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The following article by Liesl Theron was published in the May Edition of Source Magazine.
Transgenderism. Transexual. Gender Queer. Male to female, Gender bender,  FTM. What does all of this mean? Where does it all come from and why does it emerge now all of a sudden? And why should we care?
Let’s start at the beginning. Transgenderism is an inclusive umbrella term used to describe the diversity of gender identities and expression for all people who do not conform to common ideas of gender roles. Before we go too deeply into all of this, we should first be able to understand the vast difference between sexual orientation and Gender identity. Sexual orientation is which sex we find erotically attractive e.g. Hetro-, bi-, or homosexual. Gender Identity describes the way we see ourselves, female or male, free from all social constructs. Unfortunately the word gender is wrongly used, interchangeably with the word sex, which (other than the verb) refers to the biological description of a person.
It becomes a bit tricky when the person’s gender identity is different from what biology dictates or other people see with the eye. That is when we hear the description “Trapped in the wrong body”. The person, who will use those words, is a person who according to western terminology falls into the transgender group. Once that person makes a decision to takes steps on a physical level, to align the mind and body, either by means of hormone treatment or surgery, we refer to that person as transsexual.
A transperson still has a sexual orientation too, and can be homosexual, heterosexual or bisexual like everybody else. This can be a bit confusing to both the transperson and other people. Let me explain. If a pre-transition (meaning not all necessary medical and surgical steps are taken) FTM (female to male) person’s sexual orientation is heterosexual and the person is in a relationship, then that FTM will be with a woman, and might therefore be wrongly described by social norms as a lesbian couple, by people who don’t know otherwise. The FTM’s girlfriend can even be a heterosexual woman, who is open minded enough to see this person for the man he is. Many a time FTM’s socialise in lesbian circles for various reasons, which might include their own searching-for-the-self-stage, when looking for a place to find their true identity. A MTF (male to female) person could also be married for years before coming out, and if the wife chooses to stay with the transperson, society will define that couple as lesbian, although that heterosexual woman does not necessarily describes she as lesbian.
Where does all of this lead? Who will be there for advice for those couples, who can make referrals for trans people and their SOFFA’s (Significant Others, Friends, Family and Allies) where does one find assistance in South Africa? Gender DynamiX is a NPO, founded by Liesl Theron to create visibility and awareness about transgenderism, to be of service to the transgender community and to liaise with professionals to be of better assistance.
Why should the gay and lesbian community as a whole care about this? Other than the fact that the acronym reads LGBTI, transgender people or those who describe themselves as gender queer, can therefore also be gay, lesbian or bisexual. The art lies in not creating another set of boundaries or labels to tag people with, but rather to suggest a much more fluid inclusitivity. In order to have a better understanding of all of this, one should raise awareness. There is various ways of including a transgender agenda on the table.
At Cape Town Pride 2006, Gender DynamiX presented a book fair, including a poetry reading. One of the poet readers was a transwoman and she was also one of the guest speakers. Her poetry and another transwoman, Anne Kuipers’ biography was for sale. After some friendly negotiations with Out In Africa, Gender DynamiX become involved in this year’s film festival to help create the gender focus-theme which highlighted the 2006 festival. One intersex movie and a good range of transgender movies were screened, and some of the movies were followed by a panel discussion. This year’s panel discussions were popular and reached out to many people, transgender and non-transgendered. Interestingly enough, this year’s panel discussions attracted much bigger audiences than any other in the past! Transgender and gender as a whole seems generally to be of public interest of late. Other than excellent acting and film technology, this may be part of the reason why TransAmerica did so well world-wide. TransAmerica was a very positive, true-to-reality representation. There was a good deal of joy, sorrow, reality, facts, mixed emotions, denial and acceptance without boring the audience.
From 1 – 8 April at the KKNK (Klein Karoo Nationale Kunstefees), one of the most outstanding photography exhibitions was done by Robert Hamblin. He played with gender in a surrealistic way, which captured the viewers’ attention. In this awesome work, a series of photos and two videos presented a whole new concept of gender. Gender as a whole became a question. What makes this work even more realistic and truthful was the brutal honesty he speaks with, as this is an involuntary work of art, focusing on his own life and gender journey. Every year at the KKNK the body, who approves artists, the “arts cabinet” has their own list of top 20 favorite works, consisting of all the items, art, music, theatre and fine art. Robert’s Gender was the only fine arts item listed as one of the top 20 favorites! I can highly recommend a viewing of his art at the next exhibition. This work will be exhibited next at the University of Johannesburg’s gallery during the last week of June. A must see!
Gender DynamiX was previously invited on two occasions to be a guest on Radio Good Hope with Dr Eve during her talk show on Wednesday evenings. Another way to get answers to questions relating to transgenderism, irrespective if the question is about the self or if you are a SOFFA, is to visit www.health24.co.za. Search for the transgender expert at the experts section of the forum. Gender DynamiX also presents various workshops. If you would like Gender DynamiX to assist your company to align their policies, present workshops to co-workers and make your transition as smooth as possible at work, don’t hesitate to contact Gender DynamiX at
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. There are also self-empowering workshops for transgender people. Gender DynamiX presents another very informative two-day workshop, aimed at non-transgender professional people, working with transgender clients, such as psychologists, counselors, endo’s GP’s, attorneys or people in any other career field who seek more information. The next such a workshop, entitled “Understanding Transgenderism” will be presented from the 26 to the 27 May and for more information please mail
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or call 083 320 7691. Gender DynamiX also started a social/ support group called T-junction, who get together at least once a month. Any persons defining as transgender and their SOFFA’s are welcome to contact me at any of the above mentioned email addresses.
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