With a touch of light-hearted humor, trans liberation author and activist Leslie Feinberg spoke to a crowd of hundreds as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series Tuesday night at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
Feinberg, who identifies as transgender, emphasized the struggle of people who do not identify with traditional divisions of gender.
\It's hard to live in an apartment you're not comfortable with,"" Feinberg said. ""Transsexual men and women have the courage to defy a sex assigned to them in the delivery room.""
Infants are deprived their right of choice when they are assigned as male or female, according to Feinberg, particularly in the case of children whose sex is unclear at birth.
""It's the infant bodies that are being chopped up to fit the boxes [printed on birth certificates],"" Feinberg said. ""Who gets to decide when a penis or a clitoris is too big?""
Feinberg is credited with bringing the cause of transsexuals to the forefront. While many associate transsexuals with lesbian, gay and bisexual people, this was not always the case.
""Leslie Feinberg is a path-breaking intellectual. [She] put the T in LGBT and she gave us the language to understand why the T must be there,"" said Anne Enke, an assistant professor of women's studies at UW-Madison, who introduced Feinberg.
Nonetheless, Feinberg said she does not know what transgender means. She told the crowd, who frequently chuckled to express understanding of her sentiments, that she was not there to tell them what words mean. Instead, Feinberg told of the importance of building coalitions in the face of oppression.
""It's really a tactical question,"" Feinberg said. ""Community building is important. This is a social problem and not an individual one.""
While coalitions might present challenges, Feinberg contends that the combination of their efforts will yield higher results.
UW-Madison sophomore Abigail Cary said she appreciated Feinberg's comments about coalitions and the challenges they may present.
""I really liked the comment that Leslie made about not only tolerating difference, but being enriched by it,"" she said.
Furthermore, Cary said Feinberg's talk gave her a better understanding of gender and its many interpretations.
""Gender can be subjective. I know women who could be labeled as butch or men who could be labeled as effeminate,"" she said. ""Gender can surpass sex.""
Sarah Hinkel, the LGBT issues coordinator for the UW-Madison Dean of Students office, echoed those sentiments and said a speaker like Feinberg is particularly important for college students.
""Many of our students are really exploring issues of gender identity,"" Hinkel said. ""I think it's really important for people who are struggling with these issues to be able to see a role model.
""We don't have a large population of out, visible transgender people and that is an indicator of the climate of silence around these issues,"" she said.
