Sunday, November 08, 2009
A reader writes: “Last night on Aussie TV’s “Sunday Night” (Channel 7’s ‘60 Minutes’ look-a-like show), they did a story on transgendered children, and had a focus on Germany’s Kim Petras.”
While on the whole I felt the story was fairly positive, the reporter’s line of questioning in a couple of instances I felt was utterly pathetic. He trotted out the “toilet/bathroom” question again to Kim Petras (Ugh! C’mon dude - it’s 2009 not 1979!), and then followed that up with “What if ?? What if she changes her mind and wants to be a boy again ?” I wanted to throw rocks at the reporter! I had hoped that the media had moved on from scandalizing TS women (and particularly trans children), but yet again I was wrong and terribly disappointed.
You can see the video/story at the link above to the Sunday Night website. The video takes about 10 minutes. Also on that site is a poll about whether or not children should be allowed to ‘change sex’. To my surprise, a whopping 75% of the general populace that had voted said they should. Maybe the media is yet again lagging behind society ? Also worth reading is the father’s story about his daughter (relates to the girl in Melbourne spoken about in the video) - watch the video first though.
http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunday-night/#fop
Also, an nice article about supportive parents in Time Out New York:
Experts would label Sean, now 5, gender-variant, though various other (less creepy sounding) terms exist: gender-atypical, gender-nonconforming, gender-independent. While in most of the country gender variance might be considered either an abomination to be treated or merely an embarrassment to be roundly ignored, here it’s considered endearing. (Ludicrously, gender identity disorder is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as a mental illness; transgender and civil-rights advocates are lobbying to have it removed, just as homosexuality was deleted as a mental illness from the same manual in 1973.)
Read more: http://newyorkkids.timeout.com/articles/features/79610/cross-dressing-kids-and-gender-identity
Finally, this from TransYouth Family Allies’ Kim Pearson
TYFA Board Member and esteemed author Andrew Solomon recently spoke at “Let’s Breakthrough Together 2009,” at the Harvard Club in NYC where he shared the very moving stories of two of our TYFA families. I hope you will take the time to view this video and see why the work we do is so important. We continue to invest countless hours and resources supporting the two families mentioned and others like them...this is the work we do and we need your support.
http://vimeo.com/7455749
Further information:
Transitioning early in life
http://www.tsroadmap.com/early/earlyindex.html
TransYouth Family Allies
http://www.imatyfa.org
This is talk, not advice. See Terms of Use for details.
Posted by
Andrea James on 11/08 at 02:23 PM
Youth Issues •
Permalink
Peter Ian Collins (born 1955) is a Canadian forensic psychiatrist. He works at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), a Toronto mental institution charged with serving gender-variant clients in the area. It has become widely known as one of the most notorious facilities in the world in terms of controlling access to medical services.
With Ray Blanchard, Collins coined the term “gynandromorphophilia” to describe attraction to transgnder people (specifically to trans women who have not had vaginoplasty). He is one of the few people who has ever used the term “she-male” in an academic paper to describe trans women as a demographic group.
Psychiatrist Vernon Rosario has called labels like these “scientifically reifying” when applied to trans women and their admirers.
Full article:
Peter Collins on transsexualism
http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/peter-collins.html
This is talk, not advice. See Terms of Use for details.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Ray Blanchard at Toronto’s notorious Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has accused me of spreading “misinformation” about him, so let’s get all his biographical details out on the table in order to make my point more clearly.
Blanchard is widely reviled by transsexual people. He once declared that a trans woman who has transitioned is merely “a man without a penis,” and said of trans men, “They get a kind of lump that in the best, most expensive, $100,000 cases, kind of, maybe, look like a penis from across a room.” His comments on trans people’s genitalia echo his fixation on “phallometrics,” the measurement of penile length, width, and tumescence when subjects are exposed to erotic stimuli. The field of “phallometrics” was developed by Blanchard’s mentor at CAMH to determine if army recruits were gay or not. Blanchard, who has not disclosed his own sexual orientation publicly, is considered an expert in determining the size and tumescence of male genitalia.
Blanchard took umbrage at my publication of his 2008 taxpayer-funded salary and my comment that he and Zucker both left America for Canada during the Vietnam War. Why is Blanchard so touchy about military matters, and what personally motivates his life’s work? What drives this key figure in the oppression of sex and gender minorities? Since he feels entitled to ascribe labels and motivations to others, let’s turn the tables. Why is Ray so reticent about revealing his own sexual interests and behavior, when his career involves “catching” people not being open and honest about their sexual interests and behavior?
This article examines Ray’s childhood, family life, sexuality, Catholic upbringing, and interest in penile tumescence. It also examines how CAMH became the world’s largest publicly-funded forced feminization sex dungeon and transgender reparative therapy clinic. Finally, it examines what Blanchard’s most important legacy will be: the broad expansion of “paraphilia” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) to further oppress sex and gender minorities as mentally disordered.
In this section:
* Ray Blanchard motivations for oppressing sex and gender minorities
http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/ray-blanchard-motivations.html
* Toronto: epicenter of pathologization of sex and gender minorities
http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/ray-blanchard-hypotheses.html
* Ray Blanchard’s problematic place in history
http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/ray-blanchard-history.html
* Notes, updates, further reading
http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/ray-blanchard-notes.html
This is talk, not advice. See Terms of Use for details.
Friday, October 30, 2009
A reader notes:
I recently had That Talk with my HR person. While I was putting together my coming out letter that I addressed to my HR person, I found very few examples of what I imagined would be an appropriate letter. Of the few existing examples, I found them to be too personal or that they focused on details that I didn’t feel I needed to tell people.
The letter that I did produce was very well received by management. Please feel free to publish this anonymized version of my letter, as a resource for all the other trans folk that are looking for more reference material.
Bill,
I have recently come to terms with some personal issues that will affect the way in which I continue my work here at Initech. After much consideration and with the support of both my doctor and family, I must disclose that I am transsexual. That is to say that in every aspect of my personality I am a woman, and that having a male body causes me great distress in my day-to-day life. I am currently in the process of transition, after which I intend to live as a woman for the rest of my life. I will need the Initech to accommodate some of my basic needs during this period.
I would like to work with the company in order to devise a process in which I can easily make this transition with minimal discomfort to myself or my coworkers. I have included an information pamphlet produced by the Ontario Human Rights commission on the subject of gender identity, as well as a sample company policy for employees and managers regarding transition in the workplace published by the Chevron Corporation. I can also provide additional resources upon request.
I would suggest that we agree on a date within the near future, at which point I will begin working with a female gender presentation. In the time immediately preceding this date, the staff should be tactfully informed that I will be continuing my work here as a woman. Following this, I should return to work in a female role with all the rights and responsibilities of any other female employee. My personal preference would be to have the management organize a mandatory presentation by a speaker or consultant that specializes in explaining concepts of gender identity in a corporate environment.
I know that the Initech values diversity and our unique sense of community. These key aspects of our company have made this the most fantastic environment in which I have had the pleasure of working. And I am fully confident that my coworkers will have no trouble accepting me for who I am.
Sincerely,
Meagan
Further information:
http://www.tsroadmap.com/reality/jobtrans.html
This is talk, not advice. See Terms of Use for details.
Posted by
Andrea James on 10/30 at 10:05 AM
Real World •
Permalink
Lynn Conway notes:
This interactive map reveals that the Centre for Addiction and mental Health (CAMH) not only controls the fate of gender transitioners in Ontario, but in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland too. It also reveals that CAMH requires a two-year RLE in all cases, in non-compliance with the WPATH Standards of Care.
Sex reassignment surgery in Canada: what’s covered and where
http://www.xtra.ca/public/Ottawa/Sex_reassignment_surgery_in_Canada_whats_covered_and_where-7706.aspx
Province-by-province breakdown of SRS coverage
http://www.xtra.ca/BinaryContent/stories/77/06/7706/7706-SRS/212_SRS.swf
This is talk, not advice. See Terms of Use for details.
