FAQ

1. You’re a transsexual?

Says so over the door, doesn’t it.

2. No.

Ah. Well then, yes.

3. What’s that like?

Amigo, I suggest you use the archives to your right.

4. Does that mean that you’ve had the surgery?

Wow, random questions about people’s genitalia aren’t rude, are they? Again, the archives are your friend.

5. How can a trans person claim to be feminist? You haven’t experienced misogyny your whole life.

No, but that hardly means I’m ignorant of it: I saw the patriarchy from the inside, you know. And I’m certainly affected by it now. In any case, my experience of privilege has left me an implacable foe to all forms of unearned privilege.

6. But doesn’t changing genders just reinforce the standard of gender roles?

Ms. Bindel: thanks for dropping by. The short answer is, it doesn’t, or it doesn’t have to. My personal feeling is that people should be allowed to express any gender they want, and modify their body however they want. The problem with gender isn’t gender, but the deeply repressive expectations we place on each gender. That’s what I want to see destroyed. After that, who cares if someone wears high heels or a skirt or lipstick? It’s the expectation that such a person would be female, or weak, or stupid which is the real culprit.

7. Are trans women or men real women or men?

I clearly think so. Are you a real man or woman? Why or why not? Please show your work, you will be graded on completeness.

8. Ducks?

I like ducks. And I think it gives me a certain matronly, Hollywood nanny quality which just slightly mitigates my normal vituperative tone.