Interview with Kate Bornstein - Part 2

Monika: I have read somewhere that cisgender women were liberated thanks to the development of contraceptive pills whereas transgender women are free now thanks to the development of cosmetic surgery, so they are no longer prisoners of passing or non-passing syndrome …

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.

"A Queer and Pleasant Danger"
via Amazon.

Monika: What do you think about transgender beauty pageants?☺

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 have interviewed many transgender ladies with very devout religious backgrounds: Catholicism, Judaism, and Protestantism. What strikes me is that these religions do not embrace the existence of transgender people, placing them always on the margin of the community? Is the Church of Scientology different in this respect?

Kate: Scientology sees LGBTQ people as literally evil.
Monika: Is it why 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 wrote once: “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 if some cisgender feminists deny you this 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: At that time of your transition, did you have any transgender role models that you followed? Are there are any transgender ladies that you admire and respect now?

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.

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.

Monika: The transgender cause is usually manifested together with the other LGBTQ communities. Being the last letters in this abbreviation, are the transgender and queer communities able to promote their own cause within the 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 in-fighting in the numerous and disparate LGBTQ communities. And there’s far too much in-fighting 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: Do you participate in any lobbying campaigns? Do you think transgender women can make a 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 could live to see the day when a transgender lady could become the President of the USA? Or the First Lady at least?☺

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

Monika: Could you tell me about the importance of love in your life?

Kate: It’s almost as important as compassion.

Photo by an audience member.

Monika: Are you working on any new projects now?

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

Monika: What would you recommend to all trans boys and girls struggling with gender dysphoria, or coming to terms with the option of nonbinary gender?

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 wrote to me once that we should not limit our potential because of how we were born or by what we see other transsexuals and transgender people doing. Our dreams should not end on an operating table; that’s where they begin. Do you agree with this?

Kate: yup

Monika: Kate, thank you for the interview!

Kate: Bless your heart.

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

© 2017 - Monika Kowalska

  

Some documentaries with Kate Bornstein:

• Jane Whitney Show: Sarah Luiz (1993)
  Show: The Jane Whitney Show Release Year: 1993 In 1993, Sarah Luiz, a transgender woman, took a brave step forward in the ongoing battle for transgender visibility and acceptance...
  
• Roseanne Show: Bornstein, Kammerer and Lamar (1999)
  Show: Roseanne Show Release Year: 1999 In the late 1990s, a cultural shift was beginning to take place, particularly regarding issues surrounding gender identity and the LGBTQ+...
  
• I Am Cait
  Executive Producers: Caitlyn Jenner, Gil Goldschein, Jeff Jenkins, Farnaz Farjam, Andrea Metz, Melissa Bidwell Release Year: 2015 "I Am Cait" is an American...
  
• Kate Bornstein Is a Queer and Pleasant Danger
  Director: Sam Feder Release Year: 2014 "Kate Bornstein Is a Queer and Pleasant Danger," directed by Sam Feder, offers an illuminating portrait of Kate Bornstein, a...
  
• Genderf*kation: A Gender Emancipation
  Director: Chris Durant Release Year: 2011 "Genderf*kation: A Gender Emancipation," directed by Chris Durant, is an essential documentary that takes viewers on a...
  
• Adventures in The Gender Trade
  Director: Susan Marenco Release Year: 1993 Adventures in the Gender Trade (1993) is a groundbreaking documentary by Susan Marenco that explores the fluidity and complexity of...
  
• Almost Myself
  Director: T. Joe Murray Release Year: 2006 In the documentary "Almost Myself" (2006), filmmaker T. Joe Murray embarks on a remarkable journey to explore the complexities of...