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Friday, November 20, 2009
In honor of the 2009 Transgender Day of Remembrance, Dr. Sam Winter has just issued a strong appeal for the removal of gender identity variance from the psychiatric diagnostic manuals.
Time is pressing on in the psychopathologisation debate. The WHO and APA proceed in revising ICD and DSM respectively, the increasingly international STP-2012 (Stop Transpathologisation) Campaign gathers force, more and more research articles detail the links in the chain leading from psychopathologisation to illness and death, books on the subject (most recently Kelley Winters’ painstakingly careful analysis) get published..
The issue of psychopathologisation is of course a health issue, in that it is all about the view we take of transpeople’s mental health. But it is a health issue on many more grounds too. The psychopathologisation of GIV and GV engenders stigma, cultivates and/or supports prejudice and discrimination, contributes to social and economic marginalisation and poverty worldwide for transpeople, and is ultimately a health issue, raising the risk of poor mental health and well-being (and self-damaging and suicidal behaviours), social isolation, risk behaviours (including sexual), involvement in prostitution (often through lack of other employment possibilities), and HIV/AIDS risk.
Full article:
http://web.hku.hk/~sjwinter/TransgenderASIA/call-for-depsychopathologisation.htm
This is talk, not advice. See Terms of Use for details.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Malgorzata Anna Lamacz (born 1949) is an American researcher specializing in sexuality and behavioral genetics. Under the Americanized version of her name (Margaret Lamacz), she is the co-author of the 1989 book Vandalized Lovemaps: Paraphilic Outcome of 7 Cases in Pediatric Sexology with notorious sexologist John Money.
She and Money proposed the term gynemimetophilia as part of a paraphilic model of attraction to transwomen.
Lamacz has since gone on to work on evidence of genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia. This work has been done with Paul McHugh, who shut down the gender clinic at Johns Hopkins.
Full article:
Malgorzata Lamacz and transsexualism
http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/malgorzata-lamacz.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.
