We’ll be posting the contents of his presentation over the next few weeks, in tasty bite sized morsels, and the full presentation (with all its references intact) will be available to download at the end of the series.

The first post is First post: Introduction and Terms and todays post, is beyond the jump:

What does any of this have to do with men’s health?

When we use the term men’s health we deploy a range of assumptions about the biology, appearance, gender identity, lifestyle and health risks of the individuals we are talking about. But there are many people who do not meet some or all of these assumptions. Some men’s bodies do not conform to many assumptions of masculinity, some women have physicalities and face health issues that are commonly regarded as male-specific and some people simply can’t or won’t identify as either male or female.
In a national context where the development and assessment of future of health policy seems to be already framed in terms of “men’s health” and “women’s health” it is of significant importance that health services are cognicent of these issues.

The only purpose of specifically targeting mens health is to more correctly target health care services. But by doing this without acknowegdeing the diversity of men and of male identities we run the risk of further marginalising sex and gender diverse people who already suffer significantly worse health outcomes than most. I’m not arguing here against the targeting of mens health services – but rather that, in targeting “men’s health” services we need to challenge our everyday assumptions of sex and gender and be aware of not excluding services to sex and gender diverse individuals.

Why does it matter to men’s health?

Firstly it is worth noting that the prevalence of sex and gender diversity is far higher than usually acknowledged and that these issues therefore affect a far greater number of people than previously thought.

It matters to sex and gender diverse people because despite the fact that health studies erase our existence, and that only a very small number of studies focus on our needs, it is clear that the health risks and needs of the sex and gender iverse community are in urgent need of attention.

It matters to men’s health services more broadly because services that are able to recognise and respond effectively to issues of sex and gender diversity will as a necessary result provide more inclusive health services to all men.

This is a copy of the speech that Peter presented.

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My name is Peter.
I am 36 years old.
I am a man.

Unfortunately, the Government disagrees.
The Government maintains that I am a woman.

Although I am a man, I have not always been a man. My birth was registered as female. And I lived the first 25 years of my life as a woman.

When I was a woman, my personal identity as a woman was unquestionably mine to ‘own’ without interference from Government.

Now that I am a man, my personal identity as a man is consistently interfered with by all levels of Government.

This is not the case in other countries. The United Kingdom for example, has provided me with a document stating that I am legally a man for all purposes under all UK law. Many other countries in the world also legally recognise me as a man. Which is great, and just, and right… but I don’t live in any of those countries. I live in Australia, I have done all my life, and my government, the Australian government, refuses to recognise me as a man.

I have lived in the ACT for almost 20 years, but the ACT will not recognise me as a man because I was born in NSW. And NSW will not recognise me as a man until I provide evidence that I have been sterilised.

I believe that I have a right to have my own identity recognised by my own government. I find it morally unjustifiable for any government to make my rights contingent upon my surgical sterilisation.

And so I am, officially, in no-man’s land.
Unofficially, the situation is even more complicated.

Without a nationally consistent, sensible approach, different agencies struggle to know how to deal with reality.

The taxation office recognises me as a man. The Family Assistance Office says that I am a woman. Centrelink not only refuses to recognise me as a man, but also insists that my heterosexual female partner is a lesbian. Medicare says that I am male – most of the time, but every now and then, they “turn me into a woman” so they can process specific claims that relate to procedures that apparently only women can have. My Australian Passport shows my sex as “male”, but was issued along with a letter stating that the Australian government does not believe that I am really male, and that I would be committing fraud if I ever used the Passport to identify myself as a man.

Whenever I have to provide ID – to open a bank account, to cash a cheque, or even to collect a parcel from the Post Office, the official documents that I can provide state that I am female.

Sometimes my ID is not accepted at all. The bank teller looks at me, and says “but that can’t be your ID – it says you are a woman!”. Mostly my ID is accepted – but only because I am prepared to cause a scene, to declare to the bank teller, and their supervisor, and the manager on duty, and everyone else waiting in the queue behind me, that “I am transsexual”. “Oh!, so he’s really a woman! I guess we should let her cash the cheque..”

Today is a very significant day for me – this report is the light at the end of the tunnel. It is the first step towards law reform that is long overdue. Law reform however, will only be achieved when governments actually act on these recommendations.

The day that government actually acts on these recommendations will be of even greater significance to me – because it will signal for the first time my government’s acknowledgement that I exist.

My story is not isolated – tens of thousands of other people with similar personal histories share these experiences. And there are hundreds of thousands more people out there, who are sex and gender diverse but have very different personal histories, who currently experience equivalent levels of hardship and uncertainty.

When governments act on these recommendations, the practical every day lives of all of us will be dramatically improved – forever.