The Roadmap of "Transgenderism"
Deciphering Holly Boswell’s 1991 Manifesto
In a world where aesthetic and anguish are equated, the onus is on all of us to distinguish between transsexualism, a largely forgotten medical condition, and the 'transgender' ideology of organised transvestism that has subsumed it. Holly Boswell's 1991 manifesto to transgenderists provides a blueprint for this distinction.
Published in the Summer 1991 edition of TV-TS Tapestry, Holly Boswell’s "The Transgender Alternative" delineated the philosophical foundation and roadmap of "transgenderism," paving the way for the profound expansion of 'gender identity' as a sociopolitical concept beyond the biological male and female dichotomies of transsexuals and transsexualism.
Boswell challenged her readership to question the strict binaries of crossdressing and transsexuality, arguing that "gender evolution" was an imperative for personal growth:
I would like to offer a challenge to those of us who are uncertain about defining ourselves as strictly crossdressers or transsexual people. Are you truly a crossdresser, or is this only an indication of far greater potential for gender evolution, which is turn a deeper imperative for personal growth and integration? If you believe yourself to be transsexual, are you losing as much ground as you are gaining? Are you unnecessarily sacrificing your preferred style of lovemaking, or your ability to procreate (especially if you’re a lesbian)? Are you truly becoming yourself, with a long-term life-plan intact, or are you allowing yourself to be compromised by external expectations? Our high-tech culture promises a quick fix, but there are significant health risks. Your life is precious, and good health is crucial. The freedom to choose one’s gender is a potent sword that cuts both ways. Be true to yourself.
Androgyny, while offering the broadest opportunity for psychological integration and evolution, still poses a great threat as a cultural taboo. Since our culture is far less comfortable with ambiguity than stereotypic role-playing, the aspiring androgyne faces potentially greater resistance and rejection. But the transgenderist, whether crossing over part-time or full-time—even while masking their genital incongruity—gives honest expression to a reality that defies cultural norms. The resulting impacts on human potential, relationships, society, even global harmony and ecology, are still largely unexplored.
As our cultural consensus shifts to accommodate change and evolution, much can be achieved preventively through more enlightened socialization of our children. Indeed, many of the woes of this world may be resolved through gender liberation.
— Holly Boswell, "The Transgender Alternative", 1991
The Pillars of Boswell’s Manifesto
Before delving further into Boswell’s propositions, it is pertinent to highlight several key elements underpinning this manifesto to transgenderists:
Obscuring Distinctions: Boswell blurs the boundaries between 'transsexual', 'transgenderist', and 'transvestite', creating a milieu of confusion characteristic of queer theory.
The Exaltation of Androgyny: Boswell extols the virtues of androgyny, positioning it as a means to achieve "psychological integration and evolution".
Disdain for Transsexuality: Throughout the manifesto, an intense disdain for sex reassignment surgery (SRS) and transsexuals is expressed. Boswell’s writing is laced with a mixture of misplaced jealousy and antipathy that transsexuals still encounter from transgenderists today.
Transgenderism as a Third Gender: The manifesto pitches transgenderism as a third, cultural gender, implying that it is an external social identity that can be adopted or discarded at will, rather than an innate aspect of a person's internal self-conception.
Gender Liberation as Human Enlightenment: Boswell presents 'gender liberation' as a pathway to broader human enlightenment, a narcissistic, quasi-mystical belief that implies that the complexity of human society can be reduced to a single issue.
Advocacy for the Indoctrination of Children: Boswell advocates for the early socialisation of children into the labyrinth of transgender ideology, suggesting a drive towards ideological hegemony over genuine understanding and acceptance.
"Harbingers of our Future"
Boswell's use of the term "androgyne" appears to be an early conceptualisation of what we now understand as 'non-binary'. Thus, despite protests from confused transsexuals who apply transgender to themselves and try to separate 'transgender' from 'non-binary', 'non-binary' was part and parcel to the transgender movement right from the inception. To add insult to injury, transgenderist activists like Boswell went so far as to dub them "harbinger[s] of our future".
The Underlying Misogyny, Homophobia, and Anti-Transsexual Militancy
Boswell’s audacity doesn't stop there. In the appendix, Boswell attempts to redefine transgenderists as transsexuals (without 'non-op'), demonstrating the relentless obliteration of boundaries characteristic of queer theory. This redefinition represents the start of the ongoing marginalisation of the Group 3, true transsexuals, who can be considered the initial casualties of queer theory and the 'transgender' movement.
Elsewhere in the manifesto, Boswell insinuates that a person with male genitalia could "live as a lesbian" but not as a straight woman, further underscoring the casual misogyny, homophobia, and anti- transsexual sentiments intrinsic to the transgender movement, yet often hidden by the confusion and distortion wrought by its ideology.
While I do not think anyone should be pressured into SRS for any reason, it is crucial to underscore that this contempt for SRS is a theme that runs through many early writings of organised transvestism. These authors, like many transgenderists today, often assumed that transsexuals didn't actually want or need SRS, pursuing it because of external pressures rather than an internal drive. While some transgenderists may have perhaps pursued SRS due to the sociopolitical climate, this doesn't excuse the erasure of countless transsexuals who needed SRS to function. The level of narcissism required to believe otherwise is astronomical.
Children in the Crosshairs
Perhaps most dangerous of all, however, is the emphasis on early indoctrination. Advocating for the “enlightened socialisation of our children” to imbibe these fluid ideologies is not merely about acceptance; it's about reshaping societal narratives, potentially at the cost of the well-being and mental health of these children.
Imperialistic Ambitions
The birth of the modern transgender movement, as evidenced by Boswell’s manifesto, is mired in a series of contradictions and ambitions, with its casual disdain for transsexuals being most glaring. The narcissistic attempt to absorb and redefine the term 'transsexual' (as well as 'transman' and 'transwoman') lay bare the transgender movement’s inherent imperialistic nature, seeking to conquer and redefine all aspects of gender and sexuality.
Tired Transsexual is the pen name of a male-to-female transsexual who lives in the U.K. Her Twitter account is @tiredtransmed.