Friday, August 24, 2007
Scotland: Devious or deviant, what's Greer up to?
NO-ONE does a 30-second sound-bite quite like Germaine Greer, but I wonder exactly what was going through her notoriously sharp mind when she made her throwaway remark at the Edinburgh International Book Festival last week that Diana, Princess of Wales, "was a devious moron".
Or perhaps not quite so throwaway, when you bear in mind that she has spent the last forty years trying to shake up the Establishment. She changed the lives of a whole generation of women with the publication in 1970 of The Female Eunuch, in which she explored the theme that women don't realise how much men hate them, and how much they are taught to hate themselves.
Over the years she continued to send out shockwaves, as she wrote about her own experiences of lesbian sex, rape, abortion, infertility, failed marriage - she was married for three weeks in the 1960s, during which time she said she was unfaithful on a number of occasions - and menopause.
Yet while her early writings may have been provocative, they were unarguably thoughtful, and however shocking, encouraged people to challenge their perceptions of women and their place in society. . . .
Julia Serano: On the continuing Bailey book controversy
Julia Serano is an Oakland, California-based writer, spoken word performer, trans activist, and biologist.
(Also, see comments on Julia's article. R.A.)
This Tuesday, The New York Times ran an article about the continuing controversy surrounding psychologist J. Michael Bailey’s 2003 book The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism. The premise of the book is that *all* transsexual women transition for purely sexual reasons - either to attract straight men or because they are sexually aroused by the idea of being or becoming female. This sexualizing of trans women’s motives is of course nothing new. In the media, trans women are regularly depicted as either sex workers, sexual deceivers who prey on unsuspecting straight men, or as fetishists who get off on the idea of wearing women’s clothing. The media’s (as well as Bailey’s) assumption that MTF (but not FTM) transsexuals transition in order to fulfill some kind of sexual fantasy not only dismisses trans women’s deeply experienced female gender identities, but also insinuates that women as a whole have no worth beyond their ability to be sexualized. (For those interested, I discuss this more in depth in my own book Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity).
Much of the transgender community’s initial outrage over Bailey’s book centered on the fact that it was presented to the public as a work of science. It was published by Joseph Henry Press, an imprint of National Academies Press, whose goal is “publishing well-crafted, authoritative books on science, technology, and health for the science-interested general public.” But if one looks beyond the back cover copy, one finds little science at all. Bailey simply rehashes a scientifically flawed theory that was put forward by fellow sexologist Ray Blanchard nearly a decade ago. Rather than providing data to support Blanchard’s theory, Bailey instead attempts to make his points through the use of lurid (and often demeaning) anecdotes, sexist and racist commentary, gross generalizations and unsubstantiated speculations (for specific details, see Joan Roughgarden’s review of the book). In addition, Bailey conveniently claims that trans women and gay men whose personal accounts differ from his thesis are merely lying (he’s used this tactic before: see a 2005 NY Times article called "Straight, Gay or Lying? Bisexuality Revisited," in which Bailey insinuates that men who say they are attracted to both sexes are lying).
Of course, this week’s NY Times article doesn’t discuss the hypersexualization of trans women in our culture, and it barely mentions the fact that Bailey falsely presented stereotypes and sexual innuendo as “science” without any hard data to back his claims up. Rather, the article focuses almost entirely on accusations made by Alice Dreger in her forthcoming article in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, in which she claims that several prominent trans activists stooped to conducting personal attacks on Bailey during their campaign against the book. As Dreger comments in the NY Times article:
“If we’re going to have research at all, then we’re going to have people saying unpopular things, and if this is what happens to them, then we’ve got problems not only for science but free expression itself.”
Now, I’m not going to comment about the accusations Dreger makes, as the trans activists involved have denied her charges and have made counter-accusations of their own. And while Dreger presents her essay as a work of scholarly history, it’s clear that she is not an impartial, objective observer - she is currently an associate of Bailey’s and has become embroiled in the controversy that surrounds the book herself.
What does strike me though are the parallels between the way Bailey misrepresented anecdotes and opinions as “science” in his book and the way Dreger’s take on this controversy is now being misrepresented as a work of scholarly/scientific history. Indeed, the fact that a scientific journal such as Archives of Sexual Behavior would dedicate a whopping 62 pages (several times more than it allocates to standard research articles) to Dreger’s highly personalized account of this matter is unusual to say the least. While it is not uncommon for scientific journals to publish viewpoints from individual scientists on noteworthy issues, they tend to be clearly designated as editorials or opinions pieces, rather than as actual research papers (as Dreger’s article is being presented).
As an academic scientist myself, what bothers me most about the NY Times’ retelling of this controversy is that they portrayed Bailey as a “scientist under siege” fighting for academic freedom, without any mention of *academic responsibility*. In our society, people tend to view opinions as being inherently valid when they are spoken in the name of science and when the person voicing them has an advanced degree in a germane field. Perhaps nowhere is this more obvious than in public discourses on transsexuality, where the opinions of non-trans “experts” (whether they be psychiatrists, sexologists, sociologists or gender theorists) regularly trump, or completely stand in for, the perspectives of actual transsexuals.
The fact is that when a self-appointed “expert” like Bailey claims that transsexual women transition for purely sexual reasons, and that they are lying if they state otherwise, people will believe him because of his academic/scientist status. The NY Times may try to frame the controversy surrounding Bailey’s book as an example of political correctness run amok, but the truth of the matter is that Bailey himself did exponentially more damage to the field of academic research when he misrepresented anecdotes and innuendos as though they were science.
-julia
Transgender band to play at Anderson's
He banned the transgender community from his Scottsdale nightclub and now the owner of Andersons Fifth Estate is back in the news.
For several months, Tom Anderson, owner of the poplar Andersons Fifth Estate nightclub, has found himself in a quandary.
“I'm dammed if I do, damned if I don't,” he said.
It started when he decided to ban the transgender crowd from his club after receiving complaints about who was using the ladies' bathroom.
“If you're a man, then you cannot use the women’s restroom," he said. "It's a simple case of security for my women who use that bathroom.”
Anderson is being criticized again.
This time it’s because of the band he invited to play next Monday night. It’s psychic TV, a transgender band.
“I'm hosting this event to show that we are not bigoted,” he said.
He said he’ll have special bathroom arrangements during the one-time event.
“The men’s bathroom will be transgendered. The men will use the restroom on the lower portion of Anderson’s,” he said.
Michele Delafrenier, who was born a man but is now a woman, was a regular at Anderson’s. After she and her friends were kicked out, she filed a sex discrimination complaint with the Attorney General’s Office.
She’s not happy about the upcoming event.
“The possibility of me passing totally in society is very little, but I have younger women in their teens, 20s who have transitioned and you can't tell the difference,” she said.
Delafrenier and her friends plan to protest the event.
“We will be there,” she said.
Anderson said he is trying to do something for the community.
“I'm trying to do something for that community to come in and enjoy themselves and I’m being criticized for this,” he said.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Transgender teenager's journey
CNN's Kara Finnstrom has the story of a transgender teenager and his long path to acceptance.
WHIPPING GIRL: A TRANSSEXUAL WOMAN ON SEXISM AND THE SCAPEGOATING OF FEMININITY
Julia Serano's incredibly original text - equal parts essay, memoir, manifesto, study in etymology and critique of mass media - examines how our culture's disdain for femininity directly informs our view of trans women.
Serano's background as a biologist, performer and transsexual activist makes Whipping Girl insightful, in-depth and multi-faceted. It combines the readability of a memoir, the humorous sass of the best spoken word rant and a thorough, even-handed analysis of biology versus socialization not found in most gender studies books.
Most anti-trans sentiment Serano has had to deal with as a transsexual woman, she says, is probably better described as "trans-misogyny." She summarizes the myriad ways feminists and gay activists refuse to practise what they preach. For example, some feminists who rally against the objectification of women's bodies see no reason not to ask invasive personal questions about trans people's bodies.
At the heart of these offences is what Serano terms cissexism, the belief that transsexuals' gender identities are less authentic and "normal" than non-transsexuals – or cissexuals.
She takes to task prominent gender theorists like Judith Butler as well as the genderqueer movement bent on destroying the binary gender system, which ends up pitting gender-conforming and non-gender-conforming people against each other.
While offering critical insights or discussing painful personal memories, Serano never condescends or engages in "more oppressed than thou" rhetoric.
The book culminates in a call for alliances, leaving the reader with the hope that matters among the very divided queer, genderqueer, transsexual and feminist communities could really get better.
Rarely do I believe hyperbolic back-cover blurbs claiming "We desperately need this book." But this one's absolutely accurate.
Transgender Bostonian Has Her Day in Court: Verdict Due Today
EDGE Boston Contributor
Thursday Aug 23, 2007
Massachusetts native Rhiannon O’Donnabhain grew up in the South Shore as part of an Irish Catholic family, went to mass on Sundays, joined the Coast Guard, became a civil engineer, married, and raised three children--all as a man.
But in 1996, after a lifetime of dissonance between her outer appearance and her inner identity, O’Donnabhain received the answers she’d looked for throughout her life: she was professionally diagnosed with GID, or Gender Identity Disorder, a medially recognized condition in which a person experiences a deep-seated and consistent sensation that he or she is a person of a gender different than that of the body.
O’Donnabhain received a prescription for her complaint: gender reassignment, including several major surgeries.
But when she wrote about $5,000 of the approximately $25,000 cost of the procedures off of her 2003 taxes--much as one would write off an appendectomy or other major medical procedure--the IRS balked, denying her claim and calling it "cosmetic" despite the firmly established clinical definition of GID and the widespread acceptance and recognition of the condition as a serious and life-impacting affliction requiring medical intervention, and despite the medical opinion of O’Donnabhain’s health care providers that the treatment was necessary for the sake of her mental health and for her capability to function.
O’Donnabhain, represented by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, took the IRS to court; the trial of O’Donnabhain v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue began July 24, recessed July 27, and is scheduled to be decided today, after the IRS presents its expert witnesses and the closing arguments are made. . . .
Bi social club bars some trans women
h.cassell@ebar.com
The Chasing Amy Social Club came under attack last month after its anti-transgender membership policy was revealed on a trans woman's blog.
Charlie Anders, a bisexual transgender woman in her 30s who has not undergone convertive surgery, posted an entry, "Chasing Transgender Women Away," on July 21 on her Charliegrrrl blog protesting the club's transgender policy. She posted a follow-up entry on August 13, which encouraged people to contact Amy Larson, CASC founder, to voice their disagreement with the policy.
Anders told the Bay Area Reporter that she contacted Larson sometime in July to inquire about joining CASC. Anders, a former staff member of Anything that Moves, the now-defunct national bisexual magazine and a longtime LGBT community activist, was bothered by the policy.
The policy, according to Larson, is "partially" modeled after one used at Osento, the all-women's bathhouse in San Francisco's Mission District. According to its gender policy, Osento allows transgender women who have had surgery. In an e-mail response to questions August 20, Larson stated, "There is a fair amount of semi- or full-nudity at various of our private group events."
CASC is a private social group founded, organized, and funded solely by Larson, a bisexual woman, for bisexual and bi-supportive woman in the Bay Area that has been operating for six years. The group has an estimated 500 members, according to Larson, who screens potential members by phone to see if they meet the club's membership criteria.
Women excluded from joining the club, Larson said, are women who smoke indoors, "vegans offended by the presence of animal products, those with cat allergies, red wine drinkers, folks partaking of drugs during events, women under the age of 18, women seeking a singles hookup environment or sex club, and a variety of other things," including bisexual transgender women who haven't undergone surgery. . . .
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Korea: Transgenders to Receive Humane Physicals
Staff Reporter
The state human rights body has recommended the military authorities improve their rules on physical examination for drafting transsexuals to minimize their sense of shame.
The recommendation was issued after a 29-year-old man who changed gender from female to male, filed a petition with the National Human Rights Commission for his alleged humiliation during a medical checkup for military conscription.
The man, Kim, changed his legal sex to male on family registration records following a local court's decision last September. But Kim has not changed his genital organ into that of man as he could not undergo a transsexual operation due to his physical weakness linked to a chronic disease.
Two months after the legal sex change, the military authority told him to have physical examination for conscription.
An army surgeon took Kim to a separate ward and asked him to take off his pants because he wanted to check whether Kim had a man's genital organ. Kim protested but finally accepted the demand, but felt ashamed.
Kim filed the petition with the commission in February, claiming the military forced him to expose his private parts although it was aware of his sex change as he had submitted the court's ruling and a medical certificate to the conscription agency.
The commission said Monday it has recommended the National Defense Ministry and the Military Manpower Administration change their regulations about physical examination for transsexuals.
``This case was not illegal, but was an infringement of personal rights for Kim who has a unique body condition,'' the commission said. . . .
POV, Critique, Opinion: Transgender Theories: Michael Krasny KQED SF this AM
 | Listen (RealMedia stream) |
| Download (MP3) (Windows: right-click and choose "Save Target As." Mac: hold Ctrl, click link, and choose "Save As.") |
The show examines the ongoing debate over research into transgender identity.
Host: Michael Krasny
Guests:
 | Dr. Alice Dreger, associate professor of Clinical Medical Humanities and BioEthics at Northwestern University |
| Dr. J. Michael Bailey, professor of Psychology at Northwestern University |
| Joan Roughgarden, professor of Biological Science at Stanford University and author of “Evolution's Rainbow" |
| Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality |
POV, Critique, Opinion: Is Alice Dreger to J. Michael Bailey. . .
‘Scholarly’ Fast One Against Transsexual Women
POV, Critique, Opinion: The Controversy. . .
Archives of Sexual Behavior, in press.
by Alice D. Dreger
http://www.bioethics.northwestern.edu/faculty/work/dreger/controversy_tmwwbq.pdf
Abstract:
Alice D. Dreger, Ph.D.
Received March 27, 2007; revision received July 3, 2007; accepted July 3, 2007.
Forthcoming in print. ————————————————————————————————————————————
In 2003, psychology professor and sex researcher J. Michael Bailey published a book entitled The Man Who
Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism. The book’s portrayal of male-to-female
(MTF) transsexualism, based on a theory developed by sexologist Ray Blanchard, outraged some
transgender activists. They believed the book to be typical of much of the biomedical literature on
transsexuality—oppressive in both tone and claims, insulting to their senses of self, and damaging to their
public identities. Some saw the book as especially dangerous because it claimed to be based on rigorous
science, was published by an imprint of the National Academies of Science, and argued that MTF sex
changes are motivated primarily by erotic interests and not by the problem of having the gender identity
common to one sex in the body of the other. Dissatisfied with the option of merely criticizing the book, a
small number of transwomen (particularly Lynn Conway, Andrea James, and Deirdre McCloskey) worked to
try to ruin Bailey. Using published and unpublished sources as well as original interviews, this essay traces
the history of the backlash against Bailey and his book. It also provides a thorough exegesis of the book’s
treatment of transsexuality and includes a comprehensive investigation of the merits of the charges made
against Bailey that he had behaved unethically, immorally, and illegally in the production of his book. The
essay closes with an epilogue that explores what has happened since 2003 to the central ideas and major
players in the controversy.
————————————————————————————————————————————
KEY WORDS: transsexualism; transgenderism; gender identity disorder; autogynephilia; identity politics;
institutional review board; human subjects research.
UK: Sex-swap Lauren ‘wants to be a mum’
Aug 20 2007 | |
by Katie Bodinger, South Wales Echo | |
FORMER child star Lauren Harries has appeared topless in her latest photo shoot and revealed she wants to become a mum.
The 29-year-old transsexual, of Rumney, Cardiff, did the Lady Godiva pose, sitting astride a horse, describing the look as “very Kate Moss”.
In the interview for Closer magazine, she said she had given up on meaningless flings in pursuit of long-term love and motherhood.
Lauren, who shot to fame when she was 10 years old as James Harries, the curly-haired, bow-tied child antiques “expert”, said: “I’m very maternal and I’d like to do an Angeline Jolie and adopt a child – there are so many unloved children out there.
“I’d rather be with a man, though. My ideal man would be Brad Pitt. Like all women, I want to find my Mr Darcy. I don’t think my mother would approve if I became a single mum.”
Lauren, who has carved out a career doing nude pictures and “high fashion” shoots, had a sex change operation in 2001, paying £20,000.
She sold all her antiques to pay for it. She said she was proud of her size eight figure and 34DD bust.
“I’m a bit like Jordan,” she said.
“I’ve been told I look like Nicole Kidman and Princess Diana, which isn’t bad, but other people have compared me to Uma Thurman or Bette Davis, which I prefer.”
Although Lauren had a relationship with a man she met in Spain and a fling with her hairdresser’s boyfriend, she admitted most people are put off by her notoriety.
“I don’t go out at night, because people shout at me,” she said.
“It would be very hard for a man to go out with me because of the attention I get.”
She added she was kept busy answering the letters she gets from other transsexuals.
“I get very sad letters telling me what they’re going through.
“I see myself as a bit of an agony aunt,” she said.
“I tell them you have to be happy with your old and new selves.
“I do sometimes dream that I’m still James, but I’m always relieved to wake up and find out it’s not true.”
katie.bodinger@wme.co.uk
POV, Critique, Opinion: ftmstraighttalk
Monday, August 20, 2007
Further thoughts on why the FTM community is not the place for me
One of the main reasons I'm frustrated with the "transgender" and "ftm" communities is that, at this point, it is very hard to find what I need in those spaces. Not only to their public faces rarely, if ever, represent my experience (or anything like it)... I have found that there seem to be a heck of a lot of people in these "communities" who are actually hostile towards me and all others like me. They are quick to judge and qualify any comment that applies to transitioning transsexual men, or stealth status, or normal masculinity.
It's not fun to feel like you're fighting an uphill battle in a community that proclaims to include and support you.
Here is some of what I am talking about..
--I am not interested in discussing feminism, reading "gender theory" (what?), or playing/experimenting with "gender expression".
--I do not feel that transsexual men are superior in any way whatsoever to non-transsexual men. I don't think that we are better lovers or friends. I think the assumption that we are comes from an anti-male BS perspective.
--I am not interested in challenging normal ideas of what it means to be a man, or questioning the definition of male.
--Similarly, I am not interested in discussing, condemning, or challanging the binary gender system.
--I firmly believe that transsexuality is a birth condition, probably medical/biological in nature. I think the proper treatment is full transition from one sex to the other, and this should be the assumed course. However, the patient should always have the right to refuse treatment, and medical contraindications should be considered if they apply.
--I do not want to be part of the "LGB" community. I am not interested in Pride parades or other gay/queer community activities. I fully support the rights of homosexuals and bisexuals. But I am content to keep on living my life in mainstream society.
So what do I want? I want to talk about the challenges of being a stealth transsexual man. I want to talk with other guys like me about how to address and come to terms with our lost childhoods and lacking male socialization. I want to talk about cars, sports, working out. I want my masculinity to be accepted and celebrated. I want to discuss phalloplasty in frank but positive ways, free from all the bias and nastiness of the general community. I want to simply be myself, a masculine man, without causing heads to turn and eyes to roll among other FTMs. I want to hear others' experiences forming friendships with men, dating straight women, finding jobs, getting involved in their local communities.
I think the ultimate solution for me will be to step out of the "transgender" world, and start seeking out guys who live in stealth mode, guys who are proud to be men. I want to talk to them and get their opinions, hear their stories. I am sick of having to watch every word I say, sick of feeling basically rejected by the "transgender" community. I want to get what I need... and move on with my life.
FX takes walk on wild side with transsexual show
By Nellie Andreeva and Kimberly Nordyke
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - FX has ordered a pilot for a transsexual drama from the creator of its hit medical show "Nip/Tuck."
"4 oz." revolves around a family man who decides to get a sex change. Ryan Murphy ("Nip/Tuck") co-created the project with Brad Falchuk, a writer-producer on "Nip/Tuck," and is set to direct the pilot. Brad Pitt is on board as an executive producer.
Production is under way on the fifth season of "Nip/Tuck," which revolves around two plastic surgeons. . . .
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Audio Slide Show - Fa'afafine: A Third Gender in Samoa
Cultural contradictions
Tafi Toleafoa explains what it means to be fa'afafine
 Tafi Toleafoa answers questions after her presentation on fa'afafine at the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on a recent Sunday in West Anchorage. Her talk was titled "What Do I Call You? What Are You? Gender and Sexual Identity at American Universities." ( ERIK HILL / Anchorage Daily News)  After arguing both sides of a U. S. Supreme Court case before their constitutional law class, Melody Allen, left, Lacy Jensen, Tafi Toleafoa and Denny Hickerson review their performances while waiting in the hallway for classmates to judge their presentations at UAA. (ERIK HILL / Anchorage Daily News)  Tafi Toleafoa, left, and her closest friend, Maggie Mau, tend to Tafi's sleepy niece Leileanah Toleafoa, 1, at her first birthday celebration in midtown on June 15, 2007. (ERIK HILL / Anchorage Daily News)  Tafi Toleafoa and classmates cast votes after listening to teams argue both sides of a U. S. Supreme Court case in constitutional law class on a Wednesday evening in June at UAA. Tafi will be the first in her family to earn a college degree. (ERIK HILL / Anchorage Daily News)  Tafi Toleafoa tends niece Leileanah Toleafoa, 1, during a family gathering after church on a Saturday afternoon in June in west Anchorage. Fa'afafine typically take on traditionally female duties in Samoan culture. (ERIK HILL / Anchorage Daily News)  Tafi Toleafoa helps mom Ropeta Toleafoa and family serve food to guests at a first birthday celebration for niece Leileanna Toleafoa June 15, 2007, in south Anchorage. Fa'afafine typically do women's work in Samoan culture, in this case packaging and serving meals to family members and friends from church. (ERIK HILL / Anchorage Daily News) |
By JULIA O'MALLEY
jomalley@adn.com
(Published: August 19, 2007)
"What are you?" The question came at Tafi Toleafoa from a young woman across the computer lab. People always want to know, but they rarely ask out loud. Students wear the question on their faces the first day of class. Professors trip over pronouns. It's been that way since Tafi came from Samoa two years ago to attend the University of Alaska Anchorage. "Are you a boy or a girl?" Now, one more time, Tafi had to explain, to untangle the contradiction of her long thick hair and plump, glossy lips with the masculine tenor of her voice and her tall, substantial body. She had to tell the girl that, no, she isn't a boy, or a girl, exactly. She's something else. "I'm fa'afafine," Tafi said. "That means I have a boy's body, but I was raised in Samoa as a girl." Tafi could have explained that in the islands, nobody ever asked. She could have told the girl that a Samoan mother with a fa'afafine among her children is considered lucky. Fa'afafine help with babies and cooking, they tend the elderly and the sick. They are presumed to have the best traits of both men and women. But the girl didn't want to know more. She picked up her things and left, giving Tafi one last look over her shoulder. The way most Americans understand it, gender breaks down simply: there are men and there are women. But across Asia and the Pacific Islands, many cultures recognize a third gender with characteristics both male and female. In Samoa, when a son or a daughter prefers the work and clothes of the opposite sex, they are called fa'afafine "like a woman" or, far less commonly, fa'atama, "like a man." Tafi has a male body, but she lives her life as a female and asks that people refer to her as "she." That's how she will be described in this story. In the islands Tafi was more accepted, but her life was still complicated. Many fa'afafine live as women, the maleness of their bodies ignored by those around them. Outside of the cities, especially in Christian families, they must follow strict social rules binding them to household duties. Many families, including Tafi's, expect they will remain celibate. In a culture that prizes both its tradition and Christianity, fa'afafine are tolerated, but behavior that hints at homosexuality is not. Still, many fa'afafine, who see themselves as women, do have discreet relationships with men. In her ideal world, Tafi, who was raised as an oldest girl-child named Alicia, wouldn't have to change her body to be accepted here. She wouldn't have to rearrange her outside to make people accept what she is inside: a straight woman who is attracted to straight men. But the world isn't ideal. Since she came to Anchorage, Tafi's family, who loves her as she is, has pressured her to dress like a man. They have decided she needs to fit in to avoid ugliness she isn't used to. Now, at 23, she's torn between the expectations of her family who accept her as an asexual helper, and American culture that's less accepting but offers her what she wants most: a chance to become physically female, to find a husband and have a family of her own. Tafi wasn't surprised that the girl in the computer lab didn't know what she was seeing. Sometimes Tafi doesn't know how to see herself -- or her future.
ALICIA
Ropeta Toleafoa knew her son was fa'afafine at age 4. Unlike his brothers, he stayed close to her and didn't like getting dirty, she said, speaking in Samoan with her son Taivaleoaana "Seven" Toleafoa translating. "He didn't like going outside and doing what men do," she said. Tafi's life wasn't like the stories she watched on re-runs of American talk shows as she grew up in Samoa. She never felt she was a woman trapped in a man's body. She never felt shame. Samoa is a tribal, communal society, different from America where individual desires rule. Samoan parents hold a powerful role and commonly influence their children's decisions far into adulthood. Children don't choose to be fa'afafine; their mothers decide for them. At 5, Tafi, a sweet, outspoken child, began hoisting babies on her hip, filling bottles for her mother and helping with the dishes. Ropeta, a mother of eight, was pregnant or nursing for many years and welcomed Tafi's help. Tafi wasn't encouraged to dress like a girl, but she gravitated toward her sisters' clothing, playing dress-up in private. "I loved skirts, short skirts to be specific," she said. "I always had to be pretty." At school, Tafi bonded with girls and other fa'afafine among her classmates and teachers. By third grade, most everyone called her Alicia. Her younger siblings, all girls, saw her as an oldest sister. Tafi's father, Saunoa "Noah" Toleafoa is a religious man, an elder in the Seventh Day Adventist church that missionaries brought to the islands along with Western ideas about gender. Noah had fa'afafine in his family, but he held on longest to the idea that Tafi would be like her older brothers. A boy dressing as a girl is not what God intended, he said. He tried forcing her to change her clothes and cut her hair like a boy's, but nothing worked. Tafi couldn't be forced. "This one thing I know," he said. "Tafi is different." By the time Tafi reached her teens, the idea of an actual sex change consumed her. Tafi found many examples of adult fa'afafine around her, some of whom had surgery. To each other they spoke a fa'afafine language, a mixture of English and Samoan. Tafi soon caught on. "It wasn't hard to ask them, 'Hey, how did you get boobs?'" she said. Out of respect for her father, Tafi dressed "androgenous," wearing women's pants, a T-shirt, and her long hair pulled into a bun. Her one indulgence was glitter. "Lots of glitter," she said. "I loved shiny stuff." Ropeta and her daughters insulated Tafi from her father's disapproval, which gradually waned. For junior prom, Ropeta saved two paychecks to buy Tafi the material to make a pink dress. By 2002, all the Toleafoas had immigrated to Anchorage, following family connections and the promise of better jobs. Tafi stayed behind, her immigration status complicated because she was born in western Samoa, which is an independent country, different from the U.S. territory of American Samoa. She'd graduated from high school and was working on her associates degree. "That's when I started dressing like a woman full-out," she said. In a snap-shot from that period posted on her MySpace.com site, Tafi glows, her chest full under a black blouse. "It felt right," she said. "Perfect."
AMERICA
In 2005, on her way to Anchorage to start at UAA, Tafi took her first step on U.S. soil in Hawaii, wearing platform sandals and short-shorts. She always imagined Americans, with their gay celebrities and liberal attitudes, would accept her. She remembered RuPaul and the movie "To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything!" a drag queen comedy she'd watched in high school. "I thought, 'OK if there's people like that, then probably I don't have to explain myself,' " she said. "I didn't know that it was going to be like there's nobody that dresses like that in a real everyday life." When she showed her passport, which said she was a man, customs officials singled her out for two special searches. Standing in the balmy Honolulu airport, she felt the disapproval of strangers for the first time. The collapse of her expectations continued in Anchorage. The first day of her liberal studies class, when she answered a professor's question, she heard whispers. Her voice betrayed her. "When they look at your face and you have earrings on and you have make-up on and you have long hair, then automatically you're supposed to have this kind of voice," she said. "If you are not going to have that voice, then you are kind of like an alien or something." After her first two weeks of school, her father sat Tafi down. He had four fa'afafine on his mother's side, he said. One of them came to America 10 years ago, to California. People didn't understand her there, he said. At a party, Americans beat her and threw her from a window. She was killed. "He said he's concerned about my life and my safety," Tafi said. "That's why he advised me that I should change my style to kind of like, umm, androgenous, sort of like professional." There would be no more short-shorts or glitter. Instead, it was T-shirts, and slacks. And if her professor asked about pronouns, she'd go by "he." But, even in her toned-down outfits, Tafi seemed feminine. Her professors struggled with what to call her in class. "Even the most inclusive people do not know what this is," said her professor Ann Jache. "They don't know how to talk about a person that is both male and female." Tafi took her classmates' judgment as a challenge. A gregarious "he," she excelled in class, tackling complicated literature, winning a seat on the student senate, making a loyal group of friends in the school Polynesian association. Tafi didn't want to hide, Jache said, she wanted to explain. Jache and Tafi crafted a project on fa'afafine over the generations. Tafi gave a presentation to her class, and then to the campus, and then to a Unitarian church. Each time, she grew more confident. Tafi began to see it as her job to inform the campus about fa'afafine. "I knew that they are not educated about it. They wouldn't be mean like that if they knew ... Fa'afafine are all coming to Alaska," she said. "If they are running into the same problems, I have to do something about it."
LOVE. . . .
Meet the first transgender panda
(...well, not really. But still a cute story and panda photo. R.A.)
It’s not very often that I get to report on good news to my faithful readers, so this week is something special. I just received a news that an endangered panda named “Jinzhu” has given birth to two healthy cubs. What makes this story so remarkable, though, is that Jinzhu was originally believed to be a male panda!
To my knowledge, Jinzhu is the world’s first and only transgender panda or “pandsgender.” (”Tranda” would be an acceptable term as well.)
But no matter how joyous the news is, Jinzhu’s identity crisis is a failure of panda management. Panda expert Li Deshen, however, believes that Jinzhu gender mix up can be attributed to the fact that “The penis of an adult panda is only 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) long.” 1.2 inches long?! That means my penis is almost three times longer than the average Panda’s. Almost.
I have developed a cheat sheet for zoologists to use in determining if their beloved panda is really a tranda:
- Has changed name from Wu Xan to “Chris” or “Dale”
- Life story is being made into a movie starring Hillary Swank
- Refers to gender as a “spectrum” or a “construct”
- Has started attending Sarah Lawrence college
Jinzhu’s plight raises the troubling prospect that there may be more pandsgenders out there who need our help. Can you imagine how hard it must be to be both endangered and transgender? Those pandas must be beaten up in high school nearly every day. And its up to us to save these Trandas, because our current administration certainly won’t: I can’t think of anything a Republican would hate more than an animal that is both endangered and transgender. Maybe if it were a welfare recipient, too. But that’s ridiculous. Pandas can’t be welfare recipients.
Criticism of a Gender Theory, and a Scientist Under Siege
In academic feuds, as in war, there is no telling how far people will go once the shooting starts.
J. Michael Bailey’s book about gender enraged some transgender women.
Alice Dreger, an ethics scholar, investigated the accusations against Dr. Bailey.
Deirdre McCloskey called opposition to Dr. Bailey’s theory “fair comment.”
Earlier this month, members of the International Academy of Sex Research, gathering for their annual meeting in Vancouver, informally discussed one of the most contentious and personal social science controversies in recent memory.
The central figure, J. Michael Bailey, a psychologist at Northwestern University, has promoted a theory that his critics think is inaccurate, insulting and potentially damaging to transgender women. In the past few years, several prominent academics who are transgender have made a series of accusations against the psychologist, including that he committed ethics violations. A transgender woman he wrote about has accused him of a sexual impropriety, and Dr. Bailey has become a reviled figure for some in the gay and transgender communities.To many of Dr. Bailey’s peers, his story is a morality play about the corrosive effects of political correctness on academic freedom. Some scientists say that it has become increasingly treacherous to discuss politically sensitive issues. They point to several recent cases, like that of Helmuth Nyborg, a Danish researcher who was fired in 2006 after he caused a furor in the press by reporting a slight difference in average I.Q. test scores between the sexes.
“What happened to Bailey is important, because the harassment was so extraordinarily bad and because it could happen to any researcher in the field,” said Alice Dreger, an ethics scholar and patients’ rights advocate at Northwestern who, after conducting a lengthy investigation of Dr. Bailey’s actions, has concluded that he is essentially blameless. “If we’re going to have research at all, then we’re going to have people saying unpopular things, and if this is what happens to them, then we’ve got problems not only for science but free expression itself.”
To Dr. Bailey’s critics, his story is a different kind of morality tale.
“Nothing we have done, I believe, and certainly nothing I have done, overstepped any boundaries of fair comment on a book and an author who stepped into the public arena with enthusiasm to deliver a false and unscientific and politically damaging opinion,” Deirdre McCloskey, a professor of economics, history, English, and communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and one of Dr. Bailey’s principal critics, said in an e-mail message.
The hostilities began in the spring of 2003, when Dr. Bailey published a book, “The Man Who Would Be Queen,” intended to explain the biology of sexual orientation and gender to a general audience.
“The next two years,” Dr. Bailey said in an interview, “were the hardest of my life.”
Many sex researchers who have worked with Dr. Bailey say that he is a solid scientist and collaborator, who by his own admission enjoys violating intellectual taboos.
In his book, he argued that some people born male who want to cross genders are driven primarily by an erotic fascination with themselves as women. This idea runs counter to the belief, held by many men who decide to live as women, that they are the victims of a biological mistake — in essence, women trapped in men’s bodies. Dr. Bailey described the alternate theory, which is based on Canadian studies done in the 1980s and 1990s, in part by telling the stories of several transgender women he met through a mutual acquaintance. In the book, he gave them pseudonyms, like “Alma” and “Juanita.”
Other scientists praised the book as a compelling explanation of the science. The Lambda Literary Foundation, an organization that promotes gay, bisexual and transgender literature, nominated the book for an award.
But days after the book appeared, Lynn Conway, a prominent computer scientist at the University of Michigan, sent out an e-mail message comparing Dr. Bailey’s views to Nazi propaganda. She and other transgender women found the tone of the book abusive, and the theory of motivation it presented to be a recipe for further discrimination. . . .
