Sensing Queer Activism in Beirut

Women Rising ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 173-184
Author(s):  
Nisrine Chaer
Keyword(s):  
Political Practice ◽  
Lgbt Rights ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Take Back ◽  
Trans Women

From 2007 to 2014, Meem was an organized group of more than four hundred lesbian, bisexual, queer, trans* women and trans* people in Lebanon. Based on an ethnography of/with the Meem community, this article explores Meem’s activism as an embodiment of a MENA-situated and nonfixed queerness that disrupts the model of an LGBT rights activism framed through the binary of Western “Gay International” polarized against an authentic Arab identity. In this chapter, Nisrine Chaer examines protest soundscapes, or the auditory sensations in embodied encounters within the spaces of the protests, that have emerged in the wake of the garbage crisis in Lebanon and in a feminist march, “Take Back the Night.” She argues that by looking at the sensual dimensions of activism in space, the embodied practices of protesting, we expand our understanding of politics beyond the discursive realm, and hence capture the complex and intersectional nature of Meem’s political practice that resists both imperialist and local oppressions.

Pose and HIV/AIDS

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 615-624
Author(s):  
Laura Stamm
Keyword(s):  
Women Of Color ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Aids Crisis ◽  
Trans Women ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Living With Hiv ◽  
Hiv Aids

Abstract This article examines how the television series Pose (2018–) represents queer and trans people of color living with HIV/AIDS at the height of the crisis in 1987. While the series portrays an important part of transgender history, it also positions the AIDS crisis as something that is done and part of America's past. Despite the fact that rates of HIV infection remain at epidemic rates for trans women of color, Pose, like many other mainstream media representations, suggests that the AIDS crisis ended in 1995. The series brings trans women of color's experiences to a record number of viewers, but that representation comes with a certain cost—the cost of historicization.

Disregard and danger: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and the voices of trans (and cis) African feminists

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 817-833
Author(s):  
B Camminga
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Media Attention ◽  
Male Privilege ◽  
Feminist Politics ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Global North ◽  
Trans Women ◽  
African Writer

In March of 2017, best-selling Nigerian author and feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, in an interview with Britain’s Channel 4, was asked whether being a trans woman makes one any less of a ‘real woman?’ In the clip, which went viral shortly thereafter, Adichie responded by saying ‘When people talk about, “Are trans women women?” my feeling is trans women are trans women.’ Echoing the essentialist, predominantly white Global Northern, feminist politics of trans-exclusionary feminists (TERFs), by implying that trans women are not ‘real’ women because, as she assumes, they benefited from male privilege, Adichie set off a social media maelstrom. The publicised responses to her comments largely came from feminists and trans women in the Global North, and though many trans people from the African continent responded, with hashtags such as #ChimamandaKilledME, very few of these received any attention. As the hashtag suggests, for trans people living on the African continent, given the general lack of recourse to rights, Adichie’s words as an African writer carry considerable weight. Given this, the absence of media attention is curious. This article offers a recentring, by focusing on those voices, maligned in the broader debate – trans people from the African continent. I argue that while Adichie might be stumbling over the questions that lie at the heart of TERF politics (what does it mean to be a woman? and does it matter how a person arrives at being a woman?), trans women on the African continent have been busy reconstituting the terms of the terrain.

Trans Studies and Resistance in an Academy Based on Masculinity Contest Culture

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-420
Author(s):  
Travers
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Tenure Track ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Trans Studies ◽  
Labor Pool ◽  
Trans Women

Abstract Trans studies is a burgeoning and global interdisciplinary field of scholarship. Although trans people in general continue to remain on the margins of the academy in Canada and the United States, some of the trans scholars who contribute to the field of trans studies are in continuing faculty (tenure-track and tenured) positions. Trans women in general and trans women and trans feminine people of color, in particular, however, are particularly underrepresented in this labor pool. The author brings together a theoretical pastiche consisting of a Black feminist analysis of patriarchy as a layered phenomenon, trans necropolitics, and a masculinity contest culture paradigm to trouble this limit to representation within trans studies in Canada and the United States.

scholarly journals ‘Transgender Education for Affirmative and Competent HIV and Healthcare (TEACHH)’: protocol of community-based intervention development and a non-randomised multisite pilot study with pre–post test design in Canada

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. e034144
Author(s):  
Ashley Lacombe-Duncan ◽  
Carmen H Logie ◽  
Yasmeen Persad ◽  
Gabrielle Leblanc ◽  
Kelendria Nation ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Hiv Prevention ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Intervention Development ◽  
Hiv Care ◽  
Test Design ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Trans Women

IntroductionEducational workshops are a promising strategy to increase healthcare providers’ ability to provide gender-affirming care for transgender (trans) people. This strategy may also reduce healthcare providers’ stigma towards trans people and people living with HIV. There is less evidence, however, of educational workshops that address HIV prevention and care among trans women. This protocol details development and pilot testing of the Transgender Education for Affirmative and Competent HIV and Healthcare intervention that aims to increase gender-affirming HIV care knowledge and perceived competency, and to reduce negative attitudes/biases, among providers.Methods and analysisThis community-based research (CBR) project involves intervention development and implementation of a non-randomised multisite pilot study with pre–post test design. First, we conducted a qualitative formative phase involving focus groups with 30 trans women and individual interviews with 12 providers to understand HIV care access barriers for trans women and elicit feedback on a proposed workshop. Second, we will pilot test the intervention with 90–150 providers (n=30–50×3 in-person settings). For pilot studies, primary outcomes include feasibility (eg, completion rate) and acceptability (eg, workshop satisfaction). Secondary preintervention and postintervention outcomes, assessed directly preceding and following the workshop, include perceived competency, attitudes/biases towards trans women with HIV, and knowledge needed to provide gender-affirming HIV care. Primary outcomes will be summarised as frequencies and proportions (categorical variables). We will conduct paired-sample t-tests to explore the direction of preintervention and postintervention differences for secondary outcomes.Ethics and disseminationThis study has been approved by the University of Toronto HIV Research Ethics Board (Protocol Number: 00036238). Study findings will be disseminated through community forums with trans women and service providers; manuscripts submitted to peer reviewed journals; and conferences. Findings will inform a larger CBR research agenda to remove barriers to engagement in HIV prevention/care among trans women across Canada.Trial registration numberNCT04096053; Pre-results.

scholarly journals Aging and Old Age in Colombian Trans Women: A Grounded Theory Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 309-310
Author(s):  
Maria Reyes ◽  
Maldonado Daniela ◽  
Méndez Carlos ◽  
Maria Ariza ◽  
Vannesa Arias ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Successful Aging ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Older Adulthood ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Personal Strengths ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Trans Women

Abstract Trans people around the world represent one of the most marginalized and stigmatized groups in society who are at high risk of discrimination, violence and abuse (White Hughto, Reisner, & Pachankis, 2015). In Colombia, older adults face a situation of vulnerability and poverty, and this situation is even more dramatic for older people with diverse gender identities. The research focused on understanding the challenges that a group of Colombian trans women experience in the process of aging and old age. An exploratory qualitative research project was carried out using constructionist Grounded Theory. Twenty five trans-women from 50 to 67 years old who live in Bogotá, Colombia participated. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews. The results address three main research questions: (a) How the participants overcome the life expectancy and achieve middle and older adulthood? (b) What are the barriers the participants faced in the aging process? (c) How do the group of Colombian trans women imagine and considered a successful aging? The results evidenced that the process of aging of the participants was influenced by six psycho-socio-cultural categories. A central category that was identified as opportunity, which was influenced by five categories: a) Violence, discrimination and transphobia, b) Transit process, c) Personal strengths d) Mobilization and activism and e) experience and perception the old age. Discussion. The challenges that the participants experienced were those associated with the process of aging and to their gender identity. Trans women achieve middle and old adulthood for their personal strengths, activism and mobilization.

scholarly journals The toilet debate: Stalling trans possibilities and defending ‘women’s protected spaces’

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 834-851 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Jones ◽  
Jen Slater
Keyword(s):  
Gender Difference ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Trans People ◽  
National Media ◽  
Funded Project ◽  
Trans Women ◽  
And Gender

As one of the few explicitly gender-separated spaces, the toilet has become a prominent site of conflict and a focal point for ‘gender-critical’ feminism. In this article we draw upon an AHRC-funded project, Around the Toilet, to reflect upon and critique trans-exclusionary and trans-hostile narratives of toilet spaces. Such narratives include ciscentric, heteronormative and gender essentialist positions within toilet research and activism which, for example, equate certain actions and bodily functions (such as menstruation) to a particular gender, decry the need for all-gender toilets, and cast suspicion upon the intentions of trans women in public toilet spaces. These include explicitly transmisogynist discourses perpetuated largely by those calling themselves ‘gender-critical’ feminists, but also extend to national media, right-wing populist discourses and beyond. We use Around the Toilet data to argue that access to safe and comfortable toilets plays a fundamental role in making trans lives possible. Furthermore, we contend that – whether naive, ignorant or explicitly transphobic – trans-exclusionary positions do little to improve toilet access for the majority, instead putting trans people, and others with visible markers of gender difference, at a greater risk of violence, and participating in the dangerous homogenisation of womanhood.

“A gente é pessoa!”: narrativas de mulheres trans sobre Direitos Humanos

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (29) ◽  
pp. e0105
Author(s):  
Marta Gouveia de Oliveira Rovai
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Minas Gerais ◽  
Oral Narratives ◽  
Ethical Commitment ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Trans Women ◽  
Lgbt Populations

Este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar a discussão sobre Direitos Humanos no tempo presente, a partir das narrativas orais de vida de quatro mulheres trans, que vivem em cidades do sul de Minas Gerais: Luana, Lucielly, Wall e Ana Luíza. Suas histórias de vida são testemunhos importantes que revelam não apenas suas experiências pessoais, mas uma cultura de violações aos direitos de populações LGBT, em especial de pessoas trans, construída ao longo da história. As narrativas denunciam a permanência de práticas e discursos que, embora defendam a ideia universal de direito e de pessoas, são usados também para desrespeitar as diferenças, negando a possibilidade de construção da dignidade a determinados grupos. Trabalhos como esses colocam o historiador do tempo presente diante de compromisso ético com o registro e a publicização dessas histórias, em busca da transformação social e da defesa da vida.Palavras-chave: Direitos Humanos. Transexualidade. Dignidade. Tempo Presente. "We are people!": narratives of women trans about Human Rights AbstractThis article aims to present the discussion about Human Rights in the present time, from the oral narratives of four trans women, living in cities of southern Minas Gerais: Luana, Lucielly, Wall and Ana Luíza. Their life stories are important testimonies that reveal not only their personal experiences, but a culture of violations of the rights of LGBT populations, especially of trans people, built throughout history. The narratives denounce the permanence of practices and discourses that, although they defend the universal idea of law and of people, are also used to disrespect the differences, denying the possibility of constructing the dignity to certain groups. Such works put the historian of the present time before an ethical commitment to register and publicize these stories in search of social transformation and the defense of life.Keywords: Human Rights. Transsexuality. Dignity. Present Time.

The dispositif of prison sexuality: transphobic violence in a Mexican male prison

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-241
Author(s):  
Chloé Constant
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Queer Theory ◽  
Mexico City ◽  
Mexican War ◽  
Women's Bodies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Former Prisoners ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Trans Women ◽  
Prison Studies

Purpose The aim of this study is to analyze how the dispositif of sexuality operates toward trans women imprisoned in a male prison in Mexico City, to understand how sexual norms that come from the heteropatriarchal model so as from the “internal law” produce transphobic violence. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on the queer theory, Foucault’s works on sexuality and power, Segato’s theory about war against women’s bodies and on a fieldwork realized between 2015 and 2019 in Mexico City, with prisoners and former prisoners. Findings The sexuality dispositif works in a particular way inside prison. It is the result of the heteropatriarchal model and laws defined by both prisoners and prison workers, all involved in the Mexican war context. The effects are materialized through violence toward trans* women whose bodies serve for rape, male appropriation and exchange between powerful subjects. Research limitations/implications This paper produces knowledge about imprisonned trans* people, a very few developped field in prison studies, especially in Latin America. Practical implications The paper demonstrates how specific violence toward trans* women imprisoned in a male prison in Mexico City deepens violent dynamics that occur out of the prison. So, it questions the meaning of a sentence in the actual Mexican prison system. It may help to think about staff’s training/education to guarantee basic human rights for imprisoned trans* people. Additionally, the theorization of “internal law” could help prison authorities to rethink classification and treatment for prisoners. Social implications This paper provide specific knowledge on imprisonned trans* women and helps to think and act different with this people through the understanding of their special vulnerability. Originality/value There are only a few papers about imprisoned trans population throughout the world and fewer in Latin America and Mexico. Additionally, this paper aims to overcome the “internal order” as it is always theorized as proper of detainees. It wants to show that the prison order in a Mexico City prison, borns from the meeting of cultural specificities from outside and inside, and from both prisoners, organized crime and prison staff.

We Must Take Back Talk Therapies

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (8) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Robert T. London
Keyword(s):  
Take Back
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