Like the rest of my classmates, I did learn a great deal from “Strip”. I appreciate the fact that it gave it gave me yet another unique perspective to the worlds of transsexual people. The fact that it has nothing to do with sexuality is so powerful. The author said herself that she was attracted to women. I also respected the essay because it showed the reader that being transsexual is just one aspect of a person’s life. It seems that society tries to fit homosexuals, transgender, and transsexual people into a little bubble, assuming that they are consumed by their sexualities. They speak of these people as if their sexual or gender preference is the only thing that matters in their lives. But they have o survive through everyday trials just the same as we all do. The author showed us more that just the trials that she had to overcome by her being transsexual but by her being handicap as well. I am not going to get into the homosexuality and God conversation that Whitney and Tracie started but I would like to say that I have been dealing with thee issues within myself. I am struggling with what I will tell my children but I think that if they ask me whether being gay is right or wrong I will say that it is God’s decision to make and not ours. That way that will understand that they have no place to judge and can still feel comfortable talking to me about it b/c I will not judge them. These topics, and body image as a whole, change faces completely when raising children becomes involved. What you say and believe becomes that much more important I must say that I have been confronted with a lot of different voices and points of view while being in this class and I have taken away so much even though I did not agree with everything that I\heard. Hopefully I have offered you all something as well. Meeting all of you has definitely been interesting and I think that I am much more prepared to have these conversations with my children even though I have a long time before I will have to do that

Strip! was a great essay becuase it helped in shedding some light on the complex topic of transgender. I think it is difficult to be either masculine or feminine. I was taught early on im my studies on gender that most people are on a continuum. In that, no one is ever really on the ends of the scale (no one is all masculine or all feminine). We all lie somewhere in between. Some people are more feminine or masculine and some people who are androgenous fall in the middle. Looking at gender as a spectrum rather than a determinant helps clear up some of the grey areas of transgender issues. However, the spectrum has no indications of sexual orientation. A person could be anywhere on the scale and it would not necessarily mean that they were going to be heterosexual or homosexual (or whatever else). I am not sure what to think on the issue of homosexuality as it relates to the nature vs. nurture argument. It seems logical that heterosexuality is the "natural" way because of the way our anatomy is constructed and the purposes of certain body parts and structures, but desire is not limited to body parts. It is just as much in our heads as it is in the rest of our body. I think transgender issues reflects on this complexity because gender and sexualtiy it is not a simplistic scheme that goes from a to b to c. Strip! was a wondrful essay revealing the world of transgender. I also loved the essay about butts. Tracie, Amber and I have had amusing conversations on that topic. And like most of the class has said in these postings I am glad to be back with Body Outlaws and its thought provoking and thoroughly enjoyable essays.

Edited by author 04-23-2004 12:00 PM
I appreciate your comments Tracie, and I am not sure which Pastor you are referring to. The first said that any homosexual action was wrong, and I disagree with him as well. But Pastor Jess has taught me how to come to terms with that and believe that God loves all people equally. I understand that you think I should ask God directly, and believe me, I have. But I also believe that God works through other people. And while, He can work through anyone He chooses, I believe God was working through Pastor Jess in showing me a new way of seeing the Bible. God and I talk, no doubt, but there are times when things can be made clearer by other people. As for the essays, I agree with everyone about returing to the "Body Outlaws". It is a wonderful collection, and as I have said before, I wish I was as bold as many of these women. I loved "Strip" as it was very insightful for me. But I haven't read many essays in these books that I haven't gotten something new and important from.