After reading The Pink by Andrea Chu, the main idea that seemed to stand out from all the discussion about feminism, and what being feminist meant and how contradicting the ideas in the community can be, was the idea of change. From the introduction’s descriptions of Chu’s operation from having male genitalia to having female genitalia, and from the discussions of how the feminist movement changed with the inclusion of trans people, to denoting the changes about what being “feminist” meant as the movement moved with the times, the one thing I found that they all had in common was change.
After the second point of critique for the pussyhat, what immediately became obvious was the motif of change. From detailing her own physical change, to diving into the history of how trans women changed the feminist movement’s stances on inclusion and being sensitive to holistic representation, the only constant I saw was the lack of constance itself. Chu’s body and perception of herself was shifted, similar to how the symbolism of the pussyhat shifted the movement’s ideas of having a face in their movement back then. Reading Chu’s account of her own change and the change of the feminism movement was like historical deja vu, where the story of a person belonging to the group that spurred change in the movement is being accounted, and the importance of their existence is highlighted.
The symbol in the picture is a Chinese word for change. I picked the letter over a phoenix because despite the “rebirth” symbolism of the phoenix, there weren’t any decent pictures online and I decided that I wanted the media to be literal. No fancy symbolism, nor any discussions about what the bird could symbolize (especially since the phoenix could also represent eternity). Just straight-up “change” in a black and white format that I edited from a cartoon’s title card. Simple, efficient, and conveys the meaning directly.
Dom, hey. Great share. I love the simple elegance of this Chinese character that you’ve selected as your media. Do you speak and/or write Chinese? I really wish I could…
As for your comments on Chu, I like the way you’ve highlighted the link between her account of historical shifts in feminism brought about by the trans- movement and her own transformation from cis-masculine to trans-femme. “The only constant I saw was the lack of constance itself” is a brilliant way of thinking about the irony in Chu’s account—which is part of what makes her text so compelling to me. For instance, what do you think of how honest she is about not fully feeling like a woman after the operation? After all that! And yet, let’s be careful not to think of her as regretting her decision to transition; she’s not sad or remorseful, but she does approach this experience with a bit of irony, which is perhaps what indicates to us a certain instability of meaning in her text—and in the kind of trans-feminism I think she wants to advocate for.
I learned a bit of writing Chinese back in elementary but I never really went anywhere with it, partly because of a lack of interest and mostly because it was a class that I didn’t really like. I decided on the character because I like Eastern philosophy and the character comes from The Legend of Korra, which is another show that I like and know to have accurate title cards. I’m kinda thinking about learning Eastern languages, because the philosophical texts have interesting ideologies. Some books like the Art of War and the Book Of Five Rings have English translations, and I think they’re good introductory texts into Eastern philosophy. I myself haven’t read them, but I’ve glimpsed at some of the summaries and all the lessons taught in the texts, and I think they’re worth checking out if you’re ever interested in Chinese or other Eastern languages/ideologies.
I think that Chu’s honesty about not feeling like a woman after her operation is a testament to how brave she was in her decision and it shows how committed she was to the process; I think someone who was on the fence about an operation like that would be relieved that they didn’t feel the change that quick or that much, and her admittance to her lack of assurance in being a woman and the way she relates the effect of the trans people into the feminist movement humanizes her account even more for me, because anyone can relate to the feeling of being unsure about a big decision, and the effort to bring change to whatever someone may think needs change. I’d even go as far to say that the hint of irony and the semi-comedic style of writing helps the text be more appealing and comprehensible to people (such as myself) who didn’t understand the intricacies of sensitivity when it comes to trans people and their stances in the women’s movement before reading this account.