This week in GSA, we discussed the concept of passing and how it applies to the LGBT community, as well as other marginalized groups. Passing is an important concept to understand, as it shows up in all kinds of places--including as an important factor in understanding the conflict between Professor X and Magneto in Marvel Comics’s X-Men.
Passing is the ability of a person to be regarded as a member of a social group other than one’s own, generally with the person aiming to gain social acceptance and/or access to external aspects of privilege. In order to understand this, it is necessary to understand that there are two types of privilege: an internal type that deals primarily with things like self-perception and identifying with what is represented in media (ie watching a TV show and seeing a white male character if you yourself are a white male), and an external type that deals with all other types of privilege (ie a man being taken more seriously than a woman, etc).
People attempt to pass for many different reasons; safety often factors into it. If a person of color can pass as white in an area where their race might put them in danger of harassment or assault, it seems to their advantage to pass. Being taken more seriously as a cisgender person might be a reason a trans* person would try to pass. Wolverine fights cage matches without his claws out because of the harassment he receives when others know he is a mutant (see the first X-Men movie for a visual example of this).
Understanding passing is important to understanding that it can be impossible to really know who is around you; it might be easier in a smaller community like WRA where we seem know everything about one another, but you can’t ‘tell’ gay kids from straight kids, trans* kids from cisgender kids, or mutant kids from human kids. Being careful with our language isn’t just important around people we know to be members of non-privileged groups, it’s important at all times. We also should understand that passing can divide groups, and that access to privilege can affect the way those without access privilege perceive those with the access to privilege; for example, if you look at most of the mutants who joined up with Magneto in the X-Men movies, many cannot pass as humans and so would not be able to have access to being accepted as humans the way many of those who are on Xavier’s side might.
There is also the concept of ‘being passed’, wherein a person passes without the intent of passing; that is, they are seen as a member of another group without trying to. While this may sound like it could be beneficial, if one, for example, doesn’t know that they are being read as a man and they walk into a women’s restroom, complications could arise.
Next week in GSA, we’re going to talk about trans* people, giving you the basics of the complicated and wonderful mess that is gender identity! If you have any questions, you can bring them to the meeting and ask them anonymously (similar to the Q+A sessions we did back in September). We’re also going to be making ribbons to wear on Friday for Transgender Day of Remembrance, so bring your crafty selves! We look forward to seeing you!
Sunday, November 13
Sunday, November 6
11/3: Blood Donations!
This week in GSA we held a discussion about the policies of the American Red Cross and other blood donation organizations in dealing with MSM (men who have sex with men), and women who have had sex with a man who has had sex with men. In 22 countries, including the United States, the MSM community cannot donate blood and are immediately given a permanent deferral, meaning they cannot donate blood. Some countries have a range of time (anywhere from six months to five years) after which, if a man has not had sex with a man in that time, he may donate blood. There are four countries who used to defer the MSM community, but no longer use MSM as part of their criteria for deferrals.
The reasoning for this primarily is the higher risk MSM have of getting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The MSM community who have had sex after 1977 have a prevalence of HIV infection that is 60 times higher than the rest of the population, and the chance of infection if you are exposed to infected blood in a blood transfusion is 99%. Although all blood donations are screened, HIV can remain dormant and undetected in a person’s body for anywhere from several weeks to several years.
The general consensus of those who attended the meeting was that the policy of permanent deferral of the MSM community was fairly reasonable until HIV testing could be more accurate. But then Doc Rob pointed out that blood donations are really just contingent on trusting that people answer the questions truthfully. So a member of the MSM community could lie on the questionnaire to donate blood. The American Red Cross is also frequently in a state of emergency regarding the amount of donated blood. So is it right to eliminate an entire group of the population when they need the blood and test all blood received anyway? Leave a comment below with your opinion, or send us an email at gsa.wra@gmail.com!
This weekend, the GSA leadership had the opportunity to attend GLSEN of Northeast Ohio’s Youth Conference. We learned a lot and are excited about the opportunity to join up with other GSAs in our area.
On another note, we finally have a date set for our cabaret of songs by LGBT artists! It will be Saturday, February 25th. Because we want you to have plenty of time to rehearse, we would like your song selections by November 30th, after Thanksgiving break. If you need some ideas for a song, you can email us for a list of LGBT artists, or google ‘list of LGBT musicians’ (or something along those lines). We look forward to hearing from you about your selections, and we hope to see you at next week’s meeting, when we are discussing the concept of passing!
The reasoning for this primarily is the higher risk MSM have of getting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The MSM community who have had sex after 1977 have a prevalence of HIV infection that is 60 times higher than the rest of the population, and the chance of infection if you are exposed to infected blood in a blood transfusion is 99%. Although all blood donations are screened, HIV can remain dormant and undetected in a person’s body for anywhere from several weeks to several years.
The general consensus of those who attended the meeting was that the policy of permanent deferral of the MSM community was fairly reasonable until HIV testing could be more accurate. But then Doc Rob pointed out that blood donations are really just contingent on trusting that people answer the questions truthfully. So a member of the MSM community could lie on the questionnaire to donate blood. The American Red Cross is also frequently in a state of emergency regarding the amount of donated blood. So is it right to eliminate an entire group of the population when they need the blood and test all blood received anyway? Leave a comment below with your opinion, or send us an email at gsa.wra@gmail.com!
This weekend, the GSA leadership had the opportunity to attend GLSEN of Northeast Ohio’s Youth Conference. We learned a lot and are excited about the opportunity to join up with other GSAs in our area.
On another note, we finally have a date set for our cabaret of songs by LGBT artists! It will be Saturday, February 25th. Because we want you to have plenty of time to rehearse, we would like your song selections by November 30th, after Thanksgiving break. If you need some ideas for a song, you can email us for a list of LGBT artists, or google ‘list of LGBT musicians’ (or something along those lines). We look forward to hearing from you about your selections, and we hope to see you at next week’s meeting, when we are discussing the concept of passing!
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