A Trans Blog Profile

I was surveying the blogging terrain, looking for blogs that would be relevant to my own blog's topic, when I came across a blog entitled Trans Political. Written by Vanessa Edwards Foster, whose "About Me" blurb indicates that she has been heavily involved with transgender and and other gender issues for some time, this blog looks at, well, politics, what else? National, local and trans-specific politics are covered from an insider's perspective- how much more relevant can you get? This seemed like a gem of a blog for me to profile for the benefit of my readers (please read the disclaimer below*).

Foster is an activist, an insider in the political in-fighting (for want of a better word) of the national trans community, if you can subscribe to its existence (that's a topic for another post). She also seems quite knowledgeable about politics on the Federal level that directly impact trans people - laws, rulings, political maneuvering, and individual positioning regarding trans issues. Though her writing seems more directed at an already interested population of other trans people, it is easy enough for a newbie to get the flow of things, learn who is who and who's doing what to whom. Part of this ease comes from Foster's personal and familiar tone, part of it from her substantial knowledge of her topic.

Activism is huge right now for the trans community, and has been since the early 1990s, when trans activism suddenly mushroomed across the country. One can sense from reading Trans Political that Vanessa Edwards Foster knows all the key players and issues fairly well. Her blog has been linked to 173 times in the last 180 days by 18 different blogs according to Technorati, mostly by other trans or gender centered blogs, it seems.

Though there are other trans blogs with considerably higher numbers on Technorati (Trans Group Blog or the highly popular en/Gender ), Trans Political is doing well for such a heavily political blog focused on trans issues. En/Gender, in comparison, happens to be written by a woman who authored a few popular books about her trans husband-turned-woman, Betty. The selections on en/Gender are not necessarily as trans focused as Trans Political, either: cats, NYC, books and writing, and music are some of the top tags for en/Gender listed by Technorati. Politics has never been quite as appealing to the masses as daily life, especially if there is a twist to it (i.e. a trans partner). Television shows have demonstrated that quite well; I can’t imagine the popularity of C-span’s coverage of daily congressional proceedings ever approached that of shows like Montel, Oprah, or Jerry Springer. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

One thing that Foster does to appeal to a wider audience is pepper her posts with pop culture references, framing the issues in ways easily relatable to by the general populace. A post entitled "Back to Business as Usual", for example, frequently quotes Michael Douglas’s despised character in the Hollywood hit Wall Street:

“‘It's a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another.’”

This particular post is a critical discussion of Human Rights Campaign** tactics, a frequent topic of Trans Political posts (81 tags so far).

Overall, Vanessa Edwards Fosters’ blog is an insightful look at the the political landscape from a trans perspective. The reader may not agree with everything she says, but will still walk away well informed about what’s going on, who is who, and what all of it may mean for trans people in America.

*Let's cut the bull, this blog is required for a class, so if it seems like some of the ideas behind my posts come from out of the wild blue yonder, it's because they kind of did. In so far as they did not originate within my own thought processes, that is. If a post reads like it is fulfilling the requirements of an assignment, it probably is. I'm hoping you get something out of it anyhow.

**Human Rights Campaign, or HRC, is a lobby organization, historically for gay and lesbian issues. They have added "bisexual" and "transgender" to the roster of people on whose behalf they lobby the federal government, but Trans Political tells us the addition is in name only. Furthermore, Foster claims HRC exploits trans people for a gay and lesbian agenda.

"Now they’ve convinced yet another organization to allow them to worm their way in so that they may undermine the trans political leadership once again, with a particular eye toward what opportunity they may reap for themselves and their own on the backs of ours, and availing themselves of the tragedies of the trans community! I have two words to describe them: selfish greed!"

Personally, I'll have to read more before I make any declaration on this issue. I'm just not well enough informed yet.