Friday, August 24, 2012

Cooke Joins the Borg

Suzan Cooke created a silly term known as "Women Born Transsexual."  It is silly, because it is rooted in radical feminist "Womyn Born Womyn" meme.  Cooke was clearly trying to suck up to what are now referred to commonly as "radfems."  I think Cooke should start using "Dudes Born Transgender" because that is what Cooke seems, more and more, to be a part of.

I mean seriously, Cooke is attacking Ashley Love now.  I always wondered if Cooke had some sort of need to be the Alpha Transsexual, and now I know.  Cooke would rather be adored and worshipped than be right.  Cooke originally accepted the term "Harry Benjamin Syndrome," but then turned on it when it became a serious challenge to the WBT meme.  Cooke does not like competition.

Cooke generally has been lashing out at anyone who staunchly defends transsexuals against the silliness of what Cooke labeled the "Transgender Borg."  Now, Cooke has created a "Transsexual Borg," to attack, while increasingly defending the "Transgender Borg?"  Why might this be?

Because no one with a shred of intelligence can possibly Cooke seriously anymore.  Oh, Cooke has a few followers, but I have to wonder why they would take anything Cooke says seriously.  Cooke's politics are what some would term "loony Left."  Cooke has lost all sense of reality, and espouses politics that make little real sense. 

I actually kind of pity Cooke.  Cooke claims to have done certain things, and I have no real reason to question them, but I do suspect that the memories a bit more grandiose than the reality.  Cooke's ego needs a regular boost, and it appears that Cooke is finding that from the transgender crowd, and as this happens, and transsexuals distance themselves from Cooke (well, at least the real ones) Cooke turns more and more into the Borg Queen, which I suppose, is what Cooke actually craves.  

Cooke is so obsessed with radical politics, so determined to be at odds with anything that might remotely be seen as acceptable to the mainstream, that Cooke has become, in effect, if not completely, a transgender person.  Cooke is no longer about having a need to transition, and get on with one's life. Instead, Cooke is coming to embrace the transgression model that is pushed by the likes of "Cristan" Williams, and "Autumn" Sandeen.

It's sad in a way...I could laugh off, and at, Cooke's ridiculous political views.  But Cooke's views on transsexualism, that is another matter...  And all, so Cooke can be the Alpha Tranny.  

But I do want to think Cooke for the lovely compliment, connecting me to Ashley Love. Ashley, of course, is welcome to comment here whenever she wants.  Then again, Cooke is as well, though I know Cooke never plays in a playground that Cooke doesn't have control over, or at least where Cooke knows the moderator will prevent anyone from seriously challenging Cooke's views.

A quick update:  When I first saw Cooke's post, I got the impression that Ashley had said something about one of Cooke's new friends over in the Dude Born Transsexual group.  Instead, it appears that Ashley actually stood up to Cooke, and took Cooke to task for some nasty things Cooke had said (Note:  Cooke's Rule is "Do what I say, not what I do.  I insult whoever I wish, but woe to the person who insults me!"  Since Cooke did not let the comment through, I have no idea what was actually said...but I imagine it was more a minor disagreement than an actual insult.  Cooke's ego is extremely fragile, and the slightest challenge is more than Cooke can handle.

I know this personally.  I was a member of Cooke's Women Born Transsexual mailing list.  I made the mistake of unknowingly making a suggestion that Cooke would go ballistic over (the idea of hiring a non-transsexual woman as a spokesperson for transsexuals.  Cooke blew up, I didn't immediately beg forgiveness, but allowed that some might disagree, and the next thing I knew, it was like something out the Cultural Revolution.  I was summarily found guilty of, I guess, being counter-revolutionary, and booted from the group.  It was a bit surreal, but I moved on, and put it behind me.  Then, when Cooke started the "Women Born Transsexual" blog, I extended a welcome, and was promptly told, rather profanely, what Cooke thought of me.  That pretty much sums up why no one with a working brain cell should ever take Cooke seriously.  Extreme is one thing, but Cooke went off the deep end a long time ago, and seems to like it there. 

Thursday, August 9, 2012

If He Would Stop Lying, Perhaps Mr. Sandeen Would Feel Better

"Autumn" Sandeen, the Eunuch Who Would Be Queen, is again whining about his mental illness and how down he has been lately.  Ironically, the answer is right there, staring him in the face, practically slapping him silly trying to get his attention, but he keeps ignoring it.

He is depressed because he is trying to be something he is not, and deep down, he knows it.

Sandeen is the classic crossdresser who gets bored and tries to become a transsexual so he can keep the thrills going.  The classic example of this was Renee Richards, who tries, desperately, to deny that he made a mistake, even though it is clear that he did, and that he knows it.  I have suggested to several therapists that they read Richards' book to better understand what should be red flags indicating that a person should not be considered for SRS.  Such an intervention might have helped Sandeen who shows much the same sort of history as Richards.

Sandeen says:
On a certain level, it feels like I’m internally fighting for my survival as a woman because of external efforts to define me as a man. And internally for me, this is at the intersection of being a trans woman and being disabled due to mental illness.
Of course, Sandeen is not a woman in any sense of the word.  He is a male-gendered, male bodied person who is trying to rebel against gender norms.  He cannot change his brain, which is clearly and immutably male.  He has not remotely changed his body to be female (though that would just make him what would effectively be a sort of pseudo-FTM.  We have more than a few of those already.

Like most men, Sandeen refuses to admit to error.  He has chose this path, and he intends to stubbornly see it through.  I suspect his castration was motivated by a desire to prove that he was man enough to become a woman, making a sacrifice that would upset a lesser man too much.  

Sandeen cannot "survive" as a woman, since he isn't a woman to begin with.  He cannot be what he is not.  And deep down, he really does not want to be.  He wants to be a "gender rebel," like "Kate" Bornstein, another highly disturbed individual who mistakenly thought surgery was the answer to his demons.

Those external efforts that Sandeen complains about are called reality.  He has a penis.  He is a man.  End of story.  He has attempted what is, effectively, a legal fraud and he committed perjury to accomplish this.  He basically lied and claimed to have changed his sex, when he has not.  When he is careful, he speaks of "legally changing his gender," which is an absurd idea.  

First off, according to the way that Sandeen would normally define the word, it is neither a legal concept, or subject to change.  If one could change one's gender, transsexuals would be treated mentally, rather than physically.  There would be no basis for sex reassignment surgery.  We would simply have our "gender" changed to match our bodies.  

Gender, we are told, is what is between our ears, sex is what is between our legs.  In the case of a true or classic transsexual, the gender is truly different from the sex.  In Sandeen's case, the gender and the sex are the same, and the issue is one of transgression.  Sandeen is rebelling against what he really is, choosing to become, in effect, a "man in a dress."  He wants the world to know he is a man, but he wants to force the world to call him a woman.  It is a control issue, which of course, is typically male.

The simple fact is, Sandeen is lying, and he knows he is lying.  He knows he is not really a woman, and that he never will be one.  He doesn't really want to be one, but he wants to force society to accept him as one.  The reality of his situation is ever with him.  He whines, he complains, he accuses others of intolerance when they will not pander to his lies, but he knows he will never really change things to his warped concept of reality.  And that makes him depressed.

Perhaps if he simply accepted reality, and stopped trying to deny it, he might feel better.  He has been able to fraudulently obtain a court document that says he is female, but he is not female.  He is now applying to change his birth certificate to reflect this fraud.  He has tried to tell himself that this will make it all better.  But he knows the truth.  He will continue to be a man, and nothing will ever change that.  Better that he accept his, and be happy being a "gender rebel," than trying to force people to pander to his demands.  It simply is never going to happen.  He may force clerks to put on a false smile, and say "Ma'am" to him, but he knows when his back is turned, they are snickering and saying, "Whoa, it's a dude..."  And that is why he is so depressed.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

A Blast From the Past

As I have said before, I am originally from Birmingham, Alabama, so I was a bit surprised when I saw that location mentioned on Suzan Cooke's web site. At first, I thought it might be an article about a friend of mine who was a post-op FTM who happened to have been the star witness in the trial of his uncle who was convicted for the 16th Street Church bombing that killed four girls in 1963. He was featured in the book "Transgender Warriors."

But I was even more surprised when I realized the article was about a person most commonly known in Birmingham as "Ms. Sid," the "notorious" transsexual... Cooke had linked to a story from Birmingham's past, and as is typical for Cooke, missed the real facts in favor of a bit of political drivel...

Born Sidney McFerrin Ford, Jody Suzanne Ford became something of a local scandal when the hairdresser known as "Mr. Sid" revealed plans to become a woman. The sign outside the shop was changed to "Ms. Sid's" and tongues began wagging. About this time, I was struggling with my own issues, though I had not yet fully realized that I was transsexual. In my mind, the term had some rather negative associations. I was first aware that such a thing was even possible when I saw an episode of a TV show hosted by Joe Pyne where he profiled Christian Jorgensen. It was presented so sordidly that the concept failed to fully resonate with me. Not long after that, when I read the book "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex..." the description of sex change surgery was so horrifying that I was totally repulsed by the idea. Thankfully that description was not remotely close to reality.

About this same time, Renee Richards was in the news, having created a scandal in women's tennis when it was revealed that she had been Dr. Richard Raskin.  So, curiosity drove me to pay a visit to "Ms. Sid's."  Fortunately, it was also a boutique, so I had an excuse to wonder in and have a look without having a haircut I would have had to explain.

The shop was located in Five Point's South, which ironically, was a neighborhood I would later live in for about ten years.  I remember, walking in, and starting to look at the clothes while trying to discretely see if I could spot Ms. Ford.  I remember a very tall woman at one of the stations, who I assumed must be the object of my curiosity.  Other than being rather tall, I noticed nothing out of the ordinary.  I honestly was not sure if this was really her, but I saw no one else that might have been.

On at least two other occasions I saw her (I now know it was her I saw), once getting into her car, and once at a bank.  Of course, I was too shy to actually approach her and ask questions.

A few years later, she was killed in an incident at a local motel.  It was only through the article that Cooke linked to that I learned, as Paul Harvey would have said, "...the rest of the story."  

Sadly, she died when she reacted to some nasty comments made by Larry Maddox, the owner of the Vestavia Hills Motor Lodge.  She was at Brookwood Mall with her former wife, when Maddox made some anti-gay slurs.  Ms. Ford chased him up the highway in her car and confronted him outside the motel.  He went in, and came out with shotgun and fired.  He claimed self-defense, and was found not guilty.

Based on details in the story that Cooke linked to, I wonder if she was truly transsexual.  For example there was an incident, before transition, where this person is described as being seen in heels, a woman's suit, and full beard.  Before transition, this person was also a member of the gay community, though she had been married twice, and had a child.  She played basketball at a college affiliated with the Church of Christ, and played semi-professional football for a time.  All in all, it is a history more typical of some who are better described as "transgender" than transsexual.  And the act of chasing someone down and confronting them as she did seems more male than female.

It is hard to say, but Cooke, and the author of the original article, try to spin it as a hate crime. I had previously thought that Ms. Ford died when a romantic encounter turned nasty.  I was not aware that she had chased her killer and confronted him after an altercation.  

That is the problem with mixing legitimate transsexual issues with politics.  Cautionary tales get lost in the rush to make someone a martyr.  This person died, sadly, because she acted like a man.  Maddox should have faced manslaughter, not murder, as he started the incident, but Ms. Ford might still be with us if she had not made a stupid choice.  A fact, tragically lost on those who have adopted the transgender mindset as Cooke clearly has.