When public figures such as Cate McGregor and Caitlyn Jenner speak about trans experience, how does it serve the development of trans rights?
AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
A number of high-profile trans people have come out in recent months, such as Cate McGregor and Caitlyn Jenner. Do these big media moments help advance trans rights across society?
Young gay teens forced into conversion “therapy” may suffer mental health issues.
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The history of “cures” for homosexuality reveals how discredited conversion therapies for gay and transgender children can irreparably harm young minds.
There is a high rate of assault on transgender students in schools.
torbakhopper
Transgender students have a higher suicide rate on college campuses due to the harassment they experience. Now women’s colleges, such as Wellesley, are showing the way forward.
Gender dysphoria is when a person’s subjectively felt gender is incongruent with her or his biological sex.
Purple Sherbet Photography/Flickr
Yesterday, the Courier-Mail put the gruesome murder of Indonesian transwoman Mayang Prasetyo, killed by her partner Marcus Volker, on its front page. The article is breathtaking in its prurience and voyeurism…
In recent years there has been a significant shift in understandings of transgender identity. So often caught up with ideas about sexuality, the liberalisation of attitudes towards gays and lesbians has…
Famous boxing promoter, Kellie Maloney, recently came out as transgender. She did so as a pre-emptive move, because it had become clear to her that at least two newspapers were going to out her without…
The Indonesian media often portrays the lives of transgender people as “sinful” and wrong.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade/Flickr
A transgender woman with heavy makeup, a red wig and dressed in pink is chased by her pimp’s henchmen. A young woman hides her in her house. So begins the TV drama, a story of repentance of a transgender…
Why is the language we use to describe gender non-conformists such as Andrej Pejic so important?
CHRISTOPHER MACSURAK
Transgender and gender non-conforming lives are becoming increasingly visible. Debate about the lives and legitimacy of trans people is being conducted in the most mainstream of media outlets: Time magazine…
The cast and crew of transgender comedy The Switch want to see more inclusive representation of transgender people on TV.
We Love The Switch
The Canadian production company Trembling Void has just successfully crowdfunded a new television series called The Switch. The project is a comedy tracing the lives of an ensemble of trans characters…
Eamon Farren as Ava and Jessica Marais as Carlotta.
Photo by Simon Cardwell. ABC
In 2005 the road film Transamerica, directed by Duncan Tucker was released. It was a controversial film for its time simply for telling a trans story on the big screen. A complex transsexual character…
‘Tranny’ finds a place among many other slurs that have historically hateful roots.
Foxtel
If you’re a fan of the American reality TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race, currently airing on Foxtel’s Lifestyle You channel in Australia, you’re likely aware of the ongoing storm that has surged around how…
The high court has ruled that New South Wales must allow Norrie to legally identify as having a non-specific gender.
AAP/Daniel Munoz
Have you ever asked yourself why institutions continue to demand that we identify ourselves as male or female on every form? What difference does gender make to my bank account, to the tax office, or to…
Prompting international outrage, the Supreme Court of India has overturned a “reading-down” of the notorious Section 377 of the India Penal Code. This, in effect, reinstated a law that is widely understood…
Bamboozled won best film at Tropfest on the weekend, causing much controversy.
Tropfest
On the weekend, Bamboozled was awarded the best film prize at the Tropfest. It has sparked controversy for its homophobic and transphobic narrative devices. The film portrays an encounter between Peter…
The binary categories of male and female don’t align with the reality that sex and gender may be fluid.
Keoni Cabral
Earlier this month the High Court indicated it was prepared to hear a legal case that tests the ability of intersex Australians to be legally recognised as being neither male or female. The High Court…
Vasectomies and abortions require informed consent.
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When it comes to gender transitions, trans patients are often inappropriately held to higher account when compared to people opting for other kinds of medical care. Standards of care are effectively constructed…
Transition town: changing gender can be more difficult than it should be.
Transguyjay
Transgender people face many barriers when seeking medical treatment to help with their transitions. The most common, and arguably most damaging, is the “gatekeeper” model of health-care, where doctors…
The demarcation of the population into male and female effectively excludes everyone who falls outside those boundaries.
Frozen Coffee/Flickr
“Sex and gender diverse” is the umbrella term for a highly disparate, largely invisible and neglected group of people. The experiences of these people challenge the popular view that all people live in…