Trigger warning for the trailer below: misgendering, transphobic low-level violence Next month About Ray will be released in the US, adding to the stories being told about trans folks right now – the key word being about and not by trans folks. About Ray looks like it will not only be a great film, but…
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Trigger warning: slurs, abuse, suicide A few mornings ago, I hopped on Twitter to find a big screenshot of Brisbane’s The Courier-Mail, its front page salaciously covered with a woman in a bikini and the headline: “Monster Chef and the She Male”. I know I joke with friends that Queensland’s a little behind in…
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Trigger Warnings: murder, transphobia, transmisogyny, transmisogynistic slurs, cannibalism, sex-worker-phobia, sex-worker-phobic slurs This week, major news outlets discovered that Mayang Prasetyo, a transgender woman of colour, was murdered and in the process of being cooked and eaten by her husband, Marcus Volke. Media outlets have been quick to report that Ms Prasetyo was a “transgendered…
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On the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), it is fantastic to see the LGBTQIA community and so many of its allies come out in support of this amazing cause and to help show that the world is becoming more accepting of sexual and gender minorities. It is also a day to remember that…
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Laverne Cox came prominently into the public eye as Sophia Burset on Orange is the New Black, prisoner, hair stylist, and transsexual, and pretty soon a fan favourite. Cox herself is transgender and a vocal and active advocate for LGBTIQ rights. Just last month, GLAAD awarded her the Stephen F. Kolzak Award, one of their…
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India’s high court has ruled that its transgender community will be recognised as a third gender. India is home to a significantly large trans* community who have campaigned for their equal treatment and the end of discrimination. Because trans* people are not legally recognised in India, many have to resort to prostitution or beg for…
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The Australian High Court has ruled in favour of a third gender category, now legally recognising ‘gender neutral’ in NSW, with Queensland and Victoria likely to follow. The ruling comes after a Sydneysider won their case against the New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages to be granted a gender-non-specific birth certificate. Norrie,…
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Kim Fu’s debut novel, For Today I am a Boy, is an elegant and often heart-wrenching story of an individual’s struggle for identity and belonging. The protagonist is Peter, a long-awaited son, born into a first-generation Chinese family in Ontario. He is given the middle-name Juan Chaun – ‘Powerful King’ – a moniker that reveals…
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New York department store, Barneys’ has launched its fashion advertising campaign featuring 17 trans* models. The Brothers, Sisters, Sons and Daughters campaign, spearheaded by David Freeman, aims to create awareness and acceptance of the trans* community. Despite the social advances achieved by gays, lesbians and bisexuals and their presence in the media, Freeman’s concept aims…
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I was sitting on a bus a few weeks ago, listening unabashedly to a conversation between two other passengers. They had just watched a Youtube video on one of their phones of gay marriage being passed in Parliament somewhere on the other side of the world. Judging by the young men’s uniforms, they were studying…
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In high school, one of my best friends loved to wear skirts. His favorite one was grey; it danced two inches above his knees and matched the Sharpie marker that colored in his shoes. This is the same skirt that matched his eyeliner. Though he is a male that likes to shop for prom dresses,…
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As a movement, and speaking in very general terms, feminism has been guilty of marginalising the voices of other people. While it has been rejected on ignorant grounds which rely on stereotypes (feminists are hairy, scary people who hate men and burn undergarments), it has also been quite fairly rejected on the grounds that it…
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