Reaping What You Sow

Well, Riki Wilchins, who gave the world "Transexual Menace" (though now even Wilchins is using "Transsexual Menace" seems to be coming face to face with reality.  Wilchins has been very active lately, writing about the issue of testosterone blockers, and how they may bring an end to the nightmares faced by transsexual youth, and then in another article, writing about having to deal with children's question about whether or not Wilchins is a "boy or a girl" when claiming to be a "mother."  

Now, Wilchins basically made a career out of being very publicly "gender queer" even as Wilchins went through transition and had sex reassignment surgery.  I quickly came to see Wilchins as one of those people who was not worth focusing much attention on...sort of like "Kate" Bornstein, who I suspect regrets having transitioned and who is trying to deal with now being a man trapped in a woman's body...sort of a bizarre, almost Twilight Zone twist if there ever was one.

Wilchins never really made an effort to assimilate, or "pass" as Wilchins puts it.  Now, as I have stated before, I have come to realize that "passing" is very much a transgender concept.  It is basically an assertion that one is not really a woman, but is fooling everyone else into thinking one really is.  That is why I say, "I simply am," rather than "I pass."  I am not fooling anyone.  I am not trying to.  And, quite frankly, I don't have to.

Wilchins, who has a six year-old daughter who has been confronted by children saying "you can't be her mother."  Wilchins, interestingly enough, is upset by this.  Could it be that Wilchins really was transsexual, but got caught up in a bizarre political/social revolution, and now, as they say, "the chickens have come home to roost?"  Could Wilchins have made a bad choice?  Is Wilchins, as they say, now "hoist by one's own petard?"

If so, it would certainly be a rather ironic situation.  Wilchins did a lot of damage to transsexuals.  Wilchins was one of the more obnoxious voices pushing for gender upheaval when most of us just wanted to get on with normal, quiet lives.  Wilchins actively sought the spotlight when most of us wished to avoid it, and quite frankly, wished Wilchins would just shut up.  

Among other things, Wilchins was active in Camp Trans, and attempt by a group of transgender males to force their way into the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival.  It should be noted that more than a few post-op transsexuals have simply ignored the "womyn born womyn" and attended the festival.  Camp Trans, as evidenced by some nasty graffiti painted on one of the camp's kitchens, was about intact males forcing themselves on the festival.

So, someone who made a career out of "not really being a woman" is forced to face the reality of choices made.  Sad in a way, but also rather satisfyingly ironic.  A morality tale for the transgender community.  You really do "reap what you sow."