Recommend me a book!

[RibenaBerry]

Right, reading these boards recently has given me a bit of a kick up the arse on my feminist principles. I've done a bit of 'light' reading in the area (think The Beauty Myth as a teenager) but think I need something a bit more serious without being so weighty I never pick it up. I'd rather have something published in, say, the last 15 years than any of the 'classics'.

Any ideas?

Tortoise - so what if I don't have a basic understanding of the subject matter? Trans-gender issues are pretty marginal for me, I've got nothing against trans-people, but I'm just not that interested, I'm a feminist. In the same way, I'm v. sympathetic to lesbians and their issues, but not being one, I have no idea what the burning issue of the day is in lesbian politics. Does that mean that on a thread where the nature of being a woman is being debated, I can't ask questions and bring my experience as a woman to a thread? Do I really have to trawl through Earwicga's links that she posted as an alternative to engaging in discussion?

Many trans women do not undergo any sort of surgery or treatment, and do not have any intention of doing so. As I said earlier, Julia Serano still has a penis and she considers it to be a female penis.

So trans women (or trans women activists anyway) are not arguing that they are women on the basis that they possess or are attempting to possess a body that is particularly female in appearance.

Trans women are arguing that they feel that they are women, and that gender and sex should be self-defined. So anyone who feels like a woman and a female is a woman and a female.

We don't seem to acknowledge this on that thread. We keep talking about people who feel like they are in the wrong body, but that is not the basis of the activist's arguments.

I can see how gender might be self-defined, it being a social construct and all, but biology is biology is surely

I think the problem with self-definition is that it ignores the politics around stuff doesn't it and ignores the fact that there is already a culture of which you are not part, if you haven't grown up within it.

I've just had a row with someone about plastic paddys because they were insisting that if you identify as Irish then you are irish. Being a plastic paddy myself, I happen to know that that is a load of bollocks - yes I have an irish passport, irish parents, cousins, family, culture etc. - but I didn't grow up in ireland and wasn't educated in the irish school system, surrounded by irish media etc., so although I'm an Irish national, I would never self identify purely as Irish - I would identify as London Irish, which is a completely different culture from either Londoner or Irish.

It's an interesting area isn't it, how valid self-identification is and how far it is determined by how other people identify you (links so much into racism as well).

I think the problem with ethnic identity and self-identification is the issue of people's national and civic identity. So, for example, I know Irish Americans who say that they are Irish (from an ancestor who lived in Ireland 300 years ago) but that people living in Ireland whose parents moved to Ireland are not Irish. How is someone who is Irish by birth and residence but of Asian descent meant to feel about that?

So I feel that to refer to a single identity based on bloodline or culture, when that single identity also refers to someone else's national identity, is racist. So London Irish = good sense of identity, just 'Irish' when you do not now and have never lived there is racist.

Race is socially constructed, although there are a few forms of geographically variable human traits that matter from a health perspective (placenta failure of white Europeans at high altitudes, sickle cell anaemia and resistance to malaria among some Africans). So race matters in terms of its links to historical cultures, and as an identity to fight discrimination. But if racism was eradicated, the need for people to identify by skin colour could potentially become much less important, because its importance is cultural rather than biological.

The same can never be true of gender and sex, because reproductive differences between men and women are incredibly important - essential - to human survival. Those differences will always matter. Their importance is not simply a social construct, the way skin colour is. So every society, however equal, will always need a way of defining gender, so that females can maintain an identity to make sure their biological differences and greater biological needs are not marginalised and ignored.

It used to be be true (and may still be for all I know) that it was easier for a Lithuanian German who didn't speak a word of German, to get German nationality even though the last time someone in their family lived in Germany was a century ago, than a Turk whose family had been in Germany for 3 generations, who had been through the German school system, paid taxes in Germany etc., to get citizenship.

Not sure if they ever changed the citizenship rules, they were talking about it.

HerB, no, I was just feeling a bit belittled, so I was reacting in a fairly childish "well at least I know the terminology ner ner ner" way, tbh.

Sorry about that.

"You commented further up the thread I think that mastectomy wasn't looked on in the same way in Japan,which presumably is because the female body image doesn't favour large breastedness,which makes sense."

Yes, in a culture where the female and male body are pretty similar (females are flat chested with boyish hips) and where men enjoy emphasizing their femininity (straight men wearing make-up, enjoying shopping- i kid you not, you've got to see this place) the idea that an operation to fiddle with your body parts is going to change you into the member of the opposite sex just sounds--well, silly really. And kind of immature. But then a lot of policies are immature playground politics.

I looked through a couple of earwicga's links. The link to transgendered kids was interesting. I admire the parents for not being neurotic and allowing their children to express themselves, but the link to a little transgendered boy just confirmed my point.
He's a very beautiful, photogenic little boy and is fairly feminine. BUt puberty hasn't hit yet and all children look pretty "feminine" until we start chopping boys' hair. When puberty hits boys start to look and sound like men, and girls turn into women. He is a pre-pubescent child, but patriarchy think that this is a good enough representation of a "woman".
I mentioned earlier my grandma who had seven kids but didn't have a feminine bone in her body. She was all-woman, but you've got to see this link to see what patriarchy thinks a woman is. He's got LONG HAIR, so he MUST be a woman . I don't see a woman, I just see a little boy. He's hardly what Greer calls "real, smelly, bloody, noisy, hairy women"

patriarchy's perfect woman

"Woman refers to adult human female, not the socially constructed gender role that has been forced upon us for millenia"

Thanks for that. I had a feeling 'woman' was more than a social construct. It's the gender role which has been foisted onto women that's not real, isn't it. 'WOman' is just as real as 'female". Females and Women are both real and therefore a male or man cannot become a female or woman.

poor boy doesn't look like he's enjoying himself much here, or is it just me? He looks kind of uncomfortable- not exuberant like a child gets when they're really into something here Do you think the fact he's beautiful means that his parents are sort of pushing him to do performances and shit? It sounds to me like the audience is full of adults, not kids

here

We have to change society to let these kids know they're fine and beautiful the way they are, however they think and whatever they want to do with their lives, but pretending the male ones are females is the wrong way of going about it. they're male but society refuses to accept this. Females, obviously, won't accept males as females, but that bit is common sense, especially when women have more than a million battles of their own and this just adds on more problems; and seeing as radical feminists have science on their side and that if in doubt it's best to believe in science: it's not women's job to accept males as females. It's the job of males to accept their own members of their sex and make them feel welcome in society.

I didn't want to say it, but yes I think he is being trained to be a girl more than anything else. I mean, we're all mothers here, we know that putting a kid up on stage, alone like that is only okay if the child is really into what they're doing. Some kids love being on state; that kid clearly doesn't.
But the point about trans is that that little boy is going to be objectified so much that when his voice breaks he's got the option of thinking "fuck this, I'd rather be a man". Women don't have that option. For us it's set in stone.

What do you reckon, are the parents getting money for his "appearances"? Who's paying to watch them? NOt kids, I reckon. How boring would it be to go and watch another kid sing not very well, and a rubbish 70s song that no kids recognize

his parents claim he's known he was a girl since he was two because he liked dolls and at the age of three he wanted a vagina

My daughter is nearly four. She doesn't know what a vagina is. I mean she probably knows but she's not going to be able to articulate it for a few years at least. How can a three year old who doesn't posess one possibly know that they exist?

This seemed quite telling.

LIZ HAYES: You've got a beautiful dress on. Did you select this?

JAZZ: It was with me and my mom - she's like, "Oh, how 'bout you wear that dress?"

LIZ HAYES: But that's a nice dress.

JAZZ: Thank you.

LIZ HAYES: So you love dressing up, clearly?

JAZZ: Um, yes.

What about:
LIZ HAYES: What do you want to be when you grow up?

JAZZ: Soccer player...umm, I mean dancer.

Or when they said he was sad because he wasn't allowed to wear a ballet tutu in the ballet class. He looked sad that he was in the ballet class to me

Sakura - Jazz: A soccer player,an actor,singer and dancer. (all said very quickly one after the other)

It was notable that his number one choice was soccer player. He paused then added on the rest. He's not going to be able to do his number one choice because his parents have already planned out his hormone treatment.

TES October 2009

The average primary may have as many as three transgendered pupils. Avoiding the issue is the worst response, but as Hannah Frankel reports, there is much that schools can do to offer support at a deeply traumatic time

Nickie* is a perfectly normal, happy 16-year-old girl. But it hasn?t always been that way.

Born a boy, the bullying she endured at secondary school was sustained and horrendous. ?She was assaulted, punched, kicked, spat at, pushed around and called names,? says her mother Sharon. ?When she wore a skirt, boys used to try and pull it up to expose her genitals. They?d shout, ?Show us your dick? or ask if she?d had it cut off yet.?

Nickie attempted suicide four times until her mother pulled her out of school. ?It was a nightmare,? Sharon says. ?The school wanted to deal with the bullying as and when, but half the time Nickie didn?t even know the name of the person abusing her. It would have been so much better if the pupils had been informed. Kids will accept most things if they?re presented in the right way.?

Such vicious bullying is almost a rite of passage for transgendered pupils. Transgendered children and teenagers are three times more likely to commit suicide than others, an American survey reveals.

The most recent victim in the UK was 10-year-old Cameron McWilliams from Doncaster, who hanged himself last year having expressed a desire to be a girl. Two cases of bullying also featured in the media last month when a 12-year-old and then a nine-year-old boy went to their respective schools dressed as girls.

Parents of transgendered children have reacted angrily to the coverage, saying it fails to differentiate between transgendered and transsexual children. Both may feel trapped in the wrong body, but the vast majority of transgendered people (95 per cent) will never have gender reassignment surgery.

The reports also make out that this is a very rare occurrence, according to Natacha Kennedy, a former primary school teacher who is transgendered. In fact, whether they know it or not, teachers are likely to encounter a number of transgendered children during their career. A primary school of 300 children will usually have three transgendered children on roll - a large secondary even more. Others will have a transgendered parent or close relative.

Although the average age of sex change surgery is 42, most children will have realised they are transgendered around the age of six or seven, says Ms Kennedy, who has researched widely into the issue. So while the ?coming out? may be rare, it?s not through any lack of awareness. Instead, pupils usually conceal their gender identity issues out of fear.

?I realised I was transgender when I was four or five, but it was a case of repressing it,? Ms Kennedy says. ?It was quite clear from early on that it wasn?t acceptable. I played football as a sort of macho defence mechanism.?

During her 20 years as a ?male? primary school teacher, Ms Kennedy remembers six children who were definitely transgendered. One 10-year-old boy went home on a Friday and came back as a girl on the Monday. The school told the girl?s class, their parents and staff, but decided not to inform the whole school or every parent, so as not to draw too much attention to the girl.

Other schools are also finding ways of supporting transgendered pupils. One learning support mentor at a secondary school was aware that a newly transgendered pupil was at risk of bullying. He began by de- sensationalising the situation and inviting other pupils? questions. ?Burying your head in the sand makes it worse,? he says. ?I could not find a scrap of evidence to suggest a positive outcome of leaving pupils? questions unanswered.?

Nineteen pupils approached the learning support mentor, asking about ?the he/she? or the ?tranny?. ?They get a frank and factual chat and every single one has left the session with some level of respect for her courage.?

Staff have researched the subject and are kept regularly updated by the head of year. The school?s anti-bullying policy has been updated to include the word ?transgender?, and concessions made to make the girl feel more secure. For instance, her PE timetable has been suspended, she?s allowed to use the supervised unisex toilet in reception and can take refuge with friends in reception or in her tutor room during breaks.

It?s common sense, insists her mentor. Slowly, her confidence is growing and she is able to integrate more. The name calling and low-level bullying has not disappeared, but she is better placed to deal with it. She is particularly thankful for the two sessions a week with her mentor when she can ?just be herself?.

The mentor insists they?ve done nothing unusual or special. ?It just comes out of staff having a genuine desire to care for her, make sure she has a fair chance at being happy with who she is, and is at peace with the world she finds so hurtful at times.?

Wendy can only dream that her 15-year-old transgendered child had such a supportive school. From day one at her secondary school, Sally was bullied on a terrifying scale. She had her hair set on fire, was splattered with yoghurt and drinks and has been hit around the head with bags, branches and fists - even ending up in A&E with suspected concussion.

Sally soon refused to go to school. Even when Wendy, a secondary school teacher herself, drove her in, she wouldn?t stay for long. The education welfare service took Wendy to court for her daughter?s truancy.

Sally started running away - three times over the course of two weeks this summer - and started to drink, steal and be verbally and physically abusive. She was revolted by her body and dropped to six and half stone in an attempt to halt puberty.

?I can deal with Sally, I can deal with the CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health services), the clinic, the home tutoring and everything else, but when the school plays games, it just gets too much,? says Wendy.

She?s referring to the fact that there was no single person for her daughter to go to for help; that staff wouldn?t return her calls for days; that Sally was offered no alternative accommodation where she could take her GCSEs; that the school hasn?t taken up the training offered by the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) police and that the school insisted the multi-disciplinary meetings could no longer be held in her home, despite it being the only place where Sally feels safe.

?I know kids can be cruel, but I?m angrier with the school for how it has, or hasn?t, dealt with it,? says Wendy. ?I?m so glad my child is transitioning away from school. It?s a relief for her that she can be herself now.?

But schools are often placed in an undeniably difficult position, trying to balance the needs of an individual with that of the wider school population. The recent media reports focused on the anger of parents at the school. They complained that they hadn?t been properly informed and that their children were tearful and confused. ?My son is too young to really understand the significance of what?s happening,? one primary school mother was reported as saying.

Polly Carmichael says the media coverage highlights the level of anxiety and confusion around this subject. But as a clinical psychologist at the Gender Identity Development Service at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust in London - the only gender clinic in the UK for children so young - she believes schools need to explore the topic more, not less.

?I understand schools? nervousness,? she says. ?It?s clearly an issue that arouses strong feelings, so schools need to be sensitive to that and think through the implications carefully. But if you put time into the planning you can save time on picking up the pieces. Schools need to think about the ?what ifs? and how they will adequately support the child.?

Teachers could start by discussing the complex biological factors behind gender. Ms Carmichael also works with children with Disorders of Sexual Development (DSDs) - something that hit the headlines when Caster Semenya, the South African runner who won gold in the 800-metre women?s race in August?s world athletics championships, was found to have both male and female characteristics.

?Issues of gender are quite profound but we stick with a rigid dichotomy of it,? says Ms Carmichael. ?A more fluid approach to gender would reveal it?s not always so black and white.?

If approached sensitively in primary schools, the topic doesn?t have to be shocking or even that much of a big deal. ?Things that we don?t understand are frightening,? adds Ms Carmichael. ?Nine-year-olds won?t balk if you tell them that most of us feel at home in our bodies, but that some people don?t. They may find it a bit confusing at first, but teachers can reassure them that it?s not catching or anything to be scared of, it?s just different. Without that information, they may feel threatened and that can lead to prejudiced views.?

Gendered Intelligence is an organisation that tries to raise awareness of these issues, through school-based drama and art workshops and teacher- training programmes.

?Young transgender pupils? main barrier is the huge lack of knowledge around trans identities,? says Jay Stewart, a trans man from the organisation. ?Poor understanding and behaviours around the lives of LGBT people is endemic in our schools. It?s still very difficult for a person who has been assigned the male sex at birth to express any sort of feminine behaviour.?

But Gendered Intelligence has encountered resistance getting into schools. Some do not see it as a priority worth spending money on. Others are worried that parents may complain. Instead of treating gender variance as bad or even contagious, Mr Stewart would like to see it openly discussed and even celebrated in schools. With support and guidance, teachers can ?stand tall when they receive criticism or challenges?, he adds.

Schools could start by recognising transgendered children do actually exist and need to be catered for, says Ms Kennedy. Just as a classroom should be dyslexic-friendly, whether you know of any dyslexic pupils or not, so it should be trans-friendly too.

?Even if you don?t think you have any trans pupils, use the word, so they can at least go away, Google it, access youth support groups and realise they?re not alone.?

Nickie is proof that young trans people can become happy, well adjusted and fulfilled. When she was 13 and a half, her parents took her to the US for puberty suppressing medication. It can only be prescribed to over-16s in the UK, by which time a lot of distressing pubertal changes will have already taken place. Without the blockers, Nickie would have grown to an estimated 6ft 4in, with masculine hands and feet that no surgery could reverse. Instead, she is 5ft 11in and nobody at her college suspects she was born a boy. Nickie is now on hormones and is due to have surgery when she turns 18. ?She wanted it when she was six years old, so she?s pretty focused,? her mother says.

For every happy ending, however, there are dozens who are scarred for life as a result of their school experiences. By rising to the challenge and facing the issues head-on, teachers can help reverse that ratio for good.

*Some names have been changed
Resources

• Mermaids: family support group for transgendered children and teens. www.mermaidsuk.org.uk
• Gires: Information for transgendered people, their families and professionals. www.gires.org.uk
• The Tavistock and Portman service for young people with gender identity issues. www.tavi-port.org/node/557
• Gendered Intelligence: Transgender-based training and creative workshops for schools. www.genderedintelligence.co.uk
• Transkids: Site for primary school teachers looking to support transgendered pupils. transkids.synthasite.com

Transgendered pupil facts

• About 1 per cent of the UK population is transgendered; roughly the population of Sheffield.
• A primary school of 300 children should have three transgendered children, although they may not be ?out?.
• In a school of 1,000 pupils, there are likely to be six who experience transgenderism throughout their lives.
• The average age at which transgendered boys act on their feelings (such as trying on female clothes, make-up or playing with ?girl? toys) is about eight.
• The average age for having sex-change surgery is 42.
• On average, transgendered children leave school earlier than any other group.
• A quarter of transgendered children have attempted suicide, and a further 25 per cent have considered suicide.

Source: Transkids.

www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storyCode=6025192

The abuse described in this article, and reflected in the statistics for suicide are done by ignorant people who refuse to accept these children for who they are. They are not being abused by their parents.