April 2011

Introducing Columbia

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When we attended Creating Change in Minneapolis in early February, we were frequently asked “Why Columbia?” To answer this question we might as well start with explaining what Columbia is, and how it relates to our website name, VenusPlusX, and the familiar trigender symbol we associate with our work.

It’s pretty obvious that the word symbol C-O-L-U-M-B-I-A is based on “Columbus,” the name of the purported “discoverer of the new world,” but how did this begin? The great lexicographer, Samuel Johnson, seems to have first used “Columbia” (rather than “America”) as a rather obvious codeword to designate the colonies in North America in reports he prepared of parliamentary debates in which actual names could not be used. Over time popular usage increased and, by the 18th century, the name had come to designate the spirit of an emerging nation.

Columbia was depicted in feminine garb, adopting the red, white, and blue colors. By the time of the founding of the nation, the image of Columbia had become that of a popular demigoddess, a power guarding our nation in the fulfillment of its destiny, a personalization of our collective ideals of freedom, equality, justice, and liberty for all. The song, “Hail, Columbia” was effectively our national anthem until replaced by the “Star Spangled Banner.” The words of the second verse speak in depth to our national spirit:

Immortal patriots, rise once more,
Defend your rights, defend your shore!
Let no rude foe, with impious hand,
Let no rude foe, with impious hand,
Invade the shrine where sacred lies
Of toil and blood, the well-earned prize,
While off’ring peace, sincere and just,
In Heaven’s we place a manly trust,
That truth and justice will prevail,
And every scheme of bondage fail.
Chorus
Firm, united let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.

 

By joining ourselves to the name, Columbia, we proudly declare our allegiance to the cosmic ideals on which the nation was founded. Columbia is not merely a mythic vision attached to a set of sublime ideals. In Columbia, that vision finds resonance with the forces of destiny that shape humanity’s development away from the superstitious linear imperatives of history towards a fabulous future in which our highest ideals of beauty, goodness, truth, and love find full realization, even in everyday life.

In future posts we will further explore the true meaning we attach to Columbia in depth. Because the word “Columbia” is in extensive commercial use for almost every conceivable purpose, and our organization needs a name under which to do business that is relatively unique to us and our purpose, we have adopted “VenusPlusX” as the name under which we do business. VenusPlusX is the title of a science fiction novel by Theodore Sturgeon, published in 1960. In this novel, Sturgeon envisions a future in which all humans are physical androgynes, possessing reproductive organs of both sexes. Although Sturgeon’s novel is fantasy, its vision resonates with our own concepts of a transgender future for those who would be transhuman.

Let the trigender symbol stand as a wordless reminder of the power of unity in diversity across all variations in the expression of Love, the desire to do good to others.

–Dan Massey

Your Destiny is Transgender

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También en español Last week we attended a meeting of the trans section of a local PFLAG chapter. I guess there’s nowhere to fit the T into the acronym, much less the fully erased B. In any case, it’s clear these folks provide an important service to the trans community. Both parents of trans kids and trans parents were there, with the adult trans experience and wisdom helping the parents better cope with natural anxieties, given the extreme social pressures their children face.

As you know from my paper Why We Are All Transgender,  we consider the term “transgender” to be denotive of a human quality that reflects individual attunement and sensitivity to the natural psychic organization of the universe, which has no concept of “gender”. Only where actual physical reproduction occurs, do beings initially begin life in bodies segregated by genetic sex. Once such bodies pass reproductive age, there is no value in retaining genetic sex sterotypes. For reasons we do not understand, some people become attuned to this transgender destiny at an early age, even as children, and develop socially and present themselves androgynously.

In the trans PFLAG meeting, I was thinking how amazing and beautiful it was that these young people were blessed with this cosmic eruption into everyday life, that they might lead a doubting humanity to live the truth. And then I offered a comment aloud that I thought these kids were truly blessed. But I know that this understanding I feel in my heart for out entire trans community is completely at variance with just about everyone’s life experience.

With this thought in mind, I want you to take a look at the report Injustice at Every Turn, recently released by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. This depicts in full detail how every formal component of human society denies the most basic human rights to the transgender. This report is a scathing illumination of the most vile aspects of collective human behavior in areas of economy, government, and religion. It is incomprehensible to me how people can be so ignorant, fearful, and callous as to deny these unusually gifted individuals the right to contribute meaningfully to society.

I will return to this topic in future notes, because this relates closely to the central, foundational challenge of reforming society’s views on sexual freedom, beginning with Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SO+GI).

–Dan Massey

Sexual Healing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight, we just returned from the opening of Momentum, a weekend about “making waves in sexuality, feminism, and relationships through new media.”

First up, sex positivity stars Jenny BlockTristan TaorminoReid Mihalko, and Carol Queen (pictured left to right above with moderator Lynn Comella on the far right). The fivesome talked and took questions about the role of sexuality in today’s culture and what all of us can do to generate conversations about sexuality that fit into daily life.

The best half hour of the night was stolen, though, by the stand-up stylings of Maria Falzone. According to the write up, this was an abbreviated version of Falzone’s “SEX RULES,” an act she performs all over the country, talking about “serious sexual subjects in a frank and funny manner” resulting in a few hundred people laughing uncontrollably.

We’ll keep you updated on the sold-out weekend (#mcon). Based on the diverse audience this conference has brought to Washington, D.C., it should be very interesting. In a sex-positive world, sex work is respected, and a lot of Saturday and Sunday’s sessions will delve into taking this work out in the sunlight. One of the campaigns Team COLUMBIA at venusplusx.org has started this year has to do with just that.

Decriminalization or legalization of the oldest profession is long overdue in this country. In Washington, DC, one of just a handful of locales with truly progressive human rights laws, we are participating in a multi-year campaign starting with satisfying immediate public health needs and full access to health care, zero tolerance for all forms “survival sex” and human trafficking and slavery, and the full-on creation of a legitimate, out-of-the-shadows “sexual healing” industry, licensed, regulated, and even unionized to serve interested clientele out of the shadow of criminality and shame. Like, “By the way, dear, I’m stopping off for a sexual healing session right after my yoga class.”

If you are interested in getting involved, please write to Dan or Alison at columbia@venusplusx.org.