Polare 71 Editorial

by Katherine Cummings

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

As Phinn has pointed out on the opposite page, we have tried to place emphasis on the F.T.M. part of our community in this issue. The M.T.F. community is often (or maybe out-glitzed) by the M.T.F., who are more visible and often noisier. Because F.T.M.s in general find it easier to move into their place in society, since their hormone treatments are usually highly effective in hiding their former gender and tend to "dress down" rather than having to "dress up", they often tend to prefer to melt into society and simply live the life they were innately born for.

This, however, often means that their problems are overlooked and undervalued and although for many years we were told there was a huge imbalance between F.T.M. and M.T.F. numbers, recent studies show that in fact the ratio is closer to parity than we thought.

Possibly for similar reasons I have found difficulty in finding F.T.M.s prepared to write for Polare and even greater problems in finding an F.T.M. for the cover. Luckily Kevin Heyne volunteered and he has supplied an interview with a former partner in which she talks of Kevin's transition and its effects on him, on her and their relationship.

As in so many cases, it is the families, partners and children of transitioning transgenders who find they have to cope with something new and strange and in many cases hurtful, while the transitioner remains self-absorbed in their new, wonderful and, let me hasten to say, absolutely necessary, life-changing decisions and procedures.

I have said before that I wish there were more readers of Polare prepared to contribute or comment. This issue carries a strong letter from Katherine Wolfgramme, who queries the lack of support shown for transgenders who are victimised by society and asks whether such transgenders should be receiving more help from the gay and lesbian community and indeed from the Gender Centre.

Katherine cites a case of a transgender singled out for mention as having gone from male persona to female when this transition as a whole had nothing to do with the story as a whole, except peripherally, and appeared to have been included purely for its "Gee Whiz" value.

Occurrences such as this raise a number of questions for transgenders who might want to see social justice done and might therefore spring to the defence of the victim. There are, however, times when such intervention may cause more harm than good.

I am all in favour of standing up for our rights and not taking a backward step, but sometimes this kind of hard nosed reaction can harm the person one is trying to protect. It has become commonplace for people who are gay but in the closet to be "outed" by others, especially if they are public figures. Their preference for concealment is seen as a betrayal of the rest of the community and they are forcibly recruited into the army of protest. I believe this kind of action to be totally wrong as I feel that everyone has a right to decide for him or herself the degree of openness with which they will live.

So when a journalist writes a throw away story which is not likely to stir up a storm, and when that story includes a foolish squib about someone who has transitioned from one gender to the other, one has to wonder whether they would want attention drawn to the story which in turn might draw attention to them. The journalist concerned was crass and stupid, but does that justify exposing the transgender to even greater victimisation by drawing attention to her transgender status. She is, in fact, not a transgender at this stage of her life. She has passed through the trans-stage and is now a woman. At least that is how I see it. I would welcome other opinions.

Very early in my transition I was outed in just this way by a Melbourne paper that made up a whole news story about my transition, having been tipped off by someone in the A.B.C. for whom I was reviewing books at the time. The story included ridiculous, untruthful and vicious descriptions of the effects of my transition on my wife. I was all for suing the bastards and exposing their lies for what they were but every legal opinion I received said I would be mad to do it, as I would simply sell more copies of their tabloid rag and draw more attention to myself and my family, who were having a bad enough time as it was. Against my inclination and my nature I agreed to let the matter drop and now believe it was the wisest course.

But the whole issue of privacy versus allowing ignorant and bigoted journalists to play with our reputations unchallenged will continue to be a vexed one.

Do you have an opinion to share?

Polare is published in Australia by The Gender Centre Inc. which is funded by the Department of Community Services under the S.A.A.P. Program and supported by the N.S.W. Health Department through the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch. Polare provides a forum for discussion and debate on gender issues. Advertisers are advised that all advertising is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, though no guarantee is made by the Editor that they will be published, nor any discussion entered into. The editor reserves the right to edit such contributions without notification. Any submission which appears in Polare may be published on our internet site. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, The Gender Centre Inc.I, the Department of Community Services or the N.S.W. Department of Health.