Riki Anne Wilchins signs
hir emails with "Just your
average straight white guy with a
cunt who really digs
lezzie chicks like me."
S/he is the
executive director of
GenderPAC, and, before that, founded the
Transexual Menace. She was named "One of
TIME's 100
Innovators" for
2001.
Ms. Wilchins is also the author of "Read My Lips: Sexual Subversion and the End of Gender," which contains the oft-referenced "20 Things You DON'T Say to a Transsexual." A few:
DON'T #4 - "I consider you as much a woman as ANY of my friends." What a treat for them; especially your male friends.
DON'T #7 - "Can you have an orgasm?" Yes, but only when I'm asked this question.
DON'T #17 - "I think transsexuals are just men in drag." Of course you do, and you're entitled, even justifiably proud, to think so. Do not, however, voice this sentiment while surrounded by a full room of men who really are in drag, (for instance, the next Night of a Thousand Gowns) Also, be certain to note the exception to this rule, which is, of course, female-to-male transsexuals, who are really, well, just women in drag. We all know how naturally distasteful it is when men wear dresses or women wear pants. Do not, however, voice this sentiment while surrounded by a room of S/M dykes in full leather and studs.