An LGBTQ Perspective by Stephanie Manning (blog piece I am interviewed in) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity as a part of the Women, Peace and Security Project
LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security Working Paper Series, 2016
United Nations Security Resolution 1325 was the first resolution to draw attention to women and girls during conflict, as well as the first to consider gendered experiences of war. Yet those vulnerable to insecurity and violence because of their sexual orientation or gender identity remain largely neglected by the international peace and security community. While much has been accomplished by WPS projects, there is an alarming lack of attention to how homophobic and transphobic violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) individuals occurs in conflict-related environments.
Loving Curiosity: On the Intersection of Bisexual and Transgender Oppression
In my current work, I argue that the oppressions experienced by transgender people and bisexual people are structurally identical insofar as they are premised on accusations of “reinforcing the binary,” an accusation that undermines not only the legitimacy of trans and bi lives, but also the political efficacy of trans and bi activism and coalition building. Given this similarity and the empirical fact that bisexuality is the most common sexual orientation for trans women, there ought to be thriving trans and bi coalitions and more suspicion against attitudes that pit bisexuality against transgender experience. BTQ coalitions don’t seem to exist, and my work attempts to show why.
Cisnormativity, criminalisation, vulnerability: Transgender people in prisons
Critical Criminology, 2015
Transgender people are one particular vulnerable group in the prison system. Recent US statistics suggest that physical assault was experienced by 16% of incarcerated transgender people in jail or prison, with 15 per cent experiencing sexual assault (Grant et al. 2011: 158). In comparison, one study from California reports an overall sexual assault rate of 4.4 per cent of all inmates in male California correctional facilities (Grant et al. 2011: 167). Denial of access to health care was another form of abuse of transgender people in jails or prisons, with 12 per cent reporting denial of routine health care and 17 per cent reporting denial of hormones (Grant et al. 2011: 158). There is no Australian empirical research. In addition the power dynamics inherent in the criminal justice system, transgender people are particularly vulnerable to the way the dynamics of cisnormativity play out in prisons. Transgender prisoners are further criminalised or pathologised in incarceration practices which aim to address and reduce their vulnerability. This comment will briefly examine these practices through the discussion of policy, procedure and practice regarding the treatment of transgender people in prisons, using a framework of cisnormativity. This comment will conclude by identifying some gaps in current research about transgender people in prison and suggest a way forward. Through the examination of the way cisnormativity affects transgender prisoners, this comment begins to move beyond strategies that respond to vulnerability and move towards approaches to prevent its replication.
Queering Counselor Education: Situational Analysis of LGBTQ+ Competent Faculty
Counselors must be competent in working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, questioning and allied (LGBTQ+) clients as required by the ACA Code of Ethics and the Association of LGBT Issues in Counseling (ALGBTIC) (Walker & Prince, 2010). Graduate counseling programs teach students to become counselors, yet research demonstrates counselor educators often lack skills and knowledge to train counselors to become LGBTQ+ competent (Israel & Hackett, 2004; Logan & Barret, 2005). This study explores the process of counselor educators integrating LGBTQ+ competencies into counseling programs as well as the process of LGBTQ+ competent faculty becoming LGBTQ+ competent using Charmaz’s (2014) grounded theory and Clarke’s (2005) situational analysis methods. Within this study, themes form the LGBTQ+ Competent Project Map demonstrating the process of counselor educators integrating LGBTQ+ competencies in counseling programs and the process of LGBTQ+ competent faculty becoming LGBTQ+ competent.
" I was and still am " : Narratives of Bisexual Marking in the #StillBisexual Campaign
This research investigated narratives of bi-erasure and bisexual marking by considering 53 video confessionals associated with the #StillBisexual campaign. #StillBisexual is a web-based campaign that targets myths about bisexuality and promotes bisexual identity visibility. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify emergent themes regarding the ways that individuals mark and make known their bisexuality. Three major themes of bisexual demarcation emerged including the enduring nature of bisexuality, defining bisexuality, and defining the self as a bisexual being. Discussion focuses on describing bisexual marking approaches by #StillBisexual participants and by analyzing the way bisexual demarcation challenges assumptions of monosexism and cisgenderism inherent to cultural conceptualizations of sexuality.
Transgender Boomers are Aging, Too. Is Our Health Care System Ready?
Much attention has been given in recent years to the “silver tsunami” of aging U.S. Baby Boomers. Born between 1946 and 1964, the Boomers are the largest cohort of Americans in history, numbering more than 77 million (Tomasa, 2013). It is hard to imagine a greater strain being placed on already shrinking resources, but by 2030, Medicare recipients will have increased to 79 million from the 44 million it was serving before the first wave of eligible Boomers hit the system in 2007. Similarly, Social Security claims will be paid to more than 84 million people, up from 50 million. The challenges facing our health system are not only about financial and physical resources, but about compassion and cultural competence as well. Among the influx of these older adults are a disproportionate number of individuals from marginalized populations with unique and sometimes substantial needs beyond the typical concerns of health and aging. One prime example of a population with substantial needs is the transgender community. The greatest obstacles facing transgender Baby Boomers are not their own internal struggles, but those of the society in which they live. The civil rights struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people has brought to light many of the inequities in health care and elder care discussed in this article. Unemployment, health inequities, and violence plague the transgender community. Without support and advocacy help from allies outside the community as well as continued growth of leadership and political influence within the community, transgender people will continue to slip through the cracks of our system. This article profiles the challenges and disparities facing transgender Baby Boomers as they approach later life and provides a summary of findings and recommendations to ensure smoother sailing on often stormy seas.
Beyond Acceptance: Serving the Needs of Transgender Students at Women's Colleges
The inclusion of transgender students in women's colleges has been widely debated on campuses and in the media. Despite some opposition, transgender students at women's colleges are growing in number and visibility. This study examines the ways that transgender students' experiences differ from the experiences of cisgender students in both single-sex and coeducational environments. Conclusions are based on assessments of support, reported attitudes towards transgender students, and reported knowledge about transgender history and social issues using responses to a survey completed by 184 students at a variety of colleges and universities. The study found significant differences between women's colleges and coeducational universities such that women's colleges were rated as more supportive for all students and students at women's colleges reported significantly more positive attitudes towards transgender students. Additionally, transgender students at women's colleges reported more positive overall experiences of college, as compared to transgender students at coeducational colleges. Given that the sample was majority white, cisgender, women's college students, the measures used should be replicated in order to determine the generalizability of these results.
Breaking the Silence digital media and the struggle for lgbtq rights in iran
Launched on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia, Small Media launches its latest report Breaking the Silence: Digital Media and LGBTQ Rights in Iran. Developed in partnership with a number of Iranian LGBTQ organisations, our new report assesses the state of the LGBTQ community’s digital media ecology and describes how apps, social media platforms, and new community services are transforming the lives of LGBTQ people under intense pressure from the state and wider society. In this report, we highlight the incredible resilience, bravery and ingenuity of Iran’s LGBTQ citizens in the face of sustained state persecution and continued societal hostility. We map out the urgent media development needs of the LGBTQ community, share examples of existing community initiatives, and signpost areas where local activists and international partners might be able to work together to deliver meaningful benefits to the community.
Sex Education
Sexuality education as pedagogy is often fraught by the perceived need to balance the informational needs of young people with an investment in notions of childhood innocence. Nowhere is this perhaps more evident than in sexuality education that seeks to be inclusive of transgender young people, often resulting in the failure of such education to address the needs of such students. In an attempt at addressing the relative dearth of information about what transgender young people would like to see covered in sexuality education, in this article we explore transgender young people's accounts of intimacy and sexual health and consider what this means for school-based sexuality education. To do this we analyse discussions of intimacy from the perspectives of transgender young people as narrated in a sample of YouTube videos. We conclude by advocating for an approach to sexuality education that largely eschews the gendering of body parts and gametes, and which instead focuses on function, so as to not only address the needs of transgender young people (who may find normative discussions of genitals distressing), but to also provide cisgender young people with a more inclusive understanding of their own and other people's bodies and desires.