH
I HAVE HA D
I HAVE HA D
A LONG AND
A LONG AND
COMPLICAT ED
COMPLICAT ED
RELATI ONSHIP
RELATI ONSHIP
WITH
WITH The Prono un Low down 6
nouns
nouns
nouns
noun
s I was assi gned fe male at birt h. That wo rd i s import ant – assigned . What does it mean to a ssign some one’ s sex a t birth ? It’ s not just an obs erva tion of their genita ls. This might dictate which to ys a baby is gift ed, wh at colour their nurs ery is paint ed, and t he outﬁts in which th ey’ ll be dre ssed. But this goe s beyond infan cy. F or m any it will soar thr ough t o adult hood. Pe rhaps th is assign ation informs what car eer t hey have , how they’ re treat ed in society , a nd with whom they have r omanti c rel ationships. That’ s a lot of ex pectations fo r a baby. 7 Introduc tion
For t he ﬁrst fou r years of my lif e, I was ﬁne bein g called ‘S he’. I was busy learning h ow to w alk, talk and discoveri ng solid f oods. ‘She’ was a piece of clothing , but it wasn ’t something I had chos en. It’ s not that i t didn’ t ﬁt. It’ s like I was wear ing a tank top in t he middle of wint er. And, fo r some re ason, every where I went, clearly shivering f rom the cold, people would compliment my tank top . At the age of f our , I start ed spe aking up. ‘I’m a boy!’ I’ d say. ‘I’m not a dra ma queen! I’m a dram a king! ’ I would get ang ry whenever someone c alled me a girl. When anyone assumed I w as boy, on the str eet or in the superm arket , I would fe el this wa rm sickly-sweet fe eling. It wa s like drinking spiced hot apple cider aft er spen ding a day in the snow. I la ter lear ned this f eeli ng was gender euphoria. If ‘She’ w as a tank t op in winter , then ‘He’ was a cashmere sweater . My paren ts thought i t was a to mboy phase. Th ey sent me t o ther apy, hoped it would fa de. But the only re ason it f aded was because I learned fr om the mean kids at school (and the adult s arou nd me) that there w as someth ing wro ng with me. Kid s don’t know they’ re diffe rent u ntil someone points it out. Mor e oft en th an not, par ents have the best inte ntions when it comes to their childre n. But sometimes when t hey see that their child is ‘d iffe rent’ , in a bid to pro tect th em fr om the outside world, they try to condition t hose beh aviours out of them. Ra ther tha n prot ecting their children , what thi s act does i s actu ally transf orm a paren t into a child’ s ﬁrst bull y, one that t hey will alwa ys rem ember. For a while, this led me to r epre ss my mascul inity. I made new f riend s and reinve nted m yself. But nothing could mask the k nowledge th at I was diffe rent from these new friend s. Why couldn’ t I be like every one else ? Why couldn’ t I just be ha ppy? Why couldn’ t I just b e normal? I thou ght these answers ﬁn ally came when I re alised I ju st needed to get new clothes . I came out as a le sbian at the age of ﬁfteen and neatly wra pped up my childhood wit h a tight bow. This explain ed why I w as a to mboy. It was all just fo reshad owing tha t I was a les bian. Phew. I fe lt comfo rta ble with th at sto ry and stor ed it away. But afte r a fe w years of living as a n out lesbian, I s till hadn ’t replic ated t hat sickly-s weet hot apple cider fe eling. I wa s still wearin g my ‘She’ tank top , and it was st ill bloody cold. I reali sed tha t I was tr ansgend er. Peopl e think thes e real isations ar e a light bulb moment, but, f or me , that bulb just illumina ted a r oom f ull of mon sters. Suddenly I could see ev ery thi ng and there was no tu rning the ligh t off. There The Prono un Low down 8
was little repr esentat ion of tra nsness in the media and none in m y peer s or role mode ls. I fo und medical lan guage online which tried to expla in my vi sceral experience. ‘Bor n in the wro ng body… A man’ s brain , in a fe male body .’ I did not have poe try then. I began a medical tr ansiti on and surroun ded mys elf with people who understo od me best, t o whom I didn ’t have to justify my exis tence. I wore the cashmere ‘He’ every day. But I quickly noticed how the e xpectation s around my behaviour c hanged. I trade d one limited box of g endered ster eotype s for another . It was a gender ed bait -and-switc h. The new cashmer e sweat er start ed to suffo cate. It was t oo tigh t, too itch y. For s o long, I w as fru strate d with myself. I had cha nged my body to ﬁt my sweat er. I fe lt better , strong er and more li ke m yself , b ut it stil l wasn’t right. I didn’ t want t o perf orm m asculini ty. I accepted t hat I wa s never born in t he wrong body – I was born in t he wro ng world. I just w anted p eople to t reat me as me. That’ s when I came out again, as non-binary . I d on’t regre t how much I’ d sacriﬁced to be ‘He’. But, when I found ‘They’ , I discov ered a lightweight materi al that s tretc hed, staye d temper ate throug h the seas ons, and was inﬁnitely colourfu l. Come with me on a journey t o ex plore the kaleidos copic and complicat ed world of gender . We ’ll only see the tip of t he iceberg, but t hat’ s a start . First, th ough: I am not a spok esper son for t rans an d gender diver se commun ities. I am just my self — an Ashk enaz i Jewish, non-binary person wh o was assi gned femal e at birt h, and who pre sents as a combination of ma sculine and femini ne. I am queer . I grew up in an economically stable househo ld in suburban Melbourne, Austral ia. I am able-bodied and neuroty pical, with gen erous access to resourc es, support and community. This book looks at ﬂashpoints i n our communities’ ﬁght for e quality, including the violent ha te crime s that are p art of these his tories. Along with s ome simple guides to gender in lang uage and cult ure, this book als o sugges ts some us eful resourc es and pro vides a helpf ul glo ssary of terms (just ﬂick to the back!). Of cour se, the lived e xperience s of tra ns and gender diverse people cannot be packa ged up neatly into colourfu l hard backs. The y are mes sy and ra w and complicat ed and deeply human. But I’ m c erta in that t his book would hav e come in handy f or me when I was st ill shivering in that t ank top . 9 Introduc tion
Gender
Gender
Around the
Around the
World
World
Gender
Gender
Around the
Around the
World
World The Prono un Low down 10
Some might ha ve you b elieve tha t being tr ans or gender diverse is a new, left -wing f ad. We ll, it’ s not. We have b een written out of the hist ory books, st rate gically era sed, invisibilis ed, murd ered a nd remo ved. (This is espe cially the case f or tr ansgende r Wo men of Colour .) One thing we know fo r cert ain is th at colonis ation has ofte n re sulted in the policing of people t o uphold cert ain gender stand ards. And th