Category: gender

Posted on

WPATH’S Recs

WPATH, the World Professsional Association for Transgender Health – the organization formerly known as HBIGDA, or the Harry Benjamin Internaltional Gender Dysphoria Association – has issued a statement/report on their recommendations for the “gender incongruence” (formerly known as GID, & previously as gender dysphoria) for the upcoming DSM V.


You can read the whole of the 9 page .pdf here.

Here are excerpts:

The WPATH Consensus Group believes that gender variance is not in and of itself pathological and that having a cross- or transgender identity does not constitute a psychiatric disorder (Knudson, DeCuypere, & Bockting, in press). However, the WPATH Consensus Group did not reach consensus on whether or not the diagnosis should be retained or removed. Instead, participants chose to present a continuum of positions ranging from removal to reform with the majority advocating for reform (Knudson, DeCuypere, & Bockting, in press; Ehrbar, in press, for a discussion of the pros and cons for removal or reform).

Instead of broadening the diagnosis, the WPATH Consensus Group recommends a narrowing of the diagnosis to those who experience distress associated with gender incongruence (Knudson, De Cuypere, & Bockting, in press). Therefore, we disagree with the absence of a distress component in the proposed criteria. It appears that in an honourable attempt to be inclusive of the wide spectrum of gender variance and gender variant identities, and to account for healthy, well adjusted individuals who might seek hormonal or surgical interventions, the workgroup decided to remove any component of distress or suffering which lead many transgender and transsexual individuals to seek treatment (see also Meyer-Bahlburg, 2010). Above all, it is treatment for the latter group, those who are experiencing distress or suffer, which justifies and might necessitate a diagnosis. If there is no distress or suffering and no treatment is desired, why is a diagnosis needed?

The WPATH Consensus Group recognizes that although some children present with gender dysphoria, it persists in few into adolescence or adulthood (American Psychological Association, 2009). Many of the behaviours captured in the proposed criteria are seen by many as variation in normal development, although sometimes heavily stigmatized, which a diagnostic label might reinforce (Pleak, Herbert and Shapiro, 2009). The WPATH workgroup charged with reviewing and making recommendations for revision considered to recommend removal of the childhood diagnosis, yet consensus on this issue was not achieved. What we did reach consensus on is that, if a childhood diagnosis would be retained, it should only apply to those with a desire to be of the other gender or an insistence that he or she is of the other gender, reflective of persistent and severe internal dysphoria associated with incongruence between sex assigned at birth and gender identity (Knudson, DeCuypere, & Bockting, in press).

(thanks to Courtney)

Posted on

Reifications and Binaries

By people who don’t know anything about trans, I’m often assumed to be trans myself. I like to joke that is the very rare trans woman who would cut her hair as short as I do. Most trans women with voices as deep as mine would figure out how to raise their pitch. But it’s these signs of my gender variance that cause people to think I’m trans – the signs of my own masculinity.

What surprises me often is when I clarify that I’m not – if and when I do, which isn’t often anymore – is when someone asks me if it bothers me when people assume I’m trans. It’s such an odd thing to ask an advocate: if I thought trans people were less than, why would I be doing this work? I remember being asked a similar question when I was assumed to be/asked if I was a dyke, which I also found baffling. What’s insulting about people thinking you’re a lesbian? What’s insulting about someone assuming you’re trans? Either you believe all our humanities are equal or they aren’t, right? Shoot, I feel more often like I’ve been assumed to be of sterner stuff than I am, because I haven’t struggled with the kind of discrimination lesbians or trans women face (even if my own gender variance has caused some in my own life).

I know I am far from More Radical Than Thou when I say I hate the term cis, but one of the reasons I hate it is because it reifies, in my opinion, that I was declared a gender that is (theoretically) in congruence with my gender presentation and that other women were not. In the same way that MTF reifies a woman’s former maleness, cis disappears my own masculinity in a way I find both insulting and problematic. The thing is, I am still most turned on by Hirschfeld’s Theory of Intermediaries, where he posits that “male” and “female,” “man” and “woman,” are only ideals – not to be aspired to, but ideals more like Plato’s Forms. That is, they’re ideas, which all of us express in different ways, none of us perfectly. He tosses out the idea of dimorphism – the binary – entirely, which, as Kate Bornstein and now Lisa Harney have noted, MTF & FTM reiterate.

That said, I do feel the need to point out that I do think cissexual privilege exists & is a problem. That’s kind of exactly what I’m talking about, really. Do keep in mind that I wound up a feminist when I realized people actually thought I was different/less than because I was a woman, as in: Really? Are you shitting me? Do I really have to prove my humanity? The idea was so entirely unbelievable to me; it never occurred to me that someone could be stupid enough to believe something like that, & I feel the same way about people who can’t see trans people’s obvious equality/humanity.

So I will continue to insist that recognizing difference between types of women is only important when it’s specifically important, and not otherwise. I am done with using “trans” in front of any person’s identity because goddamn if I want anyone putting “woman” or “female” in front of mine.

(I’m dedicating this post to my dad because it’s his 82nd birthday and, who, when we came out to him about Betty’s transness, said “Don’t let anyone treat you like a 2nd class citizen.” And well – yeah. Exactly.)

Posted on

Men Are Valuable Even When They Aren’t Dads

There are times, as a woman, that if you actually manage to recognize your own humanity, instead of your use as a breeder*/parent, you still have to face the fact that people write articles like this explaining that you are not an asshole.

It’s astonishing.

Just try to imagine the same article with the word men in place of women: “Childless men have been able to accumulate education and resources they otherwise wouldn’t have had if they’d had children. This time and income could then be put back into other people’s families “to pay for lifesaving operations, or to rescue the family farm, or to take in a child whose mother had fallen gravely ill.”

I mean, really?!

And while this particular article is pro child-free women (albeit condescending), it amazes me that any argument has to be made that women are of value even when they aren’t parents, that many women choose to be childfree (for whatever reason) and/or that even women who wanted kids and didn’t have any (for whatever reason) can live satisfying lives.

Can we get back to ZPG ideas? Is it possible, even, for people to consider all this talk about being green when it comes to children? There are too many of us on this planet & we’re destroying it as a result, and we don’t have a goddamn chance if the value of women who don’t have children has to be explained.

What bullshit.

* to clarify, since someone objected to my use of the term breeder: i used the term breeder to point out that this is the way our culture thinks of women if articles like this have to be written. i don’t use the term otherwise, but i do think it’s highly problematic that someone might object to the term but not the attitude/culture that treats them that way. that is, the only evidence that the culture doesn’t consider women breeders, and breeders only, is if there is inherent value in a woman’s life when she isn’t a parent.

Posted on

Crossdressing Still Illegal?

Who knew? Crossdressing is still illegal in Oakland, California, & has been for 130 years. Maybe it won’t be soon:

“These laws have a history of being used as a tool of oppression,” said Kaplan, Oakland’s first openly lesbian elected official. She said laws similar to Oakland’s have been “an excuse for persecution” against the LGBT community and people who don’t conform to traditional gender rolls.

She noted that police in New York City used a similar statute when they raided the Stonewall Inn in 1969, setting off demonstrations in an event that became a seminal point in the gay-rights movement.

In Oakland, the cross-dressing ordinance is not enforced and hasn’t been in recent memory. City officials also believe it is unconstitutional. But a report from Kaplan’s office noted that under the existing language, women in uniform working in the police and fire departments could be subject to arrest and misdemeanor charges.

Final vote to repeal the law is on May 18th.

Posted on

The Other Catholic Church

A nice piece on “the other Catholic Church” which is still out there, still doing cool anti-poverty work, and still taking a lot of risks:

This is the church of the Maryknoll Sisters in Central America and the Cabrini Sisters in Africa. There’s a stereotype of nuns as stodgy Victorian traditionalists. I learned otherwise while hanging on for my life in a passenger seat as an American nun with a lead foot drove her jeep over ruts and through a creek in Swaziland to visit AIDS orphans. After a number of encounters like that, I’ve come to believe that the very coolest people in the world today may be nuns.

So when you read about the scandals, remember that the Vatican is not the same as the Catholic Church. Ordinary lepers, prostitutes and slum-dwellers may never see a cardinal, but they daily encounter a truly noble Catholic Church in the form of priests, nuns and lay workers toiling to make a difference.

It’s high time for the Vatican to take inspiration from that sublime — even divine — side of the Catholic Church, from those church workers whose magnificence lies not in their vestments, but in their selflessness. They’re enough to make the Virgin Mary smile.

I know I’ve said more than once that when Catholics are cool, they’re cooler than many.

(h/t to Doug for the link)

Posted on

Co-Signers of the Letter to the APA about GID

Here is the final list of the co-signing organizations & individuals of the Callen-Lorde/Gay Center letter to the APA about the DSM V revision of GID:

Co-signing Institutions:

  1. CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers, New York, NY
  2. Agnodice Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland
  3. Brainpower Research and Development Services Inc
  4. Brooklyn Community Pride Center, Brooklyn, NY
  5. Capital District Gay and Lesbian Community Council, Albany, NY
  6. Center on Halsted, Chicago, IL
  7. The DC Center for the LGBT Community
  8. Equality Ohio, Columbus, OH
  9. The Gay Alliance in Rochester NY
  10. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Colorado, Denver, CO
  11. L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, Los Angeles, CA
  12. Legacy Community Health Services, Houston, TX
  13. LGBT Community Center Coalition of Central Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
  14. The LOFT LGBT Community Services Center, White Plains, NY
  15. Malecare, New York, NY
  16. Mazzoni Center, Philadelphia, PA
  17. Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, Milwaukee, WI
  18. National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), New York, NY
  19. National LGBT Cancer Network, New York, NY
  20. New Mexico GLBTQ Centers, Las Cruces, NM
  21. New York City Anti-Violence Project, New York, NY
  22. New York Trans Rights Organization (NYTRO), White Plains, New York
  23. Out With Cancer – The LGBT Cancer Project, New York, NY
  24. Pride in Practice, Silver School of Social Work, New York University, New York, NY
  25. Rainbow Heights Club, Brooklyn, NY
  26. Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center, Sacramento, CA
  27. San Francisco LGBT Community Center, San Francisco, CA
  28. Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), New York, NY
  29. Spectrum LGBT Center, San Rafael, CA
  30. Third Root Community Health Center, Brooklyn, NY
  31. YouthPride, Inc., Atlanta, GA

The following individuals have requested their names be added to this letter in show of support:

  1. Alison Aldrich, LCSW, Clinical Assistant Professor, NYU Silver School of Social Work, New York, NY
  2. Alison Alpert, New York, NY
  3. Angie Canelli, MA MHP LMHC NCC, Gender and Sexual Minority, Specialist, Seattle Counseling Service, Seattle, WA
  4. Brenda Solomon, Ph.D., M.S.W., Graduate Program Coordinator and Associate Professor, Social Work at The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
  5. Craig Sloane, LCSW, New York, NY
  6. David J. Brennan, MSW, PhD, Assistant Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
  7. David Steinberg, San Francisco, CA
  8. Deanna Croce, LMSW, New York, NY
  9. Dennis Holly
  10. Devon Claridge, Brooklyn, NY
  11. Dr. Karra Bikson, Assistant Professor, NYU Silver School of Social Work, New York, NY
  12. E Maxwell Davis, Ph.D., LISW, Assistant Professor, Human Development & Women’s Studies, California State University, East Bay, CA
  13. Elizabeth Mullaugh, Board Secretary, LGBT Community Center of Central Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
  14. Fareen Ramji, LMSW, Brooklyn, NY
  15. Foresta Castañeda, MSW, Middlebury, VT
  16. Franklin Brooks, Ph.D., LCSW, Chairperson, Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues, National Association of Social Workers, Maine Chapter, Portland, ME
  17. Helen Boyd, author and lecturer in Gender Studies, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI
  18. Holly Rider-Milkovich, Director, Student Wellness Center. New York City College of Technology, New York, NY
  19. Jane Mildred, MSW, MA, PhD, Amherst, MA
  20. Jean Sienkewicz, MSW–Offender Re-Entry Housing Specialist, Burlington Housing Authority, Burlington VT
  21. Jase Schwartz, BA Psychology, MSW Candidate, Hunter College School of Social Work, New York, NY
  22. Jeff Brody, LMHC, ATR-BC, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Board-Certified Art Therapist, Licensed School Adjustment Counselor, Braintree, MA
  23. Jeremy D. Schwartz, MSW Candidate, Student Senator, NYU Silver School of Social Work, New York, NY
  24. Jessie Jacobson, Los Angeles, CA
  25. Joyce E. Garee, LMSW, Albany, NY
  26. Justus Eisfeld, co-director, GATE – Global Advocates for Trans Equality, New York, NY
  27. Karalyn Shimmyo, LMSW, Brooklyn, NY
  28. Kayleen White, Thornbury, Victoria, Australia, former co-convenor of Victoria’s TransGender Victoria
  29. Laura Booker, LCSW, New York, NY
  30. Lex Moran, New York, NY
  31. Mauro Cabral, co-director, GATE – Global Advocates for Trans Equality, Córdoba, Argentina
  32. Melissa Sklarz, New York, NY
  33. Michael Miller, MSW Candidate, 2011, Silver School Of Social Work, New York University, New York, NY
  34. Michelle Kay, MS, FNP, New York, NY
  35. Misty L. Wall, PhD, MSSW, LCSW, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, Boise State University, Boise, ID
  36. Nerissa Belcher RN, Decatur, GA
  37. Nickerson Hill, LMSW, Masters of Public Health Candidate, Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY
  38. Nicole Paige, New York, NY
  39. P. Swan, MSW, Seattle, WA
  40. Paisley Currah, Professor, Brooklyn College-CUNY, Brooklyn, NY
  41. Pamela Bianco, Staten Island, NY
  42. Pega Ren, Ed.D., Registered Clinical Counsellor, Board Certified Sexologist, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  43. Rebecca Capri-Durkee Transgender Health Advocate, Boston, MA
  44. Robin Mangini, New York, NY
  45. Romy Reading, MA, New School for Social Research, New York, NY
  46. Rosalyne Blumenstein LCSW ACHP-SW, Therapy2Go, Los Angeles, CA
  47. Samuel Lurie, Director, Transgender Training and Advocacy
  48. Sand Chang, PhD, San Francisco, CA
  49. Sari Surkis, MBA, MSW Candidate, New York, NY
  50. Sean M. Endress, MA, LCSW, Albany, NY
  51. Sebastian Colon-Otero, LMSW, Brooklyn, NY
  52. Shelley Schwartz, Chappaqua NY
  53. Sherry Tripepi, MSW, EqualityToledo, Toledo, OH
  54. Stacey Peyer, MSW, LCSW, CalSWEC Field Consultant, CSULB Department of Social Work, Long Beach, CA
  55. Steve Prentice, LMSW New York, NY
  56. Steven Lipsky, LCSW, CASAC, New York, NY
  57. Sue Langer, LCSW, New York, NY
  58. Susan E. Roche, Ph.D., M.S.S.W., University of Vermont Department of Social Work, Burlington, VT
  59. Tim Pierce, President, Community Alliance and Action Network, Joliet, IL
  60. Toby C. Siegel, Astoria NY
  61. Trey Polesky, MSW, Bloomington, IL
  62. Tyler Blake Kim, New York, NY
  63. Yosenio V. Lewis, Transgender Health Advocate, San Francisco, CA
Posted on

Gender Neutral Bathrooms at CSI

The College of Staten Island is making some of their restrooms unisex, or gender neutral. It’s not particularly tricky: they’re putting signs on the doors of both male & female stick figures, add a lock to the main door and a sign letting people know they can use the gender neutral bathroom as a single-use, private one.

Amazingly uncomplicated, and as the article points out, useful for more than people whose genders are in flux, fluid, or trans: a father who has to change his daughter’s diaper, for instance, doesn’t have to worry about finding a family bathroom, either.

(h/t to Darryl Hill, who is also mentioned in the article)