Transgender: The Issues (Presentation at Outgiving Conference) (1999)
©1999, 2013 by Jessica Xavier and Dallas Denny
Source: Denny, Dallas. (1999, 8 May). Transgender: The issues. Presentation at Outgiving 1999, Aspen, CO, 7-9 May, 1999.
Outgiving is an annual conference for large donors to LGBT causes. I appeared because Jessica Xavier, who had been invited to attend, was unable to go. I don’t remember how much we collaborated on the presentation, but I suspect many of the ideas are hers.
I love Aspen and was thrilled to be able to spend a couple of days there.
The following was taken from slides or overheads I showed the audience. I was interested in educating them quickly and broadly about transgender issues and in explaining why our issues are their issues.
Transgender: The Issues
By Dallas Denny
Major Points
- Transgender is not a new phenomenon.
- Transgender theory and terminology has been based on a flawed medical model which presumes gender variability is pathological.
- Gender identity/expression and sexual orientation are not separate and distinct.
- New models are not yet fully in place.
1. Transgender is not a new phenomenon
- Paleolontological record rarely preserves evidence of same-sex attraction.
- In many prehistoric burials in which skeletons appear to be of one sex, grave goods are typical of the other sex.
- Transgender roles survive in societies on six continents.
SOURCE: Taylor,T. (1996). The prehistory of sex: Four million years of human sexual culture. New York: Bantam Books.
But why
Are they waiting? Isn’t it now high
time for them to try
The Phrygian fashion to make
the job complete…
Take a knife and lop off that
superfluous piece of meat?
(Juvenal, translated by Creekmore, 1963)
SOURCE: R. Green. (1998). Mythological, historical, and cross-cultural aspects of transsexualism. In D. Denny (Ed.), Current concepts in transgender identity, pp. 3-14. New York: Garland Publishers.
Pagan crossdressing rituals survive today in the ecclesiastical robes of the Catholic and other Christian churches.
SOURCE: Torjesen, K.J. (1996). Martyrs, ascetics, and gnostics: Cross-dressing early Christianity. In S.P. Ramet (Ed.), Gender reversals and gender cultures: Anthropological and historical perspectives, pp. 79-91. New York: Routledge.
There are accounts of more than 150 female soldiers passing as male in the U.S. Civil War.
SOURCE: Lowry, T.P. (1994). The story the soldiers wouldn’t tell: Sex in the Civil War. Stackpole Books.
2. Transgender theory and terminology has been based on a flawed medical model which presumes gender variability is pathological.
Old Terms: Heterosexual Crossdresser; Transsexual, Drag Queen, Female Impersonator
New Term: Transgender
- Until recently, medical model kept transgendered people out of communication with one another.
- Once transgendered people began to talk to one another, they discovered old models did not adequately describe them.
- Feminist and other criticisms of transsexualism are based on obsolete medical model.
3. Gender identity/expression and sexual orientation are not separate and distinct.
- Derogatory names for gay men and women are often based upon gender variance: Pansy, Sissy, Poofter, Dyke.
- Until mid-century, the “model” lesbian was masculine in appearance and behavior, the “model” male homosexual was effeminate.
- Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness typifies this type of “mannish” lesbian.
- The Well of Loneliness can today be considered a transgender novel.
SOURCE: Devor, H. (1997). More than manly women: How female-to-male transsexuals reject lesbian identities. In B. Bullough, V.Bullough, & J. Elias (Eds.), Gender blending, pp. 87-102.Amherst, NY: Prometheus Press.
- Today, in the West, new models of gay masculinity and lesbian femininity have arisen. Nonetheless:
- Most lesbians who are masculine in appearance and behavior do not identify as transgendered.
- Most gay men who are feminine in appearance and behavior do not identify as transgendered.
Most non-Western cultures consider only those who are visibly gender-different to be gay or lesbian.
SOURCE: Kulick, D. (1998). Travesti: Sex, gender and culture among Brazilian transgendered prostitutes. Chicago: The University of Illinois Press.
Consider:
- Hardly anyone fits comfortably into rigid binary gender roles.
- Gay men and lesbians are particularly likely to vary from these roles.
- Laws and regulations which protect gay men and lesbians on the basic of their sexual orientation but not their gender identity leave them vulnerable to discrimination.
- Protection on the basis of gender identity is essential to ensure nondiscrimination.
- Many transgendered people self-identify as gay or lesbian.
- Individuals with cross-gender expression are often publicly perceived to be gay or lesbian, even if they do not so identify.
- Individuals who are bashed or killed are often selected because they are visibly gender-variant; their assailants may make presumptions about who they sleep with, but they are responding to their behavior and appearance.
- Regardless of their sexual orientation, gender-variant people are at increased risk for assault, harassment, and discrimination.
4. New Models Are Not Yet Fully in Place
Transgender Model:
- Moves beyond the binary
- Does not pathologize
- Provides a “big tent”
- Transgender model does away with artificial distinctions between transgendered and gay and lesbian people.
- Both gay and lesbian and transgendered people transgress gender norms:
1 In regard to sexual orientation.
2 In regard to dress and behavior.
- Or both.
- Those who transgress binary gender norms: Gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, crossdressers, transsexuals, intersexuals.
Transgender Community
- Shares the issues of the gay and lesbian community
- In many ways 20 years behind G&L community
- Is smaller, and has problems with growth
- large percentage in closet
- invisibility
- many gender transgressive individuals do not and probably never will identify as transgendered
- Lack of professional leadership
- Funding difficulties
Critical Needs of Transgender Community
- Outreach and Education
- Information and Referrals
- Political Action and Advocacy
- History and Theory
- Professionalism
- Liaison with Other Minority Communities
Organization soon to form: Gender Education & Advocacy