: : jim's gender
jim's gender
Jim is a pre-present-day-trans-activist-community guy. He has no name for what he is, nor does he even think about how he "identifies," as he is punkrock. He's not someone who analyses his gender by reading Judith Butler, he just is. He doesn't even know who Judith Butler is. But his girlfriend Ally does. She’s smart like that.
In Godspeed, the novel, 2nd edition, St. Martin's press, 2002, he refers to his genitalia as a dick. He never refers to himself in the 3rd person, and neither does anyone else. On a subconscious level, he considers himself a guy. He is looking into it, but has only one transguy pal who is transitioning. So for now, he is a non-op tranny, by today's definition.
By his definition he's a guy who gets let into strip joints cuz he looks like a dude, then gets let backstage in strip joints cuz he happens to have a tang, and he is taking advantage of ambiguous perception on the part of society. (Lynnee works this same principle today to get into trans-exclusive spaces and spread the word of Tranny, so that all the ladies will go back to their hometowns and create trans-inclusive battered women's shelters, rape crisis centers, play parties, and the like.)
Until now we have not referred to Jim as he or she, which was highly convenient when Lynnee began writing the novel in the early 90's. Pronounless is what Jim was then. As it was he who was narrating, he never spoke about himself in the third person.
The film takes place in the present because it’s cheaper that way, but Jim is a throwback to the late 80's, early 90's, rather than the film taking place then, as the novel does.
Due to the necessity of a pronoun in the screenplay, the form of which does not allow first person narration, we have chosen the one that Lynnee uses, since Jim is based on Lynnee, Godspeed being an autobiographically based story.
Lynnee identifies as a non-op tranny, as well as a dyke, only because, since he is non-op, he appears to most to be a dyke and is oppressed based on the assumption that he is one. It seems to make sense to continue to stand up for not just trannies, but also dykes, as he gets shit for being one all the time. He also hangs onto the dyke identity so that his girlfriends don't have to change their femme dyke identity because they're now dating a man, and so must be straight to validate him. They could just go with "queer," but he likes femmes and everything they stand for.
Lynnee does not insist on any pronoun, but accepts pronouns others use according to how they see him. this means, "she, it, they, shim, herm, s/he, zie" as well as "he" are used interchangeably when referring to him, and he has no problem with that, although when referring to himself in the third person, which only happens when writing bios and certain explanations about himself, he uses "he."
Most
of his friends, mostly post-, pre-, and non-op
trannies and the people who love them, also
dykes, fags and queers, use "he," except
for the old school feminists, and his mom,
who use "she." Queer
theorists use "zie," people with a sense of humor, including
the vice president of ISNA, use "shim" and "herm." his
girlfriends sometimes use "it," as in, "It's very
tired, isn't it? does it need a massage?"
Jim's age:
Jim is 30 something in the movie. Lynnee is 99 but with movie magic, we should be able to work it out. He didnt want to play Jim, but his onscreen presence is requested by the masses.
For more info, see his One Freak Show.
