[-empyre-] Situated body, Situated practices

Thu Sep 12 16:17:22 AEST 2019

Hi McKenzie, this will have to be brief… Okay, let’s see...

> On Sep 11, 2019, at 10:02 AM, warkk <WarkK at newschool.edu> wrote:
> 
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> 
> So Sandy: 
> how has your thinking changed, or not, since The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto?

I used to think that TERFs had as much right to spout their vitriol as anyone else, and thinking this occasionally got me into deep trouble, because I’d respond as if I were in a rational debate with a rational person.  Now I agree with a growing consensus that there is a point beyond which speech acts are acts of violence, and you do not enter into “debate” or rational discussion with someone who calls into question your right to exist.  Now we have no-platforming.  Before it had a name, it was a strategy that TERFs used against us at every opportunity, and now we’re finally learning to return the favor.  I don’t think I’ve changed my position much in other ways in relation to the trans* manifesto.  What about you?  What about other folks?

> 
> what do you think about the internet-spawned trans culture that sprang up, maybe mostly via tumblr?

I love it, although I don’t always agree with the more extreme ones.  But the fact that we’ve reached the point at which young trans* can express extreme views on social media says it all, don’t you think?

> 
> can you tell me a it about ageing? I just turned 58 and am already a middle aged woman… 

I can only tell you about aging from a personal perspective.  So ok, I’m, what, 82, 83, something?  I write, code, make stuff, and raise hell, active in several professional fields, sex is terrific…if anything, it gets better with time.  This isn’t a tell-all, so I’ll leave it at that.  I don’t hike, climb, or snowboard as much as I did, but I’m beginning to think that’s psychological.

Anyway, if it’s words of encouragement you want, you can have all I’ve got, and I’ve got plenty.  I’m fully aware that my view is not a universal one, and I can’t speak for trans* folk who find aging hard.  But from this admittedly limited perspective, in this particular embodiment, I intend to keep on adventuring, theorizing, and making love with the throttle pushed up to 110% until my body simply explodes.  I invite you to join me.

> do you find resonances between the techniques for our bodies and for our ears? Sound and body technics?

Sorry, I don’t know how to speak to that.  Maybe with a bit of reflection I’ll come up with something.  Besides, it’s getting late, and Shulea is trying to smoke me out of my cave and get me to post this.  What fun!

> 
> oh i have so much more, but just for a start... 
> 
> M
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 11:56 AM warkk <WarkK at newschool.edu <mailto:WarkK at newschool.edu>> wrote:
> Thanks for those references. I don’t know that documentary. In the overdeveloped world and perhaps elsewhere, all bodies, cis and trans, are experiments held together by both technical experiments and aesthetic experiments. Trans ppl don’t necessarily want to be seen as exceptional in that regard. Personally we m in the Freak Pride camp, but a lot of brothers, sisters and others just think of themselves as ordinary. The right to be ordinary is also an important one. M
> 
> On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 1:38 AM isabelle arvers <iarvers at gmail.com <mailto:iarvers at gmail.com>> wrote:
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> Hello everyone,
> 
> I so much agree with what has just been said;)
> On the subject one of the most beautiful things I have heard so far is in Bixa Travesty documentary in which Mc Linn Da Quebrada says that our body is our own territory of experimentation;)
> also loved the idea of the documentary Sea Horse about the man who had a baby,
> Cheers
> 
> Isabelle
> 
>  <http://www.isabellearvers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/animLogo.gif>
> Isabelle Arvers
> Curator, art critic and artist
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> 
> Le mer. 11 sept. 2019 à 13:13, Jaimes Mayhew <jaimes.mayhew at gmail.com <mailto:jaimes.mayhew at gmail.com>> a écrit :
> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
> Hi everyone,
> I have been in this listserve since 2008 and I can’t recall ever posting, but I was inspired to share that seeing this conversation made my heart swell. I am also transgender, and transitioned early in my career. 
> 
> I’m struck that just 15-20 years ago, seeing this kind of conversation about trans* people on a list for art people seemed impossible. I’ve found people who are trans* in every city I’ve lived in via social media as a way to make friends and find allies. First Friendster, then MySpace and now Facebook. 
> 
> McKenzie, I am a fan of your work, and was so excited to see you present at CAA in NYC a couple of years ago. I remember seeing you and wondering if you might be family. 
> 
> What else can I say? I’m grateful for this moment.
> 
> Sent from my phone. Please excuse any typos or brevity.
> 
> On Sep 10, 2019, at 6:05 AM, warkk <WarkK at newschool.edu <mailto:WarkK at newschool.edu>> wrote:
> 
>> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
>> 
>> 
>> When i came out (on Facebook, natch), Sandy sent me a message which said: "Now you know why, when i met you, i made you nervous."
>> 
>> True story. I had so much internalized transphobia because i knew i was clinging on to masculinity by a thread. 
>> 
>> "The internet" has a lot to answer for. It turns out media designed for extracting surplus information out of us is a great breeding ground for Nazis. 
>> 
>> Then again, it is a space where trans ppl can find each other. I'm transitioning with the help of big sisters i know IRL -- but met on twitter. 
>> 
>> Then again again, its a space for ppl who hate us. Its exhausting playing whack-a-mole with ppl who think you are not human.
>> 
>> The actual German-style Nazis started with queer and trans ppl too. The Nazi-book burning pictures you see most often are of the Hirschfeld library.
>> 
>> Who was Hirschfield? Who was Harry Benjamin? What was the medicalized model of the transsexual? Well for that you'd need to read this:
>> http://www.sterneck.net/gender/stone-posttranssexuel/index.php <http://www.sterneck.net/gender/stone-posttranssexuel/index.php>
>> 
>> -- in which Sandy became big sister to us all. 
>> 
>> Ironically enough, for complicated reasons, i'm among sisters who all call ourselves transsexuals again. 
>> 
>> But then one of themes is change, right?
>> 
>> On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 2:17 AM Allucquere Rosanne Stone <allucquere.stone at gmail.com <mailto:allucquere.stone at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
>> Hi folks, Sandy here.  McKenzie and I met in the mythic time of the latter part of the XXth Century, when she (then he) met a busful of middle-aged theoreticians debarking at a conference venue.  McKenzie glanced at me and then stared with an expression I interpreted as loathing, and which later I realized was something more akin to terror.  I thought that they might be an F2M afraid of being outed, so out of courtesy I gave them a wide berth.  In retrospect I wish I hadn’t.  Roads not taken, ships that pass in the night…
>> 
>> At any rate, we’re here now, and it’s a great pleasure.
>> 
>> Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of young transpeople in what at some point in the past was a general catchphrase for personal turbulence: going through changes.  Right. Ch-ch-ch-changes.  Who knew.
>> 
>> Well.  The present moment is so chockfull of changes.  A close relative, an intelligent, perceptive, empathetic and caring person, is a Trumpist.  J Epstein, an intelligent, perceptive philanthropist, was a raging pedophile.  Valerie Plame has launched a campaign video that either reduces or elevates politics to the level of Hollywood spectacle — literally… all it lacks is Jason Statham and Vin Diesel getting out of the car behind her.  A woman has given birth to a cow’s head.  We’re all busy slouching toward our particular Bethlehem.  What’s not to like?
>> 
>> I’ll say something about change that’s more related to this thread later.  This is just a little introductory blurt until I have more time.
>> 
>> Sandy
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Allucquere Rosanne Stone
>> Drive-by Theoretician
>> 
>> Faust: How comes it then that thou art out of hell?
>> Meph: Why this is hell, nor am I out of it.
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone. Please enjoy all autocorrects and typos.
>> _______________________________________________
>> empyre forum
>> empyre at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au <mailto:empyre at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au>
>> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu <http://empyre.library.cornell.edu/>
>> 
>> -- 
>> McKenzie Wark (they/she)
>> Professor of Media and Culture
>> EUGENE LANG COLLEGE
>> 65 w11th st, NEW YORK, NY 10011 <https://www.google.com/maps/search/65+w11th+st,+NEW+YORK,+NY+10011?entry=gmail&source=g>
>> warkk at newschool.edu <http://www.newschool.edu/marketing-communication/email-signature.html#>
>> T 212 229 5100 2241 / M 646 3697266 / @mckenziewark / room #456
>> 
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>> empyre forum
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>> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu <http://empyre.library.cornell.edu/>_______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au <mailto:empyre at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au>
> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu <http://empyre.library.cornell.edu/>_______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au <mailto:empyre at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au>
> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu <http://empyre.library.cornell.edu/>-- 
> McKenzie Wark (they/she)
> Professor of Media and Culture
> EUGENE LANG COLLEGE
> 65 w11th st, NEW YORK, NY 10011
> warkk at newschool.edu <http://www.newschool.edu/marketing-communication/email-signature.html#>
> T 212 229 5100 2241 / M 646 3697266 / @mckenziewark / room #456
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> McKenzie Wark (they/she)
> Professor of Media and Culture
> EUGENE LANG COLLEGE
> 65 w11th st, NEW YORK, NY 10011
> warkk at newschool.edu <http://www.newschool.edu/marketing-communication/email-signature.html#>
> T 212 229 5100 2241 / M 646 3697266 / @mckenziewark / room #456
> 
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> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu <http://empyre.library.cornell.edu/>
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