#Reina Gossett

[transbookoftheday]

Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility edited by Reina Gossett, Eric A. Stanley and Johanna Burton

Essays, conversations, and archival investigations explore the paradoxes, limitations, and social ramifications of trans representation within contemporary culture.

The increasing representation of trans identity throughout art and popular culture in recent years has been nothing if not paradoxical. Trans visibility is touted as a sign of a liberal society, but it has coincided with a political moment marked both by heightened violence against trans people (especially trans women of color) and by the suppression of trans rights under civil law. Trap Door grapples with these contradictions.

The essays, conversations, and dossiers gathered here delve into themes as wide-ranging yet interconnected as beauty, performativity, activism, and police brutality. Collectively, they attest to how trans people are frequently offered “doors”—entrances to visibility and recognition—that are actually “traps,” accommodating trans bodies and communities only insofar as they cooperate with dominant norms. The volume speculates about a third term, perhaps uniquely suited for our time: the trapdoor, neither entrance nor exit, but a secret passageway leading elsewhere. Trap Door begins a conversation that extends through and beyond trans culture, showing how these issues have relevance for anyone invested in the ethics of visual culture. 

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility edited by Reina Gossett, Eric A. Stanley and Johanna Burton

goodreads

The increasing representation of trans identity throughout art and popular culture in recent years has been nothing if not paradoxical. Trans visibility is touted as a sign of a liberal society, but it has coincided with a political moment marked both by heightened violence against trans people (especially trans women of color) and by the suppression of trans rights under civil law. Trap Door grapples with these contradictions. The essays, conversations, and dossiers gathered here delve into themes as wide-ranging yet interconnected as beauty, performativity, activism, and police brutality. Collectively, they attest to how trans people are frequently offered “doors”—entrances to visibility and recognition—that are actually “traps” accommodating trans bodies and communities only insofar as they cooperate with dominant norms. The volume speculates about a third term, perhaps uniquely suited for our time: the trapdoor, neither entrance nor exit, but a secret passageway leading elsewhere. Trap Door begins a conversation that extends through and beyond trans culture, showing how these issues have relevance for anyone invested in the ethics of visual culture.

Mod opinion: I hadn't heard of this collection of trans theory yet, but it sounds fascinating!

[mondfahrt]

Got tagged by @evelynhug0 and oh, maybe i should actually do one of these sometimes, i always forget, oops.

Tag ten people you want to get to know better. really not in the mood sorry to think that far, sorry.

Fav color: green and pink

Currently reading: "autumn" by ali smith, "six crimson cranes" by elizabeth lim, "from blood and ash" by jennifer l. armentrout, and academically "trap door. trans cultural production and the politics of visibility" ed. by reina gossett, eric a. stanley and johanna burton

Last song: "I'm With You (Acoustic)" by Mayday Parade

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Sweet

Fav Alcoholic drink: Moscow Mule

Currently working on: finding the best and cheapest flight route for my USA/Canada trip next year and trying not to get a heart attack in the process

Traditional or Modern: ??? what does this mean ???

Fav Writer: cornelia funke

Fav Dessert: apple pie (Apfelkuchen)

Fav Rapper: frank ocean

Fav Soccer/Hockey/Tennis player: i don't play favourites with sports, it's about the team ritsu doan

Color of your Bedroom: dark green

Fav politician: ???? no???

Loyalty or Lust: loyalty

Pizza or Pasta: pasta

Are you Vegan/Veggie: no

Fav time period: 2012

Love or Hate: love

Last Series Watched: from scratch

Classical or Rock Music: rock

Fairy or Dragon: at the moment.... dragon

GOT or LOTR: lord of the rings

[finalfemme666]

[yeswecancan]

Films in 2018 #130 Happy Birthday, Marsha!, 2017. Directed by Reina Gossett & Sasha Wortzel

★★★★★★★ - - -

[skylightbooks]

Toward Creating a Trans Literary Canon

So it’s not a canon exactly, but a corpus. It’s something more like a body: mutable, evolving, flexible, open, exposed, exposing. It’s the opposite of erasure; it’s an inscription.

[ithelpstodream]

Support Reina Gossett — she made Happy Birthday, Marsha! Book her as a speaker! Let others know about her work! http://www.reinagossett.com

[wocinsolidarity]

Transgender Awareness Week is an annual commemoration from November 13 through November 17 to increase visibility for trans people that’s not predicated upon pain, loss, or death. For far too long trans stories have been limited to those told from a cisgender perspective. From slam poets to academics, these 16 trans creators are changing the way their stories are told. Let them lead the way.

[gaywrites]

ICYMI: Over the weekend, Black trans artist and activist Reina Gossett shared an Instagram post stating that David France, creator of the new documentary The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, stole her work. France denies it.

Here’s Reina’s full statement from Instagram: 

#deepshare #realtruth this week while I'm borrowing money to pay rent, david france is releasing his multimillion dollar netflix deal on marsha p johnson. i'm still lost in the music trying to #pay_it_no_mind and reeling on how this movie came to be and make so much $ off of our lives and ideas. david got inspired to make this film from a grant application video that @sashawortzel & I made and sent to Kalamazoo/Arcus Foundation social justice center while he was visiting. He told the people who worked there -i shit you not- that he should be the one to do this film, got a grant from Sundance/Arcus using my language and research about STAR, got Vimeo to remove my video of Sylvia's critical "y'all better quiet down" speech, ripped off decades of my archival research that i experienced so much violence to get, had his staff call Sasha up at work to get our contacts then hired my and Sasha's *ADVISOR* to our Marsha film Kimberly Reed to be his producer. And that's just the shit I have the spoons to name. TRUST🥄THERE'S🥄SO🥄MUCH 🥄MORE🥄. This kind of extraction/excavation of black life, disabled life, poor life, trans life is so old and so deeply connected to the violence Marsha had to deal with throughout her life. So I feel so much rage and grief over all of this & STAR must have some serious level plan on moving through many---and clearly by any means necessary---to get the message out... So tonight I'm channeling high priestess energy to show me the honey throne cuz this storm queen is 😖😫😱

Janet Mock also chimed in about Reina’s statement, saying:

This brilliant black trans girl went about researching, archiving & digitizing content that was previously inaccessible for decades. She interviewed Marsha & Sylvia’s peers. She did this work without pay. Today, this black trans woman’s work about a black trans woman was used to make a film helmed by a credentialed white cis man aided by Netflix’s millions. Meanwhile Reina is borrowing money to pay rent as viewers around the world watch a film based on her unpaid, uncredited work. Support Reina — she made @hbdmarsha w/ @sashawortzel! Book her as a speaker! Let others know about her vital contributions. These are our stories, our lives and we will not be erased or silenced.

We would be nowhere without the labor and sacrifices of transgender women of color. We must not ever forget it. (via Teen Vogue)

[Image description: A screenshot from an Instagram photo of Reina Gossett smiling with her eyes closed, followed by the text above.]

[canmom]

i had been wondering what happened to Reina Gossett’s film Happy Birthday Marsha. Turns out: some piece of shit white guy took the funding grants, Reina Gossett’s research, even hired people who had been working on her film and made a documentary for Netflix.

Reina Gossett’s statement:

#deepshare #realtruth this week while I'm borrowing money to pay rent, david france is releasing his multimillion dollar netflix deal on marsha p johnson. i'm still lost in the music trying to #pay_it_no_mind and reeling on how this movie came to be and make so much $ off of our lives and ideas.

david got inspired to make this film from a grant application video that @sashawortzel & I made and sent to Kalamazoo/Arcus Foundation social justice center while he was visiting. He told the people who worked there -i shit you not- that he should be the one to do this film, got a grant from Sundance/Arcus using my language and research about STAR, got Vimeo to remove my video of Sylvia's critical "y'all better quiet down" speech, ripped off decades of my archival research that i experienced so much violence to get, had his staff call Sasha up at work to get our contacts then hired my and Sasha's *ADVISOR* to our Marsha film Kimberly Reed to be his producer. And that's just the shit I have the spoons to name. TRUST🥄THERE'S🥄SO🥄MUCH 🥄MORE🥄.

This kind of extraction/excavation of black life, disabled life, poor life, trans life is so old and so deeply connected to the violence Marsha had to deal with throughout her life. So I feel so much rage and grief over all of this & STAR must have some serious level plan on moving through many---and clearly by any means necessary---to get the message out... So tonight I'm channeling high priestess energy to show me the honey throne cuz this storm queen is 😖😫😱

comments by Janet Mock:

Filmmaker David France released a Netflix doc Friday about Marsha P. Johnson. It is based on Reina Gossett’s work (her statement below). 

Reina Gossett is a black trans woman who reintroduced our gen to ourselves by uncovering/recentering trans women of color revolutionaries.

Her digital archives of movement foremothers Marsha P. Johnson & Sylvia Rivera are integral to current understanding of their contributions. 

She researched/archived/digitized content inaccessible for decades. She interviewed Marsha & Sylvia’s peers. She did this work without pay.

A black trans woman’s work about a black trans woman was used to make a film by a credentialed white cis man aided by Netflix’s millions.

Meanwhile Reina is borrowing money to pay rent as viewers around the world watch a film based on her unpaid & uncredited work. Not OK. 

Support Reina Gossett — she made @hbdmarsha w/ @sashawortzel! Book her as a speaker! Let others know about her work!

This relates to the earlier removal of Reina Gossett’s upload of Sylvia Rivera’s speech following a copyright claim - apparently this guy had something to do with the copyright takedown (the copyright was owned by the Lesbian Herstory Archive, but I think he pressed the takedown claim? I don’t really know the full details there)

[wedemgirlspodcast]

(We Dem Girls!)

Guess who's back? Spoiler Alert: It's us. The whole crew is back this week to discuss the ongoing Jemele Hill saga, the theft of Reina Gosset's hard work, Alfie Enoch's letter to his younger self. We also put on hazmat suits to go back into the Entertainment industry's never-ending grossness by talking about Blossom's wrongness, Rose Mcgowan's whiteness and Waka Flocka's straight up stupidity. We also bicker about our favorite Halloween/Horror movies just for your entertainment.

Don'​tforget to Rate & Review us on iTunes and comment and share on Soundcloud!

[semipreciousartist]

Reina Gossett

http://www.reinagossett.com/

[ummaannex]

World AIDS Day: Alternate Endings, Radical Beginnings

Join UMMA and the Student Engagement Council for Visual AIDS’ 28th Day With(out) Art, honoring World AIDS Day. This year’s screening features Alternate Endings, Radical Beginnings, a collection of short video works by contemporary artists exploring Black narratives within the HIV/AIDS epidemic, curated by Erin Christovale and Vivian Crockett. 

A paneled discussion will follow, led by Bré Campbell, founder of the Detroit-based Trans Sistas of Color Project; Leon Golson, director of Prevention Programs for Unified HIV Health and Beyond; and Demarion Longmire, a Health Corps Fellow at HIPS in Washington, D.C.

We hope you can join us for this special event.

This event is free and open to the public; for more details, see the flyer below or visit our Facebook page