I can't speak for the community as a whole; I am involved, as a member and occasional advocate, with a couple of bits of the community.
All I know is that the first I knew of Claudia was your article. I felt nothing but sympathy for her, and a vague concern that, with the best overall intentions no doubt, you were in an ethically complex position. You are, at the same time, her friend and the holder of a particular feminist analysis for which you argue by any means necessary. Your giving Claudia a voice has been inextricably linked with a public campaign in which you have said, and had said to you, many hurtful things. If, as a consequence, Claudia has been hurt, or traduced, that is regrettable.
It's precisely so that people at all stages in transition can get the emotional support that they need that Tessa and Christina set up TransLondon a few years ago.
You refer to Claudia as a 'victim' of Russell Reid - I do feel obliged to register that a lot of people in the community have very different views of Russell Reid and that the GMC hearings against him were a time of high drama for those people. If people said, or did, anything to hurt Claudia in the heat of that time, it was a time when a lot of people were unhappy.
BTW, putting quotation marks round community - or even communities - is not entirely helpful. We are a community and we do our best to look after our own, with no funding whatever.
As you know, my own history is not, in some respects, all that different from Claudia's; medical mistakes were made in the course of my surgery and I was left with chronic health problems. Yet, I don't regret a thing - I think that part of the reason for this is the emotional support that I got from my women friends, both trans and otherwise, at that time and during that process.
In the end, we all need to be a part of communities, receiving support and giving it. I've always regarded Claudia as my trans sister, however much I disagree with her. And I am glad that you are her friend and that you regard her as a brave and formidable woman, because clearly she has needed you.
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Re: Regretters
Date: 2010-03-26 12:04 pm (UTC)I can't speak for the community as a whole; I am involved, as a member and occasional advocate, with a couple of bits of the community.
All I know is that the first I knew of Claudia was your article. I felt nothing but sympathy for her, and a vague concern that, with the best overall intentions no doubt, you were in an ethically complex position. You are, at the same time, her friend and the holder of a particular feminist analysis for which you argue by any means necessary. Your giving Claudia a voice has been inextricably linked with a public campaign in which you have said, and had said to you, many hurtful things. If, as a consequence, Claudia has been hurt, or traduced, that is regrettable.
It's precisely so that people at all stages in transition can get the emotional support that they need that Tessa and Christina set up TransLondon a few years ago.
You refer to Claudia as a 'victim' of Russell Reid - I do feel obliged to register that a lot of people in the community have very different views of Russell Reid and that the GMC hearings against him were a time of high drama for those people. If people said, or did, anything to hurt Claudia in the heat of that time, it was a time when a lot of people were unhappy.
BTW, putting quotation marks round community - or even communities - is not entirely helpful. We are a community and we do our best to look after our own, with no funding whatever.
As you know, my own history is not, in some respects, all that different from Claudia's; medical mistakes were made in the course of my surgery and I was left with chronic health problems. Yet, I don't regret a thing - I think that part of the reason for this is the emotional support that I got from my women friends, both trans and otherwise, at that time and during that process.
In the end, we all need to be a part of communities, receiving support and giving it. I've always regarded Claudia as my trans sister, however much I disagree with her. And I am glad that you are her friend and that you regard her as a brave and formidable woman, because clearly she has needed you.
Roz