Subject : UK: A Feast of Interviews and Comment
Many more newly produced interviews and presentations are online today
-- adding four interviews with significant US figures and a full 30
minute presentation on contemporary campaign issues, as delivered at
last Saturday's Transgender 2007 conference in Norwich.
For the index see :
www.pfc.org.uk/node/1028
For the RSS feed see :
http://www.pfc.org.uk/rss.xml
For Podcast subscribers paste this address into your reader:
http://www.pfc.org.uk/node/1313/podcast
Here are some synopses...
Doug Ousterhout -
http://www.pfc.org.uk/node/1501
He describes the dramatic results of his speciality as ".the most
exciting surgery I can conceive of", and when San Francisco plastic
surgeon Doug Ousterhout brought his "before and after" photographs to
present to the Transgender 2007 conference in Norwich recently it was
easy to see why. Facial Feminisation Surgery - the technique Doug has
pioneered for two decades may not be necessary for many trans people to
transition successfully. A few would strongly argue that it's more
important for society to change - and to adapt to the reality of some
trans women having strongly masculine faces. The same people might argue
that babies with congenital deformities should not be operated upon
either. Whilst we fix the world, however, there's no denying that a
trans woman who passes well will have a very different life experience
from one who doesn't. Whilst he was a guest at the University of East
Anglia, Doug was interviewed by BBC Norfolk reporter Jenny Kumah, who
agreed to me eavesdropping with my own microphone.
Professor Joan Roughgarden -
http://www.pfc.org.uk/node/1500
Professor Joan Roughgarden is no ordinary biologist - and no ordinary
trans woman either - though it is surpringly common these days to
encounter high academic achievers within the world wide community of
gender variant, transgender and transsexual people. Nowadays Joan is
most famous for her 2004 book "Evolution's Rainbow" - an academic work,
written in a language accessible to the public, which challenges
Darwin's theory of Sexual Selection. Her latest book, "Evolution and
Christian Faith: Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist", published in
2006, shows that her willingness to take on controversial subjects is,
if anything, stronger and more confident, despite the inevitable way in
which her critics have responded to the first. Joan transitioned in 1998
at the age of 52. At that time she had already been teaching at Stanford
for over a quarter of a century and had three books and over 100
academic articles and papers to her name. She owes her ability to
continue through that transition in her life to no less a figure than
Condoleeza Rice - now US Secretary of State and arguably one of the most
powerful women in the World. It's an encounter that Joan describes in
the interview she agreed to give when she met me at the University of
East Anglia.
Contemporary Trans Campaign Issues -
http://www.pfc.org.uk/node/1502
The Transgender 2007 Conference took place at the University of East
Anglia during the weekend of 16th-17thJune, and drew many speakers to
talk about the historical and contemporary issues concerning trans
people's lives. I began my own presentation on present day issues with a
recap of events spanning almost eighty years - from Lily Elbe to the
Department of Health's Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Advisory
Group (SOGIAG), pointing clearly to things that still need to change.
Jamison Green - International Activist -
http://www.pfc.org.uk/node/1496
Jamison - James - Green is an internationally respected leader within
the US Transgender movement and beyond. A powerful speaker and
compelling writer, he is an acknowledged inspiration to many - both
trans and non-trans alike. He is the current chairman of the board of
Gender Education and Advocacy Inc. (GEA), and a board member of both the
Transgender Law and Policy Institute and the World Professional
Association for Transgender Heath (formerly the Harry Benjamin society).
In addition he is also a member of the Human Rights Campaign's Business
Council, a board member of the Equality Project, and an advisory member
of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE). Before these
appointments he was the leader of FTM International Inc from March 1991
till August 1999. I caught up with James when he took part in the June
2007 Trans With Pride conference in London. During a break for lunch the
two of us took a walk outside and I asked James for his perspectives on
how trans activism differs on the opposite sides of the Atlantic.
Kate Bornstein - "Gender Outlaw" -
http://www.pfc.org.uk/node/1497
Kate Bornstein is an author, playwright, performance artist and
activist. Her books are taught in over 120 colleges and universities
around the world and she has performed her work live on college
campuses, in cinemas and theatres across the USA, Canada and parts of
Britain, Germany and Austria. She is currently touring colleges, youth
conferences and high schools, leading workshops on sex, gender and
alternatives to teen suicide. I sat down for a chat with Kate during a
break in proceedings at the 2007 Trans With Pride conference and began
by asking her how she had started out...
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