BBC Open Door programme 45 years ago on transsexuals - a real jaw dropper

[Sunkisses]

I did a search of Mumsnet and couldn't see any other posts about this extraordinary 1973 discussion show which was produced by transsexuals 45 years ago where they were given free-reign, free from editorial control. Four transsexuals are joined by a psychologist and an MP.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06c83f4/player

Where to start? Maybe with the show's producer and host, Della Aleksander, who is the most bizarre of all the participants. Della starts by claiming that a "chastened and wiser" Adolf Hitler and Queen Victoria have said, through a medium, that "there was a special role for me, in the reconstruction following a world wide collapse in 1978-79". Della also claims to have been sent from another world where the sexes don't exist and that transsexuals are the only model of a "higher race"! Della also claims to have founded the neo-Nazi sounding European National Movement in South Africa whilst serving in the Army there (I couldn't find any info on them, but they sound well dodgy to me).

Della also seems utterly confused, mis-using the terms 'bisexual' and 'intersex', and appearing to think these words mean transsexual, and that the appearance of nipples on a man means 'we are all transsexuals'. Della is, thankfully, corrected by the psychologist at 33.53 mins in who states that it is important to use the correct terminology, but Della wafts such trivialities away by saying "I don't want to get bogged down in medical questions". The MP, Leo Abse, argues against the 'trans umbrella' (before this term was invented by Stonewall etc) at 36 mins in.

There is clear evidence of autogynephilia (AGP - the sexual fetish of a man loving himself as a woman) at 33.23 when Della says the "sex act" is a "transsexual one", as "one attempts to become and absorb the beloved".

At 26 mins in one of the speakers, Rachel Bowen (the working class northern transsexual with dark hair), says that having a female birth certificate is a "status symbol". Another of the transsexuals, Laura Pralet, at 27 mins preposterously claims that "we are not a minority", and "I have never been a homosexual", even though Laura lives with and has married a man. Laura also says their husband is never happier when they are "in the kitchen", and at 31 mins in says they wanted to become a woman as "women have the best deal anyway".

It's absolutely fascinating and well worth a watch.

Bumping this as it seems to have been missed first time round.

Wow.

Going to watch this, thanks for the link.

Thanks for the link, that was fascinating.

The inimitable R0wantrees has linked to this programme before. It's remarkable isn't it? Really interesting

Wow...

50 minutes until one of those six males noticed that no women were included in the discussion, and even then he was referring to a "female to male" transsexual.

Four males sat and discussed their becoming a woman for most of that programme without even once considering women themselves. The only time women got a mention was to talk about how embarrassing it was when people watched them go into the women's toilets, or to remark on whether women "have an easier time of it" than men.

They all claimed to feel they should be women and yet none of them seemed to recognise that women are actually real people existing outside of a change of clothes, sex change surgery, or being a wife!

To be fair there really wasn’t a chance to go to any depth in the program which was very much dominated by Della, who I thought was actually and very good presenter and host. Jan and Rachel barely got a word in. What I mean is, although they did mention certain stereotypical roles, they may well as a group have wanted to expand it to what they felt being woman meant. Rachel, from the clip of her life was very much a mother figure to the two boys in her care for example (although she also said she was married to a woman so I wonder how true to their day to day life that would have been). Laura also said and the others agreed with her, that her identity was not wrapped up in an exaggerated femininity and she was just relaxed at home like any other woman.

The was a program very much about transsexualism, when the participants recognized the role of doctors and psychiatrists in discerning wether and how it was best for each individual to present as a woman and that there was an actual process of transition that was painful but necessary.

Della was definitely the most unusual character there from what little we got to know of them and she seemed all over the place with her understanding of transsexualism.

However, of course I do agree that as per usual women were superfluous to the discussion of womanhood! What was interesting was the MP wanting to drum into them all that most heterosexual men will always feel uncomfortable around them and they must accept that even if society was able to be more tolerant, but no mention of how woman might feel and their right to also be acknowledged as having thoughts and feelings on the matter be respected.

It's the same conundrum all over again : they didn't feel like a man but they seem to have nothing to do with women ! They're never mentioned...It's so very strange...

There was a Malcolm Clark thread on this on Twitter, with some of the connections explained.
twitter.com/TwisterFilm/status/1480382480595230721

@ZazieR

It's the same conundrum all over again : they didn't feel like a man but they seem to have nothing to do with women ! They're never mentioned...It's so very strange...

Yes - it is surreal.

If you're interested in other threads where the programme is mentioned, you can see them by putting this into a search engine.

site:mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06c83f4/player