Date: 2011-07-13 20:03 Security: Public xpost http://soph.livejournal.com/222051.html Tags: transphobia Subject: OUT!wear's "WBW" shirts

I sent an email to LGBT clothes supplier OUT!wear today:

Hi,

I was looking at your site at http://www.outwear.com/ as I understand it caters to the LGBT community, and your main page seems to confirm that the clothes sold from the site are intended to "promote visibility, unity and self esteem amongst Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans-gendered persons". This is a worthy cause, and I applaud you for catering to us!

However, I'm a little worried about two things on the site - firstly, that you have a "WBW" category on your site, and secondly that you have an association with the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. Could you put my mind at rest and let me know what the "WBW" stands for? I'm assuming it's not "Woman Born Woman" as such a message is quite transphobic and at odds with your stated mission, but because of the MichFest association it's difficult to tell.

(To clarify, MichFest has a policy of only allowing what they call "women born women", which is to say, they refuse entry to transgendered women. The problem is, many of us *do* consider ourselves "women born women", and the phrase is thus a misnomer. However, a new phrase wouldn't help the bigger problem, which is the idea that transgendered women are not "real" women. This ties into the "WBW" category on your site because, if the "WBW" does actually mean "Woman Born Woman", then it others transgendered people - *all* transgendered people, not just transgendered women - and perpetuates the myth that transgendered women are not "real" women. As you can see, such a message is very much at odds with your mission, which is why I'm hoping that this isn't the case.)

Also, if the "WBW" doesn't mean that, then may I suggest adding a clarification to the appropriate page to prevent misunderstandings in the future? It would save you a lot of hassle, I believe.

Hope to hear from you soon,

- Sophie.

Yes, I do have *some* hope that maybe they mean a different expansion of WBW, and that maybe this can just all be sorted out. However, looking at their Facebook page - particularly this update - it seems that the WBW shirts were made specifically for MichFest, which means there's a very high probability that they are, in fact, being transphobic. :(

Here's hoping I'm wrong.

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