Re: Billy Tipton

[Seth Austen <klezmusic...>]

on 2/22/01 8:11 PM, Margotlev (at) aol(dot)com at Margotlev (at) aol(dot)com 
wrote:

> Just for perspective -
> I'm reading Billy Tipton's biography about a woman who had to cross-dress
> and pass as a man to get any gigs at all as recently as the 50's.

Margot,

Although it is possible that s/he only crossed genders to get more work as a
jazz musician, it depends on what lense we look at his/her life through. My
perspective, having also read the book, is that Billy Tipton identified as
male, and since she was born female, was thus transgendered, although we
can't know for sure if that's how s/he thought of his/herself. But many
transgendered peoples' histories are made invisible by the gender bias of
historians, in the same way that Jewish womens' history is ignored by the
male authors of that history.

>  Every Hassidic or
> Orthodox gig that my male colleagues get that I don't get to play on is a day
> I have to figure out another way to make a living, it's a day away from my
> horn, it's a lost opportunity to sharpen my skills and get a step up in my
> career.  And I'm an instrumentalist - believe me, I sing only under duress.

None of this is to take away from your very accurate comments on the
marginalization and discrimination against women musicians in jazz or any
other styles. A musician should be purely hired on the basis of their
musicianship, not which gender they are, be it male, female, transgendered,
or whatever else not yet identified. The bottom line is that you are a
wonderful musician/clarinetist (I enjoy your recording quite alot BTW), and
you should not be losing gigs because of your gender.

Seth

-- 
Seth Austen

http://www.sethausten.com
emails: seth (at) sethausten(dot)com
klezmusic (at) earthlink(dot)net

"What America needs is 10 years of silence." ?Stravinsky

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