September 15, 2014 - 17:20
In Freaks and Queers, Clare discusses how the LGBT community has taken the word "queer" out of the hands of homophobes and transformed it into a word of pride and coalition. He says, "The word names a reality. Yes, we are different; we are outsiders; we do not fit the dominant culture's definition of normal. Queer celebrates that difference rather than hiding or denying it" (113).
The conversation we're having about transwomen at Bryn Mawr is loaded with nuance and controversy, and some of the issues Clare takes on in his memoir parallel the issues we're discussing here on campus. Something Dean Barker brought up in our conversation last Tuesday was that women's colleges are established to give a marginalized group opportunities in academia that they may otherwise not have access to. Bryn Mawr provides a community where support from faculty and students is not only encouraged, but a critical part of the "Bryn Mawr experience." Our social and academic honor codes and our commitment to SGA give each community member value and importance.
Because the founding reason for women's colleges is to be a place for marginalized groups, I don't see how it's possible that we haven't already publically established a policy that allows transwomen admission to the college. Sula brought up a good point in our discussion last week. She said that there seems to be some concern that if Bryn Mawr makes a public announcement that we accept transwomen, on a case by case basis or otherwise, there will be some kind of surge of cisgendered men trying to fool the system and enter into a women's college. I'm not sure where this concern is coming from. It seems to me that the people voicing this fear are masking an underlying fear of change. Why should we protect the feelings of the members of the board of trustees who don't want transwomen to attend Bryn Mawr? Why should we, the current members of the Bryn Mawr community, enable the continuation of the college's long history of slow progress? We have the power to make change now, and we have the advantage of having a current president who is dedicated to both advocating for current Bryn Mawr students, and making significant change for our community.
What I've found problematic about the conversations I've been hearing around campus between some of my friends (separate from the conversations hosted by the administration), is that there's been a lot of focus on "what makes a woman" and "what it means to be a 'real' woman." I think we need to shift the paradigm we're working with to think of this issue of keeping the admission of transwomen under wraps as a violation of human rights. By excluding transwomen from attending our school, we're embodying the very system we say we're fighting against by being a "women's" college. We're all outsiders to the patriarchy. None of us fit the dominant culture's definition of normal. As Eli Clare poses throughout his memoir, we should celebrate our differences instead of hiding or denying them.