Trans Voice issue 1

Issue 1 June 2014

Transgender in Wales’ new eMagazine from Unity Group Wales Cover Photograph Courtesy of Tyler George Photography

A From The Heart Message From Transgender in Wales Managing Director Roxy Williams.

With this being the very first issue of the Transgender in Wales’ eMagazine Trans Voice! I thought I would say a few words.

Throughout my time supporting trans* peeps in my official and moral support roles I have heard the similar phrase said again and again. I hate being trans* or I wish I was just born just so as life would be so much easier, straight forward. No doubt, trans* peeps face significant challenges in our all aspect of our lives. But this also diminishes what a contribution we can make to society. I have heard trans* peeps say "but what difference do I make". The short answer is loads as we can touch others in so many ways.

For just walking out the door being confident in who we are, we could be showing someone else that it’s possible to be out n proud. I believe that this support just doesn't stop at the vital work of supporting the community but something wide than that. Even today, society still holds fixed stereotypes about gender, discrimination on what is "acceptable" and boxes which must be filled to "keep life simple". The way people view the world is changing but without the positive voice speaking out this simply won’t happen.

I have also seen myself as somewhat of a social rebel. Always questioning why things as they are or why is there unequal treatment simple because of a biological attribute. I can appreciate that not everyone wants to shank things up and make a statement. Regardless of how you are, we all need a voice and it needs to be heard.

We may not have chosen to question societies view of gender, with this life choose us. But I see being trans* as a unique gift than a secret curse that needs to be hidden in shame.

This uniqueness I see as living life through different perspective. It doesn't matter if you identify as transgender, cross-dress or gender queer etc. We all have experiences as more than one gender role. I can’t count how many times these experiences have enriched my life from completely different angles. Angels which other people simple have not been in. With this ability stand back from the interplay between gender offer new and exciting opportunities. The important achievement is to find your own voice not feel you need to follow others to find your own unique gender identity.

One of significant reasons I believe trans* peeps might want the magic gender eraser is discomfort with body image. I will be straight up, what I got is not what I signed up for. But it is also me and that is important. Parts of my body are not right, that’s not to a reason to hate all of it but dress what you have to impress.

In the cisgender community anorexia is on the rise for both genders, bigorexia is already a significant concern and glossy magazines keep churning out impossible body images. Body image and how we view it is a major issue in our world. Wetrans* folk aren't alone in this...

With support for out times of struggle and I believe we can share our many strengths and success. As long as we celebrate this success and don't just focus on our personal challenges we all face.... Together Roxy Williams -Transgender in Wales Managing Director.

Fantastic Style and Fashionon a Budget...

Transgender in Wales’ Managing Director Roxy Williams looks at ways of staying fashionable without breaking the bank.

As a style fashionista I am sure you want to look your best. But until your prince, princesses, gender queer royalty comes along, maybe your wardrobe is not as full it should be. Don't fear Roxy is here to give her fashion tips for fabulous attire on a sensible budget.

Be your own designer label If you handy with a sowing machine or a glue gun, even the most basic of staple can be update or redesigned to something new. Your old "boys" t-shirt can become a curve loving female t-shirt or black bag can be a pulse show stopper. Go for a look or do your own thing, the possibilities are endless.

Share / swap you style

Shop in the right high streets…….

If you want to brag a bargain, don't be snobby hit the charity shops. In Cardiff we have the Whitchurch charity shop mile which can be rich pickings for your catwalk essentials. It‟s a well to do area, with all the major brands on show (markies, DP, designer if have a ruffle) but all at a fraction of high street prices. If you want to get the drop on other bargain hunters, hit the shops after the weekend. It is also a chance to get some fancy pieces you can dress those solid wardrobe staples from primarni, bags, shoes and jewellery, it‟s all there. If you got a spare £15 in your pocket you could be surprised with what you can acquire.

Put on clothes swapping parties or get your friends to help you out with a style of a night. I am always up for peeps trying out a new look, and if someone wants to borrow some derma blend I am never offended. Just don‟t keep your style secrets hidden ok, because it always good share your top tips.

Well style fashionistas, why not share your ideas for the next issue of TRANS VOICE!Get fabulous and I will see you on the dance floor!

Roxy x

A Wonder of Nature LGBT Historian NorenaShopland dives deep into history to take a look at Transgender history.

In1066 - the date inscribed on many a British child‟s memory - the Normans invaded. Post conquest when the dust had settled down and William the Conqueror was king he rewarded many of his men by giving them land. One of those who benefitted was a Norman knight William FitzOdo de Barry (or Barri) who received lands in Pembrokeshire and Barry. To consolidate his position in Wales William married Angharad the granddaughter of the last king of Deheubarth (South Wales) whose mother Nest had been regarded as one of the most beautiful women in Britain at that time. And it is from Nest that all Tudor and Stuart monarchs descended as well as people such as John F. Kennedy, Diana, Princess of Wales and subsequently Prince William – the future king.

One of Nest‟s grandchildren was Gerald de Barri (born in 1147) who was destined to become one of the most well-known Welsh writers in the world under the name of Gerald of Wales - and whose works are still in print 900 years later. In 1185 Gerald was ordered by King Henry II to accompany Prince John on to a trip to Ireland, a trip Gerald later wrote about in the Topography of Ireland. The book however is less a topographic work and more a history - and a highly prejudiced history at that.

In Chapter 20 Gerald describes two women: Duvenald, king of Limerick, had a woman with a beard down to her navel, and, also, a crest like a colt of a year old, which reached from the top of her neck down her backbone, and was covered with hair.

The woman, this remarkable for two monstrous deformities, was, however, not an hermaphrodite, but in other respects had the parts of a woman; and she constantly attended the court, an object of ridicule as well as of wonder. The fact of her spine being covered with hair neither determined her gender to be male or female; and in wearing a long beard she followed the customs of her country, though it was unnatural in her. Also, within our time, a woman was seen attending the court in Connaught, who partook of the nature of both sexes, and was a hermaphrodite. On the right side of her face she had a long and thick

beard, which covered both sides of her lips to the middle of her chin, like a man; on the left, her lips and chin were smooth and hairless, like a woman.

The image of the bearded woman was apparently overseen by Gerald himself and to emphasise that she is a woman she is seen spinning with a distaff and spindle. The left comes from the edition held at the Naltional Library Wales, the right from a National Library Ireland edition.

The natural causes (opposed to deliberate shaving) for hirsutism (excessive hairiness) are varied but one of the most common is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome a common condition affecting women‟s ovaries. And one of the features of the condition includes a high level of androgens - a male hormone. Numerous examples of hirsute women can be seen in historical records and some of the earliest were often seen as „other‟, or supernatural such as witches. This is echoed in Shakespeare‟s witches from Macbeth published in 1623: “you should be Women,

And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so”.(138–46; 1. 3. 37–45) Interestingly very few productions of Macbeth include bearded witches.

On the other side of the „supernatural‟ examples include Wilgefortis a mythological female saint of the 14th century. The story goes that Wilgefortis objected to being forced by her father to marry a pagan and prayed to be made repulsive. So on her wedding day she woke to find she had a full beard and so her father had her crucified for her defiance.

Wilgefortis became a saint for downtrodden women and enjoyed enormous popularity for 200 years with icons all over Europe including one at Westminster Abbey. However the legend was debunked in the 16th century and she fell out of favour but there have been other female bearded saints, with similar stories, such as Paula of Avila and Saint Galla.

Often when bearded women are mentioned it is in association with hermaphroditism. In the 11th century a well-known Roman writer, MacrobiusAmbrosius Theodosius, of the 5th century wrote in his compilation of religious and antiquarian lore Saturnalia.

"There's also a statue of Venus on Cyprus, that's bearded, shaped and dressed like a woman, with sceptre and

male genitals, and they conceive her as both male and female. Aristophanes calls her Aphroditus, and Laevius says: Worshiping, then, the nurturing god Venus, whether she is male or female, just as the Moon is a nurturing goddess. In his AtthisPhilochorus, too, states that she is the Moon and that men sacrifice to her in women's dress, women in men's, because she is held to be both male and female." (3.8.2)

Another example is a painting from 1631 shows Magdalena Ventura and her husband. Magdalene, who is shown suckling her baby, has a full beard and on the plinth next to her are the words „En MagnvmNatvraeMiracvlvm‟ (a great wonder of nature). To emphasise her femininity, as with Gerald‟s illustration, she is shown with a spindle but there is also a snail – the symbol of a hermaphrodite.

With the recent controversy over Conchita Worst it‟s worth bearing in mind that some beards have been a „wonder of nature‟ for millennium.

9 Top Shaving Tips For Keeping Well Groomed 4. Make ‘Slow And Short’ Your Shaving Mantra

7. Leave The Lip Until Last

in the morning so if you want

“Men who suffer with razor

removed last; it‟s thicker than the

less nicks and cuts give it at least

burn tend to be the ones who

other parts of the beard and the

ten minutes to settle before you

shave at 100mph and who use

longer time the shaving soap has

start shaving and you‟ll have a

long, sweeping strokes so slow

to soften the hairs the better.”

better surface to work with.”

things down and shave using

2. Cool Things Down A Little

short stokes, ideally around

“To prepare skin before shaving

2cm in length.”

8. Go With The Flow

5. Press Don’t Push

“Always shave with the grain. If

1. Allow Your Skin To Settle “Skin tends to be puffy first thing

cleanse skin thoroughly with a face wash and warm water – avoid using hot water as this can

“Men tend to think that if they

over-dry skin, leading to

press harder, they‟ll get a closer

irritation. It can even cause tiny

shave but that‟s not so.Modern

blood vessels near the skin‟s

razors are designed to work

surface to break.”

with relatively little pressure so if you want to reduce irritation

3. Go Around In Circles “When applying shaving gel or cream apply with your fingertips using a circular motion.Beard hair grows in several different

don‟t push – instead apply just

“The hair on the top lip should be

your hair grows sideways in places, you should still shave „with‟ it by gliding the blade parallel. Never go against the grain with a razor, as this leads to irritation and can cause follicle damage.”

enough pressure to keep the blade in contact with the skin

9. Be Aware Of Your Blades

and let the blades do all the

“The brand of the blade you use

work for you.”

is far less important than the state it is in. Never use a blunt

directions and by spreading the lather in circles there‟s less risk

6. Double Up

of missing an area. In addition,

“For a super-smooth, close,

this encourages the beard to

clean shave apply a little

spring out from the skin in

shaving oil under your shaving

preparation for the shave.”

foam, cream or gel.”

blade as it is distressing to the skin, and causes irritation. If you shave every day you should replace the blade once every one to two weeks.”

Andrew Davies

Wipe Out Transphobia has become the leading organisation which is tackling Transphobia not only here in Wales but around the world. Founder Emma Bailey talks about the organisation and its new regular spot in TRANS VOICE! Wipe Out Transphobia is a small grassroots organisation based on the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales. We were formed on the 21st June 2011, making the 21st of this month our three year anniversary.

As an organisation, we started out very small. In fact we were just a Facebook page initially; one which sought to mimic the success of the already large and then named Wipe Out Homophobia on Facebook, which was run by a friend of mine. Our name evolved from here and while Wipe Out Homophobia was great with transgender inclusion, we sought to create our own transgender specific entity for raising awareness online.

As the months went by our membership grew and we began to make contacts all over the world. We also became acutely aware of the atrocities taking place and lack of access to transgender rights worldwide and decided that we must press on, grow the page and try to do our little bit for global transgender awareness. Things progressed further when we started to get 20/30 support emails per day through the page. Some we were able to help to resolve, or give advice for easily, but some were far more troubling.

One particular individual emailed us from a middleeastern country and was having immense difficulties with life; difficulties we were not ready for. We did everything we could, including research and signposting to some relevant agencies; however this particular incident is always fresh in my mind when dealing with new requests for help. I always feel there was more to be done.

We decided that we would be better prepared and able to help people if our small but quickly growing page developed into an organisation. A website was built and

we proceeded with taking on a voluntary team to help with the multitude of tasks we now faced. This has further developed into a management board, with a global support team.

Wipe Out Transphobia has since transformed into something I'm very proud of. We have in international team of volunteers, with locations ranging from right here in Wales, to Texas, Australia and more. We have grown from our first week and a few hundred likes, to just over 170,000; we have a large internet presence and we can get information to a vast number of people, very quickly. We are linked to from countries all over the globe.

Our campaigns have hundreds of participants, our staff have been on television in Sydney - Australia, in the news in Wales and Ontario - Canada, we have been represented at events in Wales, England and Ireland, we have advised local authorities on their public sector equality duty, held candle lit vigils and lobbied councils to raise flags for TDOR across Wales, we have been sent supportive images from all over the world and we have been able to help and support hundreds of people, all while receiving some truly humbling feedback.

All this aside though, our core aims, while they have evolved somewhat, are still fundamentally the same.

We aim to Educate, with as much information as possible via our social networks, website and training, we aim to provide Support if possible to anyone, anywhere in the world, and we aim to promote Understanding of transgender and gender diverse people and the issues they face. We aim to be as visible as possible.

Some of the Wipe Out Transphobia supporters from across the world In some respects we are very much activists too. Social justice and social change are the some of the ways transgender people have gained rights and freedoms and they certainly will keep on being the most effective ways to effect change in society.

Wiping Out Transphobia is of course a mammoth task and in no-way something we do on our own. Many people do this every day by being out, working, educating their family and friends and showing people that while we have our own realities, we're still just people. This is ultimately what Wipe Out Transphobia aim to promote and achieve as we work into the future.

The fight for transgender and gender diverse acceptance and rights is right now and we're happy to be contributing and coordinating our effort from this small island in North Wales.

If you think you can help us, please contact us via www.wipeouttransphobia.com Emma Bailey Founder of Wipe Out Transphobia.

Transgender in Wales Good Reads Refuse

by Elliott DeLine

Dean, a 22-year old female-to-male-transsexual, is no LGBT poster boy. Unemployed, depressed, mid-transition, friendless, and still living in the upstairs bedroom of his parents' house in a conservative suburb, he can think of little to do but write his memoir. In the third person, he tells the tale of his would-be love affair with his college roommate, Colin, another trans man with a girlfriend and a successful indie rock band. The plot is interrupted intermittently by Dean's first person commentary, often criticizing middle-class conformity-but also the queer counterculture from which he feels equally alienated. He is obsessed with Morrissey of The Smiths and wants nothing in life other than the same level of fame. As his far-fetched dreams become a foreseeable reality, he must decide between honesty and belonging, conformity or isolation, community or self....

Published April 11th 2011 by Createspace

Grrl Alex

by Alex Drummond

The possibility of embracing transgender as a legitimate identity is a relatively new phenomenon.

What this book achieves, in straightforward and engaging language, is to combine formal academic research with a deeply moving personal narrative, to give the reader an insight into the world of a person who came to accept and embrace a transgender identity. The book chronicles some of the significant experiences and moments that the author had in making this journey, and in exploring what was possible in terms of 'doing transgender': it's an emotional read. The author has broken new ground too. 'Gender-queering' challenges the assumption that to cross genders requires 'passing' convincing others that you really are the 'opposite' gender. What the author's work shows is that this is not necessarily the case, and that an honest presentation of self, even if unconventional, can find much more acceptance than many (including even the author) would have thought possible. This book will appeal to anyone interested in extraordinary life-narratives and particularly the queer experience, and will also have value to readers curious about transgender - including mental health professionals who wish to gain further understanding of transgender - both from the academic and personal perspective.

Published January 20th 2012 by Bramley Press Available from www.amazon.co.uk

Transgender in Wales (TiW) are planning to attend as many events this summer to promote our services to as many people from the transgender community, many of which who desperately need support.

We are looking to raise ÂŁ500 to cover the costs of attending as many events as possible and providing literature regarding our services.

So please help support us! Just ÂŁ5 will make a difference! http://www.gofundme.com/35ku5c

The LGBT Unity Project's Housing Service is a specialist lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) housing advice and support provider.

We aim to provide housing support for LGBT people in their own homes, supported housing for young LGBT people, as well as free, confidential housing advice for LGBT people of all ages.

Some of the housing issues we aim to help LGBT people with include:  

  

if you are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless; if your relationship with your family has broken down because of your sexual orientation or gender identity; if you have been victimised or harassed; if you need to escape from domestic abuse; if you need advice with your housing benefit.

If you need support please contact us: email: info@unityproject.org.uk tel: 01792 346299

So, what is a Hate Incident or Hate Crime?

A crime or incident committed because of who you are or who someone thinks you are.

Quite simply, if because of your age, disability, sexuality, religion, ethnicity, gender (including gender identity) or lifestyle choice (e.g. Goth) someone or a group of people targets you, commit a crime against you, bullies you or harasses you, then this is a hate crime or hate incident.

This may include:        

Verbal abuse Offensive graffiti Threatening behaviour Damage to property Assault Cyber bullying Abusive texts, emails or phone calls Taking money from you.

If you are in immediate danger call the Police by dialing 999 (non-emergencies 101).

You can report a hate crime to Victim Support directly. If you would like support we can arrange this at the same time. 08456 121 900 24/7.