Category: gender

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Alan Turing

Here’s a nice piece by Radiolab on Alan Turing, who was convicted of “Gross Indecency” in England. If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s what Oscar Wilde was convicted of, both of them a result of the Labouchere Amendment which was part of the Criminal Law Amendment of 1885.

He didn’t go to prison like Wilde but instead endured chemical castration via estrogen and eventually committed suicide by eating an arsenic laced apple.

In the meantime he invented computers and won WWII. (I’m not overstating either claim.)

Imagine what he might have given humanity if we weren’t such homophobic assholes as a culture.

But hey, he’s got a stamp now.

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Biometrics and Trans

Here’s an interesting TruthOut article on the impact that biometric scanning has had on trans people and others whose gender presentations don’t “match” their physical body.

This story is about people, not their anatomy, except that in the case of airport scanners, this last vestige of individual privacy is on the table. Transgender people’s experiences vary as widely as the human mind and body, but trans communities have mapped out some common ground in language, experience and even documents such as the Transgender Law Center’s (TLC) fact sheet, Trans 101. The title might be considered a nod to the ad hoc teaching gig some trans people are thrust into simply by virtue of their identities – Is that your real name? Did you have a sex change? Why should I let you onto this flight? – and for a two-page crash course, it goes a long way in dispelling gendered assumptions that underlie security measures like body scanners and Secure Flight.

According to TLC, “Transgender people (very broadly conceived) are those of us whose gender identity and/or expression that does not or is perceived to not match stereotypical gender norms associated with our assigned gender at birth…. Some [transgender people] take hormones but have no surgery or vice versa. Some take low-doses of hormones or go on and off. For some trans people, altering genitalia is important. For others, it is not.”

I’ve written previously about the most recent information about traveling while trans, but this is a sobering report.

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IA Genderformfuck.

Forms suck if you don’t live in a black & white world, but this IA student has decided to take on the binary, one form at a time.

stef shuster recalls the frustration experienced when filling out the Institutional Review Board (IRB) application to conduct graduate research.

“It was very formulaic, and so many of the questions were constructed in a binary way,” says the 29-year-old University of Iowa doctoral student in sociology who is conducting research on transgender communities and identities—and whose name is intentionally lowercase.

So when the form asked what percentage of the human subjects shuster interviewed were female or male, shuster was stumped.

“How do I fill that out when some of the people whom I interviewed identified as neither?” shuster says. “Life is full of nuance, ambiguity, and complexity.”

shuster understands there are more than two genders. While many people can only think in binary terms of boy or girl, black or white, shuster explains there are infinite ways for human beings to express gender that have nothing to do with one’s anatomical makeup. And it’s not just IRB forms that pose a challenge.

“Every form I fill out forces me to identify as either male or female,” says shuster, who identifies as neither. “I’m trans-identified, which means that I don’t limit or define who I am by gender. So on the last U.S. Census form, I hand-scrawled in and marked my own little transgender box.”

Yet much of the world forces shuster to do just that—medical forms, bathrooms, job applications. And salutations such as “Ladies and gentlemen” leave shuster feeling excluded, invisible.

As I mention in my talks: being able to choose more than one would be useful too. I’d prefer “female” + “other”, and my partner might choose “female” + “trans” (if, and only if, her transness was relevant to the form at hand. Most times it isn’t.)

 

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Meds for Women

It’s pretty ridiculous that most clinical trial leaders effectively ignore the fact that women absorb and metabolize drugs completely differently than men, especially since, according to this study, women use an average of five prescription drugs compared to less than four for men — and that’s not even counting their slutty prescription contraceptives. In 100% of the study’s clinical trials, women failed to take prescriptions as directed, and were often not prescribed correct dosages to begin with. The study focused on cardiovascular disease — the number one killer of women in the U.S. — and diabetes, since more than half of diabetics are women. If more women than men are dying from these diseases, how come their antidotes are still tailored to men’s bodies?

asks this Jezebel article, and it’s about goddamned time. Most clinical studies are done assuming the patient is a testosterone-dominant, 200 lb. person. If you are not, your meds aren’t accurate.

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Trans Nanny

I liked this piece about a woman’s experience when her nanny transitioned from female to male.


Y’s transition changed me too. Watching Y’s struggle with weekly hormone therapy, decide when to come out to his family, friends, and employers, and select the appropriate public restroom, transformed my beliefs on gender identity. Even though I always supported the notion that people could be born into the wrong gender, I now view gender as more fluid — if there is a spectrum for sexuality, maybe there is also one with gender. I started making sure that I approach gender more sensitively with my own girls, allowing them to tell me who they are.

Because of Y’s influence in our lives, I made the conscious effort to choose gender-neutral toys and clothing. When the decisions were still mine to make, I purchased balls and blocks, in lieu of Barbies and Hello Kitty, and opted for brown and green shirts, instead of pink and purple. Once the girls began to exert their own unique fashion sense, I encouraged them to select their own clothing, making sure that they had a variety of colors and styles to pick from.

That any parent would need a trans person in their lives to make these kinds of choices surprises me, but so much of gender is a default, an assumed and not examined role, that I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at all.

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MD News

There’s been an interesting decision in Maryland, which leaves companies to decide on “appropriate” decisions for restrooms and dressing rooms for employees, and which leaves gender-based appearance requirements in tact, BUT which prohibits discrimination based on gender in a way that includes trans people:

Another amendment has at least one female activist upset, according to the report: A second amendment allows employers to establish appearance, grooming and dress standards for employees as long as they are directly related to the job and are consistent with state and federal law and the individual’s gender identity. Cathy Brennan, a Towson lawyer and lesbian activist, said the bill, as written, is anti-feminist because it re-enforces traditional gender stereotypes on women. “That’s really the feminist opposition to this bill,” said Brennan.

So, as far as the washroom and dressing room issue goes, it looks like it’s left to businesses to sort out things . . . sigh . . .

Hedged bets, as far as I can tell, but progress isn’t always exciting.

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Bonsoir, Mademoiselle

France has officially dropped Mademoiselle from the lexicon, as there is no equivalent for young men. Abbreviated Mlle., the term was often used to imply a woman’s unmarried state; symbolically, her virginal or simply youthful state.

But there is no equivalent for men, as “monsieur” is used for married & unmarried (& we assume, virginal and sexually experienced) men.

Long overdue, in my opinion, but it’s great to see this change codified.