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As Angharad doesn't seem to have spotted this yet - or, if she has, not got round to posting - here's an article in today's Guardian Education supplement that may be of interest here.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/17/transgenderi...
Geoff
Comments
She is correct
Geoff, Natacha is right about children knowing that they are some how different at an early age. We did not know we were transgendered, but we sure knew that something was not right. Shame and guilt all over the place. Too soon old, too late smart.
Wendy Marie
Wendy Marie
How refreshing...
...to see such a sensitive piece of editorial journalism on this subject, with no attempt at creating false controversy or excusing the status-quo, and with such thoughtful and positive comments (at least so far). It gives me hope.
Thank you, Geoff, for posting this link. It made my day.
Quite right, Geoff
I hadn't seen it. I admit I don't generally read the education supplement, today I was too busy reading about Lance Armstrong's bike being nicked.
Angharad
Angharad
That wouldn't take long.
The Great Bike Theft story only took a small amount of space, albeit front page space :) I guess the thieves were either not very bright (difficult to sell on eBay) or wanted to to caress it in the privacy of their own homes. I wonder if a bike like that would have got me the sub 24 minute 10 or 'inside the hour' 25, I never quite achieved ? LOL
When you're old and decrepit like me, looking through, if not actually reading, the whole paper is a blessed luxury in the morning. There have to be some advantages to creaking joints and thinning hair.
Geoff
Telling comment
Awhile back a BC member in the U.K. made a comment to the effect that people in the U.K. had a tradition of crossdresser/transgender comedy that we in the United States lacked, which affected the way TG/TS/TV people were viewed. I just now found this comment in the article on transgendered children: "Bullying of transgendered children is utterly vicious and is completely ingrained in our culture," says Natacha. The comedy transvestite, for instance, is an intrinsic part of British comic culture and is so popular a stereotype that it renders bullying of transgender people almost a cultural obligation.
I wonder, is this what the person had in mind?
(Notice: I do not remember the exact words, nor do I remember who it was that said it. I mention this to make the point that no country is in a position to claim moral superiority about this issue.)
Yuri!
Yuri!
It could have been me.
I mentioned it in another context but it's certainly true that cross-dressing and humour are closely linked in British (or perhaps mainly English) entertainment. I can think of many straight off the top of my head but some recent examples might be Hinge and Bracket, a musical duo who tended towards Gilbert and Sullivan, and Lily Savage. They are merely the newer members of a long line. There was even a ventriloquist who didn't actually advertise that she was in fact an impersonator. One of my favourites was Mrs Shufflewick who was "broad-minded to the point of obscenity" and, in fact I didn't realise she was an impersonator at first. Then there is the long line of pantomime dames partly balanced by female principal boys (though with fish net stockings and high heels there is no pretence to hide their true gender.)
I don't know if this is particularly restricted to the UK. I made a couple of visits to La Carouselle in Paris some years ago and there the stress was on the performers appearing truly feminine and acting out the role of nightclub singers incredibly convincingly and seriously. A quite different approach from the one here in England.
However, I'm unconvinced that this tradition automatically extends to the bullying of transgendered children. Professional impersonators are usually held in fond regard. I think the bullying is far more likely to be simple fear of the different just like any other sort of bullying be it homophobic, ginger hair, spectacles, poor sports performance or anything else likely to cause ganging up.
It's a big subject with neither simple solution nor simple cause.
Geoff
Young children know who they are.
I can still remember my 3 year old birthday party, and wanting so much to be dressed like the girls that were there. Every one of them had on very pretty dresses, and their hair was gorgeous. Of course back then I had no idea what they called it, but I knew I was different than everyone else of my physical sex. When I was called a good boy, I wanted to throw up. It wasn't until I was 7 year old, that my friends started noticing that I acted differently than the boys did, and was more of a girl. If it weren't for my friends, and others back then, I probably would not have survived.
Natacha Kennedy is right when she says that young children know their sexual identity, and she is right too in saying that we need this taught in our schools. But I don't think citizensip is the proper course, because this is actually a health issue, and should be taught in health related subjects.
This is a very good article.
Love & hugs,
Barbara
"With confidence and forebearance, we will have the strength to move forward."
"With confidence and forbearance, we will have the strength to move forward."
Love & hugs,
Barbara
"If I have to be this girl in me, Then I have the right to be."