Trans Flagging

Allanah Starr, Buck Angel & Gia Darling. By Tristan Taormino, 2005.

GENDER, JUNK & BODY FETISH

We have endeavoured to make opinicus rampant completely pan gender, so that every flag can be read on any body. In this vein, we removed specific references to biological junk; cocksucker became gives head. We also cut out flags which reference ontological* fetishes (fetishes for categories of being), such as apricot for fat fetish and the various “race”-related flags, as they serve to further fetishize** already marginalised bodies. It also seemed somewhat redundant to be flagging fetish flags on the left for visible qualities (which is what they all are).

We want flagging to represent actions rather than identities. But it’s more complicated than that; flagging is always symbolic of at least various aspects of our identity – how we see ourselves and want others to see us (eg, [uptight] tops who only flag on the left). Trans flagging presents an occasion in which identity flagging makes even more sense, because one’s transness can be unwantedly invisible, as well as highly stigmatised and marginalised, even within queer communities.

[gauche]: Generally I’m not into flagging gender or genitals – but on the other hand I also want to put getting people laid ahead of abstract values, and it’s disingenuous to pretend that being trans is irrelevant here. I’ve said elsewhere, “it doesn’t matter how politically astute or logically consistent your sexual orientation is, if you feel like you can’t change it” — but I also don’t want to support either transphobic or body-fetishising flags.

I guess I’m torn between hoping that all flags are automatically trans-inclusive and acknowledging that there is a practical and political need to explicitly show trans pride, support and desire.

I think this is the same dilemma we argued over regarding female ejaculation — whether we want to promote specific uses or assume an inclusive base. And I do think the latter is more radical, more transformative, than inventing new flags for affirmation and consciousness-raising — but of course when you’re looking at a single hanky hanging out of someone’s pocket rather than reading this whole blog, you don’t see how we’ve reimagined the whole system, so in that case affirmation is actually more meaningful and political.

[max]: Absolutely. I think all the flags — as we have re-written them — are trans-inclusive, but that doesn’t make them trans specific. And sex can be. Opinicus rampant is about extending and improving conversations about sex and bodies. In the case of transness, I think it’s more important to have trans visibility than avoid identity flags. There are many (especially sexual) contexts in which one’s transness can be unwantedly invisible or come into question in ways we’d rather it didn’t. You know, trans people have such a rough time in being received, it can be awkward — knowing which pronouns to use or how someone thinks about their body — and something incredibly exhausting (and constant) for trans people to bring up verbally. And while you can’t assume someone’s junk from a trans flag (trans people can have all kinds of junk [as can anyone else] and want to fuck in all kinds of ways), trans flagging can allow for the assumption of transfemininity/ transmasculinity/genderqueerness***.

So, what is it?

[max]: Purple tends to be used as a trans colour and can be found in genderqueer circles as well (probably for the unfortunate equation of blue + pink = purple, but nevertheless). It makes sense to build on the lavender flag, which originally signified (L) likes drags queen * (R)  drag queen — clearly sexist in its non-compliance with all other is flags in which (L) is * (R) seeks, such as silver lame, kelly green, argyle, or tie-dye. The only time is flags on the right are in (bottom) animalplay, such as horse or pony. We thus updated lavender to:

LAVENDER

x dresser / dragster

likes x dressers / drag

Whereas x dressing or drag are specifically about dress, transness is about identity if not body-type.

[gauche]: I support it as a trans pride flag and perhaps also confirmation of chosen gender — but then when worn on the right, do you want it to mean support or desire? Because I think it will sort of bleed into a body fetish flag. Are you cool with that happening?

[max]: Yeah no. In order to have a trans flag without fetishizing trans bodies, we just need to have straight trans man and trans woman flags that can take on the associations of any desired position: (L) top  * (R) bottom — like HIV positivity — the point of all these flags is to bring attention to certain sex/body related issues that may otherwise be invisible/misread.

	PURPLE GINGHAM	trans grrrl	trans grrrl
	PURPLE FLANNEL	trans dude	trans dude

Flagging any combination of lavender, gingham, flannel could signal genderqueer, androgynous, and/or, neither, both – as you wish. Or purple sequins can be a specific genderqueer flag:

PURPLE SEQUINS

genderqueer

genderqueer

Keep in mind that the flannel needs to be plaid, to be distinct from plain purple, which indicates piercing.

Footnotes:

* [max] Ontologies: from the Greek meaning “of being”; the study of the nature of being, existence or reality; the basic categories of being and their relations; in analytic philosophy, concerns the determining of whether some categories of being are fundamental and asks in what sense the items in those categories can be said to “be”.

** [gauche] Why are we against fetishising? I think even when you have (L) consents to being fetishised rather than the (redundant as already visible) is, (R) still flags fetishising without regard to consent. I don’t think it’s possible to ensure a body fetish flag is not objectifying and exoticising against someone’s will. I also don’t think it’s possible, for marginalised groups, to differentiate inclusive desire and fetish desire.

*** [gauche] Why did we end up with trans woman and trans dude rather than transfeminine and transmasculine? We thought the specificity was rather the point: at a minimum, you can infer that a wearer of purple gingham goes by female pronouns, and a wearer of purple flannel goes by male pronouns. Opening it up to a broad spectrum such as transmasculine which can include butches and drag kings seems to dilute this purpose.

What are your favourite trans(-friendly) flags?