tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/transphobic-17712/articlestransphobic – The Conversation2021-12-26T07:13:40Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/976192021-12-26T07:13:40Z2021-12-26T07:13:40ZArchbishop Desmond Tutu: father of South Africa’s ‘rainbow nation’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304935/original/file-20191203-67028-uqkr65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Archbishop Desmond Tutu</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Epa/Ian Langsdon</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu has <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2021/12/26/breaking-news-archbishop-desmond-tutu-passes-away">died</a> at the age of 90. </p>
<p>Archbishop Tutu earned the respect and love of millions of South Africans and the world. He carved out a permanent place in their hearts and minds, becoming known affectionately as “The Arch”. </p>
<p>When South Africans woke up on the morning of 7 April, 2017 to protest against then President Jacob Zuma’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/31/world/africa/south-africa-pravin-gordhan-jacob-zuma.html">removal </a> of the respected Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/archbishop-emeritus-desmond-mpilo-tutu">Archbishop Tutu</a> left his Hermanus retirement home to join the protests. He was 86 years old at the time, and his health was frail. But protest was in his blood. In his view, no government was legitimate unless it represented all its people well.</p>
<p>There was still that sharpness in his words when <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2017/04/07/tutu-makes-rare-appearance-to-support-anti-zuma-march">he said that</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>We will pray for the downfall of a government that misrepresents us.</p>
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<p>These words echoed his stance of ethical and moral integrity as well as human dignity. It is on these principles that he had fought valiantly against the system of apartheid and became, as the Desmond Tutu Foundation rightly <a href="http://www.tutufoundationusa.org/mission-vision/">affirms</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>an outspoken defender of human rights and campaigner for the oppressed. </p>
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<p>But <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/archbishop-emeritus-desmond-mpilo-tutu">Archbishop Tutu</a> didn’t stop his fight for human rights once apartheid came to a formal end in 1994. He continued to speak critically against politicians who abused their power. He also added his weight to various causes, including HIV/AIDS, poverty, racism, homophobia and transphobia. </p>
<p>His fight for human rights wasn’t limited to South Africa. Through his <a href="http://www.tutufoundationusa.org/mission-vision/">peace foundation</a>, which he formed in 2015, he extended his vision for a peaceful world “in which everyone values human dignity and our interconnectedness”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301976/original/file-20191115-66937-1e6zrq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301976/original/file-20191115-66937-1e6zrq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301976/original/file-20191115-66937-1e6zrq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301976/original/file-20191115-66937-1e6zrq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301976/original/file-20191115-66937-1e6zrq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301976/original/file-20191115-66937-1e6zrq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301976/original/file-20191115-66937-1e6zrq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Archbishop Tutu with the Dalai Lama at the Tibetan Children’s Village school in Dharamsala, in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EFE-EPA/Sanjay Baid</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>He also became relentless in his support for the Dalai Lama, whom he considered his best friend. He condemned the South African government for refusing the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader a visa to deliver the <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/archbishop-emeritus-mpilo-desmond-tutu">“Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture”</a> <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/8807080/Tutu-South-African-government-is-worse-than-apartheid-after-Dalai-Lama-visa-row.html">in 2011</a>. </p>
<h2>Early years</h2>
<p>Archbishop Tutu came from humble beginnings. Born on 7 October, 1931 in Klerksdorp, in the North West Province of South Africa where his father, Zachariah was a headmaster of a high school. His mother, Aletha Matlare, was a domestic worker.</p>
<p>One of the most influential figures in his early years was <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/father-trevor-huddleston">Father Trevor Huddleston</a>, a fierce campaigner against apartheid. Their friendship led to the young Tutu being introduced into the Anglican Church. </p>
<p>After completing his education he had a brief stint teaching English and History at Madibane High School in Soweto; and then at Krugersdorp High School , west of Johannesburg; where his father was a headmaster. It was here that he met his future wife, Nomalizo Leah Shenxane. </p>
<p>It is interesting that he agreed to a Roman Catholic wedding ceremony, although he was Anglican. This ecumenical act at the very early stage in his life gives us a hint of his commitment to ecumenical work in later years. </p>
<p>He quit teaching in the wake of the introduction of the inferior <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/bantu-education-and-racist-compartmentalizing-education">“Bantu education”</a> for black people in 1953. Under the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/bantu-education-act-act-no-47-1953">Bantu Education Act, 1953</a>, the education of the native African population was limited to producing an unskilled work force. </p>
<p>In 1955 Tutu entered the service of the church as a sub-deacon. He got married the same year. He enrolled for theological education in 1958 and, after completing his studies, was ordained as a deacon of Saint Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg in 1960, and became its first black dean in 1975. </p>
<p>In 1962 he went to London to pursue further theological education with funding from the World Council of Churches. He earned a Master of Theology degree, and after serving in various parishes in London, returned to South Africa in 1966 <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/archbishop-emeritus-mpilo-desmond-tutu">to teach</a> at the Federal Theological Seminary at Alice, Eastern Cape. </p>
<p>One of the lesser known facts is that he had special interest in the study of Islam. He had wanted to pursue this in his doctoral studies, but this was not to be. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301983/original/file-20191115-66957-7p8h3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301983/original/file-20191115-66957-7p8h3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301983/original/file-20191115-66957-7p8h3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301983/original/file-20191115-66957-7p8h3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301983/original/file-20191115-66957-7p8h3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301983/original/file-20191115-66957-7p8h3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301983/original/file-20191115-66957-7p8h3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and his wife Tutu at the Youth Health Festival in Cape Town in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EFE-EPA/Nic Bothma</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The activities he was involved in in the early 1970s were to lay the foundation for his political struggle against apartheid. These included teaching in Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland and, thereafter, a posting to London as the <a href="https://www.tutu.org.za/founders-journey/">Associate Director for Africa</a> at the Theological Education Fund, and his exposure to <a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-94222016000100033">Black Theology</a>. He also visited many African countries in the early 1970s. </p>
<p>He eventually returned to Johannesburg as the dean of Johannesburg and the rector of St. Mary’s Anglican Parish in 1976. </p>
<h2>Political activism</h2>
<p>It was at St Mary’s that Tutu first confronted the then apartheid Prime Minister John Vorster, writing him <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/letter-desmond-tutu-p-w-botha-letter-pretoria">a letter</a> in 1976 decrying the deplorable state in which black people had to live. </p>
<p>On 16 June <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/june-16-soweto-youth-uprising">Soweto went up in flames</a>, when black high school pupils protested against the forced use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction, and were mowed down by apartheid police.</p>
<p>Bishop Tutu was thrust deeper and deeper into the struggle. He delivered one of his most passionate and fiery orations <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/bikos-imprisonment-death-and-aftermath">following the death in detention</a> of the black consciousness leader, Steve Biko in 1977.</p>
<p>His role as the <a href="http://sacc.org.za/history/">General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches</a>, and later as the rector of St. Augustine’s Church in Orlando West in Soweto, saw him become an ardent critic of the most egregious aspects of apartheid. This included the forced removals of black people from urban areas deemed to be white areas. </p>
<h2>A target</h2>
<p>With his growing political activism in the 1980s, the Arch became a target of the apartheid government’s full scale victimisation and faced death threats as well as bomb scares. In March 1980 <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/04/16/South-Africa-revokes-bishops-passport/8490356245200/">his passport was revoked</a>. After much international outcry and intervention, he was given a “limited travel document” two years later to travel overseas.</p>
<p>His work was recognised globally, and he was awarded <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1984/summary/">Nobel Prize for Peace</a> in 1984 for being a unifying leader in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa. </p>
<p>He went on to receive more distinguished awards. He became the Bishop of Johannesburg in 1984, and the Archbishop of Cape Town <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/archbishop-emeritus-mpilo-desmond-tutu">in 1986</a>. In the following four years leading up to the release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison, the Arch had his work cut out for him. This involved campaigning for international pressure to be brought on the apartheid through sanctions.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301974/original/file-20191115-66932-1kefr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301974/original/file-20191115-66932-1kefr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301974/original/file-20191115-66932-1kefr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301974/original/file-20191115-66932-1kefr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301974/original/file-20191115-66932-1kefr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301974/original/file-20191115-66932-1kefr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301974/original/file-20191115-66932-1kefr5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Archbishop Tutu received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from US President Obama in 2009.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EFE-EPA/Shawn Thew</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Democracy years</h2>
<p>After 1994, he headed the <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/">Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a>. Its primary goal was to afford those who committed human rights abuses – for or against apartheid – the opportunity to come clean, offer legal amnesty to deserving ones, and to enable the perpetrators to make amends to their victims. </p>
<p>Two greatest moments in his personal life took his theological outlook beyond the confines of the Church. One was when his daughter Mpho declared she was gay and the church refused her same sex marriage. The Arch <a href="http://www.capetownmagazine.com/whats-the-deal-with/desmond-tutu/125_22_17533">proclaimed</a> </p>
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<p>If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn’t worship that God. </p>
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<p>The second was when he declared his <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/07/archbishop-desmond-tutu-asks-for-the-right-to-an-assisted-death/">preference for assisted death</a>.</p>
<p>South Africa is blessed to have had such a brave and courageous man as The Arch, who truly symbolised the idea of the country as a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-10734471">“rainbow nation” </a>. South Africa will feel the loss of the moral direction of this brave soldier of God for generations to come. <em>Hamba kahle</em> (go well) Arch.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97619/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>P. Pratap Kumar receives funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa. </span></em></p>Archbishop Desmond Tutu didn’t stop his fight for human rights once apartheid came to a formal end in 1994. He continued to speak critically against politicians who abused their power.P. Pratap Kumar, Emeritus Professor, School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/531782016-01-21T14:34:56Z2016-01-21T14:34:56ZGender fluidity is great — but only if you’re famous<p>For all that Miley Cyrus’s cropped hair and crotch-clutching and “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jun/10/miley-cyrus-i-dont-relate-to-being-boy-or-girl">I don’t relate to being boy or girl</a>” have inspired articles about <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/dec/28/gender-fluidity-went-pop-in-2015-miley-cyrus-angel-haze-young-thug">gender fluidity as the new “in” thing</a>, it’s hard not to see Cyrus’s “trailblazing” as derivative of David Bowie – a true icon in so many ways, not least in his defiant smashing of gender norms. As early as 1972 – 20 years before Cyrus was born – a married (to a woman) Bowie publicly <a href="http://www.5years.com/oypt.htm">announced his bisexuality</a>. He spent his career creating provocative personae that bent conventional ideas of gender and sexuality at every conceivable turn.</p>
<p>In a PSA campaign of just two years ago, Tilda Swinton (also known for her androgyny) and Bowie appear, dressed in traditional gender garb. But this is no ordinary picture of “man” and “woman”: Swinton stands before us as a handsome man in aviators and trench coat, Bowie a classic blonde woman in French-twist scarf and matronly dress. The text reads: “Gender is between your ears, not between your legs.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"459291735927967744"}"></div></p>
<p>Bowie’s legacy seems to be everywhere now. “Gender fluidity” was a trending catchphrase in 2015 (“<a href="http://www.sheramag.com/gender-without-limitations-5-gender-fluid-icons-of-today/">the new black</a>”). Films such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-danish-girl-all-skirt-and-no-substance-52613">The Danish Girl</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/tangerine-the-film-that-takes-trans-issues-mainstream-on-an-iphone-50427">Tangerine</a> and TV series such as Amazon’s <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transparent-Season-1/dp/B00NTOLOHW">Transparent</a> are attracting millions of viewers. </p>
<p>The UK led the way: when the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/7/contents">Gender Recognition Act</a> was passed in the UK in 2004, allowing trans individuals to change their official genders without surgery, it was the first such legislation in the world. Yet a recent <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35302670">parliamentary report</a> stressed that there’s a “long way to go” to achieve equality in the UK and to protect trans individuals, and called for crucial reforms in the country. </p>
<p>Why is the process required for a Gender Recognition Certificate so expensive and degrading, for example, when other countries (Netherlands, Argentina, Denmark, Malta, Colombia, Ireland) allow for self-declaration? Aren’t we continuing to pathologise transgender identification as we once did homosexuality? How can we incarcerate trans women in men’s prisons, when that clearly <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-34972221">endangers their lives</a>? “The Government must look into the need to create a legal category for those people with a gender identity outside that which is binary and the full implications of this,” declares the report.</p>
<h2>A history of ‘passing’</h2>
<p>All this echoes worryingly with research of mine into the literature of race relations and racial identity. “Passing” is a term traditionally used to refer to mixed race people who have chosen to self-identify as white. It was a popular idea (and fear) during the slavery era in the United States and led to the legal evolution of the “one-drop” rule that labelled anyone who was part-black (one drop of “black blood” or one sub-Saharan African ancestor) black. The term referred to the way that these so-called blacks deceived people into thinking they were white, and in so doing, could escape enslavement or crushing poverty and humiliation under segregation.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108272/original/image-20160115-7357-1w6zpsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108272/original/image-20160115-7357-1w6zpsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108272/original/image-20160115-7357-1w6zpsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108272/original/image-20160115-7357-1w6zpsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108272/original/image-20160115-7357-1w6zpsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=967&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108272/original/image-20160115-7357-1w6zpsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=967&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108272/original/image-20160115-7357-1w6zpsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=967&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Nella Larsen, 1928.</span>
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</figure>
<p>The term took on new currency with a wave of literature at the turn of the 20th century about “passing” for rewards that were no longer life-and-death but ranged from an opening up of opportunities to a sense of personal affiliation and identification. Among these are James Weldon Johnson’s 1912 anonymous faux-autobiography, <a href="http://www.penguin.com/read/book-clubs/the-autobiography-of-an-ex-colored-man/9780140184020">Autobiography of an ex-Coloured Man</a>; Winnifred Eaton/Onoto Watanna’s 1915 and 1916 pair of semi-scandalous Asian American memoirs, Me and <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MSunRTAKLw4C">Marion</a>; and Nella Larsen’s 1929 punishing novella, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/15/books/books-of-the-times-anguish-behind-the-harlem-renaissance.html">Passing</a>.</p>
<p>I’m teaching a course on “passing” next year, and as I choose the syllabus I find I’m not limited to stories about racial “passing”. Jackie Kay’s 1998 novel, <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/books/a-breath-of-fresh-air-for-trumpet-1-1404149">Trumpet</a> is the fictionalisation of the life of Billy Tipton, an American jazz pianist who lived his life as a man. When he died, paramedics discovered his female genitalia, surprising Tipton’s family, who said they had no idea. When <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1989-02-01/news/mn-1454_1_billy-tipton">interviewed</a> soon after, one of his wives said, “The real story about Billy Tipton doesn’t have anything to do with gender. He was a fantastic, almost marvellous, and generous person.” A son responded, “He’ll always be Dad”.</p>
<p>It is strange, of course, to continue to think in terms of “passing” today, if we now recognise that the one-drop rule, and race at large, are social constructions, and that gender is “between your ears”. What “passing” says is that a person who appears in any way black can only identify as black (but don’t we say this about Obama, son of a white mother and black father?); or that a person who identifies as black but has white ancestry can only identify as white (think the recent case of Spokane NAACP leader, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/magazine/rachel-dolezals-passing-isnt-so-unusual.html?_r=0">Rachel Dolezal</a>); or that a person who identifies as a woman might be prevented from playing on a women’s sports team to ensure “fair competition”.</p>
<p>From David Bowie to Miley Cyrus, we have been convincing ourselves we’re moving towards acceptance of gender blurring, gender fluidity, non-binary gender. That the gender between your legs is not the one that matters. But it seems as if that’s only the case for pop icons and that the real world still has a long way to go.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53178/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen E. H. Skinazi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We may like to proclaim that ‘gender is between your ears, not between your legs’, but things are often different in the real world.Karen E. H. Skinazi, Lecturer of English and Academic Practice Advisor, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/526132016-01-01T10:22:40Z2016-01-01T10:22:40ZThe Danish Girl: all skirt and no substance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106878/original/image-20151222-27854-1pt1706.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Eddie Redmayne stars as Lili Elbe.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>It was with some trepidation that I went to watch The Danish Girl. Prior to its release the film had already attracted <a href="http://globalcomment.com/the-danish-girl-casting-eddie-redmayne-is-transphobic/">accusations of transphobia</a> for director Tom Hooper’s decision to cast the <a href="http://www.advocate.com/transgender/2015/07/31/true-meaning-word-cisgender">cisgender</a> actor Eddie Redmayne in the title role of Lili Elbe, a trans woman. </p>
<p>Lili Elbe was one of a good number of people in interwar Europe who felt the sex they had been assigned at birth was incorrect. How, I wondered, would a film that had arguably opted to undermine Lili’s womanhood in its choice of actor, handle the complexity of sex and gender <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/culture/2015/03/03/3628693/story-lili-elbe-trans-woman-behind-eddie-redmaynes-new-role/">at this time</a>? </p>
<p>The answer, perhaps predictably, is not very well.</p>
<p>The Danish Girl is based on the life of <a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/Lili-Elbe">Lili Elbe</a>, who was raised as a boy and found fame as the painter Einar Wegener. Lili, as Einar, married fellow painter Gerda Gottlieb. The two are depicted as a close modern couple, sexually attracted and wholly supportive of each other. But a yearning to dress in feminine clothes became a sense of innate womanhood and thus Lili was born. She sought medical help and after some encounters with uncomprehending doctors, she met a surgeon who was able to offer her gender-affirming surgeries. It was from complications arising from one of these surgeries that Lili died in 1931.</p>
<p>This, at least, is the version of Lili’s life put forward by the film.</p>
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<span class="caption">Lili’s birth? (According to film)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Universal</span></span>
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<h2>Man into Woman</h2>
<p>It’s a version drawn from a <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-670-88808-5">novel</a> of the same title by David Ebershoff, published in 2000. But there’s another account of Lili’s life, based on her own writings and edited by a friend, which came out in 1931, just after her death. This book appeared in English translation in 1933 as Man into Woman: An Authentic Account of a Change of Sex. Lili Elbe’s relative fame is owed in no small part to the existence of this memoir. </p>
<p>In following the later novel rather than the memoir, The Danish Girl has brought awareness of Lili’s story to a much larger global audience but in a form that privileges Ebershoff’s reimagining over Lili’s words. The sense that Lili’s own narrative is being sidelined is heightened in the film by the focus on the wife, Gerda, played by Alicia Vikander. Gerda becomes the vehicle through which the audience is invited to view Lili – it is Gerda whose triumphs and tribulations we experience; it is she, the cisgender woman, who is seemingly the more relatable.</p>
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<span class="caption">Alicia Vikander as Gerda.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Universal</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By portraying Lili as a tragic figure ahead of her time, as exceptional, the film obscures the rich history of gender variance in interwar Europe. Lili initially received treatment at Magnus Hirschfeld’s famous <a href="http://www.hirschfeld.in-berlin.de/frame.html?http://www.hirschfeld.in-berlin.de/v_institut_en.html">Institute for Sexual Science</a> in Weimar Berlin. Here she would have encountered people and literature that paid testimony to the variety of sexual expression seen by Hirschfeld and his staff. </p>
<p>Lili was one of the first people to receive surgery to remove the testes and penis and create a vagina, but she was not alone in feeling at odds with the sex she had been designated at birth, nor was she by any means the only person in the 1930s to undergo “sex changing” surgery. In his introduction to the English-language edition of Man into Woman, the sexologist Norman Haire contextualises Lili’s story, informing the general reader about the wealth of scientific research that had led to better understanding and treatment for those like her.</p>
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<span class="caption">The view from the mirror.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Universal</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Intersex</h2>
<p>One of the key elements of Lili’s own memoirs is that she was intersex – she relates how doctors found her to possess ovaries as well as testes. The film never so much as hints at her intersexuality. But Norman Haire was keen to highlight this detail in his 1933 introduction and tell his readers that “male” and “female” are rather inexact labels and that there are many people who fall outside of these categories. </p>
<p>He goes on to provide a series of anecdotes to illustrate his claim. These ideas would be familiar to the British general public as best-selling 1930s national and local papers regularly regaled readers with reports of “men-women”, of people who were deemed to be neither wholly male nor female, and of those whose sex was reclassified from female to male or vice versa.</p>
<p>Lili Elbe, as played by Eddie Redmayne, experiences a series of traumatic brushes with medical authorities – men who want to commit her to mental institutions and pathologise her. Such encounters were also a reality but they were not the whole story. This was a time when hormone research was throwing a light on intersexuality and when some people – not many, but some nonetheless – were able to secure medical treatment for themselves to affirm their own gender identities.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">As Einar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Universal</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Danish Girl will no doubt bring Lili Elbe to a much larger audience and foster awareness of the long history of transsexuality. But it does so without turning to the growing number of trans actresses who could have played the role, without acknowledging Lili’s intersexuality and without conveying a sense of the richness and awareness of sex variance in 1930s Europe. We see the surgeon’s knife pierce Lili’s skin, but the film’s portrayal of sex and gender is more akin to the dresses and stockings to which the camera keeps returning – it never really goes beyond the surface.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52613/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clare Tebbutt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The film tells the story of Lili Elbe, who was one of the first people to receive sexual reassignment surgery. Sadly, the film barely scratches the surface of the real story.Clare Tebbutt, Research Assistant in English Archives, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/427782015-06-09T04:18:34Z2015-06-09T04:18:34ZGay students still not welcome at South African universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84191/original/image-20150608-8704-wmvshx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C307%2C2182%2C1545&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Young LGBTI students go to university hoping that they would be accepted, but are discriminated against instead. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex are more likely to hide their sexual orientation until they <a href="http://www.unisa.ac.za/default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=97226">graduate from high school</a> and leave home to study at university or other institutions. In most African countries, these institutions are invariably located in urban centres. </p>
<p>Leaving their homes before “coming out”, these young people hope their orientation would be less conspicuous in the urban cities and people will be more tolerant. In this way, they will be able to express their <a href="http://www.genderandeducation.com/issues/what-is-heteronormativity/">non-heteronormative identities</a> as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender or intersex (LGBTI). </p>
<p>But they find that their tickets to freedom are not as they envisioned.</p>
<h2>Is it really freedom at last?</h2>
<p>Gay students see universities as spaces of intellectual freedom and believe these institutions are progressive and inclusive spaces – unlike their communities back home. This rural-urban migration of <a href="http://www.feministafrica.org/index.php/the-women-s-movement-and-lesbian-and-gay-struggles-in-south-africa">“going out-before coming out”</a> has benefits and pitfalls. </p>
<p>Research shows institutions are often an extension of some of the <a href="https://www.sbp-journal.com/index.php/sbp/article/view/1887">general population’s</a> homophobic attitudes. Their fellow students are homophobic and discriminate against them in their residences, on the sport fields, during lectures and when they access other support services <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/publication/240543430_Sexual_Identity_and_Transformation_at_a_South_African_University">on campus</a>. </p>
<p>During sports activities or physical education, the LGBTI students are harassed, bullied or assaulted based on <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17908102">their sexual orientation</a>. And during lectures, their lecturers create a hostile environment by calling them names and verbalising their hatred and disapproval of homosexuality. </p>
<p>Their dormitories are hostile with heterosexual students often violently attacking, ridiculing and forcing them out of <a href="http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/15783182/coming-out-south-african-university-campus-adaptations-gay-men-lesbians">residences</a>. University administration dismiss complaints of harassment, prejudice and <a href="http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/15783182/coming-out-south-african-university-campus-adaptations-gay-men-lesbians">discrimination from students</a> and campus-based health care workers perpetuate discrimination by denying the students services.
Health care workers also offer <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25732232">“corrective counselling”</a>. </p>
<p>In one South African university, the negative attitudes even come from students who attend the anti-stigma and <a href="http://www.unisa.ac.za/contents/colleges/col_humanities_social_sciences_education/docs/THE-EXPERIENCE-OF-LGBTI-STUDENTS-IN-A-RURAL-BASED-UNIVERSITY-A-CASE-STUDY-OF-A-UNIVERSITY-IN-LIMPOPO-PROVINCE.pdf">discrimination campaigns</a>. Research shows the homophobic practices are influenced by selective readings of religious scriptures and particular interpretations of African culture.</p>
<h2>Survival strategies</h2>
<p>To avert stigma and discrimination, LGBTI students have found several ways to protect themselves. One is to live double lives, where they publicly engage in heterosexual relationships during the day and privately enjoy the partner of their choice. </p>
<p>Students at South African universities such as <a href="http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/15783182/coming-out-south-african-university-campus-adaptations-gay-men-lesbians">Stellenbosch University</a>, <a href="http://repository.uwc.ac.za/xmlui/handle/10566/614">University of the Western Cape</a>, <a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?pid=S0256-01002013000400011&script=sci_arttext">University of Kwa-Zulu Natal</a> seek acceptance by “acting straight” to pass as heterosexual. </p>
<p>This is by no means exclusive to these universities, But involving themselves in concurrent sexual relationships puts them at risk of contracting or transmitting HIV. Their so-called “public partners” are also at risk of being infected with HIV. </p>
<p>Apart from the increased risk of HIV infection, both the students and their “trophy partners” are at risk of emotional trauma. In some cases, some end up impregnating their partners without any commitment. This, at the end, affects the child, who is conceived as an act of “convenience”</p>
<p>Other LGBTI students try to avert stigma by avoiding public spaces and their classes. But this leads to poor academic performance, and them dropping out of university. Or they resort to drug and alcohol abuse. </p>
<p>Studies conducted in 14 South African universities show that men who have sex with men and LGBTI students have increased level of drug and alcohol abuse <a href="http://www.unisa.ac.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Finalised-MSM-publicatiion-28042015.pdf">compared to other university students</a>. </p>
<p>Continuous exposure to homophobic and transphobic attacks has a negative impact on the LGBTI students’ mental and social health in general. Some end up being depressed while others commit suicide. Their academic performance suffers and the continued stigma contributes to increased student drop-outs.</p>
<p>However, there are LGBTI students that are tired of being in the closet and end up “coming out” publicly, displaying “exaggerated behaviour” so that their sexual orientation can be openly seen instead of them being asked. Feminine gays or transgender males dress up to surpass as females. Similarly, masculine lesbians and transgender females dress to surpass as males. </p>
<p>Most of the students end up advocating for the rights of other LGBTI students. They do, however, also become easy targets for further homophobic and transphobic attacks. </p>
<h2>How to normalise homosexuality</h2>
<p>Apart from belonging to LGBTI community, these students deserve equal rights like all other students. Their treatment shows that university administrations, the government and civil society need to rise in defence of LGBTI students’ rights.</p>
<p>To address the hatred towards LGBTI persons, the AIDS Accountability International has a campaign to break down the hierarchies within sexual orientation and <a href="http://www.aidsaccountability.org/?page_id=13153">normalise homosexuality in Africa</a>. </p>
<p>As part of this campaign, several universities in the Southern Africa Development Community are planning research into LGBTI challenges in institutions of higher learning. Research reports from various researchers in the region will be published in special edition journals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42778/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mzi Nduna receives funding from the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) and AIDS Accountability International (AAI) to conduct research on sexual and reproductive health right. Mzi is also a research partner with AIDS Foundation of South Africa (AFSA).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Azwihangwisi Helen Mavhandu-Mudzusi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>LGBTI students at South Africa’s universities are living double lives to protect themselves from heterosexual students who ridicule and attack them.Mzi Nduna, Associate Professor in Public Health, University of the WitwatersrandAzwihangwisi Helen Mavhandu-Mudzusi, Associate Professor, University of South AfricaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.