Hello all!
I’m writing this blog for my own selfish needs. I want to make something clear.
As most of you know, I’m pretty uneducated when it comes to being politically correct with certain terms when it comes to the transgender world. Unfortunately, I don’t have spare time right now to do reading up and educating myself on the topic. Or should I say, it’s not at the top of my priority list. Trying to remember to brush my teeth twice a day isn’t even that high on my priority list to be frank-
This is probably why I’ve personally invited Janae Kroc to come to GL18 as a keynote speaker and educate us ALL on what it’s like and how we can all be more supportive.
But here’s what I want to clarify; Just because we use the word “Vag” on a design, doesn’t mean we are transphobic. Allow me to elaborate:
GRRRL Clothing isn’t a “feminist group” or a “feminist label”. Although our Mission is to achieve equality for ALL women, and at the core of the term ‘feminisim’, the two seem to be the synonomis. However, in our experience, the label divides more groups than it unites. There are so many different waves and types of feminism. Even feminists who claim ‘2nd generation’ or ‘wave’ hailed and supported white feminists who didn’t support black women in having the right to vote. There are also groups of feminists who don’t believe that transgenders women belong.
Matter of fact, I always found it weird that so many people had to ask, whether it was on behalf of a Friend, or asking for themselves, if we were supportive of transgender women. I’d immediatley think, “yes! Why the hell wouldn’t we?”. If you identify as a woman, by all means you belong. Op or non-op.
Most of you are aware that we have a closed Facebook group with close to 7,000 women in there. Some trans sisters. It’s a safe space for us to talk about all things female. We however avoid politics and religion because those topics often divide people, and that is the last thing on our agenda. We purely exist for unity and female empowerment.
I’ve made a few posts over the last year that included me saying “Vag Up!”. It’s our Mission to phase out saying things like “sack up” & “man up” when we’re endeavoring to encourage someone to be strong. As you’re probably aware, most female oriented words are used in a negative, or weak stance, where as male oriented words are referred to and sought after. “Don’t be such a pussy”, etc.
In response to my posts, I’ve had a few women say to me, “I don’t think you should say terms like “vag up” because it’s not very inclusive”.
And here is what I have to say in response, for all to see:
I am not going to stop using words that are associated with being a woman, because that is what I am. I’m not going to stop talking about my vagina because someone wasn’t born with one. I will respect transgender people, acknowledge, strive to understand, support and love. However, I’m not going to stop identifying with what I do have, to make up for what you don’t have. Women have been told to shut the fuck up over a variety of different things, for an incredibly long time. In fact, I encourage our trans sisters to start using the term “Vag Up” regardless of what’s between your legs, because if you identify as being a woman, than this is a form of empowerment. We are taking back our language. We are calling each other bitches as a form of endearment. And we are most certainly going to say “fuck” every now and then because well, that is NOT lady-like, and how a girl’s supposed to act.
In conclusion, just because we identify with those things that make us women, doesn’t mean, what so ever- that we are anti-trans or unsupportive.
