September 02, 2009

DCI To Unravel Transgender And Intersex Issues In New Media

  admin   29 Comments

This link looked interesting, although I’m not sure if the blog itself is new. The author is also editor of a blog called Behind the Mask which is a really good site for news and information about GLBTI issues in Africa.

I will be a speaker in a panel about Gender, Civil Society and Digital Media and am delighted to share experiences of Behind the Mask on how the media reports on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex issues (LGBTI), whether digital media is opening up space for marginalised groups such as transgender and intersex people’s voices to be heard and whether the right to sexual orientation is recognised in new media.

via DCI To Unravel Transgender And Intersex Issues In New Media | sexgenderbody.

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Posted in: Activism, general   Tags: , ,
  • http://ariablue.wordpress.com ariablue

    I couldn’t agree with Laura R. more. Science continues to add on to the evidence that shows the transsexual condition to be purely biological, yet people persist in confusing the lifestyle choice of transgender for the birth condition that afflicted me.

    To buy into that “gender” paradigm pushed by theorists, certain feminists, and the T of the GLBT in this case is to do a great disservice to people born in such desperate straits. I hope people like Emily will someday understand that transgender was specifically coined to cause the kind of confusion she has with regard to this topic. Transgender is propaganda.

  • Laura R.

    If I understand Emilia’s comment correctly she thinks the difference between transsexualism and transgenderism is a matter of degree and a matter of personal belief. This is not true at all. There is no connection between transsexualism and transgender.

    Transsexualism is a serious life threatening medical condition. Transsexualism causes great suffering to those who are affected. There is no joy, fulfillment, or satisfaction in transsexualism. It is a terrible thing to be afflicted with. There is no one who is happy about being a transsexual. Transsexualism is not a choice and is not a lifestyle. A person is born with it, and it is a curse. It can be cured with proper hormonal treatment and surgery. Transsexualism is a temporary condition.

    What do transsexuals need? They need early treatment in childhood and recognition of their true sexual status, and to be allowed to go to school and live as their true sex. They need medication to block their indigenous hormones, and hormone treatment to induce the proper puberty. They need SRS to complete the process. They need the proper documentation to live a normal life. They need to have their privacy respected so they can live as normal men and women in society.

    I fear most transgendered people do not understand transsexuals or their needs, and assume that they and transsexuals are similar. I have even heard of some transgendered people criticizing transsexuals for their need for surgery and merging into society. I have heard of transsexuals being “outed” by transgendered people. This signifies a complete inability to understand transsexuals. I suppose it is true that you can’t really understand someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes.

    • http://thomascwaters.com admin

      No, I don’t think you understood Emilia’s comment at all. I think as well, you are operating under some misconceptions, if I understand your comments correctly. It seems you are suggesting that Transgenderism is a choice and a lifestyle, which is ironically the same claim made by some about homosexuality. I think it is counterproductive for anyone to dismiss anyone else like this- judging what is a choice or lifestyle and what is real, very unproductive.

      I hav learned so much from this thread, and I appreciate everyone who has added comments.

  • http://www.transburgh.com Emilia

    The only people who tend to differentiate between sex and gender are gender theorists and trans people. Looking through pubmed you run across studies examining the gender of frogs and such. I agree there are distinctions, but they are distinctions that many people tend to ignore.

    As for the transgender vs. transsexual distinctions. That is a matter of personal belief. All things being equal (e.g. use of medical technologies) there will be those that will identify in some way as transgender and those that do not. Just as there are gay men and lesbians who will use gay and lesbian to identify themselves and those who prefer other terminology (same gender loving, etc).

    The need to have one’s body congruent with one’s mind is the commonality that many people have whether they use transgender or transsexual to identify themselves. Taking this further, there are theories that mind with society (Herbert Mead is an example but not the only one). So the issue of embodiment relates to the balance between the body, mind, and society. The body (biology) signifies (gender expression)to others about one’s mind (gender identity) so the goal is to have others in society to recognize what we feel is true in our minds. We do so by changing some aspects of our biology (not all) in order to get to that point. But that is also just one side of the story. We also have to be happy with how our bodies reflect how we feel inside. The amount of changes needed can vary by person in order to be satisfied, as are the amount of changes needed to get society to accept what we feel inside. The distinction between biology, gender identity, gender expression, and acceptance by others as well as ourselves can be quite complex.

    • http://thomascwaters.com admin

      Thanks for adding these ideas to the thread!

  • http://ariablue.wordpress.com Ariablue

    I think it just comes down to letting people speak for themselves. In the case of transsexual men and women, most of what was needed was done in the 50′s-80′s. The idea of full legal equality was never really addressed (ID, paperwork in a court of law) because there really was no need at the time. There is a reason that most people who were treated for transsexual syndrome in the past don’t speak up- they were cured and went about their lives.

    Most of us have no need for civil rights in the sense that the GLBT do, here in the US. We just want the same rights that other men and women have due to their paperwork being recognized, legally and in a court of law. This is something that should be left to (formerly) transsexual people themselves, and should not be a playground for social gender theory or GLB activists using us as a sacrificial lamb.

    There is no connection between transsexual and transgender. That proposed connection is, and always has been, a political fiction. It is not appropriate for people to speak on others’ behalf simply because the target population is silent. If we wanted to speak, we would do it ourselves. And now we are.

  • Circé

    @admin
    Hi,

    I just would like to say that i agree with Joanne, Sophia, Susan, Laura R and Aria Blue. Even though i am a lesbian woman in my sexual orientation, i was born with an intersex condition and did go through a transition, so i’m technically TS to boot.

    Here’s the thing dear admin, i encourage the LGB to keep the TG community with them and make it exactly about what they ‘ve always wanted it to be about; gender identity and expression, but please remove transsexual and intersex people from that equation, we are not about any nurture theory or orientation, we were simply born as we are, period, nothing to do with sexual orientations, nothing to do with expressing gender play and or roles.

    You keep referring to TG while we are trying to explain that this is not us and the LG community needs to not co-opt us as a body of people. There are much more IS and TS people who are not Gay or Lesbian or Bi and it’s difficult for them to be forced into such a invisibilizing and catch-all gender trap.

    I say all this without any great anger though i could say that i do feel angry about this problem. I would very much like to finally see the day when this injustice towards TS and IS people is resolved in favor of IS and TS people and not continue to be silence with drivel from non-functional junk theories from Money and pals.

    • http://thomascwaters.com admin

      Thanks, I really appreciate your post. You are the only one who has actually answered my direct question, and I understand you to say, you want the GLBT community to let you fight for your own rights because TS/I people are not like GLBT people. But, I take exception to the statement “you keep referring to TG while we are trying to explain that this is not us and the LG community needs to not co-opt us as a body of people.” I totally get the point about “this is not us.” I don’t believe I ever said it was about you. That is the thing. I don’t believe I ever said, TG covered TS/I folks. In fact I thought I was pretty clear when I wrote “If I have learned anything from this exchange it is that Transgender, if that is a useful term in any way, does not and should not be understood to include transexual and intersex individuals.”

      So, please stop hitting me over the head for something I’m not doing now, and I don’t think ever did. I will indeed refer to TG because there are people for whom that is a reasonable descriptor, but I do not think that includes TS or I individuals. You (in the general sense) are putting those words in my mouth.

      I have thoroughly enjoyed and learned much from this thread because I knew little about Intersex before it began. I now have a much richer appreciation.

  • http://intersex-nz.blogspot.com Joanne

    @admin
    Hello Thomas :-) You wrote:

    To me is seems the issues may be different, but I’m not sure the needs are different. So, to be clear, how would your characterize, as specifically as possible the needs of transexuals and intersex?

    Here are a few to start with:

    We need the rest of you to understand that our issues are embodiment issues. They have to do with the way our psyche experiences the form, function and morphology of our anatomical sex.

    We need the rest of you to understand that we comprise our own unique biological experiences of being human. These experiences are not always those of anatomical maleness or femaleness.

    We need the rest of you to start listening to usand not the gender theorists and sexologists, whose constructed explanations of our experiences we can barely understand, and whose beliefs and theories cause us so much harm.

    We need the conflation of sex and gender to stop. Intersexed, transsexed, and trangender issues cannot be all be accommodated under a transgender rubric. That process has caused the erasure intersexed and transsexed voices and it must stop before it does more harm.

    In my personal opinion we need a forum where ‘movers and shakers’ from the GLBTQ lobby and intersexed and transsexed leaders can thrash these thing out. That foprum would need to small at first, with the potential to grow at a later date.

    The individuals involved should be those in positions to affect change. We must start talking to each other, instead of talking about each other. GLBTQ activists have a lot to unlearn about intersexed and transsexed lives. I dare say we have stuff to unlearn too. Its time that process began.

    And Thomas, here and now I say to you, No more Transgender blanket thrown over our lives! Its hurting us. GLBTQ activists must understand that an awful lot of the ill feeling among transsexed and intersexed people has been generated by that practice. It has to stop.

    • http://thomascwaters.com admin

      Joanne wrote:

      And Thomas, here and now I say to you, No more Transgender blanket thrown over our lives! Its hurting us. GLBTQ activists must understand that an awful lot of the ill feeling among transsexed and intersexed people has been generated by that practice. It has to stop.

      If I have learned anything from this exchange it is that Transgender, if that is a useful term in any way, does not and should not be understood to include transexual and intersex individuals. However, that said, I know others who believe that the word transgender is a useful and meaningful descriptor for their lives. So, that presents a dilemma. So from my perspective the use of “T: In GLBTQ doesn’t include Transexed and intersexed persons. No blanket is being thrown over you. Or, as Susan said so clearly early on in this discussion,

      Transsexualism has no place in any discussion if spoken of, or even alluded to, in the context of anything GLBT(add whatever addition letter you choose).

      What I find most interesting, is that this started by a post, where I merely quoted another blog, and where Intersexed individuals were being identified outside and specifically separate from the “transgender rubric.” That author specifically cited LGBTI, I think intentionally, so as to treat intersex as having unique and separate. But that was the problem I was first criticized for lumping everything together.. Perhaps you are more heard than you want to admit.

  • Laura R.

    Joanne wrote:
    “My next example is the practice of treating intersexed adults who have been genitally mutilated by so called Paediatric gender assignment in infancy, as ‘transgender’. That belief leads on to the notion that if the ‘gender assignment’ goes wrong a simple change in gender expression and role will fix the problem.”
    “Sometimes it may. Very often it doesn’t and the practice amounts to nothing more than an act of denial which totally ignores the reality that is individual sexual anatomy. It also brushes the disgrace of the genitally mutilating surgery under the cultural carpet.”

    This is exactly what happened to me. I had mutilating genital surgery when I was a baby and as a result was raised as a boy. That was a big mistake by the doctors and I have paid the price for it. My condition was kept secret for most of my life. I knew I had unusual genitailia and scars, but I never knew why. I had an unusual puberty but I never knew why. When I finally had my SRS/GRS, my surgeon told me he had found a partial vagina. I was shocked but still didn’t know that meant I was intersexed. I always thought I was transsexual. It is only recently that my mother confirmed to me that I had genital surgery when I was a baby. Now I finally know the truth about my life and how I was lied to. I am not transgender, I am not GID-NOS, I am a woman who was born with an intersex condition, and because of that I was mutilated. My goal is that no more intersex children have to undergo what I went through.

  • Laura R.

    I said previously:
    “You see, the needs and issues of transsexuals and intersex are very different, and mesh in very few places.”

    I meant to say:
    You see, the needs and issues of transsexuals and intersex are very different from those of the LGBT movement, and mesh in very few places.

    • http://thomascwaters.com admin

      To me is seems the issues may be different, but I’m not sure the needs are different. So, to be clear, how would your characterize, as specifically as possible the needs of transexuals and intersex?

  • Laura R.

    Susan wrote:
    “But that , as they say, is the issue. Transsexualism has no place in any discussion if spoken of, or even alluded to, in the context of anything GLBT.”

    Then Admin wrote:
    “Thanks for your reply. Are you suggesting then, the GLB whatever movements should ignore and separate from transgender issues entirely? Gays and Lesbians should do their thing and seek full rights on their own, and transgenders do their own thing and seek their rights on their own?”

    This is another perfect example of the conflation of the terms transgender and transsexual. Transgender issues are not the same as transsexual issues. The term LGBT can and should remain as it is as long as the term transgender does not include transsexuals in it. Let transsexuals have their own identity back. Transgender folks really don’t understand the needs of transsexuals, and some of them have even criticized transsexuals for their need for corrective surgery.

  • Laura R.

    Admin wrote:

    admin :</strongThat suggest to me that she is saying that there is no GLBT- just GLB. That gays and lesbians should only worry about their own rights and T (and I??) can worry about their own rights. Is that correct? In your opinion, is that a common intersex or transgender opinion? I know that irt doesn’t reflect the views of transfolk I know and work with.

    I think the problem is the conflation of the terms transgender and transsexual. I was under the impression that the T in LBGT stood for transgender. Transsexuals are not the same thing at all. This is part of the diminishing voice and identity of transsexuals as a group, by being submerged into the much larger group of the transgender movement. Most transsexuals don’t really want to be a part of a movement, they just want to get surgery and merge into society as their true sex and live their lives in peace. They are not really about changing society. Becoming lifetime members of the transgender movement is counter to what transsexuals want in life. That is, to become normal members of society as the sex to which they identify. A sad development is that many young transsexuals have started to call themselves transgender. When a group loses their name, they lose their identity, and their unique needs suffer for it.

    Intersex people too, have our own issues not related to the LGBT movement. Ours is a biological issue that has associated medical problems depending on the condition. We have problems with how we are treated by the medical community. We are subjected to non-consensual cosmetic “normalization” surgeries as infants, teenagers and even as adults. Intersex people lack the right to self-determination over our own bodies. These are major breaches of human rights and crimes against humanity, but they happen to us every day. We are denied access to our medical records. Our surgeries and intersex conditions are kept secret from us. Many of us are surgically assigned to a sex that does not match our ultimate identity. We are discriminated against by a society that does not recognize our existence, and which surgically tries to eliminate us. There is truly no place for us in society. Now the medical community has decided to take away the name Intersex and replace it with the term DSD (Disorder of sex Development). This is very demeaning and damaging to us. What if the term Gay were replaced with “Disorder of Sexual Preference”? You can see what damage that would do. Would anyone call themselves a DSP? No, and we will NEVER accept the term DSD. We are Intersex!

    You see, the needs and issues of transsexuals and intersex are very different, and mesh in very few places. Our numbers and the numbers of transsexuals are so small compared to the LGBT movement that we can’t afford to be submerged into a much larger group. We can work together for human rights, but as separate groups. We must retain our unique identities and remain separate groups, to ensure our very existence.

  • http://intersex-nz.blogspot.com Joanne

    @admin

    Kiaora Thomas. :-)

    You wrote:

    “All of the comments read like a masters thesis- very academic.”

    Speaking for myself, that is the way I write. If you visit my personal blog:

    http://joanneproctor-hbs.blogspot.com/

    You will find the same objective writing style. I hope it is no less informative or interesting for that.

    You wrote:

    … “I have never ever heard anyone described as ex-men or ex women, and yet these things are said as if they are the commonplace.”

    Then you have missed one of the key points of most comments. What other purpose does placing the Now ubiquitous “trans” prefix in front of every statement deemed to be associated with transsexed lives have, if not to ‘other’ us, or ghetto-ize us as something else, or proclaim us as ex the anatomical sex we left behind?

    As with most other attitudes and responses, this practice is fostered by transgender people, who do not want to change their anatomical sex but want to be regarded as if having done so. Placing ‘trans’ in front of their presentation allows them to claim the the status of the other gender (man/woman) without having the sex (male/female.)

    Why are classical transsexuals, especially after having changed sex, expected to be treated as if that had not happened? Answer: to accommodate individuals who do not have our experience and as a result, have not the slightest desire or intention to put themselves through the kinds of processes classical transsexuals undertake just to try and achieve some kind of normalcy.

    Finally, you noted:

    Joanne isn’t sure who I am referring to when I use the term Transfolk, but Sophie seems quite clear about who she is referring to as transsexual folks.

    You have picked up on a distinction that intersexed and transsexed people recognize, But that the GLBTQXYZ alphabet soup does not. In our discourse Transgendered, transsexed and intersexed largely have three distinct and different meanings. Intersexed is pretty much self-explanatory. But lets revisit the submission on true (HBS) transsexualism for a moment.

    “True transsexuals feel that they belong to the other sex, they want to be and function as members of the opposite sex, not only to appear as such. For them, their sex organs, the primary (testes) as well as the secondary (penis and others) are disgusting deformities…”
    (Benjamin, Harry. The Transsexual Phenomenon. (Ch. 2)

    1.2 True Transsexualism or Harry Benjamin Syndrome relates to individuals who experience a life-long conflict with their anatomical sex. The condition is characterized by early childhood sensations of wrongful embodiment and a powerful, often self destructive, discomfit with their reproductive function as adults. Early childhood manifestations of inappropriate ‘gender role’ behavior are not necessarily a component of this condition.

    These are not gender issues: they are biological sex issues. The practice of throwing a transgender blanket over them and treating them as issues of social gender expression and identities may have been beneficial for people who have those particular problems.

    But it has also had the unfortunate effect of ‘invisible-izing’ us and allowing our experiences and discourse to be colonized by people who do not share the somatic dissonance that transsexed individuals grow up with and will, where possible, move heaven an hell to remedy.

    The GLBQTI rainbow umbrella has not been beneficial. Here are two examples:

    Whilst claiming to represent and understand the last two letters in the acronym True (HBS or classical) transsexuals have witnessed their colonization by the oxymoronic “transsexual who doesn’t want to change sex.” From our perspective this is exactly as possible as a “heterosexual gay male”, a “transgender who doesn’t want to change gender”, and a “five piece quartet.”

    The idea that somebody can be transsexed and not want to change sex leads directly into the wider public belief that sex reassignment surgery is not a necessary resolution to the condition. Indeed, as Sophia has already alluded to, some TG activists have themselves argued that the surgery should be banned. That because some of them have accessed it in the mistaken belief that they were transsexed and discovered their mistake afterward.

    My next example is the practice of treating intersexed adults who have been genitally mutilated by so called Paediatric gender assignment in infancy, as ‘transgender’. That belief leads on to the notion that if the ‘gender assignment’ goes wrong a simple change in gender expression and role will fix the problem.

    Sometimes it may. Very often it doesn’t and the practice amounts to nothing more than an act of denial which totally ignores the reality that is individual sexual anatomy. It also brushes the disgrace of the genitally mutilating surgery under the cultural carpet.

    These are two of a raft of reasons Thomas, why many transsexed and intersexed folk are fed up with the GLBTQI rainbow umbrella. The way we see it the T only recognizes transgender whilst subsuming transsexed into non existence, and the ‘I’ added on to the end is a laughing joke.

    Essentially there are two schools of thought on what to do about it. One school argues that some kind of negotiated agreement may yet be possible. The other school argues that TS and IS people have been damaged by an association that was imposed on them, and they did not want in the first place.

    Personally, I’m willing to try the former, though I do doubt that transgenders will be willing to give up their ubiquitous influence.

    I hope this helps. I apologise if it is overly academic. :-)

  • http://sophiaofthescythes.wordpress.com/ Sophie of the Scythes

    @admin

    Hello Thomas.

    Please forgive my tone, I was trying to sound diplomatic because when I explain things personally it gets painful. But as you feel it helpful to read that that’ts fine.

    As an 18 month old child I was misdiagnosed with Pais, it turned out I had 5 alpha in the end, I was “Assigned male” and developed a pathological hatred of it. But this was more to do with people trying to make me male. I later suffered insitutional abuse, because my body was ambigious verging towards female. It was a constant battle I did not need. The surgery I was subjected to as a child was messy and it was all just horrible.

    Today I am denied my legal rights because of the gender polticians in the UK redefining everything as “Trans”. Well that not only denies what happened when I was a kid but it also results in my being unable to change my birth documentation because they claim that people with the condition I actually have (5 alpha reductase-2 deficiency) should have a “Male gender identity” (I have nothing of the sort).

    The situation for intersex folks like me and for transsexual folks is complicated, but the “Transgender” or “Trans” lobby in the UK along with some in the wider LGBT community just don’t understand. so they define me by some sort of sexuality or gender identity when for me, the situation was more about my physical make up.I hate it when they say “Sophie is a sort of man who identifies as a women but is really a semi man with a male gender identity because the papers on 5 alpha say so” I am just a 45 year old woman who never had a male body who wants to get on with her life. They want to define me as all manner of things other than who and what I am. It is so wierd.

  • http://sophiaofthescythes.wordpress.com/ Sophie of the Scythes

    Hello Thomas

    I think the problem has a lot to do with how legislators do not fully understand the concept of sex differentiation. To them it is either “Boy” or “Girl” or “Something else”. Along come the transgender movement and defined “Something else” as trangender instead of actually identifying people as people. The unfortunate result is that people with very diffenet social and medical histories are identified as “Transgender” placed in a legal ghetto and then told to live by the rules of that ghetto.

    And this sadly is how the legislators have defined it, I have 5 alpha reductase deficiency, it is classed as an intersex condition and by the rules of society I become either male or female. Not something I am all that comfortable with but as someone who is female I can adapt to that. The rules of the ghetto insist that I should be defined in law as “Male” (As a Female to male transsexual would be). The problem is I have no intention of turning male, But the law in the UK says I am because that is what the ghetto rules are with regards 5 alpha.

    I don’t blame everyone who defines themselves as transgender but I have noticed that the more political element tend to insist of arbitrary definitions. With me it is people telling me that I either accept being defined as something like Cal in the fictional “Middlesex” by Eugenides or be marginalized. Well I am me, not some fictional character in a novel or a text book 5 alpha patient.

    With transsexual folks it is as strange, they get described as “Ex men” or “Ex women” by the transgender politicians. Like they get surgery to be the sex they knew themselves to be. And the gender politicians keep saying “You must be reminded about your past all the time it is the rules of the ghetto”. In some cases they even oppose transsexual folks getting surgery. “Oh just cross dress instead it is much easier”. (Clearly they don’t understand transsexual folks).

    The ghetto strips people of their individuality and tries to make them into stereotypes. It makes people uncomfortable with terms like “Trans” (The shortened form of “Transgender”) and transgender.

    It all needs to be reconsidered really because it is not working as things are.

    • http://thomascwaters.com admin

      The comments to this thread have certainly been informative, yet I’m left quite disappointed. For all the discussion of how the current state of GLBT whatever silences the voices of some, not a single poster has spoken from the space of their personal voice. All of the comments read like a masters thesis- very academic. The closest to someone speaking with a personal voice is this comment by Sophie, claiming, “I don’t blame everyone…”

      Maybe this is a British or Aussie or anything except American thing, because I have never ever heard anyone described as ex-men or ex women, and yet these things are said as if they are the commonplace. I do totally grasp the need to better understand the broad range of individual experiences instead of making them invisible within a few less-than descriptive terms. But I don’t the treatment of real human being as if it were textual criticism. It is odd to me: Joanne isn’t sure who I am referring to when I use the term Transfolk, but Sophie seems quite clear about who she is referring to as transexual folks. So, it has certainly been an interesting discussion to ponder and thing about.

  • http://intersex-nz.blogspot.com Joanne

    @admin
    Hello Thomas :-)

    1. I’m not sure who you are referring to when you talk of ‘transfolk’. As a starting point it might help to understand that the ‘trans’ terminology that has become all to common is an anathema to very many transsexed and intersexed individuals.

    In part they see it as ‘ghetto-izing’ and othering them, when all they wanted was/is to make the necessary changes to their anatomical sex and get on with living ‘normal’ lives.

    The other reasons will become clear below.

    2. You will be aware of new terminologies appearing in transsexed/intersexed discourse. “Classical transsexual”; “HBS transsexual”; True Transsexual; “Primary transsewxual”, just to name a few.

    These terminologies have all evolved organically over the last three or four years. They arose in different places and in different fora. Each is an attempt to delineate the same experience: that defined all those years ago by Harry Benjamin, and defined in 1.1 and 1.2 of the OII submission.

    Benjamin’s description was an accurate depiction of the phenomenon. That depiction was lost when John Money’s theories gained currency. I refer you to my comments here, dated Sept. 4 2009 for my analysis of why that happened.

    http://sophiaofthescythes.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/what-has-milton-got-to-hide/#comments

    Among the problems has been the advent of the oxymoronic transsexual who doesn’t want to change sex. The widespread acceptance of that claim, predicated entirely on the belief that transsexualism is, as described by Money, a gender role and social gender expression issue, demonstrates the extent of the colonization of transsexualism and significant aspects intersex experience, by transgenderism.

    Intersexed issues overlap with transsexed issues in this area. Again I refer you to the OII submission for examples and clarifications.

    I think GLB/transgender need to start understanding the sense of powerlessness and frustration intersexed and transsexed people have felt as a result of the application of gender theory to lives of individuals who experience very real issues of a biological and embodiment nature.

    ‘Colonization’ is commonly used, the sense of being the elephants in the cultural living room is often expressed in different ways. Yet the problem is not hard to recognize.

    It lies in the mistaken belief that all of these very different lived experiences can be accommodated under the rubric of transgender and/or gender identity issues. Intersexed and Transsexed folk have suffered the consequences of that belief, and can only see their situation getting worse.

    As of now, we have a draft declaration on human rights from the UN. Most think its a wonderful document – except! Wait for it:

    32. “Sexual orientation and gender identity “Other status” as recognized in article 2(2) includes sexual orientation. States parties should ensure that a person’s sexual orientation is not a barrier to realising Covenant rights, for example, in accessing survivor’s pension rights. In addition, gender identity is recognized as among the prohibited grounds of discrimination; for example, persons who are transgender, transsexual or intersex often face serious human rights violations, such as harassment in schools or in the work place.” (italics mine)

    Conflating sex and gender can have serious human rights consequences. In Britain the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) allows anybody who wants to change gender roles to do so on the basis of a statutory declaration. This can be done regardless of hormonal or surgical history and it is commonly touted globally as as an example of legislative excellence.

    Yet in Great Britain intersexed adults who are wrongly surgically miss-assigned as babies cannot have their birth certificates changed to reflect the miss-assignment.
    They may get a ‘gender recognition certificate’ permitting them to change gender roles. But many of them are females anyway! And where is the acknowledgment of that, or of the trauma of the miss-assignment!

    This situation aught give some demonstration the danger of the conflation. It may show you why many intersexed and transsexed activist are demanding their voices back. Britain’s situation is likely to be repeated in Europe shortly. And, if the UN can’t be persuaded to alter its mindset, tomorrow the world!

  • http://intersex-nz.blogspot.com Joanne

    @admin

    Hello Thomas :-)

    I wonder if you would like to contact me at my gmail address once you feel that you have assimilated the content of the OII submission. You should feel free to delete that post once you have finished with it. I am only too happy to provide you with a PDF copy. You could send that to anybody else who would also like one.

    Cheers,

    Jo.

    • http://thomascwaters.com admin

      Sure. I don’t see your gmail acct listed anywhere. You can email me at thomas@thomascwaters.com

    • http://thomascwaters.com admin

      Joanne,
      I’d appreciate it if you would comment on susan’s reply and my reply to it.

      She writes:
      But that , as they say, is the issue. Transsexualism has no place in any discussion if spoken of, or even alluded to, in the context of anything GLBT(add whatever addition letter you choose). Classic transsexuality was assimilated into a group we, as well as the intersex, do not identify with nor belong. If you insist on speaking to transsexualism it would be disingenuous of you not to mention that the vast majority of post op transsexuals abhor any connection to the GLBT…we transition, have our surgery and merge into the mainstream.

      That suggest to me that she is saying that there is no GLBT- just GLB. That gays and lesbians should only worry about their own rights and T (and I??) can worry about their own rights. Is that correct? In your opinion, is that a common intersex or transgender opinion? I know that irt doesn’t reflect the views of transfolk I know and work with.

  • http://tgnonsense.wordpress.com/ Susan

    @admin

    “However, I have also (and somewhat often) been accused of excluding people, so personally, my preference is to speak about the GLBTQ communities without suggesting that I can speak for them, but merely to acknowledge that they all exist and are important.”

    But that , as they say, is the issue. Transsexualism has no place in any discussion if spoken of, or even alluded to, in the context of anything GLBT(add whatever addition letter you choose). Classic transsexuality was assimilated into a group we, as well as the intersex, do not identify with nor belong. If you insist on speaking to transsexualism it would be disingenuous of you not to mention that the vast majority of post op transsexuals abhor any connection to the GLBT…we transition, have our surgery and merge into the mainstream.

    • http://thomascwaters.com admin

      Thanks for your reply. Are you suggesting then, the GLB whatever movements should ignore and separate from transgender issues entirely? Gays and Lesbians should do their thing and seek full rights on their own, and transgenders do their own thing and seek their rights on their own?

      From my perspective, the goal is to see that we all deserve equal rights, and that position become mainstream.

  • http://ariablue.wordpress.com Aria Blue

    Please have a look at OII’s excellent site describing the emergent Intersex identity:

    http://www.intersexualite.org/

    Also, there is a growing movement of people who object to the colonization of their lives by the alphabet-soup movement:

    http://sophiaofthescythes.wordpress.com/

    http://tgnonsense.wordpress.com/

    http://cassandraspeaks.wordpress.com/

    http://ariablue.wordpress.com/

    http://sophiaofthescythes.forumotion.com/

    These are just a few of us who are starting to oppose those who want to impose their pseudo science and political agendas on our bodies. This is mainly a US-UK-AUS phenomenon so the situation in Africa may be different. I think what the previous poster and I would ask is that you examine the attachment of “I” to the LGBT before you commit to it. Adding “I” is a move by certain political types here, but not the Intersex people themselves. The LGBT cannot claim to speak with authority for either intersex or transsexual people as a whole.

    • http://thomascwaters.com admin

      Thanks for your comment! I really grasp what you mean when you say, “The LGBT cannot claim to speak with authority for either intersex or transsexual people as a whole.” However, I have also (and somewhat often) been accused of excluding people, so personally, my preference is to speak about the GLBTQ communities without suggesting that I can speak for them, but merely to acknowledge that they all exist and are important. Intersex is something I know little to nothing about, and am appreciating all of the input and information. Your involvement here on the blog, as well as by others is invaluable.

  • http://intersex-nz.blogspot.com Joanne

    Transgender and intersex issues? Sounds like here we go again! Yet another self anointed ersatz expert conflating sex and gender. Practicing the identity politics of denial. Turning intersexed and transsexed experiences into B/S ideas about gender role and gender expression.

    Intersexed and Transsexed issues are about our body’s, our Biology’s, our anatomical sex – they are not about gender!

    These attitudes and beliefs are part of the process of denial, making us invisible and silencing our legitimate rights to our own voices. Be off with your GLBTIQXYZ alphabet soup of identity politics. Intersexed and Transsexed people want our voices and our lives back before we’re aborted from human existence, while blogs like this hide the process behind a curtain of nonsensical letters.

    • http://thomascwaters.com admin

      Thanks for posting your comment. I’m not sure if you were expressing anger that I posted this or at the original poster who was writing about the conference where, Nthateng Mhlambiso will be speaking about “whether digital media is opening up space for marginalised groups such as transgender and intersex people’s voices to be heard.”

      I’d appreciate it if you would write more about the difference between gender and the body and biology. Since these are not the same, help educate those of us who don’t have your experience so that we know more after reading your comments than we knew before.

      I’m especially interested given that legislation designed to help protect the rights of transgenders is often labeled as “gender identity and gender expression.” Many of us have worked hard to keep language like that in legislation so as to protect transfolk, and I want to know more.

      Lastly, I’m excited to hear you say more about “These attitudes and beliefs are part of the process of denial, making us invisible and silencing our legitimate rights to our own voices.” Please, use your own voice! Here in this blog space or elsewhere. Your voice is welcomed and wanted. Don’t be invisible, you are very welcome here.