In this piece Kai Green is taking on the conversation of how black feminist thought critiqued the way white feminism conceives “womanhood”, while black lesbian feminists still are holding on to the conceived notion of womanhood when they reject trans bodies. A large question Green asks is what does it mean to be a woman? Green then goes on to use a trans view/ method to try and open this question up and make room for trans or any non-conforming bodies to also exist in.
Green writes, “I want to mine trans for its use value as a method or optic, one that, similar to queer, refuses temporal or spatial fixity. Moreover, I use it to articulate a unique relation between two or more identity categories where one marks the limits and excess of the other, simultaneously deconstructing and reconstructing or reimagining new possible ways of being and doing (pg.66).” While I admit I had to re-read these couple sentences a few times, I believe Green is creating a new lens to view, undo, and create a way to either fix, bridge, or build on existing identity categories.
The focus on naming was very interesting for me. I loved the way Green used it to point out issues of other identities within the Black lesbian feminist community and societal community as a whole. And then gave “trans” as a way to show the need for viewing “naming” as ever changing and forever pliable to accurately credit people’s ongoing transformations.