Wednesday, April 14, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 5
Author warns of group labeling
By T.J. Johnson
By L.S. Johnson
johnson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Riki Anne Wilchins, executive director of GenderPAC, discusses transgender issues in the Kansas Union. Wilchins talked about problems of society imposing gender and sexuality labels. Photo by Mike Kelly/KANSAN
When most people look in the mirror in the morning, they see themselves as either a man or a woman, black or white, gay or straight. Author and transsexual activist Riki Anne Wilchins would like people to question the value placed on these categories in our society.
"You have to be one or the other, everybody knows that," Wilchins said of Western societal views of gender. "I didn't seem to fit into any of these categories. Maybe the problem isn't me, maybe it's the category."
Wilchins, author of "Read My Lips: Sexual Subversion and the End of Gender" and the executive director of GenderPAC, a group that works for gender, affectional and racial equality, spoke last night at the Pine Room in the Kansas Union as part of KU Queers and Allies pride week.
Wilhins said that in the efforts of Western society to find one common truth in all things, people who do not fit the strict confines of those definitions or categories are left out. The need to define every person as male or female did not fit with the views Wilhins had of the person she was.
These categories, she said, limited the ways in which people were allowed to define themselves, a problem Wilchins saw when asked to define herself.
"I also knew that if I looked it up in the dictionary under 'W,' I was not going to see a picture of someone who looked like me," Wilchins said. "No matter what was in the category of woman, I was not an example of that."
"If you can get someone to think of themselves as a homosexual or transgendered person, you have achieved a tremendous amount of control over them with very little effort, and it's self-sustaining because they now see that in the mirror," Wilchins said. "Once they see that in the mirror, you don't need to beat them up and throw them in prison to take away their civil rights. All you have to do is to perpetuate the fact that this is who I am inside and this creates a tremendous amount of conflict for some people."
Wilchins said some categories
One outcome of the effort to strictly categorize people is the ability to control them, Wilchins said. She said that by forcing someone to see themselves as a member of a certain category, you could affect their opinion of themselves.
could help define who we were to some extent but when the categories were applied indiscriminately, they oppressed people. Rather than organize themselves around identities, people should organize themselves around common goals, she said.
"You're asking people to question the most basic ways we have of dealing with the world," Wilchins said. Co-coordinators of pride week, Corrina Beck, Kansas City, Mo., senior, and Jack Shay, Lawrence resident, said they had enjoyed Wilchins' speech.
Shay said he thought Wilchins' speech would have been beneficial for people who had bad problems knowing how to classify themselves.
"I think it was a good choice for Q&A to have her come speak," Shay said.
--- Edited by Keith Burner
928 Mass.
Downtown
Finance assistant director gets honor
Quisenberry receives Ally award for sensitivity to gay community
By Clay McCuistion Special to the Kansan
Quisenberry, assistant director for finance in the Organizations and Leadership Center, received the second Ally award presented by the les/bi/gay/trans liaison's office and Quers and Allies.
Last night Aaron Quisenberry was honored with a triangular plaque and rocketship-shaped salt-and-pepper shakers.
The award honors a KU student, staff member or faculty member who shows sensitivity and care for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community. The plaque and shakers were presented at a lecture by transsexual author and activist Riki Anne Wilchins at the Pine Room in the Kansas Union.
The award and lecture were part of Pride Week.
"He's very honored with this and very saddened he couldn't be here," Hardy said of Quisenberry, who had University commitments.
David Hardy accepted the award on behalf of Quisenberry. Hardy works with Quisenberry as the manager of the optional campus fees program and is a doctoral candidate in hisher education.
Lisa Braun, Queers and Allies senator, nominated Quisenberry for the Ally award.
She said the two had in-depth conversations at the January LeaderShape conference.
"He really helped me change a lot of stereotypes I had about masculine men," Braun said. "He's one of the most easy-going, fun-loving, happy-go-lucky guys that I know."
Don Rowland, les/bi/gay/trans liaison for the University, said the award contributed to ongoing dialogue between diverse communities at the University.
Candidates for the award, which is presented each semester, are nominated by students. Those chosen must display a Queers-and-Allies "safe zone" notice in their offices. The names of the seven nominees were put in a box, and Quisenberry was chosen at random.
"We are not just a community of needs," said Rowland. "We also have talents, gifts and thanks to offer and share with everyone."
"We do that because we can't pick one ally over another by looking at the nominator's writing style," said Rowland. "Everyone's a winner because they're an ally."
Last semester's winner was Danny Kaiser, Organizations and Leadership Center director.
Quisenberry will receive a triangular plaque with an 'A' in the center, made by by Mark Sandercock of Luster Furniture Design in Lawrence, and the rocketship-shaped salt and pepper shakers from Blue Heron Home Furnishings. 921 Massachusetts St.
The six other nominees will receive certificates of recognition.
- Edited by Duane Waaler
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Men & Women Working Together to Stop Rape
The Clothesline Project
A visual display that bears witness to violence against women.Shirts created by women who are survivors of sexual violence are displayed to promote awareness and understanding
of the impact of these crimes.
Wednesday, April 14, and
Friday,April 16
10 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Stauffler-Flint Lawn
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For more information or for gp invasives:
McKenna J. McMahon, Jr. & Cummington, A. 841-441-624
or
645-353-5236
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