Commentary on: “Lost in the literature”. People with intellectual disabilities who identify as trans: a narrative review

Purpose This paper aims to discuss the barriers that people with intellectual disabilities face to come out as transgender in the context of a paucity of research with or about this group. Design/methodology/approach The commentary and brief overview of trans participation in literature on people with intellectual disabilities presented in this paper is informed by a Queer Theory and Critical disabilities Studies approach. Findings Researchers in this area are correct that there is insufficient literature that addressed the experiences of trans people with intellectual disabilities; however, for trans people with intellectual disabilities to be involved in research they must first be safe to self-identify and come out in their communities and services. Existing research suggests that people with intellectual disabilities may face additional barriers to self-identifying as LGTBQ, and that for those who have claimed a trans identity, it is not safe to come out. Social implications There is a need for researchers and professional and lived experience experts to be engaged in policy and social research with the aim of creating safe spaces and communities for people with intellectual disabilities to explore and affirm their gender. Originality/value There are no published papers that redirect focus from a paucity of research into the experiences of trans people with intellectual disabilities towards addressing why trans people with intellectual disabilities may choose not to come out in a context of hostility towards transgender identity in disabilities services.

Results of Cluster Analysis of Semantic Features “What is the Person’s Gender? and “What is the Person’s Appearance?” for the Stimulus “Flirting Person””

The present work continues a series of studies concerning ludic competence/ playfulness by means of psycholinguistic instruments and is devoted to description of the behaviour pattern of the ludic position “Diplomat”, which corresponds to flirting as one of the components of playfulness. The key research method is psycholinguistic experiment whose main stage is the controlled association experiment (CAE) with the stimulus “flirting person”. The sample consisted of 215 young respondents (age 21-35). The instructions for the controlled association experiment was developed in the frame of the parametric concept of I.A. Sternin. 23 questions (semantic features) were formulated. They were recognized as relevant to communication for the stimulus “flirting person” and allowed to obtain the material for describing the behaviour pattern of ludic position Diplomat (“flirting person”) reflecting the reality of linguistic consciousness of native speakers. This study presents the results of cluster analysis of two association fields built for the following semantic features: “What is the person’s gender?” and “What is the person’s appearance?”. The results of cluster analysis of the association field built for the semantic feature “What is the person’s gender?” indicate that in the linguistic consciousness of the inhabitants of Ukraine, the overwhelming majority of respondents (93%) accept the binary concept of gender, for 3% of respondents gender does not matter, and only one respondent considers the transgender identity. The analysis of the association field built for the semantic feature “What is the person’s appearance?” allows us to assert that the absolute majority of respondents (78%) demonstrates an emotionally positive attitude towards “flirting person”.

Queer Capital: Transgender Representation in Contemporary American Cinema

<p>From The Crying Game’s shocking gender reveal in 1993, to the resounding success of Pose in 2018, trans characters and narratives have become increasingly visible across media platforms. Most significantly, trans characters have become a key part of American Indiewood cinema. Films like Dallas Buyers Club, The Danish Girl, Stonewall, and 3 Generations demonstrate the growing visibility of these roles within the American independent tradition. Moreover, these films’ critical and financial successes, in particular those of Dallas Buyers Club, signal the potential value these characters offer studios as a marker of cultural progressiveness. However, while trans characters in Indiewood films inspire more mainstream conversations about queer identity and community, interrogating these representations reveals how these depictions may reinforce harmful myths about trans identities and experiences. Analysing these representational practices through textual, generic, and industrial analyses, I will demonstrate how trans performances benefit the wider film industry, and question the impact of cis-gender casting on these films’ representational strategies. The purpose of this project is thus to examine performances of transgender identity in contemporary indie and Indiewood films, spotlighting industrial influences on transgender representations. By using Dallas Buyers Club as a case study to explore how queer Indiewood films appeal to mainstream audiences; and using Tangerine to illustrate alternative representational strategies, this thesis demonstrates how contemporary Indiewood cinema excludes most trans writers, directors, and actors, how this process benefits cis-gender industry elites, and how paratexts mitigate the potential threat that trans identities pose to gender categories. More specifically, I pose the questions: how are filmic performances of transgender identity informed by industrial power relations; and, what are the cultural implications of the dynamic between the two.</p>

Queer Capital: Transgender Representation in Contemporary American Cinema

<p>From The Crying Game’s shocking gender reveal in 1993, to the resounding success of Pose in 2018, trans characters and narratives have become increasingly visible across media platforms. Most significantly, trans characters have become a key part of American Indiewood cinema. Films like Dallas Buyers Club, The Danish Girl, Stonewall, and 3 Generations demonstrate the growing visibility of these roles within the American independent tradition. Moreover, these films’ critical and financial successes, in particular those of Dallas Buyers Club, signal the potential value these characters offer studios as a marker of cultural progressiveness. However, while trans characters in Indiewood films inspire more mainstream conversations about queer identity and community, interrogating these representations reveals how these depictions may reinforce harmful myths about trans identities and experiences. Analysing these representational practices through textual, generic, and industrial analyses, I will demonstrate how trans performances benefit the wider film industry, and question the impact of cis-gender casting on these films’ representational strategies. The purpose of this project is thus to examine performances of transgender identity in contemporary indie and Indiewood films, spotlighting industrial influences on transgender representations. By using Dallas Buyers Club as a case study to explore how queer Indiewood films appeal to mainstream audiences; and using Tangerine to illustrate alternative representational strategies, this thesis demonstrates how contemporary Indiewood cinema excludes most trans writers, directors, and actors, how this process benefits cis-gender industry elites, and how paratexts mitigate the potential threat that trans identities pose to gender categories. More specifically, I pose the questions: how are filmic performances of transgender identity informed by industrial power relations; and, what are the cultural implications of the dynamic between the two.</p>

Representing Ourselves into Existence

This chapter explores the energetic and innovative trans cinema movement that emerged in the 1990s by looking at case studies of the first transgender film festivals—Counting Past 2 in Toronto, the International Transgender Film and Video Festival in London, and Tranny Fest in San Francisco. Each festival took a different approach to trans film programming, community building, and arts funding. Together, the three festivals helped define a specifically transgender identity and community that overlapped with but were not the same as “queer.” They also influenced the programming of lesbian and gay festivals, carving out more room for trans-made work. These case studies demonstrate how film festivals can contribute to social and aesthetic movements, how festival organizers have overcome and become mired in the challenges they face, and the many ways in which trans has long put pressure on “lesbian and gay” and “queer” in the face of its erasure.

Michelle Alfano on Her Memoir, The Unfinished Dollhouse

Liana Cusmano’s interview with Toronto author Michelle Alfano offers reflections on gender identity and living through a child’s transitioning. The act of writing helped Alfano overcome the distress she felt during this difficult time. In her memoir The Unfinished Dollhouse, Michelle Alfano recounts the journey she underwent in accepting and embracing her son’s transgender identity. From tell-tale signs in early childhood and the mental and physical afflictions in the early teen years, to the reactions of family and friends and the final steps in a social and medical transition from female to male, Alfano explores the thoughts and feelings she experienced over the years as her son, River, fought to be his truest self.