Look at this awesome free conference on trans, intersex and gender non-confirming people in academia. It features fabulous folk such as Jay Stewart, Meg-John Baker, Sophie Labelle, Natacha Kennedy & Kat Gupta. And me, I’m afraid, but the program is double-streamed while I’m on. Come along and say hello. Booking details here.
Special thanks to Sahra Taylor for doing all of the hard work of organising this, and to Mollie for the best accessibility provision I have ever seen at a conference.
Apologies for another lecture, but I’ve been doing training today so my brain is in that mode.
This particular post was sparked by something I saw online today. Someone, I’m pretty sure a cis person, was stating authoritatively that gender identity is fixed by the age of three. I think they were trying to be helpful, trying to say that trans people can’t be “cured”, but it is more complicated than that.
Personally I can’t date knowing that I was trans further back than starting school. I didn’t have much to go on. There were no girls my age near where I lived. We’d only just got a TV. I’d been pretty much on my own. Even so, all that I knew when I started school was that there was something wrong.
I have a friend who didn’t realize that he was trans until he started puberty. I have another who didn’t realize that she was trans until she was middle-aged. Both have since undergone significant medical treatment. They are no less trans than I am. I also know people who have elected not to have medical treatment, but have transitioned socially. They too are trans.
The idea that there are simple and definitive diagnostic tests for being trans was one of the things that held me back from transitioning for around 20 years. I read a lot, and I wasn’t certain that I’d be accepted as a patient, or indeed that transition was right for me. Nowadays we’d say that I was Questioning, but kids these days get to experiment, without having to make irreversible decisions about their lives, which is good.
Insistence on a simple, diagnostic test also plays into the TERF myth that anyone who starts a transition process, and either decides to stop at being non-binary, or back out to their assigned gender, was somehow “misdiagnosed” and has been forced into transition by pro-trans fanatics. Many people need to experiment, and the purpose of treatment should be to find what works for the patient, not to force everyone to follow a particular path. (And certainly not to force people into roles that reinforce the gender binary, unless those roles are what they are comfortable in.)
I know that “it’s complicated” isn’t an easy thing to explain. People tend to prefer easy answers. But sometimes it is an important thing to explain.
The OutStories Bristol AGM will take place on Saturday, October 7th at Bristol University. Some of you may remember that last year we had a fabulous talk from Dr. Jana Funke about Radclyffe Hall, which is still available in audio here. This year’s talk promises to be equally good.
Edward Warren is best known for giving his name to the Warren Cup, a Roman goblet which is decorated with explicit scenes of men having sex with each other. Warren was a passionate collector of Classical antiquities that provide evidence of same-sex relationships in past times. Dr. Jen Grove of will talk about Warren’s work, the objects he collected, and their use in advocating for LGBT rights both in his time and now.
Full details of the event, which is free to attend, are available here.
It is campaign time with Stonewall again, and the current message is that, while we might have come along way, there is still a long way to go.
A centerpiece of the campaign is a new survey which reveals that anti-LGB hate crime has increased by 79% since their previous survey in 2013. There’s no comparison figure for anti-trans hate crime because Stonewall wasn’t advocating for trans people in 2013, but the current survey shows that 41% of trans people have experienced hate crime in the past year, compared to only 16% for LGB people.
The report also reveals that 81% of the people who experienced hate crime did not report it to the police. 71% did not report the incident to anyone other than the Stonewall survey. These numbers are not broken down between LGB and T, but one of the submissions to the government’s 2016 Trans Equality Inquiry — from hate crime specialist, Professor Neil Chakraborti — stated that many trans people don’t bother to report hate crime because for them it is a daily occurrence.
It is also worth noting that the report says 25% of trans people who contacted the “emergency services” felt that they had been discriminated by the people they were dealing with. It appears from the report that by “emergency services” Stonewall primarily means calling 111 for medical assistance, but there are equivalent fears about reporting hate crime to the police.
Anyway, one of the things Stonewall asked people to do is get a photo taken with their slogan and an ally. I haven’t had time to do that, so I make something using the slogan and the most recent photo I have of Kevin and I together (at Worldcon in Helsinki which is why we have the massive badges). As I am sure I have said before, without Kevin’s love and support I would probably not have survived transition. Stand up for your friends, people. Even if it is only one life you save, you have still made a difference.
It seems to be the day for me being quoted talking about LGBT+ History. Here I am on the LGBT History Month website.
The lovely people at Bristol 24/7 have embarked upon a project, backed by the Heritage Lottery Fund, to share the hidden history of LGBT+ life in Bristol through film, print and social media. Naturally this is of great interest to us at OutStories Bristol. I’m sure that I and my colleagues will be contributing in various ways. If you happen to have a story to tell, you can contribute too, of course. And the rest of you will get to enjoy the fruits of the project.
You can learn more about the project, and find out how to get involved, at the Bristol 24/7 website.
While you are there, you may also want to check out this article about Bristol’s LGBTQ Refugees group. I went to talk to them last night. They are a lovely bunch.
This morning, while I was on my way to Bristol to do the radio show, my Twitter feed lit up with discussion of trans history. Yesterday The Guardian ran a piece about Albert Cashier, a Union solider from the American Civil War who was assigned female at birth but fought as a man and continued to live as one after the war. It was intended as a challenge to the Unpresident’s ban on trans people in the military. Inevitably it drew comment from well known anti-trans campaigners:
https://twitter.com/helenlewis/status/899966214277132288
There are several things that can be said about this, starting with the fact that this is hardly deep history that we are talking about here. Cashier died in 1915. The first modern trans surgery I know of in the USA took place in 1917 when Alan Hart had the first of a number of operations. He went on to have further surgery and took testosterone as soon as it became available to him. Hart identified as trans in a way easily recognizable today, and his life overlapped with that of Cashier for many years. It doesn’t seem unreasonable that Cashier might have had similar feelings.
Also, while Cashier was assigned female at birth, we have no details regarding his anatomy. As late as the 1930s people with intersex conditions were regularly having their gender re-assigned in adulthood due to errors made at birth. In it not impossible that Cashier had some sort of physical condition that might have inspired him to change gender role.
Some of the complaints about the article say that it is an attempt to “erase women’s history”. That seems a vast over-statement. Hundreds of women fought in the American Civil War. The vast majority of them went back to living as women if they survived the war and can be celebrated as women. Cashier is unusual (though not unique) in continuing to live as a man. Why noting that maybe 1% of the assigned-female people who fought might be trans counts as an erasure of women’s history is a mystery to me. Why is it that every single possible example of a trans man from history has to be reclaimed as a woman for women’s history to exist?
I have seen some people saying that they find it hard to believe that Cashier identified as a man. This, I suspect, is because they are cis people and can’t imagine why anyone would identify as trans. The way Cashier lived was incredibly dangerous for him. As Jonah Coman noted on Twitter today, cis people would never put themselves in that much danger. You have to really need to transition full time socially in order to survive doing it.
Then there is the political aspect. As far as the Unpresident is concerned, Cashier’s gender status is irrelevant. Cashier fought in the Union army, and trans men fight in the US Army today. Whether you regard them as men, or as “really women” doesn’t affect the fact that they fight well and bravely, and are a credit to their units. It doesn’t matter what gender you believe someone to be to defend their right to serve.
Why, then, is Lewis so perturbed about the Cashier article? The answer, of course, is politics. The idea that a trans man might have existed in the 19th Century is anathema to anti-trans campaigners because it is a matter of political faith for them that trans identities are not real, and that they did not exist until (male) doctors “invented” them in the 20th Century. Just like the Alt-Right goons who can’t accept the existence of black people in Roman Britain, Lewis and her pals can’t accept the existence of trans people in 19th Century America. In both cases this refusal stems from political opinions rooted in bigotry.
(It is, of course, no accident that among the most vocal supporters of the Unpresident’s ban on trans people in the military were anti-trans “feminists”.)
History (as Kit Heyam noted today) is always political. You can’t interpret the past without your own feelings and prejudices influencing that interpretation. Seeking to erase specific groups of people from history is about as political as it gets.
I’ve trailed this one before, but apparently there are still places left if you want to sign up. This Saturday (evening my time, morning in the USA) I will be helping Cat Rambo teach a class in Writing and Gender. We’ll be covering all of that trans people and non-binary genders that might have some of you confused, and providing tips as to how to approach the issues without having all of your trans readers putting their heads in their hands. Cat, of course, will be doing her usual brilliant writing teaching, while I explain all of the terminology and point out the pitfalls. Full details are available from Cat’s website. I hope to talk to some of you on Saturday.
I was so tired last night that It forgot to set my alarm and woke up 1.5 hours later than planned. While I did get around 7.5 hours sleep, I didn’t get breakfast because I had an 11:00am panel and it takes almost an hour to get to the convention from my hotel.
Thankfully the panel went well. This was the one on the history of gender, which I had suggested. Originally I had been asked to moderate, but Scott Lynch kindly stepped into that role to allow me to talk more. He did a great job of keeping order on a panel with three very opinionated women (Jo Walton, Gillian Pollack and myself). My apologies once again to Thomas Ã…rnfelt who didn’t get much of a look-in, but had some great medieval history info when he did.
I spent most of the panel telling anecdotes about trans history, but I did also get to do some show and tell. There is a great company in the dealer’s room who make cuneiform tablets. If you have some text, they’ll do a custom one for you. So I got them to make this:
https://twitter.com/CherylMorgan/status/896301656656289792
For an explanation, see this blog post.
I also got to attend (and I had to queue early to get in for both) two trans-themed panels. Neither of them told me much new, but it was great to see packed out rooms for such things. The first trans panel I can remember at Worldcon was in Montréal in 2009. There were about 15 people in the audience, one of whom was a very hostile feminist, and all of the other panelists were cis. Here we had several trans-themed panels with a variety of identities represented (including non-binary people with no wish to transition medically), and all of them were younger than me.
Despite having got a decent lunch, the no breakfast thing meant that by mid afternoon I was fading fast. Thankfully Otto managed to catch me and steer me to the staff lounge for some vitamins before I collapsed. However, that was not before I managed to mistake someone for someone else on several occasions and embarrass myself horribly. My apologies to all concerned.
In the evening Thor came to see the masquerade. Despite beating on the roof of Messukeskus very hard, he didn’t get in. Thankfully he got bored after a while and I was about to get out to the party run by the lovely people from Storycom. I got to meet some young Chinese writers and a guy who has started a convention in Hong Kong. And we got to see Neil Clarke on film, which partially made up for his not being here.
I didn’t see the masquerade, but I gather that Miki Dennis got a big prize, as is only right and proper. Best in Show, however, seems to have gone to a very young person in her first masquerade. I want to see photos of that.
Overall things have gone very smoothly today. There are still queues, and some panels do max out, but the vast majority of people are getting to see what they want to see. The discussions I’m hearing in the hallways are changing from, “why don’t these idiots do something about the overcrowding” to “wow, this is an amazing convention!”. One day left, and I suspect it will only get better from here.
The very fabulous Gender Identity and Sexuality in Fantasy and Science Fiction was published today. Copies are available from Luna Press in the dealers’ room, or through the usual outlets.
If you can’t stomach the thought of another essay on trans characters from me, you might want to get the book for Juliet McKenna’s article on the myth of publishing being a meritocracy in which men naturally rise to the top. Or you may prefer Kim Lakin-Smith reflecting on grotesque female bodies in the work of Frances Hardinge and Neil Gaiman. Jyrki Korpua’s essay, “What About Tauriel”, is one I’m keen to read after hearing him talk about the Peter Jackson movies today.
A very kind person that wasn’t Kevin asked me to sign a copy of the book today, so I know that at least one copy has been sold.
The lovely people at Stonewall UK have made huge strides in combating homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in football through their Rainbow Laces campaign. However, that’s just one sport among many. I’m much more interested in rugby (where Gareth Thomas and Nigel Owens have already done great work) and cricket. I’m delighted to report that Stonewall’s new cricket-related campaign, Rainbow Stumps, launched today.
The plan is to have representation at T20 matches around the country all through this week. There are both men’s and women’s matches taking place. The good folks at Sky Sports are also on board. Look, here’s Bob Willis:
Bob Willis, #RainbowStumps in hand, is ready & waiting for your questions – so get tweeting them in now! #Verdict pic.twitter.com/yiCYPI0XmJ
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 7, 2017
(For the benefit of non-cricket people, he’s always that sour.)
Athers, Bumble and Naz have also got in on the act.
.@ECB_Cricket are the latest to join @SkySports and @StonewallUK's #RainbowLaces campaign: https://t.co/xMNjLjCECV #RainbowStumps pic.twitter.com/ku8xAxxxYi
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 7, 2017
Of course the whole point is that LGBT+ people want to be involved in sport too. That meant that Stonewall needed to find people with a passion for cricket. How could I refuse? Here’s my contribution.
The timing is rather unfortunate. I would love to be down at Taunton on Saturday to cheer on Somerset and Western Storm, but there is a small matter of a Worldcon keeping me here in Helsinki. Sorry folks.
Today’s Helsinki Sanomat had a huge feature on Finnish trans artist, Camille Auer. Her photo took up the whole of the front page of the culture section, and there was a big article inside which is reproduced on their website (in Finnish, obviously). Naturally I had to visit the show.
The exhibition is fairly small, and is mostly installations, which may or may not be your cup of tea. The two biggest are both about the process of medical transition. One is made up of empty packaging from the vast amounts of medication that trans people have to take. It might not seem much on any one day, but it builds up quickly through your life. The other is made from (heavily redacted) letters from various medical people. They are all in Finnish, but I knew the sort of things they’d say.
Trans medicine is evolving slowly, and these days most Western doctors don’t think that merely being trans makes you insane. However, in order to get treatment, you have to prove that you are mentally disturbed because you are unable to live in your assigned gender. It is a degrading process.
In Finland things are worse on at least two counts. Firstly the country has naming laws, so if you want to change your name you have to apply for permission. Secondly, because Finland’s law about changing your legal gender is very old, it is necessary to prove that you are infertile before you can do so. That’s not necessary in the UK because our law is more modern (though still very much lacking compared to the newer Irish law).
Any trans people passing through Helsinki for Worldcon might want to pop in to give Camille some support, but mostly I hope that lots of Finnish people check it out. Their laws need an overhaul.
The exhibition, rather delightfully titled Antiphallic Dick, is at the Project Room at Lönnrotinkatu 35. It is open from 11:00-18:00.
The History Department at Sheffield University has a great blog called History Matters. Right now they are doing a series on LGBT history and there is some excellent content already available.
In “The Past is not a Straight Line” Bodie A. Ashton makes the case for history being far more queer than most people think.
In “Tim Farron, the Bible and Queerness” Jo Henderson-Merrygold takes issue with the former leader of the Liberal Democrats over what the Bible actually says about gay people.
And in “Earinus: A Roman Civil Rights Activist?” I talk about one of my favorite Romans, a young eunuch whose sense of his own masculinity was so strong that he may have persuaded the Emperor Domitian to ban child castration.
Much more great content will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.
That’s not my title, it is the title of an episode of the Crossing Continents series on Radio 4. In it, BBC journalist Mobeen Azhar talks to a variety of trans-identified people in Pakistan. They include Kami Sid, a well known trans model, members of a traditional Khwaja Sira group (similar to India Hijra), and Mani, a trans man.
The most interesting thing to me about this is the contrast between trans debates in Pakistan and those we have here. In Pakistan the Khwaja Sira tradition dates back at least as far as the Mughal Empire (1526-1857), probably a lot further. Though they may live as women, Khwaja Sira identify as third gender, in a large part because their definition of “woman” is based on the ability to procreate. As the radio interview shows, modern Khwaja Sira take a dim view of Western trans people who identify within the gender binary.
In contrast, in the West, what little tradition we have is based in a highly medicalized view of trans identities in which only those people who identify as men or women have been seen as valid. These days we are seeing a lot more visibility in the West of people who identify outside of the gender binary. Some binary-identified trans people, such as TV presenter India Willoughby, look down on non-binary people in very much the same way that older Pakistani Khwaja Sira look down on binary-identified trans people.
The lesson from this should be obvious. Trans people come in many different types. How they identify can vary enormously, and may in part be determined by the culture in which they have grown up. One person’s view of their identity should not invalidate anyone else’s identity. There’s enough room in this world for all of us, and goddess knows we have enough enemies without fighting among ourselves.
Tomorrow morning my colleague, Berkeley Wilde, and I will be on BBC Radio Bristol with Dr. Phil Hammond. We’ll be talking fairly generally about the work that The Diversity Trust does, and more specifically about LGBT+ things that are in the news. I expect to get asked about Trump’s attempted ban on trans people serving in the military, and about a recent vicious attack on a homeless trans woman in Bristol.
The show begins at 9:00am and I’m expecting to be on at around 9:45. You can listen online, and the show should be available through the Listen Again service for several days after broadcast.
This afternoon Bristol 24/7 asked me if I would write something about the current fuss over trans people serving in the military. So I did.
Somehow I doubt that I’ll have any impact on US politics, but it is useful to point out that trans people are being used here. We make up only a very small percentage of the population. We cost the countries in which we live very little, and we try very hard to be law abiding because we know we’ll be punished far worse than non-trans people would be if we get caught breaking the law. And yet we keep having these media panics about how powerful, dangerous and expensive we are. The reason for this is that we are one of the current most popular media bogey groups. Some day it will be better, but doubtless only because some other luckless minority group finds itself in the spotlight. We need to become better human beings and stop falling for this nonsense.
As Pride events become more and more popular, and more widespread, questions are being asked about what they are for. Are they too commercial? Are they just entertainment for the straights? Do we still need them? Why isn’t there a Straight Pride?
Prior to Bristol Pride, I was on the radio twice. A whole bunch of us got asked onto John Darvall’s show on Radio Bristol to justify the continued need for Pride. That’s not hard. Trans people are still waiting for the government to act on any of the recommendations from the Trans Equality Report (which was published 18 months ago.) The rabidly homophobic DUP are in government. If you don’t defend your rights, you’ll lose them. I was also on Miranda’s show explaining why the supposed 50th anniversary of “decriminalizing” homosexuality is anything but. It took us until 2003 until all of the laws criminalizing gay sex were off the statue books.
Nevertheless, Pride was once again a massive success. We had more room than ever before, and we filled it all up. The Community Tent, where all of the volunteer organizations were housed, was once again a heaving mass of humanity. The infamous gay weather control once again assured blazing sunshine. A fabulous time was, it seemed, had by all.
That did not mean that we all just gave ourselves over to partying. I missed the march due to having stayed home to watch the Lions game, but I understand that at one point, when they were held up by something or other, some students from Bristol University took the opportunity to stage a little protest and explain why Pride is still important. Part of that included reading the current Trans Remembrance List. Good for them.
I spent much of my time behind the main stage with the Shout Out crew. They have so many volunteers now that they don’t really need me, but I like to get on air during the broadcast to remind listeners that Ujima cares about Pride too. I wasn’t terribly interested in most of the acts, but I did want to get to see Jordan Gray and I’m glad I did.
I know nothing about talent shows. I never watch them, and mostly I have no idea who any of the winners are, let alone the contestants. However, many of the trans folks I follow on Twitter were very enthusiastic about Jordan, who appeared on a show called The Voice last year. She made it through to the semi-finals. That has got her numerous invitations to appear at Prides.
Jordan began her set by introducing herself. It went something like this. “You have probably heard that I’m transgender. If you don’t know what that means, it means that I used to be unhappy, but now I’m happy.” That’s a brilliantly simple and clever line, and I will doubtless steal it at some point.
What I won’t do is follow her example of proving the point. Jordan has a perfectly good female singing voice. But she’s a fan of Johnny Cash and did a couple of covers, including occasionally dropping into the Johnny Cash voice just to prove that she could. No way am I doing anything like that in public. The crowd loved it, though.
Out beyond the main stage there were load of younger people in evidence. Freedom Youth and Mermaids ran a Young Person’s Area. And there was also a Family Area for the littlest attendees. To keep the kids happy, a bunch of drag queens were telling stories. I donated a copy of Marcus Ewart’s 10,000 Dresses. I hope it went down well.
By mid afternoon the venue was so full that the security team had to put a temporary stop on people coming in. Late comers were understandably peeved. There were a lot of seemingly straight people at the event. I even saw one idiot sporting a Straight Pride t-shirt. But then again, some of the straights were there with a purpose. I spent a bit of time on the OutStories table and while I was there we were approached by a middle-aged couple looking for Mermaids because they wanted help to support their trans child.
The thing is that with an event that size you can’t have it all go the way you want. There were no major disasters, and for that Daryn, Freddie and their team deserve huge congratulations. That evening at the official after party I am being told that the security staff were operating a very strict binary gender toilet policy, which is very much not Pride policy but you never know when some random security guy is going to decide to invent rules so he can throw his weight around.
Is Pride getting overrun by straights? Not exactly, it is still extravagantly queer, but it is a great party and loads of people will come for that. Do we still need it? Absolutely. Does it bring out the worst in some people? Sadly yes. But all of the bad stuff gives you opportunities for teachable moments. Right now I think Pride is still doing good work.
This post has been a long time coming because I have been busy doing lots of other things. What has finally shoved it to the top of my to-do list is that on Friday evening the British Museum has an event on. It is titled, “What makes an object LGBTQ?” and it features, among others, E-J Scott of the Museum of Transology and Sue Sanders of Schools Out. I’d love to be there, but I can’t, so I’m writing this instead.
The current version of the LGBTQ Trail is heavily based on the book, A Little Gay History by Richard Parkinson. There’s a lot of good stuff in it but, as I have mentioned before, quite a bit more that could be in it.
The main addition is a small exhibition in a side room off one of the main classical halls on the first floor. It is, rather appropriately, right next to the section on Amazons. It contains some interesting things I hadn’t seen before, such a different portrait of Beaumont and a bunch of Roman winged phalluses, together with a number of more modern items.
One of my favorite features of the trail was the presence of Xena and Gabrielle in one of the cases of vases with pictures of Amazons on them.
Sadly the nearby vase showing Achilles being dipped in the Styx had been taken off display. That might not seem like a queer artifact, but it is because the story of Achilles is proof that cis people have a gender identity. His mother, Thetis, had him raised as a girl in the hope that he’d never go to war, but Achilles knew he was a boy and refused to go along with this. Changing people’s gender identity is much harder than most people think.
One item that I think should be in the trail is this lovely little oil lamp decorated with pictures of Cybele and Attis. You can’t get a much clearer story of gender transformation than Attis, and of course it is an excuse to talk about the galli. The Museum doesn’t seem to want to acknowledge that side of Roman culture. I can kind of see them not wanting to highlight the castration clamp, but then it is on display so squeamish people are going to see it anyway. Why not tell the whole story on the LGBTQ trail?
The castration clamp, by the way, is in the Roman Britain room, on the far side of the museum to all of the other Roman and Greek material. Also in that room is a collection of jet jewellery. As I understand it, jet was particularly significant for the galli, and so some of this jewellery may have belonged to Roman trans women. Certainly the galli burials found at Catterick included jet jewellery.
The Museum has tried to include Egypt in the Trail, but the only item they had to highlight is a stela featuring two characters called Hor and Suty. According to the accompanying text, some scholars have suggested that they were a gay couple as they are clearly fond of each other, but the text goes on to say, “This interpretation, though technically possible, is highly unlikely.” A much more obvious interpretation is that they were twins, because the inscription talks about them coming forth from the womb on the same day. If you are going to have an example of a controversial interpretation, it might be better to have one with more substance to it.
The Sumerian section is still identifying the Queen of the Night as Ishtar. There is more of an argument to be made for that than of Hor & Suty being gay, but by identifying her as Ereshkigal, which is more likely, IMHO, it gives you an excuse to talk about the Descent. The story of Ishtar’s descent into the Underworld is a very famous mythological tale with queer people right at the heart of it. Why not tell that story?
Of course they also have Silimabzuta somewhere in their archives. I know it is only a fragment of a statue, but it is hugely significant for trans history and I think it ought to be on display, at least for this exhibition.
A new addition to the trail is this fabulous stela of a Mayan king, Waxaklajuun Ub’aah K’awiil. He is dressed as the young maize god who is a character of ambiguous gender, and thus the king is wearing women’s clothing. For a long time this resulted in the stela being mis-identified as depicting a woman. I want to know a lot more about this god.
I am sure that there is still a lot more that can be found in the Museum that relates to LGBT issues. You just have to know what you are looking for. In view of that, I have a question for my friends who are experts on Greek vases. Look at this:
It depicts a scene as a symposium, and the Museum identifies the women present as hetairai — high class sex workers. However, when I see someone from the classical world with that double flute I immediately think “gallus”. I don’t know things worked in Greece. Did women musicians play that instrument regularly? Was it associated with the followers of Meter? Could we be looking at a picture of a trans sex worker? I suspect probably not, but it is worth asking just in case.
Despite the fact that England Women were playing South Africa in Bristol (of which more later) and it was a beautiful sunny day, I took myself off to the Ujima studios to do a show. I love you folks that much.
First up was my good friend Alistair Sims who runs Books on the Hill in Clevedon. We talked about bookselling, tea, and some of his personal projects. If you want to buy some of their specialty tea (which I highly recommend), you can do so here.
My second guest was Gwyneth Rees whom I met at the Sound Women event last week. She’s been getting into podcasting, and we talked about that. You can find her Woman of the Week podcast on iTunes. I suspect that you’ll be hearing more from Gwyneth in the near future.
You can listen to the first hour of the show here.
In the second hour I began with Joy Johnson who is an art therapist. I had no idea anything like this existed, but apparently it is quite common. Joy doesn’t have her own website, but this is the Art & Heath South-West site that I mentioned during the interview.
Finally I was delighted to welcome Donna La Mode who is part of the Drag Queen Story Time project. Donna and her friends will be at Bristol Pride on Saturday telling more stories. If you can’t make it there, the crowdfunding appear that we mention on the show is here. Every little helps.
You can listen to the second half of the show here.
The music for today’s show has a very summery theme.
On Tuesday (just in time of the course that Berkeley and I were giving at Plymouth University) Stonewall published the latest in the 5-yearly surveys of British schools. For the first time trans issues were included in the report, and the results were pretty shocking.
On the good side, homophobic bullying has decreased significantly, at least in part to the greater number of teachers who are comfortable being out. Transphobic bullying, however, is still commonplace. This comment from a student from Yorkshire really hit home for me:
No one I’ve spoken to at school has ever knowingly met a trans person before or been taught anything about trans people and what we might need.
This is why I did that Stonewall role model course.
The headline statistic that appeared in many newspapers is that 45% of trans school children have tried to take their own lives. That’s horrifying, but journalists rarely try to understand that statistic.
When trans kids do take their own lives, newspapers and other media often run articles by professional concern trolls who go on about how this is all the fault of the horrible “trans agenda”, and if only the parents had been more supported in their attempts to “cure” the child this would not have happened.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Studies in the USA show not only similar suicide rates to the UK, but also that those rates drop like a stone if the parents are supportive of the young person. A 2012 survey of trans youth quoted here has a 57% suicide attempt rate for kids without supportive parents, but only 4% if the parents are supportive.
Fortunately many parents, and many schools, do understand and do their best to support trans kids. Yesterday Stonewall announced the results of their annual Education Equality Index. The winning local authority was Bath & North-East Somerset. They have always done well in the past (and indeed narrowly lost out to Brighton last year), but I’m pretty sure that their triumph this time is a result of their leading the way on trans issues.
Obviously I’m not involved in the day-to-day running of schools and youth services, but I have done a fair amount with the folks who do that work over the last year. I’m very proud of them, and grateful that they listened to me banging on about trans rights.
Bristol Council, in contrast, doesn’t bother to submit an entry for the Stonewall Index, and has recently dismantled its Equalities team.