powerful & important. read it.

transcreature:

[TW warning: anti-trans bigotry and violence]
The following is a piece I wrote for a zine, QUAC , about the topic of Queer Violence

Queer People Not My People

I expected to lose a lot transitioning from a gay identified boy to a trans woman. I’ve lost family, once-called “best friends”, and the ability to find a man on A4A for some anonymous one night stands. What I didn’t expect was the loss of queer communities as a safe space for me. I once idolized queer spaces, now I always enter them in trepidation, even the ones I’ve helped build and maintain. I write this piece still reeling at how much anger I felt last night, still picking out the tear-dried clumps of mascara from my eyes. It’s the slow realization that I am often the only trans woman in the room, and that queer people love throw around my identity as part of their little acronym, but would rather not hear from me.

Read More

Girl Talk: A Trans & Cis Woman Dialogue is in 22 DAYS, people!

I am unbelievably proud to have created this event, to co-curate & co-host with the phenomenally brilliant Elena Rose and Julia Serano, and to perform again this year. I am also extremely proud that Girl Talk is happening for a third year running, thanks to the generous support of the Queer Cultural Center and the San Francisco Arts Commission. People have been asking why the show is happening in March and not June: We have been asked to help launch the QCC’s Healthy Communities program. This grant has enabled QCC to produce year-round programs, and Girl Talk is the first program up. It’s an honor and a privilege to produce with QCC & SFAC. Thanks, all!

Please come out on March 24th to hear our amazing cast. This is a show that is very near & dear to my heart, and I want as many people as possible to experience the brilliance.

xox,
Gina

Girl Talk: A Trans & Cis Woman Dialogue
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
7:00pm - 10:00pm
San Francisco LGBT Community Center - Ceremonial Room
1800 Market Street between Octavia & Laguna
Tickets: $12-$20 (no one turned away!)
BrownPaperTickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/163744
***I strongly recommend that you get tix in advance — we sold out very fast last year!***

Queer cisgender women and queer transgender women are allies, friends, support systems, lovers, and partners to each other. Trans and cis women are allies 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.

Girl Talk is a spoken word show fostering and promoting dialogue about these relationships. Trans and cis women will read about their relationships of all kinds – sexual and romantic, chosen and blood family, friendships, support networks, activist alliances. Join us for a night of stories about sex, bodies, feminism, activism, challenging exclusion in masculine-centric dyke spaces, dating and breaking up, finding each other, and finding love and family.

FEATURING:
Mira Bellwether
Gina de Vries
Tara Hardy
Tobi Hill-Meyer
Marlene Hoeber
Sadie Lune
Elena Rose, aka little light
Ray Rubin

***Curated & hosted by Gina de Vries, Elena Rose, & Julia Serano.***

PERFORMER BIOS:

MIRANDA BELLWETHER is a 28 year old trans dyke and student.  She is a femme, a queer, a dork, a loudmouth, and lots of other things.  Her interests include the 1920s, literature, masculinity, homos, conversation, rodents, and of course sex and sexuality.  She is the creator and editor of “Fucking Trans Women,” a zine about the sex lives of trans women and our lovers. 

GINA DE VRIES is a genderqueer femme, a queer Paisan pervert, and a writer, performer, and activist with a long history doing political organizing in and with queer, trans, and sex worker communities. She is the founder and co-curator (with Julia & Rose) of “Girl Talk: a trans & cis woman dialogue,” and is very proud to be producing the show for the third year running.

Gina edited the queer youth anthology [Becoming] in 2004. Her writing has been anthologized dozens of places, from the academic to the pornographic. Her publications include Coming & Crying: true stories about sex from the other side of the bed, Take Me There: Trans & Genderqueer Erotica, Bound to Struggle: Where Kink and Radical Politics Meet, The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Intimate Partner Violence Within Activist Communities, $pread: Illuminating the Sex Industry, Femmethology, Girl Crush, and Curve, make/shift, and On Our Backs magazines. Gina was the head curator of the San Francisco in Exile queer performance series from 2006-2010. Shows she’s produced include “Ecstasies & Elegies” (for International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers), “Rebel Girl: a riot grrrl nostalgia show,” and “Cherry: queering virginity.”

Gina has performed, taught, and lectured everywhere from chapels to leatherbar backrooms. Recent university appearances include Harvard University, Yale University, and Reed College. She regularly teaches writing for WriteHereWriteNow queer & trans writers workshop in Boston, Massachusetts; regularly presents on issues ranging from sex work to intersex activism for the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program of the Reproductive Rights Activist Service Corps; and works a day job fundraising for St. James Infirmary, the nation’s only clinic run by and for current & former sex workers. She is the founder and facilitator of Sex Workers’ Writing Workshop, a writing class for current and former sex workers at San Francisco’s Center for Sex & Culture (where she also serves on the Advisory Board).

A graduate of Hampshire College, Gina is currently pursuing her Master of Fine Arts in Fiction Writing at San Francisco State University, where she is working on a memoir and a book of short stories. Find out more at ginadevries.com, and keep track of her on the daily at queershoulder.tumblr.com.  

TARA HARDY is the working class queer femme poet who founded Bent, a writing institute for LGBTIQ people in Seattle, WA.  She is a founding member of Salt Lines the all woman performance poetry group that toured the U.S. in March of 2009 and 2010 in honor of Women’s History Month.  Tara has been finalist on National Poetry Slam stages 7 times and is currently the highest ranking woman in the Individual World Poetry Slam. She’s been the Seattle Grand Slam Champion three times, and was elected Seattle Poet Populist in 2002.

Tara has been the keynote speaker for Seattle University’s Lavendar Graduation, Humboldt University’s 2009 Kink on Campus presented by the Women’s Center, and Seattle’s 2008 Dyke March.  A daughter of the United Auto Workers, and activist in the Battered Women’s Movement, she is committed to art as a tool for social change. Her upcoming book, Bring Down the Chandeliers, is due from Write Bloody Press in the spring of 2011. To contact Tara, or arrange for a performance, email wordyfemme@hotmail.com. Her webpage is www.tarahardy.net. You may find her on MySpace at www.myspace.com/tarahardygetsbent

TOBI HILL-MEYER (www.HandbasketProductions.com) is just about your average multiracial, pansexual, transracially inseminated queerspawn, genderqueer, transdyke, colonized mestiza, pornographer, activist, writer.  She has given talks on several campuses and her writing has appeared in And Baby Makes More: Known Donor’s, Queer Parents and our Unexpected Families, Who’s You Daddy?: And Other Writings on Queer Parenting, and Best Lesbian Erotica 2010.  She directed and produced the first porn film by and for trans women, Doing it Ourselves: The Trans Women Porn Project, and just finished work on her latest film, The Genderfellator, a campy sci-fi pornographic parody of a little known transphobic film from 2007.  Her zines and films can be found at HandbasketProductions.com.

MARLENE HOEBER is a long time queer, kink, trans, sex-positive, feminist, social justice activist and a devout pervert. She is currently Director of Collections at the archive of the Center for Sex and Culture. Marlene was a founding member of the world’s first college campus based BDSM organization in 1991. She has worked in diverse trades such as dildo manufacturing, jewelry, motorcycle repair, tool design and laboratory management. Her hobbies include target shooting and cognac “tasting”. Her writing can be found at http://fukshot.com and Body Impolitic http://www.laurietobyedison.com/discuss.

SADIE LUNE (www.sadielune.com) is a multimedia artist, absurdist, sex worker, and pleasure activist. She has won awards for her films and performances, exhibited explicit whore-positive work in museums, and shown her cervix internationally. Her writing on art and sex is published in books and magazines in the United States and Europe. Sadie is currently working on “Biological Clock” a queer fertility ritual performance as part of her ongoing project Teaching Myself to Love. She is looking for patrons, sperm donors, and a wife of any gender. Sadie lives in San Francisco with her three snakes. 

ELENA ROSE, a Filipina-Ashkenazic mixed-class trans dyke mestiza, is a writer, preacher, scholar, and survivor from rural Oregon.  Dedicated to the projects of radical love, community building, and queer ministry, she writes online as “little light” at http://takingsteps.blogspot.com and elsewhere, serves on the advisory board of the Allied Media Conference in Detroit, and was a charter member of the Speak! Radical Women of Color Media Collective.

A sweet-talking monster at the mic, Rose has performed to sold-out crowds up and down the Pacific coast, from multiple headline shows in Portland to collaborations with the Bay’s Mangos With Chili and Seattle’s TumbleMe Productions, and has twice been a San Francisco Pride Featured Performer with the National Queer Arts Festival production, Girl Talk:  A Cis and Trans Woman Dialogue.  Her writing has found its way everywhere from law school classrooms and academic conferences to bathroom mirrors and protest marches, and has met print in magazines including Aorta and Make/Shift. 

After the dust settles on Rose’s coast-to-coast tour this spring, she will be busy finishing her first book, “Mountain of Myrrh,” to be published by Dinah Press. Rose currently resides with her wife in northern California, where she stays busy being in good stories.  She carries a pen, her ancestors, and the mismatched ID of a citizen of the borderlands with her at all times.

RAY RUBIN is an FTMTF anti-capitalist that spends most of her day asking people for money. She is an activist for Lower-Haight, gluten-free, post-PCOS, rickets survivors who listen to public radio. She’s especially fond of independent publishing & has written for a number of ‘zines that can be found at the free section in Dog Eared Books.

JULIA SERANO is an Oakland, California-based writer, performer and trans activist. She is the author of Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity (Seal Press, 2007), a collection of personal essays that reveal how misogyny frames popular assumptions about femininity and shapes many of the myths and misconceptions people have about transsexual women.

Julia’s other writings have appeared in anthologies (including Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation, Word Warriors: 30 Leaders in the Women’s Spoken Word Movement and Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape), in feminist, queer, pop culture and literary magazines and websites (such as Bitch, AlterNet.org, Out, Feministing.com, Clamor, make/shift, and others), and have been used as teaching materials in gender studies, queer studies, psychology and human sexuality courses in colleges across North America. For more information about all of her creative endeavors, check out www.juliaserano.com.

Both the Creating Change Transfeminism Workshop & the Sex Worker Caucus are still going on as planned, WOO! They are both happening today, check the CC 2011 website for details as to where. Tranfeminism is being co-facilitated by Rachel Katharine Zall & Danielle Askini (thank you for stepping in for me, Danielle! you rock!!!). I actually don’t wanna say who’s leading the Sex Worker Caucus yet, as I’m not sure if he is out about doing sex work in all areas of his life. But trust me, you are in good hands!

And I’m slowly but surely recovering from this bug. Staying home has been hard, but it was absolutely the right decision in terms of my health. Hopefully I’ll see you in 2012, CC.

Also: If you are local to the Bay Area, GO TO NUDE AID TODAY to support the amazing & uber-important Center for Sex & Culture! I would totally go (hell, I’d be there modelling!) if I wasn’t preciously guarding my health. But my hot & awesome friends & colleagues in art & porn Sadie Lune & Jiz Lee (link is porn) will be there. Experiencing the two of them in a room together is well worth the price of a ticket. :)

I’m announcing this way late in the game, but: The very awesome Rachel Katharine Zall & I are leading a Transfeminism Workshop at Creating Change in Minneapolis on Feb 5th, and then I’m leading the Sex Worker Caucus solo, also on Feb 5th. Will you be at Creating Change? Come hang out with us! :)

Civil Liberties & Public Policy Conference
From Abortion Rights to Social Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom
Hampshire College
Amherst, MA
FREE!
The whole (wonderful!) CLPP conference is from April 9th-11th.

Saturday, April 10th, 1:15-2:45pm: Positive Sexuality / Politics of Sexual Practice
This workshop examines the intersections of sexuality, class, race, sex, gender and politics, as we celebrate and build social support for our own and others’ sexuality and sexual identities.
Panelists: Cyrée Johnson (moderator), Gina de Vries, Toni Bond Leonard, Kaitlin Nichols

Saturday, April 10th, 3:15-4:45pm: Trans Feminism
This workshop explores transgender activism and gender non-conformity within the third wave feminist movement, and the rise of transfeminism within the mainstream feminist movement. Panelists will address transmisogyny, ally work, and the role of gender and gender justice in the feminist and reproductive justice movements.
Panelists: Gunner Scott (moderator), Gina de Vries, Lilianna Angel L.C. Reyes, Jos Truitt

Hey folks!

I leave for a short tour of the east coast next week. If you’ll be in Amherst or Boston, please come check out my events!

xox,
Gina 

1. Civil Liberties & Public Policy Conference
From Abortion Rights to Social Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom
Hampshire College
Amherst, MA
FREE!

The whole (wonderful!) CLPP conference is from April 9th-11th. My workshops will be on Saturday, April 10th.

Saturday, April 10th, 1:15-2:45pm: Positive Sexuality / Politics of Sexual Practice
This workshop examines the intersections of sexuality, class, race, sex, gender and politics, as we celebrate and build social support for our own and others’ sexuality and sexual identities.
Panelists: Cyrée Johnson (moderator), Gina de Vries, Toni Bond Leonard, Kaitlin Nichols

Saturday, April 10th, 3:15-4:45pm: Trans Feminism
This workshop explores transgender activism and gender non-conformity within the third wave feminist movement, and the rise of transfeminism within the mainstream feminist movement. Panelists will address transmisogyny, ally work, and the role of gender and gender justice in the feminist and reproductive justice movements.
Panelists: Gunner Scott (moderator), Gina de Vries, Lilianna Angel L.C. Reyes, Jos Truitt
 

2. Harvard University
Trans Feminism Workshop & Discussion
Co-facilitated with the fabulous Rachel Katherine Zall!
Tuesday, April 13th, 4-6pm
Harvard College Women’s Center Lounge
Boston, MA
FREE!

This workshop will focus on creating women’s spaces and communities that are trans women-inclusive.

3. WriteHereWriteNow
Wednesday Night Writers’ Group (hosted by the fabulous Toni Amato)
Gina reads & guest facilitates
Wednesday, April 14th, 7pm
Sliding scale — nobody turned away!
More info here:
http://www.writeherewritenow.org/writeherewritenowongoingwritingworkshops.html
Email Toni Amato at toniamato@gmail.com for location & directions.

I’ll be reading an excerpt from recent work, and guest-teaching a prompt at Toni Amato’s fantastic queer & trans writers’ workshop. Please come and write, Boston friends!

A (trustworthy, vetted by LittleLight) student at Reed College is writing her thesis on Girl Talk. Jebus. Color me humbled.