scholarly journals “Just Existing Is Activism”: Transgender Experiences in Martial Arts

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Anna Kavoura ◽  
Alex Channon ◽  
Marja Kokkonen
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Queer Theory ◽  
Martial Arts ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Self Care ◽  
Diversity Education ◽  
Change Strategies ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Context Specific

This study focuses on transgender experiences in martial arts. Interviews with three Finnish and two British transgender martial artists were thematically analyzed, and findings were interpreted through the lens of queer theory. Two themes were identified related to the ways that transgender martial artists experience their sporting contexts, namely martial arts as an empowering and inclusive context and the challenges related to being transgender in martial arts. Two themes were also identified when it comes to participants’ strategies for coping with cis-/heteronormativity in martial arts. Whenever possible, participants employed social change strategies, whereas other times, they drew on self-care strategies. Following this, we suggest a need for context-specific, protective policies; nonbinary means of organizing sport; and gender diversity education for instructors to better cater for the specific needs of transgender people in sport.

scholarly journals RESPONSE: SEX & GENDER DIVERSITY, AND THE LIMITATIONS OF LEGAL IDENTIFICATION

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
Fine Detail ◽  
Gender Diverse ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Legal Identification ◽  
Insight Into

This comment expands on three key issues raised by the argument put forward in on the article by Ashleigh Bagshaw in this volume entitled ‘Exploring the Implications of Gender Identification for Transgender People under Australian Law’. It points out that sex and gender diversity goes beyond transsexualism and explores the need to factor this insight into any future legal developments. It notes that the implications of any change to marriage law could be profound for sex and gender diverse people, and considers how change should best proceed. It concludes that the debates about the fine detail of legal regulation in this area beg the question of whether law should even be in the business of identifying and recording people’s sex/gender in the first place.

Categorical and gradational: alternative survey measures of sex and gender

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aliya Saperstein ◽  
Laurel Westbrook
Keyword(s):  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Categorical Approach ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
Binary Approach ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Single Question ◽  
Representative Samples ◽  
Fluid Characteristics

Demands for recognition of gender diversity and transgender people are growing. We tested non-binary sex and gender measures using nationally representative samples of US adults to assess feasibility for general population surveys. We find more support for a two-step categorical approach, with separate questions about natal sex and gender identity, than for a single question assessing transgender status as the latter was less reliable within our online surveys and over time. We also consider the challenge of determining measurement reliability for fluid characteristics and argue that using categorical and gradational gender measures in combination should become standard practice.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Gender measurement must expand beyond a categorical binary to better reflect gender diversity.</li><br /><li>We demonstrate the utility of a two-step, non-binary approach on representative samples of US adults.</li><br /><li>Our results do not support using a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question to ask if respondents are transgender.</li></ul>

Trans

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quinn Eades
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
The Body ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Gender Diverse ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Sex And Sexuality ◽  
The Media ◽  
And Gender

Emerging from feminist and queer theory, trans theory asks us to challenge essentialist and heteronormative understandings of gender, sex, and sexuality. Trans theory teaches us to critique essentialist and binary models of embodiment by attending to and centering the body in theory and in the world. In the early 21st century, trans people are more visible than we have ever been. There is an increasing appetite from “mainstream” readers for trans memoir, larger numbers of trans characters on screen and in the media, and out trans people now hold high-ranking political positions, teach in schools and universities, and act on stage and screen. Rather than the demand for trans stories being driven by scopophilia, curiosity, or voyeurism, it appears that there is a desire to genuinely understand trans lives, bodies, and lived experiences. Visibility comes with a price though, and we must be wary of tracing a simplistic progress narrative in relation to trans and gender diverse people and communities. When we appear in public, we gather our own communities, as well as allies and sympathizers, but these appearances also make us vulnerable to those who still fiercely deny our right to exist—the Vatican City’s thirty-one page statement discussing gender theory in education (2019), where we are told that trans people are “annihilating nature,” is a perfect example of this. While the term “trans” (more often than not) refers to transgender people, it is also a prefix that means “across”; trans denotes movement, going from one to the other, and change. Because we can find trans people across all times, places, and populations, we can also trace a complex, rich, and ever-expanding archive of trans writing, histories, and stories. It is through troubling the idea that trans people are a “modern” invention, that we are the living embodiment of political correctness gone mad, that we can begin to find each other in text, gather together, and work toward making significant social, political, and cultural change.

scholarly journals Introduction: Anthropology’s Queer Sensibilities

Sexualities ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 843-852
Author(s):  
Paul Boyce ◽  
Elisabeth L Engebretsen ◽  
Silvia Posocco
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
Coming Out ◽  
Sexual Difference ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Uk

This special issue addresses vital epistemological, methodological, ethical and political issues at the intersections of queer theory and anthropology as they speak to the study of sexual and gender diversity in the contemporary world. The special issue centres on explorations of anthropology’s queer sensibilities, that is, experimental thinking in ethnographically informed investigations of gender and sexual difference, and related connections, disjunctures and tensions in their situated and abstract dimensions. The articles consider the possibilities and challenges of anthropology’s queer sensibilities that anthropologize queer theory whilst queering anthropology in ethnographically informed analyses. Contributors focus on anthropologizing queer theory in research on same-sex desire in Congo; LGBT migrant and asylum experience in the UK and France; same-sex intimacies within opposite gender oriented sexualities in Kenya and Ghana; secret and ambiguous intimacies and sensibilities beyond an identifiable ‘queer subject’ of rights and recognition in India; migrant imaginings of home in Indonesian lesbian relationships in Hong Kong; and cross-generational perspectives on ‘coming out’ in Taiwan, and their implications for theories of kinship and relatedness. An extensive interview with Esther Newton, the prominent figure in gay and lesbian and queer anthropology concludes the collection.

Queer pedagogy: Approaches to inclusive teaching

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 589-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Nemi Neto
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Sexual Identity ◽  
Queer Theory ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Queer Pedagogy

While it is common knowledge that language shapes how we think about gender and sexual identity there is no standard educational practice to create awareness about the place of sexual and gender diversity in the context of language learning. This article draws on queer pedagogy and queer theory to devise teaching practices that acknowledge queer visibility in the classroom. The goal of this article is to examine strategies to enhance inclusion, recognition and visibility of sexual and transgender minorities in the classroom. I propose that language instruction is in need of a queer pedagogy that challenges both the heteronormative assumptions of most language textbooks, and classroom practices that erase Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual (LGBTQIA) visibility. I argue that language instructors need to be inventive and critical, willing to address in class what most language manuals omit. This way, I hope to contribute to the development of tools and strategies that guarantee a safe, affirmative space for sexual and transgender minorities in our classrooms.

scholarly journals THE PROBLEMATIC JUDICIAL VIEW OF GENDER DIVERSITY

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Rundle
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Gender Recognition ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Gender Identification ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
And Gender

This response to Ashleigh Bagshaw’s article in this volume entitled ‘Exploring the Implications of Gender Identification for Transgender People under Australian Law’ seeks to humanise the experiences that sit behind the judicial determination of gender recognition in case law. It argues that there is room for considerable improvement in the understanding that legal decision makers have about the lived experiences of gender independent people. The article begins in Part I by clarifying the distinction between sex and gender and points out that neither concept is binary. Part II explains some persistent problems with the judicial approach to the question of gender identity and tells the stories of the humans behind the cases. It concludes that the pathologised approach to gender independence places unnecessary obstacles in the way of people who could benefit from legal recognition of their gender identity.

scholarly journals EXPLORING THE CYC CIS-TEM: A LITERATURE REVIEW OF QUEER AND TRANS TOPICS IN CHILD AND YOUTH CARE

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 23-54
Author(s):  
Mattie Walker
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Youth Care ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Child And Youth Care ◽  
Lgbt Issues ◽  
Two Spirit ◽  
And Gender

Although Child and Youth Care (CYC) sees itself as a field that embraces diversity and complexity, there is a notable lack of discussion of sexual and gender diversity: queer and trans topics are rarely taken up across CYC research, practice, and pedagogy. Through a systematic literature review of articles published between 2010 and early 2020 in six journals with a focus on CYC practice, research, and theory, this article assesses how queer, trans, Two-Spirit, and nonbinary identities and topics are being discussed in the current CYC literature and reveals a conspicuous absence of publication on these topics. In a 10-year period, across six CYC publications comprising over 4000 published articles, only 36 articles focused on queer and LGBT issues (by covering both sexual and gender diversity) and, of those, only eight articles specifically focused on gender diversity or trans topics. No articles were found within any of the reviewed publications that specifically focused on Two-Spirit identities or topics and only one article mentioned nonbinary identities. Through exploring how and where queer and trans, Two-Spirit, and nonbinary identities and topics are being discussed, this review asks how we as a CYC field might begin to make space for these topics within our field and practice, in order to work towards social change that shifts our field and challenges the cis-heteronormative CYC system.

Queer Musicology

Music ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lloyd Whitesell
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Feminist Studies ◽  
Transgender Studies ◽  
Regulatory Systems ◽  
The Face ◽  
Lesbian Studies ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Critical Turn

Queer musicology is a field dedicated to the study of sexual and gender diversity as it relates to music. This may focus on people who identify with a specific minority group, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ). It may explore a sense of fluidity in the face of identity categories or binary thinking. It may seek to understand underlying cultural habits, regulatory systems, or gendered discourses that affect all people in a society. In other words, queer musicology raises a big tent, making room for multiple, even contradictory approaches (identitarian versus anti-identitarian, minoritarian versus universalist). Taking cues from feminist studies and following a critical turn in the 1980s toward the social, personal, and embodied dimensions of music, its original practitioners were motivated by a desire to remedy longstanding heteronormative practices in the discipline. Just as in the wider humanities, where gay and lesbian studies paved the way for queer theory and then transgender studies, there has been a continuous evolution of the field’s burning questions and representative voices. Important intellectual projects include historical reconstruction of suppressed life stories, the study of social groups, hermeneutics, aesthetics, and the theoretical exploration of music’s role in queer forms of knowledge.

scholarly journals Intermedial deconstruction of gender and representation of transgender in Lithuanian theatre: case study of the performance “Trans Trans Trance”

Menotyra ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ieva Tumanovičiūtė
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Queer Theory ◽  
Feminist Criticism ◽  
Transgender Studies ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
Transgender Identity ◽  
Feminist Theatre ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Individual Choices

This paper analyses the intermedial representation of transgender and gender deconstruction in the performance “Trans Trans Trance” (2017), created by Lithuanian director Kamilė Gudmonaitė and actresses Dovilė Kundrotaitė, Jovita Jankelaitytė and Adelė Šuminskaitė. The performance has features of the feminist theatre and not only explores the gender of woman and transgender identity but also interconnects different arts and media. Several approaches – feminist criticism, transgender studies, queer theory and the concept of intermediality – have been applied to study this performance. The research results reveal that the fragmentary performance narrative is composed of different episodes and is based on intermedial strategies. They allow to reflect gender of woman and gender roles, that are implied by society norms and could limit individual choices. Also, they highlight a complicated interaction between specific body, gender and identity. Moreover, the hybrid transgender image, created by various media, avoids stereotypization of transgender representation. It also emphasizes that part of the society think about transgender people like about dangerous others while they just want to be themselves and participate in the society.

Queering Buddhist Traditions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bee Scherer
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Religious Philosophy ◽  
Buddhist Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Complex Picture ◽  
Global North ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender Categories ◽  
Local Traditions

Buddhist traditions intersect with queer lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, intersex, queer/querying (and more) subjectivities and belongings in a multifaceted way. Queer theory (QT) can enrich Buddhist thought and practices as well as Buddhist studies by inserting a challenging method of deconstruction, troubling and resisting oppressive and harmful socioreligious scripts with regards to, and beyond, sexuality and gender. There is a nascent reception of the queering impulses within Buddhist traditions, yet QT and foundational queer theorists lack comprehensive Buddhist appraisal: Queer “dharmology” has yet to be systematically developed. When discussing perspectives and practices regarding sexuality/ies and sex/gender in Buddhist thought and cultures, a distinct genealogy of nonheterosexual desires and sex/gender diversity emerges. Buddhist views on sexualities anchor on the psychology of desire and attachment in terms of religious philosophy and soteriology; at the social level, biopolitical regulations of Buddhist life focus on the dichotomy of celibate monastic vs. householder lay contexts. The variety of sex/gender subjectivities in Buddhist traditions include the historical stigmatized third and fourth sex/gender categories of the paṇḍaka (“gender-deficient,” usual thought of as “male-deficient”) and the ubhatobyañjanaka (“both-sexed”). However, neither category maps neatly onto contemporary queer and trans* subjectivities, leading to confusion, debate, and discretion in contemporary Buddhist cultures. The complex picture of both surprisingly pragmatic and inclusive as well as discriminatory and hostile paradigms emerges from Buddhist thought and practices in the divergent traditions of Theravāda, East Asian Mahāyāna, Tibetan Buddhism, and in ecumenic or demi-/post-denominational forms of Buddhism and Neo-Buddhism in the Global North (“Western” Buddhism), both historically and in contemporary global-glocal-local traditions. Queer (post)modern Buddhist subjectivities are increasingly emerging as powerful voices within constructive-critical and reflective emic modes of Buddhist thought and practice. A contemporary queer Buddhist “theology” or queer (/trans*-affirmative) dharmology can be successfully developed in a framework of five parameters: (1) reflexivity, (2) hermeneutics, (3) conceptualization, (4) signification, and (5) application. Focusing on the parameter of conceptualization, QT-immersed queer dharmology can start with the specific, “messy,” complex, contextual, ever-changing and conditioned human experiences, and interactional negotiations or be(com)ing and interbe(com)ing. A “this-worldly” (socio-saṃsāric) focus also averts the danger of spiritual bypassing and “dharma-splaining.” Instead, complex Buddhist notions such as karma and interdependence become powerful instruments of Buddhist queering, that is, challenging any normative societal script that causes suffering.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document