Comments on: Gazing at Semenya http://theoryculture.com/2009/09/gazing-at-semenya/ theory as culture, culture as theory Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:17:23 -0500 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: Kate http://theoryculture.com/2009/09/gazing-at-semenya/comment-page-1/#comment-338 Kate Sat, 12 Sep 2009 17:50:58 +0000 http://theoryculture.com/?p=142#comment-338 Great (and scary) parallels. Feminist and queer theorists have a habit of making trans and intersex people serve as examples for our own theories, in that instrumental way women have been used by lots of male theorists. Pick up any book about transgender issues, and it will most likely start with a detailed story about an individual. I understand the impulse, but the actual people we're talking about--in this case, Semenya--disappear and their bodies become game for incredibly invasive voyeurism and use. I find Jacob Hale's rules for non-trans people writing about trans issues really helpful in thinking about how to talk about people who aren't ourselves: http://sandystone.com/hale.rules.html Thanks for the post. Great (and scary) parallels. Feminist and queer theorists have a habit of making trans and intersex people serve as examples for our own theories, in that instrumental way women have been used by lots of male theorists. Pick up any book about transgender issues, and it will most likely start with a detailed story about an individual. I understand the impulse, but the actual people we’re talking about–in this case, Semenya–disappear and their bodies become game for incredibly invasive voyeurism and use.

I find Jacob Hale’s rules for non-trans people writing about trans issues really helpful in thinking about how to talk about people who aren’t ourselves: http://sandystone.com/hale.rules.html

Thanks for the post.

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