Gender and Life's Paths: Jan 19, 2009

Monday, January 19, 2009

Pete Seeger & Bruce Springsteen - "This Land is Your Land" - The Obama Inaugural Celebration Concert

18.1.2009
Bruce Springsteen, with folk legend Pete Seeger, is back to sing Woody Guthrie's, "This Land is Your Land."

International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE), Announces Plans for Transgender 2009 – the 23rd Annual Conference

International Foundation for Gender Education
Stephanie Battaglino
781.899.2212
info@ifge.org
www.ifge.org
201.704.2996 (cell)

Waltham, MA, January 15, 2009 --(PR.com)-- The International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE), in association with the Transgender Education Association (TGEA) of Greater Washington, D.C., is proud to announce the 23rd annual conference to be held at the Hilton Mark Plaza Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia, February 4 – 8, 2009. “We are very excited to be staging this year’s conference right next door to our nation’s capital at such a pivotal time in our country’s history,” noted Denise Leclair, Executive Director of IFGE. “We believe it is very significant that the entire transgender community will be gathering in the Washington, D.C. area just a mere two weeks after the presidential inauguration,” Leclair continued. “2009 is a critical year for our community in terms of securing the same employment rights and protections enjoyed by the rest of society, and we firmly believe that this year’s conference will create momentum for change that will carry through the rest of the year.”. . .Read More

Meet TS Performer And Star Kimber James

January 16, 2009

by Jeremy Meyer

It was hailed as a first for a major adult talent agency in the industry, when L.A. Direct Models signed its first Transsexual performer; Kimber James.

James who originally hails from Miami Florida, moved here to L.A. from New York, and comes from a typical upbringing, but James says her parents took a long time to adjust to her change.

“My mother always said I was promiscuous, but they still haven’t accepted all of this yet” stated James

James credits Gia Darling as the person who gave her the start in the industry, James worked as Darling’s assistant, and they are still close friends.

James’ first film was “Transsexual Babysitters 4” for Devil Films, and James has a total of ten scenes under her belt to date.

“I’m really excited and very honored to be the first transsexual performer to be signed with L.A. Direct Models” says James “I hope this will break barriers within the adult industry on how the industry perceives transsexuals, and take it more seriously.. . .Read More

Under Which Category of Sport Should a Transgender Surgery Person Compete?

January 17, 2009

by Saraswathi Sirigina

Okay, I am not going to claim any priori or knowledge here, all that I want is honest opinion and debate. I have not googled it nor have I studied any precedents, except one case.

Let's debate on the ethical constraints and if there is any scientific or medical evidence that helps or hurts the case of transsexual rights.

The field of sport to my layperson's knowhow is limited to a gender-based segmentation/categorization.

Be it Track & Field, Tennis, Basketball, or Baseball, it has always two distinct areas of division. You have Men's Tennis/Women's Tennis, Men's Track & Field/Women's Track & Field, etc.

Some of these sports of course, do have mixed sport, where a male participant and a female participant team together and face off against a team of similar combination.

So in this distinct scenario of variant clauses, we come to the case of transgender people or transsexuals or people who have gone through Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS).

SRS is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble that of the other sex. (wiki). . .Read More

Composer Angela Morley dies

January 2009 by Patrick Newley

Angela Morley, one of the UK’s leading musical arrangers and composers, has died at the age of 84.

In 1953 she began a long association with Philips Records, arranging for the company’s leading light-entertainment artists, including Shirley Bassey and Dusty Springfield. She also wrote the theme tunes for Hancock’s Half Hour and was the musical director for The Goon Show. In her later career she scored several US drama series including the top soap Dynasty. . . .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

Monday, January 19, 2009

Pete Seeger & Bruce Springsteen - "This Land is Your Land" - The Obama Inaugural Celebration Concert

International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE), Announces Plans for Transgender 2009 – the 23rd Annual Conference

Meet TS Performer And Star Kimber James

Under Which Category of Sport Should a Transgender Surgery Person Compete?

Composer Angela Morley dies

Gender variance or nonconformity is found wherever one finds people.

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