|
|
|
|
|
Camp TransCamp Trans is an annual counter-demonstration outside the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival by transsexual womyn and their allies, to protest the Festival's policy of excluding transsexual women from attending. The Festival has its roots in lesbian-feminist and lesbian-seperatist analysis of patriarchy, and is intended to provide a week-long safe space for attendees to enjoy music created exclusively by womyn, immerse themselves in womyn's culture and celebrate their womonhood in a safe environment without domination, oppression or interference by men. Its primary organizers adhere to a belief that a defining quality of womonhood comes from being born and raised in a female body in this society and that the presence of anyone who has experienced otherwise is inappropriate for maintaining the festival's safe space. The festival has maintained a policy of "womyn-born womyn only" since it's inception, which, though not systematically enforced, has become a lightning rod of controversy. Opponents of the policy argue for a less deterministic understanding of gender and insist that "womyn-born womyn" is a bogus category created specifically to exclude transsexual women, and as such, has no legitimacy as a subject position. Many Camp Trans supporters see the festival as a symbolic space, one which, as the largest womyn-only space in the United States, sets a precedent for the explicit or implicit exclusion of transgender womyn in other queer and feminist communities and establishments. They view the policy as transphobic. Much of the debate centers around the concept of privilege. While many supporters of the WBW policy argue that transgender womyn have experienced male privilege at some point in their lives, opponents insist that this viewpoint fails to recognize the oppression that transgender individuals face and the privilege that non-transgender people have in avoiding this oppression. In recent years, the controversy over the policy has also come to include debate about the presence of transman in womyn-only space and lesbian communities. History Camp Trans was sparked by a 1991 incident in which a woman was asked to leave the festival after her transsexual status became known to festival workers. The festival began for the first time to articulate a policy of allowing only "womyn-born womyn" to attend. The first official Camp Trans was held in 1994, when several transsexual womyn and their allies began camping and holding demonstrations outside the gate. After a five year-hiatus, Camp Trans returned in 1999 with the support of transgender activists Riki Ann Wilchins and Leslie Feinberg, as well as many members of the Boston and Chicago Lesbian Avengers. The events of this year drew much attention and controversy, culminating in heated tensions as a small group of transgender activists were admitted into the festival to dialogue with organizers and to negotiate a short-lived compromise allowing only post-operative transgender womyn on the festival land. Over the next three years, Camp Trans leadership shifted to members of the Chicago queer community, and the demographics of the camp changed to include many more transgender men and genderqueer-identified individuals. Few trans women attended during this period, as festival attendees increasingly came to view Camp Trans as a transgender annex of the festival, rather than a site of protest, and the camp itself did little to dispel this myth. In 2003, yet another group of activists took over the planning, with the goal of refocusing the camp's mission on protesting the festival's exclusion of transgender womyn. This group, many of whom were involved in outreach campaigns to musical artists associated with the festival, sought to create a broader community that is more welcoming to transgender womyn. Camp Trans has, in recent years, become somewhat of a mecca for the nationwide queer community, and has spurred the careers of a few famous queer celebrities and academics such as Riki Ann Wilchins. The camp has moved to a large swath of national forest land down the road from the festival and attracts close to 200 people each year. Attendees participate in direct actions and outreach to the festival-goers (or "festies") as well as workshops, games, dances and performances. They mostly spend the week living out of tents in the woods and eating communal meals by the campfire, as lesbian folk music echoes in the forest. (NOTE: in articles related to Camp Trans and the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, the words womyn and its singular, womon, are used as an alternative to the commonplace women and woman. This usage is an integral part of the communities described, and is not a typo, nor should it be written off as a POV, for it accurately represents the debates and controversies among them. To "correct" these spellings would be an offense.) Links Camp Trans website Detailed History of Camp Trans from 1991 to 2000
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|