Interview with Kate Bornstein - Part 2

Monika: Some say that just as the birth control pill helped liberate cisgender women, advancements in cosmetic surgery have played a similar role in empowering transgender women, freeing them from the pressure to "pass" in a binary world. Do you think this comparison holds up?

Kate: Well, yes and no. The majority of trans people don’t have the money to pay for cosmetic surgery. So it becomes necessary to understand trans bodies as mixes, degrees of the beauty of man and the beauty of a woman. That’s its own kind of beauty, and it’s time we taught the world to acknowledge how very beautiful we are just the way we are.

Monika: What are your thoughts on transgender beauty pageants? Do you think they help challenge or reinforce mainstream ideas of beauty?

Kate: I wish I was beautiful enough to be in one! You know, pretty gets a bad rap. So do events and media that welcome pretty. That’s an attitude born of and tinged with misogyny. The bad part of institutionalizing pretty is that the organizers get to define what pretty is, instead of radically welcoming all the different kinds of pretty there are in life.

Monika: I’ve interviewed many transgender women from devout religious backgrounds, Catholicism, Judaism, Protestantism, and it seems these traditions often marginalize transgender people. How does the Church of Scientology view LGBTQ individuals?

Kate: Scientology sees LGBTQ people as literally evil.

 

"A Queer and Pleasant Danger"
via Amazon.

 

Monika: Is that the reason you left the Church in the 1980s?

Kate: Oh golly, no. In those days, I basically hated myself for being trans, so I agreed with Scientology when they said I was evil. I left them because I accidentally found out that L. Ron Hubbard was pocketing all the money we were supposedly earning for the church. After I left, that’s when I finally decided that evil or not, I’ve got to move forward with my gender transition, I’ve got to find out what I really am. It was what you might call a leap of faith. And here I am today because I leapt.

Monika: You once wrote, “The differences in the way men and women are treated are real. And the fact is this difference in treatment has no basis in the differences between men and women. I was the same person, and I was treated entirely differently. I got really interested in feminist theory, real fast.” Would you call yourself a feminist?

Kate: Hell yes!

Monika: Even though some cisgender feminists might deny you that right?

Kate: Look, no one gets to say what we call ourselves. The price of calling ourselves feminists is living feminism as fully as we can. And hey… I also call myself a tranny. Some transgender feminists deny me that right. We need to learn more about how to allow people to call themselves what they know themselves to be.

Monika: During your transition, did you have any transgender role models who inspired you? And today, are there transgender women you particularly admire and respect?

Kate: Growing up and pre-transition, there was Christine Jorgensen, Jan Morris, Canary Conn, Wendy Carlos, Renee Richards. But the trans woman who lit a fire in my heart was Caroline Cossey. She was known to the world then as Tula, the high fashion model and James Bond Girl. Her books, Tula and My Story, changed my life. She was a trans woman I could identify with.

Monika: How has your perspective on role models and admiration evolved as you’ve gotten older?

Kate: Today? Oh, darling, I’m 69 years old. At my advanced age, I’ve finally learned that there is something to admire and respect in every person that I meet, transgender, cisgender, or nonbinary. Do you know what the word namaste means? It’s an old, old Sanskrit word, meaning roughly "the deity in me recognizes the deity in you, and is pleased." So, Namaste, sister Monika. Namaste, dear reader.

Aging Fiercely While Trans (Vimeo)

Monika: The transgender cause is often included within the broader LGBTQ community. Since transgender and queer identities appear as the last letters in that abbreviation, do you think these communities are able to effectively promote their own issues and causes within the larger LGBTQ group?

Kate: Not yet. It’s a real problem and challenge for all of us out here on the edges of sexuality and gender. I’m writing about that now, in a new book I’m working on. It’s got the best title I’ve ever thought up: “Trans, Just For the Fun Of It!, Compassionate Gender Strategies for Divisive Times.” There’s far too much infighting in the numerous and disparate LGBTQ communities. And there’s far too much infighting in the numerous and disparate trans communities. I’m writing this book as an elder, in hopes of giving all my family some grandmotherly advice.

Monika: Are you involved in any lobbying or advocacy campaigns? Do you believe transgender women can make a meaningful difference in politics?

Kate: I have no idea. Politics is something I don’t understand very well. 

Monika: Do you think that, in our lifetime, we might see a transgender woman become President of the United States? Or at least First Lady?

Kate: Heh. Sooner president than First Lady. It’s a lot easier for the world to understand transgender people in politics and leadership than it is for the world to understand transgender people in love and romance.

Monika: Could you share what role love has played in your life?

Kate: It’s almost as important as compassion.

Photo by an audience member.

Monika: Are you working on any new projects at the moment?

Kate: I mentioned my new book. That’s taking all my time and energy these days. Thank you for asking such great questions; it’s helped me learn to better articulate what I’m trying to say.

Monika: What advice would you give to trans boys and girls who are struggling with gender dysphoria or coming to terms with the possibility of identifying as nonbinary?

Kate: Please stay alive. Stop struggling. Start navigating. Just keep swimming. I love you, and I have great respect for you. So do lots of people. Just don’t be mean.

Monika: My pen friend Gina Grahame once wrote to me that we shouldn’t limit our potential because of how we were born or by what we see other transsexual and transgender people doing. She said our dreams shouldn’t end on an operating table, that’s where they begin. Do you agree with this?

Kate: Yup.

Monika: Kate, thank you so much for this interview!

Kate: Bless your heart.

Main photo by Sam Feder.
All the photos: courtesy of Kate Bornstein.

© 2017 - Monika Kowalska

  

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