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Aren Aizura's article: "Decolonizing Transgender: A Roundtable Discussion"

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Aren Aizura's article: "Decolonizing Transgender: A Roundtable Discussion"

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Previous to reading this article, I never thought about how deeply colonization seeps into our everyday conversation about gender and sexuality and into language itself. I had always envisioned colonization to be a physical act of one nation conquering several smaller nations, forcing assimilation and spreading Western ideology as a result. However, it didn't click with me until finishing the reading just how abstract colonization actually is in that it can be an act of taking over art, music, language, thinking, etc., and is still an ongoing act today.

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This week, I learned about the connection between identity, disability, and queerness from Sami Schalk's article, "Coming to Claim Crip: Disidentification with/in Disability Studies" and Chess, Kafer, Quizar, and Udora Richardson's article, "Calling All Restroom Revolutionaries." As an overall note, I enjoyed how relevant the topics were, such as the idea of fat activism especially in our diet culture today, and how these concepts brought the topic of intersectionality that was first introduced during the second week of class full circle. This showed me how deeply intertwined our discussions of gender and sexuality are connected to other constructs and that it can never be discussed in isolation.

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As mentioned by one of the scholars, "Western notions of gender and sexuality...can be understood as systems of control and genocide" (421). It is Western thinking that has introduced the notion that individuals are placed in a binary in which they can be either male or female and nothing in-between, and also the ideal of the white, heterosexual male. This rigid thinking is what has placed those who exist outside of these norms in both physical and emotional harm and put them at more of a disadvantage compared to those who exist within Western ideals. This article helped expose how harmful my own thinking was growing up in our American education system. For instance, I viewed everything in black and white because the gray area was too confusing to comprehend. However, settling in this gray area and realizing that not every topic will have a clear-cut answer or definition is something that this article helped me realize. While I liked to believe that I was pretty openminded when it came to learning about other cultures, I had to learn that something different from how I viewed topics was not automatically bad as Western notions had taught us to believe.

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In addition, the article focused on the concept of "decolonization," or a way of thinking and behaving that dismantles Western/colonial thought. It is a conscious effort to view topics through an indigenous framework or in general, a non-Western framework. As another scholar mentioned while discussing the harms of Western thinking, "binarisms are inherently oppressive, limiting, and distorting,...forms of fluidity, blurring, hybridity, and multiplicity are inherently less oppressive, limiting, and distorting,...and...moving away from binarisms is inherently a form of resistance or liberation" (432-433). Reading this article made me realize that the concept of a binary was not only exclusive in theory but also the source of violence for many trans and gender-nonconforming individuals. It also pushed me to recognize the privilege I have in being able to live in an ignorant little bubble where the effects of colonialism have not negatively impacted my everyday life. However, this is not the case for everybody, especially for those within the LGBTQ community or indigenous people. Overall, this article was helpful in allowing me to note flaws in our Western mode of thinking and to be receptive of how other cultures work apart from the U.S. is a decolonizing effort in itself.

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In Schalk's article, I learned about the connection between crip and queer and how the author herself came to identify with crip even as a nondisabled person. As explained in class, crip and queer are similar in that they both began as derogatory terms that were later reclaimed by individuals within the disabled and LGBTQ+ community, respectively, and that they operate the same way as a term of identity and as a verb. Also, it was interesting to learn about how even with all of the author's marginalized pieces of identity, such as her being black and queer, she realized she still had privilege as an able-bodied person. Despite this, she describes how "the ways in which [her] fat, black, queer, woman's body/mind/desire/behavior is constantly read and reacted to as non-normative, sometimes excessively so, makes [her] feel particularly akin to those who identify as disabled and/or crip" (7). She feels a connection to those within the disabled community because she exists outside of social norms and is marginalized by mainstream media. This demonstrates that despite the differences that exist among marginalized groups, the one commonality is the oppression and stigma they face from society.

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This same idea is highlighted in the second article which discussed the formation of PISSAR, or People in Search of Safe and Accessible Restrooms. The authors described how bathrooms are unintentionally exclusive, inaccessible, and sites of harassment and violence for people who don't prescribe to gender norms or people with disabilities. In contrast to the medical model which states that disabilities are something inherently wrong with the individual and to be cured, the authors of the article show how the fault lies with the architecture itself for not being accessible enough and society as a whole for viewing disabilities as something abnormal. The same is true for gender-nonconforming individuals who, because they do not look like a typical man or woman, are assumed to not have the same needs that men and women do. This reading also demonstrated how despite the differing challenges disabled and LGBTQ+ individuals face, they all are subjected to oppression and stigma from institutions of power and those who abide by societal norms. Overall, this was my favorite module due to its relevancy and how it managed to connect what we spent the whole semester learning to other areas of study.

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I hope to apply what I've learned so far in this class in my personal, academic, and professional life. As Katie mentioned, this is material that once learned cannot be unlearned so I hope to put it to good use by finally having something to say or back my opinions with if topics of gender and sexuality come up in my everyday conversations. For instance, I know my family, who is highly conservative, can be a bit closeminded when it comes to discussing any issues related to the LGBTQ+ community. Therefore, I hope to educate them or correct them in a polite way if they say anything harmful or ignorant regarding these topics. When it comes to my academic and professional life, I hope to be a better peer and future physician assistant by being more receptive of and sympathetic to any unique issues or needs that LGBTQ+ individuals may face. Overall, my goal is to continue to be a respectful, inclusive, and good human being overall while implementing what I've learned so far in the situations that call for it.

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As for the one area I believe I can continue to learn in as I leave this course, I hope to focus on the other areas touched upon in our discussions of intersectionality. I want to learn more about disability studies and how our institutions of power affect certain racial and socioeconomic groups. The last module especially piqued my curiosity of the issues individuals with disabilities face and how recent this field of study is. This class provided a good stepping stone from which I have some background knowledge to better contribute to any future classes I may take involving these constructs.