"I worked with Pride Tree, talking to kids and supporting them and helping them build a wardrobe because sometimes they don’t have access to clothes than express their gender identity.... I told the judges that as a transgender woman of color and a survivor of physical and sexual abuse, I am everything that is underrepresented in this country. Our voices matter. Those whose voices aren’t always heard deserve the chance to be heard.... It means a lot to represent Nevada.... We are an example for other states and we can create a place that is less hateful for all."
Said Kataluna Enriquez, quoted in "First transgender Miss Nevada USA calls win ‘huge honor’" (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
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5 comments:
Temujin writes:
"I told the judges that as a transgender woman of color and a survivor of physical and sexual abuse, I am everything that is underrepresented in this country. Our voices matter. Those whose voices aren’t always heard deserve the chance to be heard..."
I've got no problem with her winning the pageant. My question would be with her statement that I highlighted above. If anything, Trans people are overrepresented in the discussion, talk, actions, about Trans. They are a very minute portion of the population but you'd think they were millions being shuffled aside by the number of articles, books, movies, TV shows dealing with this topic. Not to mention- Title IX, bathroom and dressing room sharing, participation in amateur athletics, and drag queen story hours for the little ones. Seems to me that all day, every day, we are bombarded with Trans and how we should just open all doors, never question them, and allow them to preach to all of us, including our kids.
I do have a problem with that. As I have a problem with any group claiming victimhood and insisting we adjust all of our lives to accommodate theirs. That's not how life works. And of course she had to display as many victimhood groups around herself as she could, so she made sure you knew that she also represented woman of color and survivor of physical and sexual abuse. Yes...she's got it all. So...congratulations to her. Get on with your life, as we all have to get on with ours- every day. And frankly, I'm tired of listening to it all. That may sound cold, but I suspect I'm not alone.
I have a problem with pageants generally. What do women think they are doing? Are they not theatrically performing femaleness?
Bob Boyd writes:
For years we've been told beauty pageants are bad for women and bad for everyone. That they're all about a shallow, narrow, idealized notion of physical attractiveness that devalues women who don't meet the arbitrary standard. That they're akin to a circus sideshow with a faux-intellectual aspect shoe-horned unconvincingly into the program.
If pageants are bad for women, why are they good for trans-women?
I would think they'd be especially bad for trans women — at least in the case of a trans woman who hopes to blend in with non-trans women — ordinary women who have a natural look. Pageantry is artificialness — more like a drag show, for all the women. But any given trans woman might be into that. There have been trans women on the TV show "Drag Race."
Face it, there's a lot of fakery in the performance of femaleness, in and out of pageants and among trans and non-trans women.
This Dylan lyric comes to mind:
The kingdoms of Experience
In the precious wind they rot
While paupers change possessions
Each one wishing for what the other has got
And the princess and the prince
Discuss what’s real and what is not
It doesn’t matter inside the Gates of Eden
Omaha1 writes:
"I have a much bigger problem with children's beauty pageants. One of my FB "friends" is all in with that and her five year old daughter is made up to look like a baby Barbie doll complete with somewhat sexy outfits (baring the tummy etc). Of course the little girl looks cute but also very unnatural. Maybe they both enjoy it but what is the little girl learning from this?"
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