one inch

[rm]

I was going to chuck this into sundries, but then some of you might miss it, and it needs to be talked about.

Over at Cornell we have a case of gender and body policing, unnecessary surgery, and stimulating 6-year-old girls with vibrators in the name of dodgy science.

Really helps to confirm my suspicion that the only good girl is one who knows how to disappear, doesn't it? And if she can't figure out the skill of it, don't worry, someone will hold her down and do it for her.

I won't ask you what this fear of big clits is, since we can all figure it out, but did you know that women with larger clitorises are also more likely to identify as gay?

Yup, that's right, one of the many HORRIFYING implications here is all about trying to erase queerness, erase the existence of people like me (and let's note the particularities of this particular act of hate, since there is also a correlation between larger penises and men being gay, but no one is cutting into these suspect little boys).

Things that will never make any queer woman less queer: hair removal, makeup, self-hatred, dresses, boyfriends, surgery, "therapy." My mother used to buy me electric razors, over and over.

All of this speaks with terrible eloquence to the suspicion I often harbour that the most inherently queer thing about me is my unwillingness to disappear.

If you don't get how all of this connects, you should probably go read Valerie's Letter again and again and again until you do.

An inch.

One inch.

Get it?

Comments

[eac.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you didn't come under the scrutiny of this guy...

I can't believe that Cornell would allow someone to do this to children. Normally I would now be trying to construct this as doctor as an outlying (horrible) case, but if Cornell's IRB didn't shut it down it's hard to think that...

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

There are ways and means around IRBs. I'd be interested to see the difference between what he presented to the IRB and his actual practices.

[lyrwen.livejournal.com]

He told the IRB he'd do a back study on their case notes. No mention of the sexual assault part, of course.

[tacky-tramp.livejournal.com]

It seems that he did this on his own accord, not in the framework of research -- and then when he wrote the paper, he simply asked the IRB for permission to collate his notes. It was a fait accompli.