Gina

ANNOUNCING Girl Talk 2013!

I am so very excited to announce…

Girl Talk 2013!

Now in its fifth year, Girl Talk is a critically acclaimed multi-media performance show promoting dialogue about relationships of all kinds between queer transgender women, queer cisgender women, and genderqueer people. Queer cis women, queer trans women, and genderqueer people are allies, friends, support systems, lovers, and partners to each other every day — from activism that includes everything from Take Back the Night to Camp Trans; to supporting each other in having “othered” bodies in a world that is obsessed with idealized body types; to loving, having sex, and building family with each other in a world that wants us to disappear. At Girl Talk, trans and cis women and genderqueer artists create a wide range of artistic work about their relationships of all kinds – sexual and romantic, friendships, and chosen and blood family. Join us for a night of performance and conversation dedicated to building sisterhood and queer community for ALL women.

June 27
Girl Talk
Curated by: Gina de Vries, Elena Rose, & Julia Serano
Show Location: African-American Arts & Culture Complex (762 Fulton Street @ Webster, San Francisco)
Time: 7:30pm
Price: $12 – $20 sliding scale online; $15 – $20 at the door. (A limited number of Nobody Turned Away Tickets are available by writing to Gina at queershoulder[@]gmail[.]com, and a few work-trade for tix positions might also become available.)
Web Home: http://queerculturalcenter.org/NQAF/performance13/girl-talk/
Buy Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/377312
Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/331871970271565
“Like” Girl Talk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GirlTalkShow
Twitter: @queershoulder (Gina de Vries) and @JuliaSerano (Julia Serano).

ARTISTS’ BIOS

Dominika Bednarska holds a PhD in English and Disability Studies from U.C. Berkeley, and her new book of poetry, Smothered Breath, is forthcoming from Tulip Pulp Press. Her writing has appeared in The Bellevue Literary Review, Petrichor Machine, Blast Furnace, A Bad Penny Review, B (A Barbie Anthology), Journey to Crone, Avatar Review, Storm Cellar, Palimpsest, Muddy River Poetry Review, Wordgathering, Ghosting the Atom: Reflections After the Bomb, What I Want From You: An Anthology of East Bay Lesbian Poets, Cripping Femme, The Culture of Efficiency: Technology in Everyday Life, and Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity, a Lambda nominee. Her show My Body Love Story kicked off the National Queer Arts Festival in 2012. For more information, go to dominikabednarskaspeaks.blogspot.com or become a fan on Facebook.

Gina de Vries is a genderqueer femme, a queer Paisano, a devout pervert, and a writer, performer, activist, and cultural worker living, writing, and loving in San Francisco. Ze is the founder and co-curator (with Elena Rose and Julia Serano) of Girl Talk, and is thrilled to see the show going strong in its fifth year. Gina has performed, taught, and lectured everywhere from chapels to leatherbar backrooms to the Ivy Leagues to community colleges. Her university appearances include Harvard, Yale, Reed, The Pacific School of Religion, UW-Madison, and Hampshire. Ze is the founder and facilitator of Sex Workers’ Writing Workshop, a writing class for current & former sex workers at San Francisco’s Center for Sex & Culture (where she also serves on the Advisory Board).

Gina’s publications include That’s Revolting!, Bound to Struggle, Baby Remember My Name, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, $pread: illuminating the sex industry, Curve, Coming & Crying, Take Me There: Trans & Genderqueer Erotica, The Revolution Starts at Home, and Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots. Ze is currently pursuing her Master of Fine Arts in Fiction Writing at San Francisco State University, where ze is at work on How To Have A Body, a book of experimental prose about, well, how to have a body. Find out more at ginadevries.com, and keep track of hir on the daily at queershoulder.tumblr.com and howtohaveabody.tumblr.com.

DavEnd is a tenderhearted, genderqueer, accordion wielding songwriter, performing artist and designer based in San Francisco. DavEnd has released two studio albums (How To Hold Your Own Hand, Fruits Commonly Mistaken For Vegetables) and for the past 6 years, has been touring extensively in the U.S., performing at queer teen centers, theatres, festivals, colleges, and backyards. Between tours, Ms. End designs costumes, and most recently has been producing a new musical, costume designing and dancing in production numbers for songwriter Kimya Dawson, appearing in Taylor Mac’s epic 5 hour play “The Lily’s Revenge” and touring the US with Sister Spit. DavEnd’s current project, “Fabulous Artistic Guys Get Overtly Traumatized Sometimes: The Musical!”, brings together the worlds of music and radical performance art in a theatrical extravaganza, exploring the effects of heterosexism and street harassment on the development of queer and trans identity. Photo: Photo: Amber Gregory

Tara Hardy is the working-class queer femme poet who writes and teaches in Seattle, Washington. She is the founder and current creative director of Bent, a writing institute for LGBTIQ people based in Seattle. She is the writer-in-residence at Richard Hugo House in Seattle, and an alumnae of Hedgebrook. In 2002, she was elected by the people and named by the city council as Seattle’s Poet Populist, or poet of the people, and has appeared on seven National Poetry Slam stages. She holds an MFA from Vermont College in fiction writing, and an MSW from the University of Michigan in community organizing. Tara is a daughter of the United Auto Workers, and worked in the Battered Women’s Movement for 15 years. She has toured the United States with Michelle Tea in the Stromboli’s Island show, as well as with Oratrix, an all-girl, all-queer Seattle-based spoken word troupe. She is a member of the Bullhorn Collective, and has performed with the Rolling Thunder Democracy Tour, Vancouver’s Rock for Choice, various Sister Spit shows, the Washington Poet’s Association’s Burning Word festival, Portland’s Youth Pride, San Francisco’s Harvey Milk Institute, and at the Minneapolis Orpheum Theater on the National Poetry Slam team finals stage. Tara’s work appears in Without a Net, Sex and Single Girls, Fusion, Blythe House Quarterly, Brazen, Switched-on-Gutenberg, and her self-published chapbooks Vs and Rant-some. Recordings of her work can be found on Vox Populi Live (the best of the Seattle Poetry Festival), the Seattle Poetry Slam Live CD, and her self-produced CD Dirty River.

Dr. Carol Queen is a writer and cultural sexologist with a Ph.D. in human sexuality. She is a noted essayist whose work has appeared in dozens of anthologies. Her essay collection, Real Live Nude Girl: Chronicles of Sex-Positive Culture, was published in 1997 and reissued in 2002; it is read in university classes across America. Her erotic stories can be found in several Best American Erotica volumes, among many other anthologies; her erotic novel, The Leather Daddy and the Femme, was published in 1998 and won a Firecracker Alternative Book Award the following year. A “director’s cut” edition with new material came out in 2003. Her first book, Exhibitionism for the Shy, published in 1995, explores issues of erotic self-esteem and enhancement and was reissued with new material in 2009. She is co-editor of the anthologies Best Bisexual Erotica (volumes One and Two), Sex Spoken Here, Switch Hitters, and PoMoSexuals; the latter won a Lambda Literary Award in 1998. She’s also edited Whipped! and two volumes of 5 Minute Erotica, short-short erotic fiction.

Queen is the founding director of the Center for Sex & Culture in San Francisco (www.sexandculture.org) and works as staff sexologist and curator of the Antique Vibrator Museum at Good Vibrations, the women-founded sex toy and bookstore in San Francisco, where she has worked since 1990; she blogs for the Good Vibrations web magazine at www.goodvibes.com. She has addressed numerous scholarly and professional conferences, including the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, the International Condom Conference, the International Conference on Prostitution, and the International Conference on Pornography; she frequently addresses college as well as general and specialized audiences. In February 2009 she debated the question of promiscuity (“Virtue or vice?”) for the Oxford Union at Oxford University, England.

Carol Queen is active on behalf of progressive sex education and sexual minority issues. Perhaps most closely affiliated with the bisexual and sex work communities, she has been speaking publicly about non-mainstream sexualities, from lesbian to leather, for over 35 years. Her perspective in addressing sexual diversity incorporates personal experience, accurate sex information, and informed cultural commentary. For more information (including CV and bibliography) see her website: www.carolqueen.com.

Elena Rose, a Filipina-Ashkenazic mixed-class trans lesbian mestiza, rode stories out of rural Oregon and hasn’t stopped making words since. Raised as a curandera troublemaker, she writes online as “Little Light,” travels the country as a preacher and poet, and has dedicated herself to the labor of radical love, monster theology, and justice for those who live at the edges.

In her third year as “Girl Talk” co-curator and fifth as a performer, Rose has also sweet-talked bloody microphones with the Speak! Radical Women of Color Media Collective, Seattle’s TumbleMe Productions, the Bay’s own Mangos With Chili, and in sold-out shows up and down the Pacific coast. Her writing has been featured in Aorta and Make/shift magazines and everywhere from law school classrooms to bathroom mirrors, and her first book, “Mountain of Myrrh,” is forthcoming from Dinah Press. She lives, works, and attends seminary in the East Bay, and haunts abandoned places on the weekends.”

Julia Serano is an Oakland, California-based writer, performer, and co-curator of Girl Talk. She is best known for her 2007 book Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity, which garnered rave reviews—The Advocate placed it on their list of “Best Non-Fiction Transgender Books,” and readers of Ms. Magazine ranked it #16 on their list of the “100 Best Non-Fiction Books of All Time.” Her other writings have appeared in anthologies (including Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape, Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation and Word Warriors: 30 Leaders in the Women’s Spoken Word Movement) and in feminist, queer, pop culture and literary magazines and websites such as Bitch Magazine, AlterNet.org, Out, Ms. Magazine blog, Feministing.com, and make/shift.

Julia has gained notoriety in feminist, queer and transgender circles for her unique insights into gender, and her writings have been used as teaching materials in queer and gender studies courses across North America. Her second full-length book, tentatively titled Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive, is slated to be published by Seal Press in the Fall of 2013. juliaserano.com

Jos Truitt is a Boston native currently living in the Bay Area. She is an Editor at the popular blog Feministing.com. Jos has worked for the reproductive health, rights and justice movements as a student at Hampshire College and a national organizer in Washington, DC. She has spoken and trained at numerous national conferences and college campuses about trans issues, reproductive justice, blogging, feminism, and grassroots organizing. Jos is currently pursuing an MFA in Printmaking and an MA in the History and Theory of Contemporary Art at San Francisco Art Institute.

25 Comments

SMITH COLLEGE Q&A: 5/7 Update: Trans* Women At Smith

smith-q-and-a:

For people who want updates about trans* women at Smith, major developments have happened in recent meetings with the administration and admissions. Here they are:

-Smith admissions will accept alternative documentation to confirm gender identity if there are inconsistent or non-female gender…

Source: smith-q-and-a

83 Comments

Doing it Again - Casting Again

tobitastic:

Hey folks, one of the couples cast for Doing it Again had to back out and we’re looking for a trans woman and cis guy pairing to take their place. The travel budget has already been spent twice over, so we’re hoping to find someone who would be available in the next month or two, preferably in the Pacific Northwest area but we will consider elsewhere as well. At this point, no single cis men have applied, so matching two people may not be possible.

If you’re interested and fit this criteria, please fill out the application at http://goo.gl/Haxiq and feel free to email me directly at Tobi at Handbasket Production dot com.

Also, for anyone else who would like to be notified of our future casting opportunities, please sign up for our Casting Announcements email list at http://handbasketproductions.com/mailinglist

Signal-boost!

Source: tobitastic

21 Comments

autostraddle:

Trans Woman Denied Admission to Smith College: Why “Just Checking Female” is More Complicated Than it Sounds

Feature image via glaad.org

In August 2012, my good friend Calliope Wong, who is a trans woman,…

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More updates about the situation at Smith.

I’m in the midst of a pretty intense exhaustion & pain flare, so I will be brief here, but: Our Girl Talk show at Smith (with cast members Elena Rose, Jos Truitt, and myself) on Saturday was not very well-attended. That said, the folks who were there were listening hard, and we had some great discussion about ways to move forward on these issues.

Our two biggest suggestions to students were phone-banking alums to drum up their support (thank you Rose!), and bypassing potential stand-stills from the president by just going directly to the Board of Trustees (thank you Jos!). TIP TO COLLEGE ORGANIZERS: As much as you can talk to the people whom the administrative bureaucrats are scared of (alums, donors, and especially, especially The Board), DO.

(via notyourexrotic)

Source: autostraddle

80 Comments

Transwomen @ Smith: Thanks, again.

brynkelly:

More on trans women at Smith:

In February of 2010, I applied to the Ada Comstock program for nontraditional students at Smith College. I had just finished a program in theater at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, where I graduated with a 3.9 GPA. I applied with excellent professor reviews, and with two additional glowing letters of recommendation, one from Jeanne Vaccarro, Smith alum and current Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Sexuality Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (then a professor of performance and women’s studies at Hunter College, NYU and Rutgers); and one from Ezra Nepon, then the grassroots fundraising coordinator at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, where I had been a volunteer for five years.

In my essay, I indicated my wish to study with Len Berkman, the current Anne Hesseltine Hoyt Professor of Theatre at Smith, because I admired his scholarship in feminist theater, and had seen him speak at a production of Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play at Irondale Ensemble in Brooklyn, New York, where I live. I proposed several specific playwriting projects that I wanted to work on at Smith, and expressed admiration for their theatrical production facilities, which I had observed while on a campus visit. (They really are stunning.) I detailed my own experience in co-founding my own feminist theater collective, Theater Transgression, which at the time was working on producing a version of Antigone with an all-transgender cast (I played Eurydice), along with other experiences that had shaped my vision as a performing artist in New York. Since then, I was mentioned on The Huffington Post in a round-up of Twenty Transgender Artists You Should Know.

I encountered only minor snags of explicit gender trouble through my application process. I think that this is helped by the fact that my FAFSA lists me as female, as do all of my college records. The only thing that tipped them off bureaucratically to the fact that I am trans was my high school transcript, which cannot be changed or amended, as it is a non-computerized paper record. Fortunately, another recent Smith alum friend of mine who had worked in the admissions office (and who has since transitioned and now identifies as male, ironically) made some calls to advocate on my behalf, and my records were consolidated and I was granted the opportunity to go through the full admissions process. I did not mention being transgender during my interview.

Also, I will admit something here on Tumblr that I have never told anyone else before: in order to get the last of my application materials in before the deadline, I delivered them to Northhampton myself, via Amtrak from New York city, and stuffed them in the mailbox at the admissions office at like 10pm the night before the last day of application. There were no late busses back to New York that night, and I didn’t have the money for a hotel room, so I slept on the bench outside the station, in the snow. It was uncomfortable, sure, but I am tough — I’ve crashed in a lot of weird places before.

The reason I’m telling you this, though, is not to showcase my own failure to plan ahead (arguably a negative quality in a a college applicant, sure) but to show you how very much I wanted this. It was so important to me. I had been shuffled through large state schools my entire academic career up until that point, where you have to fight and scrape for everything: opportunity, resources, attention from faculty. Where there’s never enough money and everything is held together with duct tape and the arts are a laughable afterthought. In applying to Smith, what I had hoped for was a chance to shine. To be told that artistically, intellectually, that what I was doing mattered on some level. That as a feminist, and as a woman, that my work was important. Maybe those are immature reasons, but what can I say? I cared about this.

I was not accepted to the program.

One can only speculate about why this might be: the 2009-2010 fiscal year was a difficult one for Smith College, as their endowment had been significantly slashed due to the financial crisis, which meant that they accepted only half as many Ada Comstock applicants as they had the previous year. Certainly my rejection letter contained that old soft blow, “We received so many qualified applicants this year…” and I’m sure they did. But given that I have never heard of an out trans woman being accepted at Smith, I have to wonder.

I have heard of trans women attending Smith, but only those who have gone through the application process in strictest stealth. Thus, though trans women have gone to Smith, if anyone in the administration knows about it, they aren’t talking. This is, of course, in laughable contrast to the vibrant and visible culture of transmasculinity on campus, which has received much media attention and is the butt of plenty of LBTQ community jokes (“Oh, she’s going to Smith to meet boiz.”)

I jumped through all the right hoops, and I still didn’t get in. Calliope had a few bureaucratic loose ends out there, and didn’t even get a chance to apply. This is a problem. It’s a problem because trans women face a constant crisis of education, housing and jobs. It almost doesn’t need to be said that it is bizarre that a women’s college with a social justice mission continues to reject promising applicants because they happened to be particularly marginalized women.

I believe in trans women and I think that we are one of the world’s most neglected, undervalued resources. I believe that with support and encouragement, we can thrive and change the world. I only wish Smith College did, too.

Addendum: if any other trans women out there have had the experience of being denied admission to Smith, I’d like to hear from you — bryn@brynkelly.com.

calliowong:

So. It’s been a while since I’ve written you all, folks. As far as I know, this will be the last update letter I will write you.

I guess this is it, for now. There’s no chance I can go to Smith College, as the administration has returned my application without reading it not once—but two times…

From the always-wonderful Bryn.

Source: calliowong

869 Comments

spaceykate:

Anyway, while we’re all eagerly awaiting the next page of The Exile & Happy Landing Of Natalie Ríos, here’s a one-page autobiographical bit of silliness I did a couple years back as a hypothetical submission to that second issue of Fucking Trans Women that seems to have never happened.

So if you were dying to know what words to use when you get me into bed, ta da! Now you don’t even need to ask. (See how easy I make it to have hot sex with me?)

Um, and if you were wondering why Christianne’s drawing Exile and not me, I guess now you don’t need to ask that either. :P

“IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!”

Oh, sweet friend. I love you so.

Source: spaceykate

56 Comments

“As far as I know (and I think I would) this is the first time a group of queer cis and trans women have gotten together for the express purpose of speaking about our shared experience publicly. Listening to the show, I was struck by how obvious and straightforward much of it seemed. I don’t mean that in a belittling way, but rather I think it is a testament to the brilliance of the women speaking. For those of you with little context for this, it might seem like you’re hearing just another group of women tell what they have to tell about themselves and the world around them. That’s exactly right, but at the same time, until this night these thoughts had very little public airing. These things were mostly spoken softly between friends.”

— I stumbled upon this review of Girl Talk’s first show (back in 2009) this morning. I’m kinda blushing & glowing now. D’awwwwww!

(To add to my d’awww, this was written by someone who has become one of my closest & dearest friends, but whom I barely knew at the time. I’m very lucky I get you in my corner, Doktor Meow. <3)

3 Comments

Doing it Again - Second Casting Call

spaceykate:

Tragically, I’m not involved with anyone who’d do this with me at the moment, but if you are, go sign up! I am personally of the opinion that being in one of Tobi’s movies gets you infinite cool points forever.

tobitastic:

Please help spread the word - we’re doing a second round of casting for the erotic documentary Doing it Again specifically looking to cast scenes of trans women with trans partners. We’re looking for couples, friends, fuckbuddies, and individuals willing to be paired with someone - yes that includes trans men applying individually!

We’re specifically trying to get more submissions from:
* People of color
* People over 40
* Trans Men
* People in mid- or long-term relationships

Please see goo.gl/Haxiq for more details about dates, locations, payment, and what this entails. To learn more about the project in general, see our (completed) kickstarter campaign here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tobitastic/doing-it-again-in-depth

(If you’ve already applied before, please see the note at the top of the new casting call for what this means for you).

Rachel, I guess I have double infinite cool points, then? ;-)

Source: tobitastic

11 Comments

spaceykate:

krelllabs:

Exile page 1 by ~doctor-morbius

This is a work in progress, but it’s finished enough to show. Pen and ink on bristol board. I might make it color. I might not. I kinda like the black and white. This will run eleven or twelve pages when I’m done with it. It will also be VERY not safe for work.

OMG! FIRST PAGE! OMG! SO BEAUTIFUL! *dies*

I was afraid when I gave Christianne a script that covers 21 years, 4 major characters and 6 sex scenes in 10 pages she would tell me I was nuts (well, I mean I am, but) and ask me to redo it, but her talent turns out to be more than up to the challenge.

I just love all the little details she fits in to imply things about the characters that there was no possible way I was going to be able to talk about in such a short amount of space (in fact, I think panel 2 is the only place in the whole comic in which Ricardo Ríos shows up in full). For instance, the stack of untouched canvases in the corner of her father’s apartment, or the way his clothes are a little too big, like a boy playing dress-up.

Anyway! Please reblog so that everyone can see how beautiful this is because OMG am I proud to have been a part of this project.

This is incredible!!! I am so proud of you, Rachel! <3 <3 <3

Source: krelllabs

51 Comments

Call For Submissions: Trans*Scribe

AutoStraddle is specifically seeking trans women writers/bloggers. At first blush, this CFS looks pretty good — and it pays well for blogging, too! Queer trans women writer friends, check it out.

15 Comments

Odofemi: "Crazy Trans Woman" Syndrome

Really important.

odofemi:

My doctor, who is a trans woman, and I had a conversation today about the guy who raped me earlier this year. At first she was like “did you charge him?” When I explained that he’s a trans man of colour, she immediately got why I hadn’t. Not because I couldn’t bare to put a trans person,…

Source: odofemi

827 Comments

Doing it Together: A Screening and Play Party

Yay! :) Signal-boost!

tobitastic:

Have you ever wanted to go to a play party in a trans women focused environment? Do you want to see trans positive porn by Tobi Hill-Meyer and get a sneak peak of the in progress erotic documentary examining trans women’s relationships and hookup dynamics, Doing it Again? Are you in the bay area or will be for the Trans Leadership Summit?

To help raise funds for the new documentary we’re throwing the event Doing it Together: Reclaiming Our Lens on November 10th. Tickets will go on sale tomorrow morning (Oct 16th). You can get more information and buy tickets for the screening, the play party, or both at http://Handbasket.brownpapertickets.com.

Please help spread the word to those you know who may be interested. We’ve also got a few volunteer positions available. If you’d like to volunteer, please email Luci@HandbasketProductions.com

Source: tobitastic

29 Comments

Casting Call For Trans Woman Lead Role in Web Series

Signal-boosting!

tobitastic:

Please circulate and/or apply!

Trembling Void Studios is preparing to do a political comedy web series following a trans woman who’s lost her job and her apartment.

I’ve looked over the beginning of the script and think it’s really well written. Their previous work also looks very good and I’m very excited to see this happen. I’m tempted to apply myself, but the time commitment may be too much for me considering my own projects. You can read the script and the full casting call on their facbeook page (check the pdf tab for the call and the file sharing tab for the script), but here are some quick details

[SÜ] Lead, 25-35 years old female, trans.

TRANSGENDERED MTF-SPECTRUM ACTORS ONLY
ALL ETHNICITIES
ALL BODY-TYPES
ALL ACCENTS
ALL LEVELS OF EXPERIENCE

The production is based in Vancouver, BC. However, they are looking across North America and willing to pay travel and help set up housing. Application deadline is Oct 17th, auditions Oct 19-21st (in Vancouver or over skype). It involves being in Vancouver Oct 25-29 to shoot the teaser and then again to shoot the entire series over roughly two months in early 2013. Pay is $350-550 depending on need.

Source: tobitastic

338 Comments

jackrad:

good news for trans women & other trans female spectrum folx and those of us who like to have sex with them:

the once super hard to get ahold of “brazen: trans women safer sex guide” by morgan m page (put out by the 519) is now available for download in pdf form!

this is a super important and awesome resource and i’m not really aware of anything else like it out there—i learned a lot of important (and also sexy) stuff reading it and now you can too!

(via hobbitdragon)

Source: the519.org

1383 Comments

So psyched for this. <3

(via jackrad)

Source: boredangry

30 Comments