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terça-feira, 9 de março de 2010
quinta-feira, 18 de fevereiro de 2010
sexta-feira, 22 de janeiro de 2010
Transgender actor makes finals of reality dating show
Scott Turner Schofield is shown in a scene from "Debutante Balls" at Out North theater company. Schofield, who was born female, competed recently as one of 30 bachelors on ABC's "Conveyor Belt of Love."
By MIKE DUNHAM
mdunham@adn.com
Published: January 9th, 2010 04:09 PM
Alaskans who watched "Conveyor Belt of Love" on KIMO Channel 13 Monday night might have recognized Scott Turner Schofield. The transgender playwright and performer is associated with Anchorage's Out North theater company where he is the current guest artistic director.
Schofield was part of a male meat market on ABC's latest reality dating show. The set consisted of a conveyor belt that brought men before five leggy models. Each contestant had 60 seconds to sell himself as a potential date. The women indicated whether they were interested or not with auction-style paddles.
Cute, charming, animated, self-assured and blond, Schofield finished in the final four out of a field of 30.
Few viewers would have guessed that the eligible bachelor was born a girl named Katie. On his Web site (undergroundtransit.com/Bio.html) he describes himself as "a man who was a woman, a lesbian turned straight guy who is usually taken for a gay teenager."
"I always felt different," he said in an interview. "Even as a kid. When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said, 'I wanna be a boy.'"
As a teenager, Schofield gave in to pressure to act more like a girl. "And I did it very well. I was on the homecoming court and attended three debutante balls." The latter experience is the subject of a one-man play he'll present at Out North this month.
As a high schooler in Charlotte, N.C., Katie realized that she liked girls better than boys. "I figured I must be a lesbian, but something still didn't feel quite right," Schofield said.
When he was 19, he met someone who was born female and now lived as a male. It was a revelation. "I didn't know that a girl could become a guy."
He changed his name and began to take hormones that altered his secondary sexual characteristics, such as lowering his voice and causing him to grow facial hair. His play about the legal, medical and social aspects of the change, "Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps," was presented at Out North in 2008.
During that residency, he presented workshops for young people at McLaughlin Youth Center. He called the experience "particularly powerful. It reminded me of why I got into theater in the first place."
He talked with Out North Executive Director Mike Huelsman about coming back to continue that work. When Huelsman took a sabbatical this fall, he invited Schofield to fill in for him for six weeks, a gig that juggled administrative tasks with a return engagement at McLaughlin. When that job wraps up this month, he'll go to New York City to study and write thanks to a grant from the Princess Grace Foundation.
Schofield got the "Conveyor Belt of Love" call by "applying for everything that's out there."
That's about all he could say about it because of a confidentiality clause in the contract.
It's unclear whether the show's producers knew of his status as a "transgender" person, the word Schofield prefers to "transsexual."
It's also unclear whether there will be a second "Conveyor Belt of Love" episode. The show -- created as a stand-alone special by parties responsible for "Survivor" and "Big Brother" -- was panned by critics for its "glacial pace" and too many ridiculous contestants.
But the New York Daily News reports that more episodes may be ordered.
As for Schofield, he sounded a little disappointed at being "passed up for a guitar player" in the final round. However, he added, "I had a very positive experience, the whole thing."
sexta-feira, 15 de janeiro de 2010
O processo Transexualizador
Publicada em: 16/12/2009 às 10:50
notícias CLAM
Há pouco mais de um ano, em agosto de 2008, o Ministério da Saúde baixou a portaria nº 1.707 que instituía, no Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), o Processo Transexualizador. Esta norma técnica estabeleceu um conjunto de estratégias assistenciais para transexuais que pretendem realizar modificações corporais do sexo, em função de um sentimento de desacordo entre o sexo biológico e o gênero.
A concretização dessa política foi resultado de anos de debates, regulamentações e discussões entre o poder público, a sociedade civil organizada, representantes de classes profissionais e os próprios transexuais. Entretanto, isto não significou a linha de chegada dos debates, muito menos a aceitação plena do que foi implementado. Pelo contrário: existe ainda a clara percepção, entre pesquisadores, de que impasses e desafios impõem-se na agenda pública para que se possa avançar em alguns pontos.
A pesquisadora Márcia Arán, professora do Instituto de Medicina Social (IMS/UERJ) e coordenadora da “Pesquisa Nacional sobre Transexualidade e Saúde: condições de acesso e cuidado integral” (IMS-UERJ/MCT/CNPq/MS/SCTIE/DECIT), ressalta a importância das negociações que foram feitas entre vários atores sociais para a construção desta política. A iniciativa do Ministério da Saúde reconhece que a orientação sexual e a identidade de gênero são determinantes e condicionantes da situação de saúde, e que o mal-estar e o sentimento de inadaptação em relação ao sexo anatômico de usuários e usuárias transexuais devem ser acolhidos e tratados pelo SUS, seguindo os preceitos da universalidade, integralidade e da equidade da atenção.
Mas chama a atenção, por outro lado, para a preponderância do discurso médico. “Nessa pactuação, ainda predominam as resoluções do Conselho Federal de Medicina, que considera a transexualidade uma patologia, um transtorno de identidade de gênero”, afirma, jogando luz sobre um dos principais elementos de discussão desta política do SUS: a patologização da condição transexual.
A exemplo de outros países, o Brasil condiciona o acesso ao serviço à definição do diagnóstico de “transtorno de identidade de gênero”. Em artigo de janeiro de 2009 na revista Physis, cujo tema foi “Transexualidade e Saúde”, Márcia Arán, que atuou como editora adjunta deste número, fez um inventário histórico sobre como a medicina e a temática da transexualidade se entrelaçaram de maneira que, até hoje, a literatura médica influencia diretamente as políticas públicas.
Na esteira de um processo de incremento das possibilidades tecnológicas da biomedicina e de maior liberdade sexual, a partir de meados do século XX, a transexualidade foi ganhando terreno nos fóruns acadêmicos e nas ciências. Segundo a pesquisadora, “em meados da década de 1960 do século passado novas teorizações médicas e sociológicas - como os estudos de Harry Benjamin, John Money e Robert Stoller - começaram a esboçar as especificidades da transexualidade que, somadas ao progresso da biologia e da viabilidade técnica para adequação do corpo à identidade de gênero, deslocaram essa experiência de uma situação individual e absolutamente marginal para um problema médico-legal reconhecido e passível de tratamento”.
Neste contexto, o doutor Norman Fisk definiu um primeiro diagnóstico para a transexualidade, categorizando-a como uma patologia. “Isso é um problema sério, porque esse diagnóstico, criado com o objetivo de regulamentar o acesso ao tratamento, acaba estabelecendo um modelo normativo e correcional de sexo-gênero. O que faz com que transexuais acabem se apresentado, muitas vezes, de forma estereotipada e artificial para se encaixar no padrão esperado de masculinidade e de feminilidade condizentes com a noção de ‘transexual verdadeiro’”,observa Márcia Arán.
Em 1980, a condição transexual foi adicionada ao manual de diagnóstico psiquiátrico da Associação de Psiquiatria Americana (APA) e, em 1994, o termo “transexualismo” foi substituído por “transtorno de identidade de gênero” (TIG).
No Brasil, o Conselho Federal de Medicina (CFM) regulamentou, em 1997, a operação de transgenitalização, condicionando-a ao acompanhamento prévio mínimo de dois anos por um médico psiquiatra, dentre outras especialidades. A normatização da transexualidade, portanto, criou, via diagnóstico médico, uma porta de entrada para o processo transexualizador. A própria portaria 1.707 vincula, inclusive, sua efetivação ao atendimento das condições estabelecidas pelo CFM, que determina o diagnóstico, as terapêuticas prévias e o acompanhamento pós-operatório como “atos médicos em sua essência”.
Márcia Arán afirma que a necessidade do diagnóstico de “transtorno de identidade de gênero” como condição de acesso à saúde restringe em muito os processos de cuidado. Segundo a pesquisadora, é necessário construirmos uma noção mais ampliada de saúde, baseada na individualização do cuidado e na integralidade da assistência para que se possa acolher de fato as necessidades de saúde desta população. Essa restrição biomédica, observa, foi determinante para que a pesquisadora, quando psicóloga do Hospital Clementino Fraga Filho (UFRJ) em um programa de assistência a transexuais, vislumbrasse a necessidade de realizar uma pesquisa sobre os Serviços que prestam assistência a transexuais no país com o objetivo de colaborar com a gestão de uma nova política.
“Ao conversar com homens e mulheres transexuais, conviver com eles e elas, no movimento social, ou mesmo a partir da minha experiência clínica, pude perceber que estas pessoas têm várias experiências de construção de gênero e existem várias formas de subjetivação da transexualidade. Na minha opinião, não tem nada que justifique definir a transexualidade como uma patologia, nem mesmo como uma estrutura psíquica. É uma experiência de desacordo entre sexo e gênero que pode se manifestar de diversas formas. Isto não quer dizer que as pessoas trans, assim como qualquer outra pessoa, não possa manifestar uma forma de sofrimento psíquico, principalmente em função da experiência de exclusão social, de discriminação e muitas vezes de injúria e violência, e não possa necessitar ou desejar realizar uma psicoterapia ou um tratamento psiquiátrico”, explica Márcia Arán.
Segundo ela, é preciso pensar e discutir alternativas de regulamentação do acesso à saúde que possam, mesmo reconhecendo o sofrimento psíquico em algumas pessoas, não enquadrá-las em uma patologia psiquiátrica.
Além disto, num cenário de extrema vulnerabilidade de gênero, principalmente em função da dificuldade de mudança da identidade civil, a cirurgia de transgenitalização não pode se tornar uma tábua de salvação, ou seja, uma forma de inclusão social. “É importante considerar em que contexto se dá a opção pela transformação corporal. Alguns homens e mulheres transexuais podem desejar a cirurgia de transgenitalização pela exclusiva necessidade de reconhecimento social, o que nos faz pensar que a cirurgia não necessariamente seria indicada se vivêssemos num mundo onde a diversidade de gênero fosse possível. Algumas destas pessoas, já têm uma vida afetiva e sexual satisfatória e já são reconhecidas pelo gênero que dizem pertencer e em outras condições poderiam permanecer como estão. Porém, outras pessoas consideram a realização de modificações corporais do sexo, inclusive a cirurgia, um evento vital para a construção de si. Entre estes extremos há um continuum de possibilidades que devem ser consideradas. Como por exemplo, muitos homens trans que desejam a realização de cirurgias para a modificação de caracteres sexuais secundários (como a mastectomia - remoção da mama), mas não desejam realizar a cirurgia de transgenitalização, ou o caso das travestis que desejam apenas as modificações dos caracteres sexuais secundários. É por isto que a individualização do cuidado é parte constitutiva de qualquer projeto baseado na integralidade da assistência”, acrescenta Arán.
De acordo com a pesquisadora, “apesar da experiência de vulnerabilidade estar presente na vivência trans, é importante que se diga o quanto estas pessoas conseguem, em situações muito adversas, construir modos de vida satisfatórios, produtivos e alegres”. Um dos maiores entraves para a realização plena de suas vidas não é, a dificuldade de relacionamento afetivo e sexual, nem a construção de redes de amizade, mas a extrema dificuldade de profissionalização proveniente da impossibilidade de mudança do nome civil. Por isto que muitas pesquisadoras já vêm afirmando que a permissão para a troca de nome e sexo no registro civil independentemente da realização da cirurgia, resolveria o problema mais agudo da vida cotidiana de transexuais.
A qualidade das cirurgias é um elemento que também merece atenção. Segundo Arán, “é importante que o Ministério da Saúde possa acompanhar e fiscalizar a qualidade das cirurgias que estão sendo realizadas, e principalmente possa apoiar os Centros de Referência para que eles se transformem em Centros de formação de profissionais, já que este é um dos grandes problemas para a organização de novos serviços. Além disto, observamos que os poucos profissionais que se dispõem a realizar este tipo de assistência, muitas vezes ficam muito sobrecarregados, já que tem a tarefa de realizar a capacitação profissional da equipe interdisciplinar e implementar medidas de humanização, para que se possa garantir um atendimento de qualidade e livre de discriminação”.
É por isto que apesar de constatar que o serviço do SUS ainda necessita de ajustes, Márcia Arán avalia a portaria como uma iniciativa cujos desdobramentos permitem pensar a construção de uma assistência integral. Além disso, a institucionalização do processo transexual por meio do governo joga luz sobre o tema e contribui para consolidar sua inserção na agenda pública.
Por outro lado, as lacunas a serem preenchidas ainda persistem, sobretudo no que diz respeito a uma política de atenção básica destinadas a transexuais e travestis. Márcia Arán explica que as pessoas trans evitam se expor e, por isso, relutam em ir ao posto de saúde. “Então, não adianta haver um centro de referência para um atendimento de alta complexidade e não se ter uma rede de assistência associada. É fundamental que nos municípios e Estados – tanto as secretarias municipal quanto estadual de saúde – comecem realmente a desenvolver uma política de atenção básica”, diz, citando como exemplos bem sucedidos de ambulatórios TT (transexual e travesti) em Uberlândia e na cidade de São Paulo.
Na lista de desafios a serem enfrentados, há a exclusão dos homens trans (pessoas do sexo biológico feminino que se reconhecem como homens) da portaria do Ministério da Saúde, em razão da natureza experimental da cirurgia de transgenitalização de mulher para homem. Apesar do impasse, reconhecido por Arán em virtude da complexidade da cirurgia de construção do neofalo, ela defende que intervenções de caráter secundário como mastectomia e histerectomia (extração do útero) estejam acessíveis a esse público sem a necessidade prévia da cirurgia de transgenitalização. “A idéia seria dissociar esses dois tipos de cirurgia para que os homens trans pudessem realmente ser acolhidos na sua singularidade”, propõe, argumentando que muitas pessoas não pretendem, num primeiro momento, realizar a cirurgia de transgenitalização.
A não inclusão das travestis na portaria é outro problema apontado. A despeito das diferenças em nível de intervenção e alteração corporal, as travestis, por não estarem contempladas dentro da visão correcional, ficam alijadas da assistência. Um dos efeitos dessa exclusão, por exemplo, é a procura por silicone industrial, nocivo e inadequado para uso em pessoas, o que configura uma situação de extrema precariedade e vulnerabilidade, de acordo com Márcia Arán.
Para além de impasses propriamente médicos, outros ainda se configuram. No âmbito jurídico, a modificação do nome é efetuada na maioria dos casos somente após a cirurgia de transgenitalização. Para a pesquisadora do IMS, o ideal seria desatrelar a realização cirúrgica da mudança do nome. Nas circunstâncias atuais, em que os arranjos legais e burocráticos dificultam o processo de mudança da identidade civil, as pessoas trans acabam tendo dificuldade na escolarização e na profissionalização.“Não tem como ter uma política de assistência à saúde no Brasil sem que haja um suporte jurídico para a mudança de nome”, salienta a pesquisadora, apontando a Espanha, onde a alteração na carteira de identidade independe da realização cirúrgica, como uma referência para as discussões.
Mesmo diante de inúmeros desafios a serem trabalhados e enfrentados, a especialista é otimista. Ela lembra que, em 2001, quando iniciou seus trabalhos com o tema, a única referência existente então era o CFM. “De lá para cá, avançamos muito em termos de propostas de pesquisadores, profissionais de saúde e do movimento social (como o movimento LGBT, o coletivo de mulheres que vivenciam a transexualidade e a participação de homens trans). Todos passaram a dar algum subsídio para essa política, principalmente em relação ao que estamos chamando da necessidade da redescrição da experiência da transexualidade, ou seja, da importância do reconhecimento da diversidade da experiência trans”, afirma, elogiando a postura do Ministério da Saúde ao dar chance para que os diversos atores sociais envolvidos possam influir.
“Desta forma, se inicialmente a institucionalização da assistência a transexuais no Brasil esteve associada ao modelo estritamente biomédico, no qual o diagnóstico de transtorno de identidade de gênero tem como tratamento possível a cirurgia de transgenitalização, hoje esta política de assistência integral permite uma abertura para uma noção mais ampliada de saúde a partir da real necessidade dos indivíduos envolvidos”, conclui.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CLAM
notícias CLAM
Há pouco mais de um ano, em agosto de 2008, o Ministério da Saúde baixou a portaria nº 1.707 que instituía, no Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), o Processo Transexualizador. Esta norma técnica estabeleceu um conjunto de estratégias assistenciais para transexuais que pretendem realizar modificações corporais do sexo, em função de um sentimento de desacordo entre o sexo biológico e o gênero.
A concretização dessa política foi resultado de anos de debates, regulamentações e discussões entre o poder público, a sociedade civil organizada, representantes de classes profissionais e os próprios transexuais. Entretanto, isto não significou a linha de chegada dos debates, muito menos a aceitação plena do que foi implementado. Pelo contrário: existe ainda a clara percepção, entre pesquisadores, de que impasses e desafios impõem-se na agenda pública para que se possa avançar em alguns pontos.
A pesquisadora Márcia Arán, professora do Instituto de Medicina Social (IMS/UERJ) e coordenadora da “Pesquisa Nacional sobre Transexualidade e Saúde: condições de acesso e cuidado integral” (IMS-UERJ/MCT/CNPq/MS/SCTIE/DECIT), ressalta a importância das negociações que foram feitas entre vários atores sociais para a construção desta política. A iniciativa do Ministério da Saúde reconhece que a orientação sexual e a identidade de gênero são determinantes e condicionantes da situação de saúde, e que o mal-estar e o sentimento de inadaptação em relação ao sexo anatômico de usuários e usuárias transexuais devem ser acolhidos e tratados pelo SUS, seguindo os preceitos da universalidade, integralidade e da equidade da atenção.
Mas chama a atenção, por outro lado, para a preponderância do discurso médico. “Nessa pactuação, ainda predominam as resoluções do Conselho Federal de Medicina, que considera a transexualidade uma patologia, um transtorno de identidade de gênero”, afirma, jogando luz sobre um dos principais elementos de discussão desta política do SUS: a patologização da condição transexual.
A exemplo de outros países, o Brasil condiciona o acesso ao serviço à definição do diagnóstico de “transtorno de identidade de gênero”. Em artigo de janeiro de 2009 na revista Physis, cujo tema foi “Transexualidade e Saúde”, Márcia Arán, que atuou como editora adjunta deste número, fez um inventário histórico sobre como a medicina e a temática da transexualidade se entrelaçaram de maneira que, até hoje, a literatura médica influencia diretamente as políticas públicas.
Na esteira de um processo de incremento das possibilidades tecnológicas da biomedicina e de maior liberdade sexual, a partir de meados do século XX, a transexualidade foi ganhando terreno nos fóruns acadêmicos e nas ciências. Segundo a pesquisadora, “em meados da década de 1960 do século passado novas teorizações médicas e sociológicas - como os estudos de Harry Benjamin, John Money e Robert Stoller - começaram a esboçar as especificidades da transexualidade que, somadas ao progresso da biologia e da viabilidade técnica para adequação do corpo à identidade de gênero, deslocaram essa experiência de uma situação individual e absolutamente marginal para um problema médico-legal reconhecido e passível de tratamento”.
Neste contexto, o doutor Norman Fisk definiu um primeiro diagnóstico para a transexualidade, categorizando-a como uma patologia. “Isso é um problema sério, porque esse diagnóstico, criado com o objetivo de regulamentar o acesso ao tratamento, acaba estabelecendo um modelo normativo e correcional de sexo-gênero. O que faz com que transexuais acabem se apresentado, muitas vezes, de forma estereotipada e artificial para se encaixar no padrão esperado de masculinidade e de feminilidade condizentes com a noção de ‘transexual verdadeiro’”,observa Márcia Arán.
Em 1980, a condição transexual foi adicionada ao manual de diagnóstico psiquiátrico da Associação de Psiquiatria Americana (APA) e, em 1994, o termo “transexualismo” foi substituído por “transtorno de identidade de gênero” (TIG).
No Brasil, o Conselho Federal de Medicina (CFM) regulamentou, em 1997, a operação de transgenitalização, condicionando-a ao acompanhamento prévio mínimo de dois anos por um médico psiquiatra, dentre outras especialidades. A normatização da transexualidade, portanto, criou, via diagnóstico médico, uma porta de entrada para o processo transexualizador. A própria portaria 1.707 vincula, inclusive, sua efetivação ao atendimento das condições estabelecidas pelo CFM, que determina o diagnóstico, as terapêuticas prévias e o acompanhamento pós-operatório como “atos médicos em sua essência”.
Márcia Arán afirma que a necessidade do diagnóstico de “transtorno de identidade de gênero” como condição de acesso à saúde restringe em muito os processos de cuidado. Segundo a pesquisadora, é necessário construirmos uma noção mais ampliada de saúde, baseada na individualização do cuidado e na integralidade da assistência para que se possa acolher de fato as necessidades de saúde desta população. Essa restrição biomédica, observa, foi determinante para que a pesquisadora, quando psicóloga do Hospital Clementino Fraga Filho (UFRJ) em um programa de assistência a transexuais, vislumbrasse a necessidade de realizar uma pesquisa sobre os Serviços que prestam assistência a transexuais no país com o objetivo de colaborar com a gestão de uma nova política.
“Ao conversar com homens e mulheres transexuais, conviver com eles e elas, no movimento social, ou mesmo a partir da minha experiência clínica, pude perceber que estas pessoas têm várias experiências de construção de gênero e existem várias formas de subjetivação da transexualidade. Na minha opinião, não tem nada que justifique definir a transexualidade como uma patologia, nem mesmo como uma estrutura psíquica. É uma experiência de desacordo entre sexo e gênero que pode se manifestar de diversas formas. Isto não quer dizer que as pessoas trans, assim como qualquer outra pessoa, não possa manifestar uma forma de sofrimento psíquico, principalmente em função da experiência de exclusão social, de discriminação e muitas vezes de injúria e violência, e não possa necessitar ou desejar realizar uma psicoterapia ou um tratamento psiquiátrico”, explica Márcia Arán.
Segundo ela, é preciso pensar e discutir alternativas de regulamentação do acesso à saúde que possam, mesmo reconhecendo o sofrimento psíquico em algumas pessoas, não enquadrá-las em uma patologia psiquiátrica.
Além disto, num cenário de extrema vulnerabilidade de gênero, principalmente em função da dificuldade de mudança da identidade civil, a cirurgia de transgenitalização não pode se tornar uma tábua de salvação, ou seja, uma forma de inclusão social. “É importante considerar em que contexto se dá a opção pela transformação corporal. Alguns homens e mulheres transexuais podem desejar a cirurgia de transgenitalização pela exclusiva necessidade de reconhecimento social, o que nos faz pensar que a cirurgia não necessariamente seria indicada se vivêssemos num mundo onde a diversidade de gênero fosse possível. Algumas destas pessoas, já têm uma vida afetiva e sexual satisfatória e já são reconhecidas pelo gênero que dizem pertencer e em outras condições poderiam permanecer como estão. Porém, outras pessoas consideram a realização de modificações corporais do sexo, inclusive a cirurgia, um evento vital para a construção de si. Entre estes extremos há um continuum de possibilidades que devem ser consideradas. Como por exemplo, muitos homens trans que desejam a realização de cirurgias para a modificação de caracteres sexuais secundários (como a mastectomia - remoção da mama), mas não desejam realizar a cirurgia de transgenitalização, ou o caso das travestis que desejam apenas as modificações dos caracteres sexuais secundários. É por isto que a individualização do cuidado é parte constitutiva de qualquer projeto baseado na integralidade da assistência”, acrescenta Arán.
De acordo com a pesquisadora, “apesar da experiência de vulnerabilidade estar presente na vivência trans, é importante que se diga o quanto estas pessoas conseguem, em situações muito adversas, construir modos de vida satisfatórios, produtivos e alegres”. Um dos maiores entraves para a realização plena de suas vidas não é, a dificuldade de relacionamento afetivo e sexual, nem a construção de redes de amizade, mas a extrema dificuldade de profissionalização proveniente da impossibilidade de mudança do nome civil. Por isto que muitas pesquisadoras já vêm afirmando que a permissão para a troca de nome e sexo no registro civil independentemente da realização da cirurgia, resolveria o problema mais agudo da vida cotidiana de transexuais.
A qualidade das cirurgias é um elemento que também merece atenção. Segundo Arán, “é importante que o Ministério da Saúde possa acompanhar e fiscalizar a qualidade das cirurgias que estão sendo realizadas, e principalmente possa apoiar os Centros de Referência para que eles se transformem em Centros de formação de profissionais, já que este é um dos grandes problemas para a organização de novos serviços. Além disto, observamos que os poucos profissionais que se dispõem a realizar este tipo de assistência, muitas vezes ficam muito sobrecarregados, já que tem a tarefa de realizar a capacitação profissional da equipe interdisciplinar e implementar medidas de humanização, para que se possa garantir um atendimento de qualidade e livre de discriminação”.
É por isto que apesar de constatar que o serviço do SUS ainda necessita de ajustes, Márcia Arán avalia a portaria como uma iniciativa cujos desdobramentos permitem pensar a construção de uma assistência integral. Além disso, a institucionalização do processo transexual por meio do governo joga luz sobre o tema e contribui para consolidar sua inserção na agenda pública.
Por outro lado, as lacunas a serem preenchidas ainda persistem, sobretudo no que diz respeito a uma política de atenção básica destinadas a transexuais e travestis. Márcia Arán explica que as pessoas trans evitam se expor e, por isso, relutam em ir ao posto de saúde. “Então, não adianta haver um centro de referência para um atendimento de alta complexidade e não se ter uma rede de assistência associada. É fundamental que nos municípios e Estados – tanto as secretarias municipal quanto estadual de saúde – comecem realmente a desenvolver uma política de atenção básica”, diz, citando como exemplos bem sucedidos de ambulatórios TT (transexual e travesti) em Uberlândia e na cidade de São Paulo.
Na lista de desafios a serem enfrentados, há a exclusão dos homens trans (pessoas do sexo biológico feminino que se reconhecem como homens) da portaria do Ministério da Saúde, em razão da natureza experimental da cirurgia de transgenitalização de mulher para homem. Apesar do impasse, reconhecido por Arán em virtude da complexidade da cirurgia de construção do neofalo, ela defende que intervenções de caráter secundário como mastectomia e histerectomia (extração do útero) estejam acessíveis a esse público sem a necessidade prévia da cirurgia de transgenitalização. “A idéia seria dissociar esses dois tipos de cirurgia para que os homens trans pudessem realmente ser acolhidos na sua singularidade”, propõe, argumentando que muitas pessoas não pretendem, num primeiro momento, realizar a cirurgia de transgenitalização.
A não inclusão das travestis na portaria é outro problema apontado. A despeito das diferenças em nível de intervenção e alteração corporal, as travestis, por não estarem contempladas dentro da visão correcional, ficam alijadas da assistência. Um dos efeitos dessa exclusão, por exemplo, é a procura por silicone industrial, nocivo e inadequado para uso em pessoas, o que configura uma situação de extrema precariedade e vulnerabilidade, de acordo com Márcia Arán.
Para além de impasses propriamente médicos, outros ainda se configuram. No âmbito jurídico, a modificação do nome é efetuada na maioria dos casos somente após a cirurgia de transgenitalização. Para a pesquisadora do IMS, o ideal seria desatrelar a realização cirúrgica da mudança do nome. Nas circunstâncias atuais, em que os arranjos legais e burocráticos dificultam o processo de mudança da identidade civil, as pessoas trans acabam tendo dificuldade na escolarização e na profissionalização.“Não tem como ter uma política de assistência à saúde no Brasil sem que haja um suporte jurídico para a mudança de nome”, salienta a pesquisadora, apontando a Espanha, onde a alteração na carteira de identidade independe da realização cirúrgica, como uma referência para as discussões.
Mesmo diante de inúmeros desafios a serem trabalhados e enfrentados, a especialista é otimista. Ela lembra que, em 2001, quando iniciou seus trabalhos com o tema, a única referência existente então era o CFM. “De lá para cá, avançamos muito em termos de propostas de pesquisadores, profissionais de saúde e do movimento social (como o movimento LGBT, o coletivo de mulheres que vivenciam a transexualidade e a participação de homens trans). Todos passaram a dar algum subsídio para essa política, principalmente em relação ao que estamos chamando da necessidade da redescrição da experiência da transexualidade, ou seja, da importância do reconhecimento da diversidade da experiência trans”, afirma, elogiando a postura do Ministério da Saúde ao dar chance para que os diversos atores sociais envolvidos possam influir.
“Desta forma, se inicialmente a institucionalização da assistência a transexuais no Brasil esteve associada ao modelo estritamente biomédico, no qual o diagnóstico de transtorno de identidade de gênero tem como tratamento possível a cirurgia de transgenitalização, hoje esta política de assistência integral permite uma abertura para uma noção mais ampliada de saúde a partir da real necessidade dos indivíduos envolvidos”, conclui.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CLAM
quinta-feira, 14 de janeiro de 2010
On Being First: Amanda Simpson can help us all learn about trans issues
by Dana Beyer
Published on January 14, 2010
"Being the first sucks," Amanda Simpson, one of the first openly trans appointments to a federal government position, told ABC News. "I'd rather not be the first but someone has to be first, or among the first. I think I'm experienced and very well qualified to deal with anything that might show up because I've broken barriers at lots of other places and I always win people over with who I am and what I can do."
I know how she feels. Full disclosure: Amanda Simpson and I are friends, and fellow board members at NCTE (National Center for Transgender Equality). She is also my role model, the woman who proved to me, by virtue of her campaign for Arizona state representative in 2004, that I can get elected.
She's pretty good at inspiring others, as well. A good friend of mine at the Human Rights Campaign related how little he knew about the trans experience, until one day he inadvertently wandered into a presentation at an Out & Equal conference and was soon mesmerized by the speaker. That speaker was Amanda, and she changed his life.
She will do that for many more, particularly gay men and lesbians who still find it hard, at times, to wrap their minds around the concept of gender identity, as distinct from sexual orientation. Ron Gold, the 90-year-old gay-rights pioneer, is the most recent example of that group, mired in outmoded queer theory.
I don't find this surprising, not when you've spent your entire life viewing human sexuality through the lens of desire, rather than the lens of being. Some trans persons have just as hard a time understanding sexual orientation, and have behaved very cruelly as a result. So this appointment is an opportunity for learning.
I've read much of the hate speech out there, from the Traditional Values Coalition, the American Family Association and Focus on the Family. I've been there, and it isn't pleasant -- not by a long shot. Even David Letterman couldn't pass up the opportunity, and caused a mini-storm of protest. The attitude exemplified in his 46-second skit is, indeed, the courtroom defense used by perpetrators of violence against trans women. But I see this a little differently.
Very shortly Amanda will be performing her duties, dealing with advanced missile-guidance systems and the like, helping make our country safer. NCTE, on whose board we sit, decided to publicize her appointment because we believed the benefits of her visibility, within the federal government and without, will have a much more lasting impact than the ranting of Tony Perkins and Peter Sprigg.
And David Letterman? Well, he personally kept himself at a distance during the routine, almost as if he felt obligated to do something, anything, with this story, but he managed without a hostile affect. My emotional reaction was this was a pretty lame skit. I felt far different this time than I have with similar comedy routines in the recent past. And the next evening Rachel Maddow jumped in with a sterling report on both the appointment and the change in federal hiring procedures.
There is a political aphorism usually attributed to Gandhi: ''First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.'' Over the past decade, the most reactionary decade in modern American history, the transgender community has made huge progress culturally, as well as legally. The fighting continues with the reactionaries, the freepers, and the late-night comedians still going for the cheap laughs, but those who aren't prejudiced and have a willingness to learn, as my friend did when he discovered Amanda, now have a golden opportunity to discover just how much people like Amanda have to offer our nation.
As someone remarked on Pam's House Blend, ''I just can't wait till she's debating missile-system design with Stephen Colbert.'' I can picture that interview ending with Mr. Colbert saying, ''You're quite the qualified person for this job. Why couldn't you just be a man??'' And Amanda replying, in deference to the late Joe E. Brown from Some Like It Hot, ''Well, nobody's perfect!''
Dana Beyer, M.D., a retired eye surgeon, is currently a candidate for Maryland state delegate. An author of The Dallas Principles, she is vice president of Equality Maryland and governor at HRC.
Published on January 14, 2010
"Being the first sucks," Amanda Simpson, one of the first openly trans appointments to a federal government position, told ABC News. "I'd rather not be the first but someone has to be first, or among the first. I think I'm experienced and very well qualified to deal with anything that might show up because I've broken barriers at lots of other places and I always win people over with who I am and what I can do."
I know how she feels. Full disclosure: Amanda Simpson and I are friends, and fellow board members at NCTE (National Center for Transgender Equality). She is also my role model, the woman who proved to me, by virtue of her campaign for Arizona state representative in 2004, that I can get elected.
She's pretty good at inspiring others, as well. A good friend of mine at the Human Rights Campaign related how little he knew about the trans experience, until one day he inadvertently wandered into a presentation at an Out & Equal conference and was soon mesmerized by the speaker. That speaker was Amanda, and she changed his life.
She will do that for many more, particularly gay men and lesbians who still find it hard, at times, to wrap their minds around the concept of gender identity, as distinct from sexual orientation. Ron Gold, the 90-year-old gay-rights pioneer, is the most recent example of that group, mired in outmoded queer theory.
I don't find this surprising, not when you've spent your entire life viewing human sexuality through the lens of desire, rather than the lens of being. Some trans persons have just as hard a time understanding sexual orientation, and have behaved very cruelly as a result. So this appointment is an opportunity for learning.
I've read much of the hate speech out there, from the Traditional Values Coalition, the American Family Association and Focus on the Family. I've been there, and it isn't pleasant -- not by a long shot. Even David Letterman couldn't pass up the opportunity, and caused a mini-storm of protest. The attitude exemplified in his 46-second skit is, indeed, the courtroom defense used by perpetrators of violence against trans women. But I see this a little differently.
Very shortly Amanda will be performing her duties, dealing with advanced missile-guidance systems and the like, helping make our country safer. NCTE, on whose board we sit, decided to publicize her appointment because we believed the benefits of her visibility, within the federal government and without, will have a much more lasting impact than the ranting of Tony Perkins and Peter Sprigg.
And David Letterman? Well, he personally kept himself at a distance during the routine, almost as if he felt obligated to do something, anything, with this story, but he managed without a hostile affect. My emotional reaction was this was a pretty lame skit. I felt far different this time than I have with similar comedy routines in the recent past. And the next evening Rachel Maddow jumped in with a sterling report on both the appointment and the change in federal hiring procedures.
There is a political aphorism usually attributed to Gandhi: ''First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.'' Over the past decade, the most reactionary decade in modern American history, the transgender community has made huge progress culturally, as well as legally. The fighting continues with the reactionaries, the freepers, and the late-night comedians still going for the cheap laughs, but those who aren't prejudiced and have a willingness to learn, as my friend did when he discovered Amanda, now have a golden opportunity to discover just how much people like Amanda have to offer our nation.
As someone remarked on Pam's House Blend, ''I just can't wait till she's debating missile-system design with Stephen Colbert.'' I can picture that interview ending with Mr. Colbert saying, ''You're quite the qualified person for this job. Why couldn't you just be a man??'' And Amanda replying, in deference to the late Joe E. Brown from Some Like It Hot, ''Well, nobody's perfect!''
Dana Beyer, M.D., a retired eye surgeon, is currently a candidate for Maryland state delegate. An author of The Dallas Principles, she is vice president of Equality Maryland and governor at HRC.
A safe place to meet and escape from a double life
Date: 14 January 2010
By Linda Colling
A man awaiting a sex-change op and an open cross dresser are just two people who have found a lifeline and safe haven at Age Concern Sunderland which has struck a first in the region for the charity in a Tea With Dorothy group.
It's guaranteed to raise eyebrows – a groundbreaking new group at Age Concern Sunderland which is catering for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender over-50s.
Tea With Dorothy is the first group of its kind in the North East, launched by the charity to reach out to men and women throughout Wearside, offering somewhere for them to meet and be themselves in the privacy of like-minded people who want to socialise and give one another support.
For the small group of over-50s to over-70s, it is the first time they have had the opportunity to be frank about their sexuality. The fact is
the majority have been leading a double life.
As Adrienne Rowly, good neighbour co-ordinator for Age Concern Sunderland, says of the pioneering group: "A lot of them have hidden their background for so many years and have gone through the process of being married and raising a family because it was easier to hide it."
As part of her role she has taken over the Tea With Dorothy group (a name derived from the secret language, polari, which gays used to find out who was and wasn't gay by asking: "Are you a friend of Dorothy?").
It's all been an eyeopener for Adrienne.
"It's made me very appreciative certainly of the older ones and what they have had to go through," she says. "The fact that they have had to hide it gets overlooked. They couldn't be open about it like people today. They haven't been able to do that.
"A lot of the time they just want to chat and meet other people. They don't always want to have to discuss being gay, bi-sexual, transexual or lesbian.
"Tea With Dorothy offers somewhere for these older people to come and meet in safety without having to go round all the pubs and clubs because older people don't necesarilly want to do that.
"For those that come here we have facilities where they can get changed. There's one who arrives as a man and gets changed as a woman."
That cross-dresser, who likes high heels, paints his nails and wears frocks, is totally different to a transexual I spoke with called Sheila, who helped get another group off the ground at Age Concern in North Tyneside and is now waiting for a sex change and a boob job.
In her pretty slippers, stockings, long skirt and cosy cardigan, Sheila who has gone from being born Dave to dressing as a woman and waiting for sex reassignment surgery, says: "All the clothes make me feel a woman. But I am a woman not a man.
"When I came out everybody that I knew – friends family, colleagues – disappeared. I have had to battle all the way through on my own."
Now over 50, Sheila "knew she was different" from being five.
"The process has been going on since then but at that time you didn't have information technology and society didn't accept you if you were different," she says.
Dressed as a woman not surprisingly brought a strong reaction for Sheila who was leading a double life in the early stages before daring to come out. It shocked everyone who had known Dave the bachelor.
Overnight she provoked outrage. One neighbour told Sheila "I saw a woman go into your house the other day".
"I said it was me. She was OK but there were certain other people round the neighbourhood who for being a woman I got abuse, physical attacks, harrasment and vandalism," she said.
"Being transgender, no matter where you are people know and you will get abuse. It's very hard to live with. There's no network or support system as such to cater for that."
Having worked in a call centre as a woman and fought for the right to use the ladies loo, Sheila has been unemployed for three years and believes she is being discriminated against by employers for being transgender.
After having her car repeatedly vandalised, she moved to a different neighbourhood. She now believes in keeping a low profile and lives in a flat.
Yes, she was once in a long term relationship with a woman: "It was one of those unwritten rules that you have a relationship. "
Does she have any regrets?
"All I have regrets over is that it has taken too long for the services to make me the person I want to be."
Tea with Dorothy meets on the second and third Wednesday of every month from 5pm-7pm and if you want to talk in confidence to Adrienne, call 5141131.
terça-feira, 12 de janeiro de 2010
Spanish boy, 16, becomes one of world's youngest transsexuals after having sex-change operation
By Tom Worden
A 16-year-old Spanish boy has become one of the world's youngest transsexuals after having a sex change operation to become a girl.
The teenager underwent surgery at a hospital in Barcelona after convincing family, doctors and a judge he was a girl trapped inside a boy's body.
The youngster is recovering after the operation, paid for by the family, in the city's Hospital Clinico last week.
The unnamed 16-year-old was treated at this hospital in Barcelona
Dr Ivan Manero, who has been treating the teenager with hormone therapy for two years, said shortly before the surgery: 'When the family contacted me he was 14 years old.
'During the last two years he has received treatment and he is totally prepared for the surgery.
'It is preferable to operate before the patient is 18, because at that age it is more minor operation because the patient is not so well developed.'
Dr Manero, head of the hospital's Gender Disorder Unit, added: 'He is not the first person under 18 to have come for sex change advice, but he is the first one whose parents where prepared to confront the Justice system so their child could be happy.'
Under Spanish law under 18s cannot have a sex change without the permission of a judge, which has never previously been granted.
German Kim Petras, formerly Tim, became the youngest transexual in 2008
A judge gave the consent last November after reading extensive medical and psychiatric reports in favour of the surgery.
The teenager had told doctors: 'I have always felt like a girl trapped inside a boy's body.'
A group of specialist doctors and psychiatrists will monitor and assist the youngster over the coming months.
Last year 25 sex change operations were carried out in Barcelona, but all were over the age of 18.
Fifteen of those were men who changed their sex to become women.
In February 2009 German teenager Tim Petras became the world's youngest transsexual when she had a sex change aged 16 and changed her name to Kim.
Kim, who was born a boy but began calling herself a girl when she was two, has since launched a modelling career, landing a job as a model for a nationwide German hair salon chain.
Her surgery was paid for by the German health service.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1242532/Spanish-boy-16-worlds-youngest-transsexuals-having-sex-change-operation.html#ixzz0cQ2n0NQU
A 16-year-old Spanish boy has become one of the world's youngest transsexuals after having a sex change operation to become a girl.
The teenager underwent surgery at a hospital in Barcelona after convincing family, doctors and a judge he was a girl trapped inside a boy's body.
The youngster is recovering after the operation, paid for by the family, in the city's Hospital Clinico last week.
The unnamed 16-year-old was treated at this hospital in Barcelona
Dr Ivan Manero, who has been treating the teenager with hormone therapy for two years, said shortly before the surgery: 'When the family contacted me he was 14 years old.
'During the last two years he has received treatment and he is totally prepared for the surgery.
'It is preferable to operate before the patient is 18, because at that age it is more minor operation because the patient is not so well developed.'
Dr Manero, head of the hospital's Gender Disorder Unit, added: 'He is not the first person under 18 to have come for sex change advice, but he is the first one whose parents where prepared to confront the Justice system so their child could be happy.'
Under Spanish law under 18s cannot have a sex change without the permission of a judge, which has never previously been granted.
German Kim Petras, formerly Tim, became the youngest transexual in 2008
A judge gave the consent last November after reading extensive medical and psychiatric reports in favour of the surgery.
The teenager had told doctors: 'I have always felt like a girl trapped inside a boy's body.'
A group of specialist doctors and psychiatrists will monitor and assist the youngster over the coming months.
Last year 25 sex change operations were carried out in Barcelona, but all were over the age of 18.
Fifteen of those were men who changed their sex to become women.
In February 2009 German teenager Tim Petras became the world's youngest transsexual when she had a sex change aged 16 and changed her name to Kim.
Kim, who was born a boy but began calling herself a girl when she was two, has since launched a modelling career, landing a job as a model for a nationwide German hair salon chain.
Her surgery was paid for by the German health service.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1242532/Spanish-boy-16-worlds-youngest-transsexuals-having-sex-change-operation.html#ixzz0cQ2n0NQU
sábado, 9 de janeiro de 2010
sexta-feira, 8 de janeiro de 2010
Obama's Appointee is Not a "Cross-dresser"
By Hanna Rosin
We try to be patient with the right’s enduring queasiness about homosexuality, but then every once in a while they drop one so obnoxious it makes you want to assign their kid the gay teacher on purpose. The Family Research Council’s latest crusade—Stop Obama’s Cross-Dresser Protection Bill—launched this morning. Of course there is no such thing as the “Cross-Dresser Protection Bill.” What the Christian right group is referring to is the following:
On New Year's Eve, when most Americans were waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square, the Obama Administration dropped another bombshell in its agenda to radicalize America by appointing its first openly "transgender" person to a high federal post. "Transgender" is an umbrella term for anyone who "expresses" a "gender identity" contrary to their biological sex at birth-in other words, men who claim to be (and dress as) women, and vice versa.
Note the spy-boudoir scene setting, the military metaphor, the extraneous Dr. Evil-style parentheses. Now, either it was a bombshell or a stealth maneuver; it can’t be both. The truth is that the administration was very low-key about the appointment of Amanda Simpson as a senior technical advisor to the Commerce Department, which is hardly a visible post. She has worked for many years in aerospace and defense, and convinced Raytheon, where she worked, to adopt gender identity into its workplace policies. She also ran for a House seat in Arizona. If Raytheon, not a bastion of pro-gay radical thinking, can handle it, so can the federal government.
Now for the true yokel insult. Amanda Simpson is not across-dresser. She had a sex-change operation. If you think for a moment about what that entails, you should bow before that intense level of commitment, not mock it.
We try to be patient with the right’s enduring queasiness about homosexuality, but then every once in a while they drop one so obnoxious it makes you want to assign their kid the gay teacher on purpose. The Family Research Council’s latest crusade—Stop Obama’s Cross-Dresser Protection Bill—launched this morning. Of course there is no such thing as the “Cross-Dresser Protection Bill.” What the Christian right group is referring to is the following:
On New Year's Eve, when most Americans were waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square, the Obama Administration dropped another bombshell in its agenda to radicalize America by appointing its first openly "transgender" person to a high federal post. "Transgender" is an umbrella term for anyone who "expresses" a "gender identity" contrary to their biological sex at birth-in other words, men who claim to be (and dress as) women, and vice versa.
Note the spy-boudoir scene setting, the military metaphor, the extraneous Dr. Evil-style parentheses. Now, either it was a bombshell or a stealth maneuver; it can’t be both. The truth is that the administration was very low-key about the appointment of Amanda Simpson as a senior technical advisor to the Commerce Department, which is hardly a visible post. She has worked for many years in aerospace and defense, and convinced Raytheon, where she worked, to adopt gender identity into its workplace policies. She also ran for a House seat in Arizona. If Raytheon, not a bastion of pro-gay radical thinking, can handle it, so can the federal government.
Now for the true yokel insult. Amanda Simpson is not across-dresser. She had a sex-change operation. If you think for a moment about what that entails, you should bow before that intense level of commitment, not mock it.
quinta-feira, 7 de janeiro de 2010
segunda-feira, 23 de novembro de 2009
Let me have sex change treatment NOW,
Let me have sex change treatment NOW,
says schoolboy age 14
A BOY was last night backed by his mum as he begged to begin sex change treatment on the NHS - at the age of just FOURTEEN.
Georgie Smith, who dresses as a girl and wears make-up, insisted: "I'm old enough to know what I want. What I want is to be a girl."
Mum Carole, 41, blasted health chiefs for slapping a ban on youngsters taking sex change drugs until after puberty.
She said it meant that by the time her son is old enough to have an op he will never really look like a woman.
Carole wants Georgie to be given hormone blockers now to stop him turning into a man.
She said: "With his puberty suspended, he wouldn't grow to six foot or have big hands."
The mum-of-three said her boy had wanted to be a girl since the age of two - and had twice attempted suicide after realising he was in the "wrong" body.
School bullies began targeting him at age eight - branding him a "freak".
Georgie - not his real name because The Sun has agreed to protect his identity - asked his Dorset secondary school to let him wear girls' uniform. But he was barred - so he now wears make-up and bangles with the boys' version of the uniform.
Advertisement
Carole, who lives near Bournemouth, told how they were cuddled up on the sofa watching his favourite kids' programme - Tracy Beaker - when he blurted out: "I want to be a girl like her."
He was eight at the time - but Carole already knew how he felt.
She explained: "Even when he was into Thomas the Tank Engine, he only liked the girl engine." She looked into sending her son, whose dad left when he was two, to the US where kids can begin the sex change process earlier, but didn't have the £16,000 needed.
She said: "It should be available on the NHS." The Department of Health has said it is reviewing the age at which youngsters can begin taking hormone blockers.
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2741447/Lad-aged-14-in-NHS-sex-change-plea.html#ixzz0Xi0b0gIw
Transsexuals to be deported after prostitute's death
Rome, 23 Nov. (AKI) - Italian authorities are moving to deport 10 Brazilian transsexuals who were reportedly friends of Brenda, the prostitute at the centre of a sex and drugs extortion scandal found dead in Rome on Friday. According to Italian media, nine of the transsexuals were living illegally in Italy.
They are expected to be deported from Italy within a week and return to Brazil.
"They are people who engage in prostitution and are thus checked just like any other prostitutes," said Maurizio Improta, head of the immigration office.
On Friday, the transsexuals said they feared for their lives after the death of the Brazilian prostitute Brenda, which some have claimed was murdered and may have been 'silenced'.
Brenda was found dead after a fire broke out at her apartment in northern Rome early Friday.
She made headlines after allegedly having more than one sexual encounter with the former governor of the Lazio region Piero Marrazzo in an extortion, sex and drugs scandal, which led to the governor's resignation in October.
One of the transsexual prostitutes, Natalie, has been granted a permit of stay because she is considered a witness in the case involving Marrazzo, who resigned as governor, when news of his relationship with Brenda and Natalie broke in October.
Rome's public prosecutor said that the case would be investigated as a homicide after an autopsy showed that Brenda had suffocated from the smoke during the fire.
Further questions have been raised about the quantity of alcohol she drank before the fire occurred and whether she had consumed drugs that night.
domingo, 22 de novembro de 2009
A Rare Sighting!
A Rare Sighting!
Larry Wachowski: Transgendered Matrix Director Rare Appearance
We see you!
Hollywood transgendered director and recluse Larry Wachowski was spotted heading out of LAX airport Wednesday afternoon.
Larry has spent the last few years transitioning into a woman and now asks to be known as Lana.
We think someone has to start thinking about transitioning her hair! We're all about adding a little flavor to your hair, but that is a BIT much - even for us!
[Image via www.XposurePhotos.com.]
Larry Wachowski: Transgendered Matrix Director Rare Appearance
We see you!
Hollywood transgendered director and recluse Larry Wachowski was spotted heading out of LAX airport Wednesday afternoon.
Larry has spent the last few years transitioning into a woman and now asks to be known as Lana.
We think someone has to start thinking about transitioning her hair! We're all about adding a little flavor to your hair, but that is a BIT much - even for us!
[Image via www.XposurePhotos.com.]
Journeys through Transition
by Lindsey Barber, staff writer
November 19, 2009
This is an article from [X]press Magazine.
Marissa Martinez felt out of place most of her life because she was born in a man's body. Her discomfort did not stem from some sexual attraction to males. Instead, she truly felt she was meant to be a woman. Growing up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, she first identified with femininity during puberty when the changes her body went through, as a boy, did not seem to fit. She had fantasies about being a woman, would wear her mom's clothes, and shaved only her upper thighs so she would not get teased during gym class.
Despite the intensity of her need to be female, Martinez never told anyone. For almost thirty years, she naively held the common opinion that "whatever genitalia a person is born with determines their sex."
The most misunderstood aspect of gender transition is the motivation, because the catalyst is not defined by want. On the contrary, the feeling, absent of casual desire, is a need to correct a mistake. "It's something you can't escape and no matter how hard you try to suppress it, it won't go away," explains Martinez, who completed her surgical transition from male to female three months ago.
Prior to transition, Martinez suppressed her femininity and assumed an "ultimate expression" of masculinity by immersing herself in the grindcore metal scene. "I loved how extreme it was. That it didn't hold back and was like the ultimate in speed and aggression and over the top lyrics." She had problems with other kids bullying her in school, until she became a "burly, death metal dude."
"I would literally walk down the middle of the halls in my black leather jacket, with long black hair in my face, looking like the proverbial, Satan worshiping, metal maniac, and crowds of people would part to get out of my way. That was a big deal to me at the time. I was dedicated to the idea that I had to be a man."
Martinez attended the Heald Institute of Technology, obtaining an Associate of Sciences in software technologies. "I went there because I really wanted to be able to provide for my girlfriend, who eventually became my wife."
"She had a lot of strong opinions about how men and women were and some of them seemed stereotypical," says John von Eichhorn, who has worked with Martinez in software development for ten years at Lucasfilm, producer of Star Wars. "We worked long hours together and were each other's confidants about work and marriage." But Martinez' never discussed her gender identity issues. "There was just a general dissatisfaction with life that she had when she was a man. And that was something that fed into her music."
Unlike Martinez, Dean Bonilla, never suppressed his male identity or assumed a generic gender role. As a child, he expected to endure male puberty, but became androgynous once he experienced feminine changes instead. "I felt really confused and didn't know what to call myself. But I knew I did not like being called a girl. I was playing football in the mud and not brushing my hair."
Bonilla could not relate to the female concern about body image or why his single mother thought she needed a man to raise him properly. Identifying with men was difficult because he could not understand the misogyny, emotional suppression or the concern over maintaining a tough persona that he saw in many of the men around him. "I always felt like I had to act tough to get any kind of respect, but eventually I decided this was dumb." Bonilla has lived as a man for over three years and is comfortable expressing his emotions. "I'm okay with whatever feminine qualities I have because I am comfortable with my masculinity," he says. "Why does there have to be some type of gender role?"
Bonilla grew up in the southern Baptist city of Jacksonville, Florida, where coming out, even as gay, was intimidating. He did not know about trans men until he met two at a queer youth center when he was sixteen. "I watched them both transition from female to male physically and it all just came together," he remembers. Three years later he asked his grandmother if he could assume his middle name, Dean, simply to see how she would react. She had no qualms, so Bonilla explained everything in a letter. "She told me she always knew I'd come out to her."
During this time, Bonilla was living with a lesbian couple. One of the women wished he could be a stronger female, but his transition had nothing to do with his sexual orientation or a dislike of women. "Just because I transitioned as male doesn't mean I'm not a feminist," he says. Bonilla's mother is still trying to accept his male identity because she was not close to him when he first came out. "It seems like she's trying to have a mother-daughter relationship that we never really had," he says.
Martinez' suppression of her true self made her road to transition much longer. For ten years she sought satisfaction in helping her wife pick out sexy outfits and attempted to incorporate her female identity into their sexual relations. But her partner was completely heterosexual and did not enjoy this approach, which Martinez would "explain away" as simply an unbridled fantasy she could forget.
"No matter how hard I tried to be like my father when I was younger, be a good husband or just a cool dude, I could never escape these feelings telling me, 'This isn't right. You should be a girl.'"
Explaining this to her wife was unnerving. "I knew this was going to put the nail in the coffin of our relationship." But to Martinez' surprise her wife wanted to maintain the relationship because she believed the core person with whom she fell in love would always remain the same. She tried to adjust to having a wife and Martinez began cross dressing, but these efforts remained futile in that they only allowed Martinez to skim the surface of who she truly needed to be. While sharing a cigarette after a game of pool one night, her wife admitted she had to leave her, because otherwise Martinez would always hold back.
Within the next year they sold their town house in Pacifica, her ex-wife found a new boyfriend, and Martinez moved to the city and began hormone replacement therapy. She would use her half of the money from the house to pay for various surgeries that would finally give her a body that matched her mentality.
Some transgender people do not need or want Gender Confirmation Surgery, explains Martinez, because they are comfortable with genitals that do not match their gender identity. Bonilla would like to have his breast tissue removed, but he does not need bottom surgery to be comfortable as a male. "I don't feel like I have any dysphoria," he says.
He has no problem with the surgery, understands the feeling of "missing something," and admits he may want it some day, but he thinks many people - gay, straight, and transgender - wrongly categorize people based solely on their genitals. Bonilla has dated women and is also attracted to gay men, but fears he will never have the opportunity to date a man "because there is so much emphasis on having a penis to be a man in the first place." He thinks surgery is pushed on trans women for the same reason and disagrees with the law requiring "bottom" GCS for a legal change of gender. "Gender and sex are totally different from each other and if you're intersex -why does that matter?"
In Jacksonville, Bonilla was concerned about conforming to a masculine role because he dealt with constant harassment from his peers. He wore his hair short and often made a point of looking angry so people would not approach him. "I know it sounds crazy, but everyday I got stared down mostly by jock guys," he says. "Seeing this female-bodied person being masculine messed with their whole world."
Bonilla immersed himself in activism to compensate for the harassment. In high school, he lead class discussions about safe sex and sexual and gender orientation issues, lobbied for anti-bullying laws, and worked at the LGBT center while studying sociology at the University of Northern Florida.
Depressed by the prevalent harassment, he realized he needed to help himself before he could continue to help others. "Out of desperation," Bonilla moved to San Francisco in January, one month after his best friend, Charles Thomy, who is also transgendered. "I just decided to pack two bags and leave everything because I knew this would be the best for me and it has been so far." He left with little money, but he saw no career opportunities in Jacksonville aside from the LGBT center. "It made me annoyed to know that was the only option and that any other place would look down on me just for being me."
After living with friends for a few months he obtained an apartment through the Castro Youth Housing Initiative, which aids low-income or unemployed youth. He is still trying to get settled financially, but hopes to return to college and work for a nonprofit.
Since he began taking testosterone four months ago, his voice has lowered and he has more facial hair, but he does not notice any significant changes in his mood, because he says he always felt masculine. Making documentaries, learning how to skateboard, and watching films are some favorite pastimes that he shares with Thomy. He always wanted to skate, but gave it up at a young age, because the pubescent boys he wanted to skate with were unwilling to play with a girl. Bonilla considers his relationship with Thomy a "'bromance' - we can be emotional with each other, but not have to be in a relationship," he says, noting that, unlike other guys, their relationship has no tension related to proving their masculinity to each other.
Martinez understands Bonilla's viewpoint on gender confirmation surgery, but she knew she could never feel comfortable with her male genitalia or the odd looks and comments such as, "That's a dude," from insolent passersby. "I never wanted to be a Tranny. I always needed to be a girl."
After eight months of transitioning, Martinez was androgynous in her daily life and spending weekends as a woman. After one such weekend she was hanging out with a friend from work. "He said, 'It's going to be really weird not seeing you at work like this tomorrow.' And it just sorta hit me," she remembers. "I went to work the next day and saw my reflection in the glass (as a man) and said, 'Oh my god, I can't do this!'" She explained her situation to human relations and began living as a woman full time. Everyone has been completely supportive, including her coworkers, parents, and the members of her metal band, Cretin.
Martinez is currently working on the second album and says she sings the same as she did prior to her transition - in a loud, growling voice filled with angst. "You can't change the vocalist. It kills the band," she says, while eating lamb chops, using her fork and knife to gracefully remove the last slivers of meat from the bones.
Aside from these vocals, her demeanor is feminine. She taught herself how to walk, talk, and eat like a woman and even changed her handwriting. The estrogen injections softened her skin and made her more emotional, but to truly feel like a woman she needed surgery.
First, she underwent eleven hours of Facial Feminization Surgery, performed by world-renowned craniofacial surgeon Doctor Douglas Ousterhout. "For women, no matter the size of our bone structure, we still have certain curvature that indicates a female face," explains Mira Coluccio, Dr. Ousterhout's office manager who has extensive knowledge of his surgical procedures. Compared to females the male skull is much larger with deep-set eyes and bossing above the socket, a flat forehead and a square jaw. To make a face female Dr. Ousterhout removes and reshapes portions of the skull.
Prior to surgery, both Martinez' friends and people she had just met would tell her she was already beautiful and did not need the procedure. "We are not talking about beauty. It's the bone structure," says Coluccio, pointing to numerous before and after photos on her computer. "As an outsider looking in (at these pictures) you see a brother and sister." Coluccio says surgery gives people confidence, but transition involves self-exploration, which consumes many genetic women for most of their lives. "Every girl I know is still learning how to be a girl."
Before facial feminization surgery, von Eichhorn continued to slip up on Martinez' name and the proper pronouns, but the surgery removed the remnants of her formal self and he no longer saw her as a man. Martinez still had insecurities about "passing," but her female face and the breast augmentation that followed energized her self-esteem and social life. She even entertained her dream to become a latex fetish model and won a casting call for a photo shoot with Marquis Magazine after they hosted a fetish ball in July. "It's my opinion that latex is to clothing as chocolate is to food - pure decadent sex!"
"I'm way more social and outgoing than I used to be. Plus, I think differently because of the hormones," she says. "Man or woman we're all made out of the same goop, so if you swap the hormones we produce naturally then you're going to get similar results." Martinez was never attracted to men, until she began taking female hormones, which made her feel vulnerable - an emotion that she says is well served by men who innately have a protective disposition.
As a woman she is bisexual, but dating a guy requires less thought. "When I am with a woman I am very concerned about what my role is because that can either validate or invalidate my confidence in being a woman. Whereas when I am with a guy, it is very validating that I am his girl. That said I'm more attracted to women."
One month after the fetish ball, Martinez travelled to New Hope, Pennsylvania, where her genitals would be transformed from male to female, through a surgical technique known as penile inversion. When she awoke after surgery, she thought the procedure was not complete. Once the doctors assured her the operation was finished, she began feeling the area with her mind. "I started crying because I was really happy. It felt very correct." Initially, she thought her penis was still there, but then realized it was now inside her, aside from a small portion of the head used to form the clitoris.
Two months later she was still sore, but back to work, going out and having fun. Dilation is a big part of her day - every three hours she must insert a stint into her vagina and apply constant pressure for thirty minutes to increase its width and depth, and to avoid atrophy. She began this maintenance process immediately after surgery when she was still too swollen to walk. The tenderness remains three months later, but being content with her body was worth all the pain.
A noticeable weight has been lifted from her shoulders, says von Eichhorn. Martinez as a guy was "quiet and shy - in a lot of ways introspective and subdued. Now she'll just strike up a conversation with strangers and puts herself at the epicenter of attention." Prior to her transition, Martinez and von Eichhorn discussed the protective roles they assumed in their relationships with women. Now that dynamic is present between them, says von Eichhorn, who worries about Martinez walking home alone at night in attractive outfits. "I see her as my little sister at this point."
Martinez has only lived as a woman for two years and even after the surgery does not consider her transition complete. "Honestly, one part of me is like "Phew! OK! The big scary unknown is over with." But, there's still a huge amount of healing and rediscovery left to go," she says. "I think my big stuff to deal with is reconciling that I didn't have a girl's upbringing, and finding peace with the past I did live."
She overcame several uncertainties throughout her transition, including doubting she was transgendered in any sense and worrying that her friends and family would not love her if she transitioned. Now her main concerns are passing as a woman and exploring her roles in relationships. "Even now, after all of the therapy, surgery, and retraining of my movements, mannerisms, and voice, I constantly think that people are recognizing me as something other than a natural woman." She continues to tell people she is transsexual when they appear interested in dating her and, as a "realist," concludes this discussion will always be necessary due to her male upbringing.
"Despite the challenges having a vagina feels amazing. I can't really explain it, but it has really calmed some big anxieties that I've had. It just makes sense to me - to look down and not see a penis there. There's no other way to put it."
Bonilla also sees transition as an ongoing process. "There may be a point when I know I can completely pass as male, but I do not think there is going to be an end to (my transition) because I will constantly have to take testosterone in order to stay male-bodied."
He no longer worries about passing, but hopes the public will become more educated on transgender issues. "If I wasn't trans, instead of staring them down or making up my own ideas about how they are, I'd want to ask questions and make friends with them."
» E-mail Lindsey Barber @ lmbarber@sfsu.edu
November 19, 2009
This is an article from [X]press Magazine.
Marissa Martinez felt out of place most of her life because she was born in a man's body. Her discomfort did not stem from some sexual attraction to males. Instead, she truly felt she was meant to be a woman. Growing up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, she first identified with femininity during puberty when the changes her body went through, as a boy, did not seem to fit. She had fantasies about being a woman, would wear her mom's clothes, and shaved only her upper thighs so she would not get teased during gym class.
Despite the intensity of her need to be female, Martinez never told anyone. For almost thirty years, she naively held the common opinion that "whatever genitalia a person is born with determines their sex."
The most misunderstood aspect of gender transition is the motivation, because the catalyst is not defined by want. On the contrary, the feeling, absent of casual desire, is a need to correct a mistake. "It's something you can't escape and no matter how hard you try to suppress it, it won't go away," explains Martinez, who completed her surgical transition from male to female three months ago.
Prior to transition, Martinez suppressed her femininity and assumed an "ultimate expression" of masculinity by immersing herself in the grindcore metal scene. "I loved how extreme it was. That it didn't hold back and was like the ultimate in speed and aggression and over the top lyrics." She had problems with other kids bullying her in school, until she became a "burly, death metal dude."
"I would literally walk down the middle of the halls in my black leather jacket, with long black hair in my face, looking like the proverbial, Satan worshiping, metal maniac, and crowds of people would part to get out of my way. That was a big deal to me at the time. I was dedicated to the idea that I had to be a man."
Martinez attended the Heald Institute of Technology, obtaining an Associate of Sciences in software technologies. "I went there because I really wanted to be able to provide for my girlfriend, who eventually became my wife."
"She had a lot of strong opinions about how men and women were and some of them seemed stereotypical," says John von Eichhorn, who has worked with Martinez in software development for ten years at Lucasfilm, producer of Star Wars. "We worked long hours together and were each other's confidants about work and marriage." But Martinez' never discussed her gender identity issues. "There was just a general dissatisfaction with life that she had when she was a man. And that was something that fed into her music."
Unlike Martinez, Dean Bonilla, never suppressed his male identity or assumed a generic gender role. As a child, he expected to endure male puberty, but became androgynous once he experienced feminine changes instead. "I felt really confused and didn't know what to call myself. But I knew I did not like being called a girl. I was playing football in the mud and not brushing my hair."
Bonilla could not relate to the female concern about body image or why his single mother thought she needed a man to raise him properly. Identifying with men was difficult because he could not understand the misogyny, emotional suppression or the concern over maintaining a tough persona that he saw in many of the men around him. "I always felt like I had to act tough to get any kind of respect, but eventually I decided this was dumb." Bonilla has lived as a man for over three years and is comfortable expressing his emotions. "I'm okay with whatever feminine qualities I have because I am comfortable with my masculinity," he says. "Why does there have to be some type of gender role?"
Bonilla grew up in the southern Baptist city of Jacksonville, Florida, where coming out, even as gay, was intimidating. He did not know about trans men until he met two at a queer youth center when he was sixteen. "I watched them both transition from female to male physically and it all just came together," he remembers. Three years later he asked his grandmother if he could assume his middle name, Dean, simply to see how she would react. She had no qualms, so Bonilla explained everything in a letter. "She told me she always knew I'd come out to her."
During this time, Bonilla was living with a lesbian couple. One of the women wished he could be a stronger female, but his transition had nothing to do with his sexual orientation or a dislike of women. "Just because I transitioned as male doesn't mean I'm not a feminist," he says. Bonilla's mother is still trying to accept his male identity because she was not close to him when he first came out. "It seems like she's trying to have a mother-daughter relationship that we never really had," he says.
Martinez' suppression of her true self made her road to transition much longer. For ten years she sought satisfaction in helping her wife pick out sexy outfits and attempted to incorporate her female identity into their sexual relations. But her partner was completely heterosexual and did not enjoy this approach, which Martinez would "explain away" as simply an unbridled fantasy she could forget.
"No matter how hard I tried to be like my father when I was younger, be a good husband or just a cool dude, I could never escape these feelings telling me, 'This isn't right. You should be a girl.'"
Explaining this to her wife was unnerving. "I knew this was going to put the nail in the coffin of our relationship." But to Martinez' surprise her wife wanted to maintain the relationship because she believed the core person with whom she fell in love would always remain the same. She tried to adjust to having a wife and Martinez began cross dressing, but these efforts remained futile in that they only allowed Martinez to skim the surface of who she truly needed to be. While sharing a cigarette after a game of pool one night, her wife admitted she had to leave her, because otherwise Martinez would always hold back.
Within the next year they sold their town house in Pacifica, her ex-wife found a new boyfriend, and Martinez moved to the city and began hormone replacement therapy. She would use her half of the money from the house to pay for various surgeries that would finally give her a body that matched her mentality.
Some transgender people do not need or want Gender Confirmation Surgery, explains Martinez, because they are comfortable with genitals that do not match their gender identity. Bonilla would like to have his breast tissue removed, but he does not need bottom surgery to be comfortable as a male. "I don't feel like I have any dysphoria," he says.
He has no problem with the surgery, understands the feeling of "missing something," and admits he may want it some day, but he thinks many people - gay, straight, and transgender - wrongly categorize people based solely on their genitals. Bonilla has dated women and is also attracted to gay men, but fears he will never have the opportunity to date a man "because there is so much emphasis on having a penis to be a man in the first place." He thinks surgery is pushed on trans women for the same reason and disagrees with the law requiring "bottom" GCS for a legal change of gender. "Gender and sex are totally different from each other and if you're intersex -why does that matter?"
In Jacksonville, Bonilla was concerned about conforming to a masculine role because he dealt with constant harassment from his peers. He wore his hair short and often made a point of looking angry so people would not approach him. "I know it sounds crazy, but everyday I got stared down mostly by jock guys," he says. "Seeing this female-bodied person being masculine messed with their whole world."
Bonilla immersed himself in activism to compensate for the harassment. In high school, he lead class discussions about safe sex and sexual and gender orientation issues, lobbied for anti-bullying laws, and worked at the LGBT center while studying sociology at the University of Northern Florida.
Depressed by the prevalent harassment, he realized he needed to help himself before he could continue to help others. "Out of desperation," Bonilla moved to San Francisco in January, one month after his best friend, Charles Thomy, who is also transgendered. "I just decided to pack two bags and leave everything because I knew this would be the best for me and it has been so far." He left with little money, but he saw no career opportunities in Jacksonville aside from the LGBT center. "It made me annoyed to know that was the only option and that any other place would look down on me just for being me."
After living with friends for a few months he obtained an apartment through the Castro Youth Housing Initiative, which aids low-income or unemployed youth. He is still trying to get settled financially, but hopes to return to college and work for a nonprofit.
Since he began taking testosterone four months ago, his voice has lowered and he has more facial hair, but he does not notice any significant changes in his mood, because he says he always felt masculine. Making documentaries, learning how to skateboard, and watching films are some favorite pastimes that he shares with Thomy. He always wanted to skate, but gave it up at a young age, because the pubescent boys he wanted to skate with were unwilling to play with a girl. Bonilla considers his relationship with Thomy a "'bromance' - we can be emotional with each other, but not have to be in a relationship," he says, noting that, unlike other guys, their relationship has no tension related to proving their masculinity to each other.
Martinez understands Bonilla's viewpoint on gender confirmation surgery, but she knew she could never feel comfortable with her male genitalia or the odd looks and comments such as, "That's a dude," from insolent passersby. "I never wanted to be a Tranny. I always needed to be a girl."
After eight months of transitioning, Martinez was androgynous in her daily life and spending weekends as a woman. After one such weekend she was hanging out with a friend from work. "He said, 'It's going to be really weird not seeing you at work like this tomorrow.' And it just sorta hit me," she remembers. "I went to work the next day and saw my reflection in the glass (as a man) and said, 'Oh my god, I can't do this!'" She explained her situation to human relations and began living as a woman full time. Everyone has been completely supportive, including her coworkers, parents, and the members of her metal band, Cretin.
Martinez is currently working on the second album and says she sings the same as she did prior to her transition - in a loud, growling voice filled with angst. "You can't change the vocalist. It kills the band," she says, while eating lamb chops, using her fork and knife to gracefully remove the last slivers of meat from the bones.
Aside from these vocals, her demeanor is feminine. She taught herself how to walk, talk, and eat like a woman and even changed her handwriting. The estrogen injections softened her skin and made her more emotional, but to truly feel like a woman she needed surgery.
First, she underwent eleven hours of Facial Feminization Surgery, performed by world-renowned craniofacial surgeon Doctor Douglas Ousterhout. "For women, no matter the size of our bone structure, we still have certain curvature that indicates a female face," explains Mira Coluccio, Dr. Ousterhout's office manager who has extensive knowledge of his surgical procedures. Compared to females the male skull is much larger with deep-set eyes and bossing above the socket, a flat forehead and a square jaw. To make a face female Dr. Ousterhout removes and reshapes portions of the skull.
Prior to surgery, both Martinez' friends and people she had just met would tell her she was already beautiful and did not need the procedure. "We are not talking about beauty. It's the bone structure," says Coluccio, pointing to numerous before and after photos on her computer. "As an outsider looking in (at these pictures) you see a brother and sister." Coluccio says surgery gives people confidence, but transition involves self-exploration, which consumes many genetic women for most of their lives. "Every girl I know is still learning how to be a girl."
Before facial feminization surgery, von Eichhorn continued to slip up on Martinez' name and the proper pronouns, but the surgery removed the remnants of her formal self and he no longer saw her as a man. Martinez still had insecurities about "passing," but her female face and the breast augmentation that followed energized her self-esteem and social life. She even entertained her dream to become a latex fetish model and won a casting call for a photo shoot with Marquis Magazine after they hosted a fetish ball in July. "It's my opinion that latex is to clothing as chocolate is to food - pure decadent sex!"
"I'm way more social and outgoing than I used to be. Plus, I think differently because of the hormones," she says. "Man or woman we're all made out of the same goop, so if you swap the hormones we produce naturally then you're going to get similar results." Martinez was never attracted to men, until she began taking female hormones, which made her feel vulnerable - an emotion that she says is well served by men who innately have a protective disposition.
As a woman she is bisexual, but dating a guy requires less thought. "When I am with a woman I am very concerned about what my role is because that can either validate or invalidate my confidence in being a woman. Whereas when I am with a guy, it is very validating that I am his girl. That said I'm more attracted to women."
One month after the fetish ball, Martinez travelled to New Hope, Pennsylvania, where her genitals would be transformed from male to female, through a surgical technique known as penile inversion. When she awoke after surgery, she thought the procedure was not complete. Once the doctors assured her the operation was finished, she began feeling the area with her mind. "I started crying because I was really happy. It felt very correct." Initially, she thought her penis was still there, but then realized it was now inside her, aside from a small portion of the head used to form the clitoris.
Two months later she was still sore, but back to work, going out and having fun. Dilation is a big part of her day - every three hours she must insert a stint into her vagina and apply constant pressure for thirty minutes to increase its width and depth, and to avoid atrophy. She began this maintenance process immediately after surgery when she was still too swollen to walk. The tenderness remains three months later, but being content with her body was worth all the pain.
A noticeable weight has been lifted from her shoulders, says von Eichhorn. Martinez as a guy was "quiet and shy - in a lot of ways introspective and subdued. Now she'll just strike up a conversation with strangers and puts herself at the epicenter of attention." Prior to her transition, Martinez and von Eichhorn discussed the protective roles they assumed in their relationships with women. Now that dynamic is present between them, says von Eichhorn, who worries about Martinez walking home alone at night in attractive outfits. "I see her as my little sister at this point."
Martinez has only lived as a woman for two years and even after the surgery does not consider her transition complete. "Honestly, one part of me is like "Phew! OK! The big scary unknown is over with." But, there's still a huge amount of healing and rediscovery left to go," she says. "I think my big stuff to deal with is reconciling that I didn't have a girl's upbringing, and finding peace with the past I did live."
She overcame several uncertainties throughout her transition, including doubting she was transgendered in any sense and worrying that her friends and family would not love her if she transitioned. Now her main concerns are passing as a woman and exploring her roles in relationships. "Even now, after all of the therapy, surgery, and retraining of my movements, mannerisms, and voice, I constantly think that people are recognizing me as something other than a natural woman." She continues to tell people she is transsexual when they appear interested in dating her and, as a "realist," concludes this discussion will always be necessary due to her male upbringing.
"Despite the challenges having a vagina feels amazing. I can't really explain it, but it has really calmed some big anxieties that I've had. It just makes sense to me - to look down and not see a penis there. There's no other way to put it."
Bonilla also sees transition as an ongoing process. "There may be a point when I know I can completely pass as male, but I do not think there is going to be an end to (my transition) because I will constantly have to take testosterone in order to stay male-bodied."
He no longer worries about passing, but hopes the public will become more educated on transgender issues. "If I wasn't trans, instead of staring them down or making up my own ideas about how they are, I'd want to ask questions and make friends with them."
» E-mail Lindsey Barber @ lmbarber@sfsu.edu
Trans-activist Kate Bornstein will make you question your gender
By Carolyn Szczepanski in Art, Do It, EntertainmentThu.,
Nov. 19 2009
Kate Bornstein leans back in her chair, legs spread, teal-painted fingernails and tattooed hand partially covering the girly design on her baby-tee top. A black and white wrist cuff with anarchy symbols and a gigantic, silver watch peek out under a sheer white sleeves. The 61-year-old, male-to-female transsexual writer and performance artist is surrounded by framed photographs of local leaders in the still-empty Alumni Room at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. But she's grinning about a different set of trailblazers.
Kate Bornstein (left) with a TransFest organizer, Wick Thomas
"I was just at a drag king extravaganza in Tucson and I had my mind blown," she says, eyes sparkling behind glasses with pink, plastic frames, her lip piercing shifting as she chuckles.
Not that Bornstein hasn't blown some minds herself. Her 1994 book, Gender Outlaw -- a witty retelling of her own journey from man to woman and wry attack on the binary that shackles us all to male or female -- has become required reading in many college classes. In the intervening 15 years, she's appeared on talks shows and stages around the world, making people question the construct of gender. And this week, Bornstein is in Kansas City, adding some spice to UMKC's TransFest, a series of events put on by the college's Queer Alliance.
Honestly, I arrived at UMKC yesterday with a neat set of questions for a Q&A. But, I should have known better. Bornstein isn't the type of gal who answers inquiries in a few sentences. She slides backwards, hands on her head, and answers in a deliberate but mischievous tone, like she's sensuously sucking on a piece of candy. Talking to Kate Bornstein, I discovered, is like an intellectual strip-tease you don't want to cut off.
So, I said to start the conversation, you ended Gender Outlaw with a tone of optimism, the sense that trans folks were starting to use their voices and coalesce into a movement. Has that progressed like you expected over the past 15 years?
"The most heartening development since Gender Outlaw was the stuff I never dreamed of," she said. "Like 'gender queer.' I had no idea about that. That's an amazing identity and so much more than what I would consider the 101 style of Gender Outlaw. People have taken it much, much further."
And the folks at the front of the pack are changing, she added.
"The face of transgender to the public used to be a middle-aged male-to-female -- a guy in a dress," she explained. "The new face of transgender is the young f to m [female-to-male]. It's been such a wild cultural evolution in a short period of 15 years and a lot of it has to do with the plague [AIDS] years, when so many of the fabulous queens died in the '80s and '90s and the torch was passed on to the drag kings and the 'f-to-m's. And they're carrying it in a whole different way than the queens did. The drag queens were all about the fabulous and all about the beauty. They were never much about the politics. But the drag king shows I've seen are healthy doses of fabulous and performance art and politics. That's heartening."
What about the other side of the coin, I asked. What's been disappointing?
"What's disheartening is how the battle cry of Stonewall became 'We're just like you,'" she said. "And it got applied to transgender people, too. 'We're just like you'? Um, no, we're not. ... What you've got now is second-wave LGBT [activists], who, for the most part, are straight people -- straight lesbians, straight trans people -- who want to be just like everybody else. That's self-defeating."
So where does the "T" fit into LGBT, I asked. Because, plenty of trans folks aren't gay and plenty of gay people are offended by the blanket term "queer."
"Well, I think the problem is we haven't finished naming all our family members," she said. "We can't stop our family at LGBTQ -- I can count close to 30 initials for people who define themselves primarily in performance or life by sexuality and gender. But we've not found an umbrella term that works for everybody. I know 'queer' doesn't. And, out of those many letters, we haven't really figured out the common thread to this family we're putting together. I think the common thread is that we're all people who are sex positive and, to some degree, gender anarchists. But the first line of battle of any sex- and gender-based movement has to be stop the violence against women. That would unite a movement, a sex- and gender-based movement."
Sadly, by this time, students and activists were starting to file into the room for an afternoon round-table with the trans-activist, so I had to let Bornstein go. But she's performing a one-woman show tonight at UMKC. Catch "Dangerous Dreams and Damned Desires" in Royall Hall room 104 at 7 p.m. (Seriously.)
Tags: f-to-m, Kansas City, Kate Bornstein, straight lesbians, UMKC Queer Alliance
Nov. 19 2009
Kate Bornstein leans back in her chair, legs spread, teal-painted fingernails and tattooed hand partially covering the girly design on her baby-tee top. A black and white wrist cuff with anarchy symbols and a gigantic, silver watch peek out under a sheer white sleeves. The 61-year-old, male-to-female transsexual writer and performance artist is surrounded by framed photographs of local leaders in the still-empty Alumni Room at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. But she's grinning about a different set of trailblazers.
Kate Bornstein (left) with a TransFest organizer, Wick Thomas
"I was just at a drag king extravaganza in Tucson and I had my mind blown," she says, eyes sparkling behind glasses with pink, plastic frames, her lip piercing shifting as she chuckles.
Not that Bornstein hasn't blown some minds herself. Her 1994 book, Gender Outlaw -- a witty retelling of her own journey from man to woman and wry attack on the binary that shackles us all to male or female -- has become required reading in many college classes. In the intervening 15 years, she's appeared on talks shows and stages around the world, making people question the construct of gender. And this week, Bornstein is in Kansas City, adding some spice to UMKC's TransFest, a series of events put on by the college's Queer Alliance.
Honestly, I arrived at UMKC yesterday with a neat set of questions for a Q&A. But, I should have known better. Bornstein isn't the type of gal who answers inquiries in a few sentences. She slides backwards, hands on her head, and answers in a deliberate but mischievous tone, like she's sensuously sucking on a piece of candy. Talking to Kate Bornstein, I discovered, is like an intellectual strip-tease you don't want to cut off.
So, I said to start the conversation, you ended Gender Outlaw with a tone of optimism, the sense that trans folks were starting to use their voices and coalesce into a movement. Has that progressed like you expected over the past 15 years?
"The most heartening development since Gender Outlaw was the stuff I never dreamed of," she said. "Like 'gender queer.' I had no idea about that. That's an amazing identity and so much more than what I would consider the 101 style of Gender Outlaw. People have taken it much, much further."
And the folks at the front of the pack are changing, she added.
"The face of transgender to the public used to be a middle-aged male-to-female -- a guy in a dress," she explained. "The new face of transgender is the young f to m [female-to-male]. It's been such a wild cultural evolution in a short period of 15 years and a lot of it has to do with the plague [AIDS] years, when so many of the fabulous queens died in the '80s and '90s and the torch was passed on to the drag kings and the 'f-to-m's. And they're carrying it in a whole different way than the queens did. The drag queens were all about the fabulous and all about the beauty. They were never much about the politics. But the drag king shows I've seen are healthy doses of fabulous and performance art and politics. That's heartening."
What about the other side of the coin, I asked. What's been disappointing?
"What's disheartening is how the battle cry of Stonewall became 'We're just like you,'" she said. "And it got applied to transgender people, too. 'We're just like you'? Um, no, we're not. ... What you've got now is second-wave LGBT [activists], who, for the most part, are straight people -- straight lesbians, straight trans people -- who want to be just like everybody else. That's self-defeating."
So where does the "T" fit into LGBT, I asked. Because, plenty of trans folks aren't gay and plenty of gay people are offended by the blanket term "queer."
"Well, I think the problem is we haven't finished naming all our family members," she said. "We can't stop our family at LGBTQ -- I can count close to 30 initials for people who define themselves primarily in performance or life by sexuality and gender. But we've not found an umbrella term that works for everybody. I know 'queer' doesn't. And, out of those many letters, we haven't really figured out the common thread to this family we're putting together. I think the common thread is that we're all people who are sex positive and, to some degree, gender anarchists. But the first line of battle of any sex- and gender-based movement has to be stop the violence against women. That would unite a movement, a sex- and gender-based movement."
Sadly, by this time, students and activists were starting to file into the room for an afternoon round-table with the trans-activist, so I had to let Bornstein go. But she's performing a one-woman show tonight at UMKC. Catch "Dangerous Dreams and Damned Desires" in Royall Hall room 104 at 7 p.m. (Seriously.)
Tags: f-to-m, Kansas City, Kate Bornstein, straight lesbians, UMKC Queer Alliance
sábado, 21 de novembro de 2009
sexta-feira, 20 de novembro de 2009
"You Brought This on Yourself"
by: "Cyndi Richards" tgcyndi@yahoo.com
Thu Nov 19, 2009
For some of us who are gifted with the ability and the willingness to "say it loud and say it proud" on behalf of ALL of our sisters and brothers in the collective trans community, miracles DO happen.
A few months ago, I participated in an LGBT outreach event at a local junior college. My purpose at this gathering was not a speaking engagement on behalf of Illinois Gender Advocates, which is the most typical reason I am invited to such events.
On this particular night I ventured forth to see, as opposed to being seen. Such was my "miracle, and rare good fortune indeed.
Noticing that there were only a couple of familiar faces present to mingle with, I introduced myself to the organizers, grabbed a cold bottle of water generously provided by the LGBT group ('G.L.O.W." - Gay, Lesbian, Or Whatever: I love that name!) that had sponsored the event, and then receded to "the shadows" in order to observe the interaction of the rest of the room.
Before too many minutes had elapsed, one of the young student organizers stepped up to the mike, made a few perfunctory announcements, and then introduced a somewhat more "mature" gentleman named George Miller who began to speak with a fire in his eyes and an intense energy uncommon to such gatherings.
The brief but impassioned anecdote he proceeded to relate to the room first brought back some disturbing memories from decades ago that I had long since tried to erase, and then struck me between the eyes like a velvet sledgehammer.
Before he was finished, there were tears welling up in those big blue eyes, making a complete mess of what little make-up I do wear when going out in public.
After he concluded this amazing stream of consciousness, I stood silently in the dark corner for a moment in order to regain my composure, and then approached him in order to let him know how deeply I had been moved by his words. Even though he was surrounded by many others who were similarly impressed, he graciously spoke with me for several minutes.
During those moments, we seemed to connect, so I offered him my Illinois Gender Advocates business card and expressed the desire to keep in touch. He reciprocated with a CD, which I felt was unusual, to say the least. What kind of response was this?
It was only then that I realized that this extraordinary display of heartfelt emotion he had just shared with this gathering of presumably kindred spirits was in fact one small example of his chosen media - he was not only a spoken-word performance artist, but also a highly respected academic, in fact, a learned professor of philosophy at another local college.
As fate would have it, fortunately we did manage to stay in touch, despite the distinct challenges of geography and conflicting schedules.
Dr. Miller invited me to give a trans-awareness presentation to his class, which I believe went over well, based on feedback from his students.
I then invited him to be a guest on the IGA television, which is broadcast once a month to a potential 3 million viewers on the Chicago cable-access network. I specifically requested that he share that amazingly moving piece that brought tears to my eyes during our first encounter with our substantial audience "out there in television land". He graciously granted that request.
Thanks to my close personal friend Kimberly (who is, in fact, a "TV pro" in her own right ), Dr. Miller's brief but powerful performance piece, titled "You Brought This on Yourself" is now "in the air" on Youtube, and is linked below for the consideration of any of you who might be interested.
If you are as impressed by George's impassioned message as much as I was, please feel free to PASS IT ON. I know he'd be pleased to share.
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=xSAUFX00P5g
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