A Transfeminist Response to "A Statement by Transsexual Women and their Women Friends" August 18, 2000 We, the undersigned transsexual and intersexed womyn, friends, and allies,acknowledge the contributions Anne Lawrence and other signatories to "The Michigan Women's Music Festival and Transsexual Women: A Statement by Transsexual Women and their Women Friends" have made, and continue to make, to the transsexual womyn's community. However, we must protest the tone and content of this Statement, which she and others are currently circulating regarding the controversies of transwomyn's and intersexed womyn's inclusion at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. This statement may be specifically directed at people attempting to participate in MWMF, but we find that the implications of it reach far beyond this one festival, which in itself we see as almost irrelevant. We find especially troubling the following passage from the Statement,regarding the festival's "no penis policy": "Moreover, this policy cannot address issues of race and class:specifically, the exclusion of women, especially women of color, who are not able to afford sex reassignment surgery. This is simply the best and fairest policy possible, one that balances inclusion of transsexual women with legitimate concerns for the integrity of women's culture and safe women's space." To acknowledge the struggles of the poor womyn and womyn of color among us in one sentence, then in the next sentence call excluding them the "best and fairest policy possible" falls on our ears as a cavalier dismissal of the most vulnerable among us. We feel that the issues of womyn's culture include the culture of poor womyn and womyn of color, including poor transsexual and intersexed womyn, and that the author(s) and signatories of the Statement,however unconsciously, are framing the debate in blatantly classist and racist terms. It is objectionable to us to suggest that surgical procedures beyond the means of many are a proper price of inclusion into womyn's culture. We also feel the need to state that this "no penis" policy falls on intersexed womyn as well as transsexual womyn, and that these womyn are being ignored in this debate. As intersexed people face extreme forms of patriarchially-generated social and medical abuse in their daily lives, we can scarcely find a more poignantly feminist cause than the right of intersexed people for self-determination. We can only read the following passage from the Statement with the utmost irony and shock: "Male genitals can be so emblematic of male power and sexual dominance that their presence at a festival designed to provide safe women's space is inappropriate." The irony for us is that it is the utter lack of economic power that prevents so many from acquiring the much desired female genitals presumed to be anti-emblematic of such power and dominance. This inability to avail themselves of reassignment surgery has resulted in violence, sometimes fatal, against poor transwomyn and transwomyn of color countless times.Furthermore, these womyn have often been denied protective services other womyn take for granted, such as police protection and emergency shelters,prior to being assaulted, and medical services afterward. To suggest that these most at-risk members of the womyn's community represent a threat to womyn's safety merely by their presence strikes us as sadly ludicrous and infuriating at the same time. Some of us agree with Riki Anne Wilchins' tactics, others of us don't. Our objection is to the racist and classist aspects of this message, and also to the presumption that the Statement represents the one true feminist perspective on the matter, calling almost any conceivable dissent from their position "anti-feminist". In another passage from the Statement: "The Festival is a feminist event that celebrates femaleness, and the love and creativity of the sisterhood of women. We resent anyone attempting to co-opt it for a competing purpose." The author(s) characterize the inclusion of transwomyn for whom reassignment surgery is beyond reach as a "competing purpose". If those who presume to speak for all womyn will only recognize the legitimacy of post-operative transwomyn, then they are saying that womynhood can be bought, and we find this concept loathsome beyond belief. It should also be noted that white middle and upper-class womyn have historically silenced complaints of racism and classism by womyn of color and poor and working-class womyn by arguing that anyone who complains about racism and classism within feminism must be"attempting to co-opt" feminism. Is it really feminist to attempt to silence womyn's voices in this manner? We feel that the impact of this Statement by Lawrence et al goes far beyond MWMF, which is also beyond the means of many, and is in many ways beside the point. Indeed, the implications of this attitude reach beyond the trans and intersexed communities and into the lives of poor and working class womyn and womyn of color everywhere. (Signed) Nicole Storm Liby S. Pease Lea LaFluer norrie mAy-welby Rachel Dunn Sadie Crabtree Dyna Sluyter rhiannon janine johns Jamie Michele Vaughan Bernice Felicia Loui Katie Tolbert-Traylor Eli Clare Karen W Gurney Jenny Davis Kate Kira Chelsea Elisabeth Goodwin Leslea Katherine Herber Chris Stinson Emilia Lombardi Shulamit Levine Aidy Griffin Lisa Natalie H. Ross Saul Accetta Rev. Marina Brown Pam Brooker Rev. Laura S. Potter-deGrey Lee Anderson Brown Katerina Ehas Brigid Joan Lenfest Stacey Montgomery-Scott Alinda Helleman Michael Gray-Scott Robin Hamrick Kimberly Renee Burgess Kaylin Robins Kaitlyn Lee Hill Joy Hughes Crystalle 'Carrie' Cota Sara Wetherbee Christine WG Burnham Anna Claire Amundson Emily Patrick Frances Margan Keeling Carrie E. V. Copeland Amanda Jane Dusting