Back To the Main SiteTransmen and Transwomen Unite!
Trans Women and Trans Men can be Friends Too! The art is from Sleazo Sketch Town's talented writer/artist.
There seems to be a massive cultural and political divide between trans men and trans women. Trying to get us all to work together can be like herding cats at times! There are naturally vastly different perspectives on what is important, and what needs time and attention. There are different ways of communicating, and different ways of organising. All of these differences need to be acknowledged and compromised on.
I know that on the trans-masculine side of the divide, there are a lot of boys who have significant passing privilege, and want to just fade into society. On the trans-feminine side there’s a lot of girls that just wanna have fun! And when we are all thrown together, we can throw one hell of a party, but getting political work done is more of a challenge.
A Gender Agenda has always had a mix of trans men and trans women, but somehow we still developed a reputation for being an organisation by and for trans men. Recently we’ve been making an effort to dispel that myth. We are for all trans people, and not just those physically transitioning.
We think its very important for people questioning their gender identity to be able to contact us and speak to someone who they can identify with. Our organisation has a variety of people actively working with us, and with people that contact us looking for advice, and support.
Peter Hyndal is available for gender-questioning people, and trans men to speak to. He’s been working with the trans community, and in trans politics for years now, and was a founding member of A Gender Agenda.
AbbeyJane is our new contact for Trans Women. She’s the founding member of NewCTN, and over the past few years NewCTN has grown into a flourishing social organisation for trans people and crossdressers. We are very pleased to have AbbeyJane on board with us.
Robyn Grafkin is the person I jokingly call our ‘Pride Officer’. Robyn’s job is to collaborate with other queer and pride organisations such as Tranny Panic (who we are attending Mardi Gras with), and the SpringOut Committee, who organise Canberra’s local Pride Festival.
I publish the website and research political actions and events that are happening around the place, to keep us all informed. I’m the person to contact if you want to get involved in organising stuff with us, want to write for the website, or have a gender-related event you want to promote.
Obviously, in our society where gender related hate is so commonplace, not all of our members are comfortable being openly associated with us. We are extremely accepting and facilitating of this. We have people that attend our events, and help out with other projects but who’s names will never be mentioned on this website. If you think that you would like to get involved, but want to remain stealth… don’t let the few of us that choose to be openly mentioned on the website intimidate you!
We hope to see many more talented individuals get involved with us in the near future, so don’t be shy. Drop by one of our events and say hello, or shoot us an email. :)
Gender Diversity Day BBQ
We’ve decided to call TransAction Day, Gender Diversity Day here in Canberra (and hopefully Australia when it catches on elsewhere!)
To celebrate Gender Diversity Day we will be holding a BBQ. It will be a laid back, no pressure event. A bunch of us will be around eating food and hanging out for several hours, so even if you don’t feel like staying for an entire meal, feel free to just drop by and say hello.
This event celebrates Gender Diversity in all its forms, and so we encourage everyone to come along… whether you are gay, lesbian, straight, trans, non-trans, genderqueer, a parent, a partner, or a friend of someone who would like to come. The more the merrier is our philosophy!
The BBQ will be in Glebe Park at 1pm on the 28th of February. Bring your friends, and family and partners. This is a kid friendly event, and is definitely open to non-trans people as well as trans people and their families.
ATCOSS Information Forum
Spreading the word for ATCOSS:
The ACT Human Rights Act: What do recent changes mean for ACT Community
Organisations?In 2009 amendments made to the ACT Human Rights Act come into effect, that
specify that “public authorities” must act in a way that is compatible with
and gives proper consideration to human rights. There is a right to bring a
complaint against public authorities if they fail to do so.ACTCOSS is co-ordinating an information forum for ACT community
organisations on these changes to the ACT Human Rights Act, and what they
may mean for community organisations.The ACT Human Rights Commission will provide an overview of the changes, and
other speakers will deliver information about possible impacts on your
organisation.Where: Room 6, Griffin Centre, Genge St Canberra City
When: Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Time: 10:00am – 12:00pmLight refreshments will be provided.
Please RSVP to Brooke McKail on 6202 7222 or brooke.mckail@actcoss.org.au
Brooke McKail
Policy and Development Officer
ACT Council of Social Service Inc. (ACTCOSS)
TransAction! Vs TransAwareness!
TransAction! is held on February 27, and Trans Day of Action is held on June 27 this year. I think that those names are far too similar – Its confusing! TransAction Day has never been held before, but Trans Day of Action has been running in New York for 4 years, so I think if either is going to have their name changed, it will have to be TransAction Day.
I’m not asking for GLSEN to change the name of their event, but I think that Australian organisations could hold an event with a name that sounds a little less like a day when you do your banking. I think that “Trans Awareness Day” is an excellent title, and one that as far as I can tell isn’t taken. (Gendered Intelligence in the UK ran a single Trans Awareness Day back in 2007, but it hasn’t been held since). However, it is very trans-centric. Perhaps “Gender Diversity Day” would be a more inclusive and appropriate name?
A preliminary survey of my friends revealed a strong leaning towards Gender Diversity Day. What do other folk think? Suggestions for other names are also welcome!
Progressive Advertising
Yesterday we posted about a transphobic advertisement from the UK. Today I wanted to post something much more pleasant.
This video is an advertisement for an Argentinian bank, and features a trans woman. I say, good on Banco Provincia! May they get throngs of new customers for this!
Transcript after the cut.
(Read on …)
Health Advertisment Relies on Transphobia
Text reads: If you drink like a man, you might end up looking like one
I find this poster extremely offensive. Not only is it sexist, and relying on the pressure on women to be conventionally attractive in order to control the behaviour of women, but its transphobic.
A trans woman in Warrington where this poster is most widely distributed has made an official complaint, and a request for it to be removed. NHS Warrington, the organisation behind the image, has claimed that they consulted with the “national lead for the transgender community”, and that they saw no problem with the image. I am slightly dubious about that claim, and would like to know what ‘national lead’ they spoke to. Perhaps the UK is much more organised than Australia, but it seems unlikely that there is one organisation or person who is the ‘national leader’ for trans people.
As was pointed out at the Sociological Images blog:
The ad is relying on the viewer being disgusted at the idea of a masculine face covered in make-up. That is part of what is supposed to create a negative reaction. But make-up and masculinity are not intrinsically or naturally at odds. We only believe this to be so.
Relying on people to be disgusted by a masculine face wearing make up? Thats transphobia, and that should not be acceptable.
Language Wars: Whats in a name?
I have a great love of movies, books and other media that is aimed at children. Not long ago I went and saw The Tale of Despereaux at the cinema. I quite enjoyed it, although it had a heavy dose of body fascism, and sexism, I felt that its attempt to discuss quite serious political themes in language that a 5 year old can understand was quite impressive. Towards the end of the film the narrator talks about how names can become swear words. She asks us how we would feel if our name was a terrible insult, if our name was a very bad word.
Unfortunately most people who are part of the sex and gender diverse community know only too well what it feels like to have our names and identities be a very bad word, to have our identity thrown at us as if its a grave insult. I’ve had emails get caught up in my spam filter, I’ve had Google Mail step in and refuse to send an email because it was suspected of being offensive. Just because my identity is also a dirty, filthy, spam-trap-triggering keyword.
I think that this is one of the key reasons that identity labels are so hotly contested in the sex and gender diverse community.
The Gender Centre defines Transgender as:
Transgender means anyone who lives, has lived, or wants to live as a member of the opposite gender (sex) to their birth gender.
In the past, the common term for transgender has been transsexual. However, in general, people who are transgender prefer to use the term transgender as this is a more accurate reflection of their identity or behaviour – that is, that they want to live and behave as a member of the opposite gender to their birth gender, not the opposite sexuality, sexual preference or sexual orientation. A transgender, just like anyone else, may be heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual.
However, under the Discrimination Act 1991, a “transsexual” is defined as meaning:
a person of one sex who—
(a) assumes the bodily characteristics of the other sex, whether by means of medical intervention or otherwise; or
(b) identifies himself or herself as a member of the other sex or lives, or seeks to live, as a member of that other sex.
That to me sounds like a very similar definition. Sometimes even when someone is asked what the difference is, its still not clear. FTM Australia says that the difference is quite easy to understand:
“A transgender individual takes hormones to appear as one gender or another; a transsexual person takes hormones and undergoes surgery as rehabilitation for a physical condition.”
I still don’t get it though.
Even the psychiatrists can’t decide who is transsexual, who is transgender, who is a transvestite, and who is just a filthy pervert with a fetish for ladies lingerie. The medical industry also draws lines between ‘primary’ transsexuals and ’secondary’ transsexuals. Harry Benjamin himself had a scale of transsexuals, TRUE transsexuals, and everyone else.
I find the idea of categorising someone elses identity extremely problematic, and it is often used as a way of privileging one identity over another. Doctors like to withhold treatment from those people they suspect aren’t ‘trans*whatever enough’ and because its thrown as us constantly by everyone else, sometimes we end up turning on each other and saying “So and so had surgery, but she’s really a ‘post-operative transvestite’ not a TRUE transsexual/real woman/whatever”. Its just not cool.
You wont see the words transsexual and transgender used as much as would probably be expected by A Gender Agenda. We prefer to cut off the end, and refer to people being ‘trans’ or someone being a ‘trans person’. It helps us stay clear of the debate, and be inclusive, without having to define terms that no one can agree on anyway.
What is most important, is how you define yourself. If you define as a woman, or woman of transsexual history, then you are a woman to us. If you define as third gendered, intersex, or genderqueer? No worries. We’ll respect that too. If you define as a ‘trans identified FTM’, we can respect that. Respect is important, and there is no place for being judgemental about other peoples identities within A Gender Agenda, or at any of our events. We want to be warm and welcoming, you need not worry about not passing, or not being ‘trans enough’ to join. We even welcome woman-identified women, and man-identified men, if they respect our cause, and want to work for change along side us. Its not only people that transgress gender boundaries as radically as those who transition that experience discrimination for expressing their gender differently.
Names are important, they help us communicate. In the end though, its the communication thats important, not the name itself. Labels are only useful when we are free to apply them without judgement, and express ourselves freely no matter what label we have claimed for ourselves.
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