Gender and Life's Paths: Sep 3, 2008

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Male to Female Transformation

"Look what i have become" christopherteo

Nigel Barker: Transgender on America's Next Top Model shocking but necessary

September 3, 2008

New Yorkers on America's Next Top Model: Isis, Nikeysah, and Sheena(amNewYork composite from Handout Photo/ America's Next Top Model / August 12, 2008)

After five years and 10 cycles, there are certain elements viewers have grown to expect from 'America's Next Top Model.' There's the Ivy Leaguer who thinks she's too smart for modeling, the mean girl who'd seemingly rather fight than model, the affable lesbian who acts as a foil to the conservative Christian and the 'issue' girl -- in past cycles we've seen blindness, Asperger's Syndrome, female circumcision, homelessness, rage issues and mail-order brides on the show. . . .Read More

Majority of Americans Agree That Transgender Employees Should Be. . .

New Workplace Report also Shows that Majority of Americans Support
Marriage-Like Benefits for Same Sex Couples in the Workplace

Sept. 2, 2008

HarrisInteractive

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. & ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sep 02, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE)

According to a recent national survey, seven out of ten
heterosexual adults (71%) agree that how an employee performs at their
job should be the standard for judging an employee, not whether or not
they are transgender. The new survey also showed that nearly eight out
of ten (79%) heterosexual adults strongly or somewhat agree that how
an employee does his or her job should be the standard for judging an
employee, not their sexual orientation. . . .Read More

Transgenders get home of their own

Arelis Hernandez | Sentinel Staff Writer

September 3, 2008

Andre Johnson has struggled his whole life to find a home.

Johnson, 44, in his blond wig, nail polish and gold bracelets, longs to live as a woman. But calling himself Angie, he felt neither safe nor comfortable. People told him God didn't make mistakes, but Johnson couldn't shake what his "inner something" was telling him -- that he was a woman living inside a man's body.

The feelings of isolation worsened when Johnson contracted the human immunodeficiency virus.Today, the once-homeless transgender woman -- a man who lives and dresses as a woman -- has found a home among others looking for acceptance and refuge.

The house is the region's first residential haven for HIV-positive transgender patients, a place for people besieged not only by gender-identity issues but also by health concerns and drug abuse. The city of Orlando's Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS program arranged the accommodations while the Center for Multicultural Wellness and Prevention paid the rent. Together, they opened the home July 1. . . .Read More

Kenya: My Rights Abused, Says Double-Sex Prisoner

September 2, 2008

Jillo Kadida
Nairobi

A hermaphrodite who is seeking to be released from Kamiti maximum security prison wants a report about his medical and physical condition tabled in court.

Richard Mwanzia Muasya says the report will help the court understand the continuous human and constitutional rights violations he is going through at the prison, where he is being held after he was convicted for robbery with violence.

A detailed report by medical experts will also help the court to fully understand his gender, says Muasya.

Muasya was born with both male and female sex organs, but goes about life as a man. . . .Read More

Gender variance or nonconformity is found wherever one finds people.

A closer view reveals many variations in gender expression. Note “sex” refers to biology, genes, hormones, body development, whereas “gender” is social role, cultural expectations for appearance and behavior. Gender expression varies over time and throughout cultures and may vary in the lifetimes of individuals. We sometimes hear “male or female”, “masculine or feminine”, as defining “the binary”. Typically, many want males masculine and females feminine, in a world where being androgenous or a hybrid may actually work better. Yet many individuals, for example, parents, teachers, and friends, including some with gender issues, crave the binary. In the case of a significantly gender variant person, gender expression often does not match the social or binary gender role assigned at birth. Nevertheless, the person's expressed gender may feel correct or natural. Thus a gender nonconforming person, maybe someone who even sees themselves as “non-binary”, may feel very uncomfortable with the gender expression expected by parents and significant others. Fortunately, there are a growing number of resources to help those interested understand gender, development, change and adaptation. And there are creative paths one may explore to hopefully find comfort, experience a measure of peace and happiness, and in the process find the gender expression that works best. Here I offer some news, information, resources, opinions and POVs to help you learn more about gender expression and life situations. We now know there are a variety of paths individuals discover that may contribute to positive life changes.

Books you may find interesting:

Benjamin, Harry. (1966). The Transsexual Phenomenon. New York: The Julian Press, Inc. Full text and photographs available as an electronic book: http://www.symposium.com/ijt/benjamin/

Blanchard, Ray and Steiner, Betty W. (1990). Clinical Management of Gender Identity Disorders in Children and Adults. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc.

Bolin, Anne. (1988). In Search of Eve: Transsexual Rites of Passage. South Hadley, Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey.

Boenke, Mary, (Ed). (2003). Trans Forming Families. Hardy, VA: Oak Knoll Press.

Bornstein, Kate. (1994). Gender Outlaw: On men, women and the rest of us. Routledge: New York & London.

Brill, Stephanie & Pepper, Rachel. (2008). The Transgender Child. San Francisco: Cleis Press.

Brown, Mildred L. & Rounsley, Chloe Ann. (1996). True Selves: Understanding Transsexualism. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Brownmiller, Susan. (1984). Femininity. New York: Linden / Simon Schuster.

Buss, David M. (1994). The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating. New York: Basic Books.

Califia, Pat. (1997). Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism. San Francisco: Cleis Press.

Cameron, Loren. (1996). Body Alchemy: Transsexual Portraits. San Francisco: Cleis Press.

Colapinto, John. (2000). As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl. New York: HarperCollins.

Cromwell, Jason. (1999). Transmen and FTMs: Identities, Bodies, Genders and Sexualities. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Devor, Holly. (1989). Gender Blending: Confronting The Limits of Duality. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

Devor, Holly. (1997). Female to Male Transsexuals in Society. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

Docter, Richard F. (1988). Transvestites and Transsexuals: Toward a Theory of Cross-Gender Behavior. New York: Plenum Press.

Ehrensaft, Diane. (2011). Gender Born, Gender Made. New York: The Experiment, LLC.

Green, Jamison. (2004). Becoming a Visible Man. Nashville:Vanderbilt Univerrsity Press.

Griggs, Claudine. (1996). Passage through Trinidad: Journal of a Surgical Sex Change. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Co.

Griggs, Claudine. (1998). S/He: Changing Sex and Changing Clothes. Oxford: Berg.

HBIGDA, Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorders, Sixth Version. (2001). http://www.hbigda.org/socv6.html#top

Kessler, Suzanne and McKenna, Wendy. (1978). Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Serano, Julia. (2007). Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Women on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. San Francisco: Seal Press.

Stuart, Kim Elizabeth. (1983). The Uninvited Dilemma: A Question of Gender. Portland, Oregon: Metamorphous Press, Inc.

Available from Metamorphous Press, Inc. P.O. Box 10616, Portland, Oregon 97210-0616. Fax (503) 223-9117 or Toll Free 1-800-937-7771

Sullivan, Lou. (1990). Information for the Female to Male Cross Dresser and Transsexual. Seattle, Washington: Ingersoll Gender Center.

Available from Ingersoll Gender Center. 1812 E. Madison Seattle, Washington 98122-2843. (206) 329-665

Williams, Walter L. (1986). The Spirit and The Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture. Boston: Beacon Press.

Zucker, Kenneth J. and Bradley, Susan J. (1995). Gender Identity Disorder and Psychosexual Problems in Children and Adolescents. New York: Guilford.

Gender and Life's Paths

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Male to Female Transformation

Nigel Barker: Transgender on America's Next Top Model shocking but necessary

Majority of Americans Agree That Transgender Employees Should Be. . .

Transgenders get home of their own

Kenya: My Rights Abused, Says Double-Sex Prisoner

Gender variance or nonconformity is found wherever one finds people.

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