Transpose at the Barbican – we chat with CN Lester.
Late last year, singer-songwriter and activist CN Lester brought the latest incarnation of their well established event Transpose back to Barbican in London. An evening of spoken word and music in a wrapper of warmth and humor that brings trans and non-binary voices together to share their stories. In December 2017 it’s at the Barbican for the second time, and we are there to see it.
A barbican is a fortified gateway. It seem apt. Trans identities are receiving a lot of attention right now, and, inevitably, a lot of that attention is negative. Whether it be the pearl-clutching histrionics of the Daily Mail, the faux religiosity of Christian Voice or the anti-science whataboutery of so-called ‘radical’ feminists, to be trans is to be subject to an onslaught. To wall in would be deemed reasonable. But a fortification is also a frontier.
Transpose has changed a lot over the… Continue reading
“I’m Not Interested In Moaning That All Men Are Hard Done By” – A Defence of Women Only Spaces
It seems like one of those debates that never ends: are woman only spaces empowering or discriminatory? Are they valuable or dated and unnecessary? Do they build bonds, or build walls?
We hear a lot from men who are against the concept, but bi activist Grant Denkinson is not one of them.
I’m a bisexual cisgender man and if women choose women-only spaces that is their business and not mine.
However, some people might be interested in my opinions including other men processing how they feel:
The first thing I think of is feeling excluded; unwanted; not allowed in. I’m a bit sensitive to that sort of thing as many of us are. I might feel a bit frustrated or annoyed. One of the things I’ve learned from polyamory is to stop a moment and take notice of feelings like jealousy; This might be a similar feeling. I… Continue reading
Cultural Erasure: Where’s the B on Our TVs?
A version of this post first appeared on Abigail’s blog, Experience Is To Be Believed.
About two years ago, I partook of some Netflix binges – re-watching all of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and powering through the whole ofThe L Word were just too irresistible. Although I can’t deny I hugely enjoyed both of these binges, there was something I just couldn’t get past – the way bisexuality was treated in both.
Since then, I’ve kept them in my mind, and to be honest, I’ve yet to encounter any programmes made more recently which give bisexuality positive treatment, so let’s step back in time.
The year is 1997, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer has hit our screens. (I was only 6, so of course I wasn’t watching it then. But for reasons which will become clear, I feel hugely influenced by this programme, so indulge me.) We… Continue reading
Eight Myths About Pansexuality, Debunked
It’s hard to deny that ignorances and misunderstandings about pansexuals exist, and the bisexual community is not immune – despite facing plenty of myths of our own. Myths around bisexuality and pansexuality overlap, but pansexuality also attracts some unique prejudices. It’s time to put them all to bed, starting with eight of the most common panphobic myths.
MYTH: Pansexual is a new term
FACT: We’ve been seeing the word pansexual since at least 1924. It’s shifted in meaning since it was coined, of course, just like the words ‘bisexual’, ‘homosexual’ and even ‘furniture’, ‘girl’ and ‘manufacture’. That’s just how language works.
It was first used by contemporary critics of Freud such as Otto Rank and Wilhelm Reich in derision, as an ironic validation of Freud’s suggestion that “that the sex instinct plays the primary part in all human activity”; or that our libidos either directly or indirectly, drive… Continue reading
UK Government Releases Report on Transgender Equality
After a long wait, the UK government has released its Report on Transgender Equality.
The report covers topics such as treatment of trans individuals by public services such as the NHS and the prisons service, the lack of sufficient statistical data on trans and non-binary identities, and the controversial ‘spousal veto’.
Crucially, the report recommends that changes be made to the Gender Recognition Act (2004) to allow for self-determination of gender, and that provision should be made for 16- and 17-year-olds to apply for gender recognition, alongside a number of recommendations to counter discriminatory procedures, demands and behaviors exhibited by the National Health Service and its staff.
You can read the report here [.pdf].
To read the Non-Binary Inclusion Project‘s response to the report, click here [.pdf].
Book Review: Men Can Wear Dresses Too, Caite Maye
Certified bookworm and friend of Biscuit Sophia reads a first-hand account of living as a cross-dresser.
This intriguing book by Catie Maye explores the issues surrounding the lives of an often marginalised part of the transgender community, male cross-dressers and gender-fluid people.
Maye has approached the topic through the lens of her own experiences as a male-to-female cross-dresser and her widening exploration of what she calls her ‘feminine side’, at first tentatively and, as the years passed, with increasing confidence.
Born in 1960 and growing up in a working class area of London, Maye began cross-dressing at the age of nine (not untypical), and has continued to do so to the present day. She’s heterosexual and is married with children, which again is most common. The majority of male cross-dressers identify as straight (the percentage who identify as gay or bi is roughly in proportion to the figures for… Continue reading
You Didn't Hear it from Us 4/7/15
Here’s a round-up of some of the news, blogs posts and comment we missed this week.
- In the wake of marriage equality in the US, the conversation moved from what the ruling means for us, to next challenges for the bisexual and wider LGBT communities.
- Pride season kicked off around the world. It was not always well received. Buzzfeed reported on a Christian Group trying to shut down Pride in Korea, and rubber bullets deployed against marchers in Istanbul.
- Other Pride events were happier, with hundreds of celebrations worldwide.
- Reports found that bisexual people are more likely to be poor, and have worse mental health than gay and lesbian people.
- Roots profiled 9 Transgender Men of Colour we should know about.
- Ralph Fiennes is planning a biopic about bi dancer Rudolph Nureyev.
- LGBTPerspectives wrote about situational bisexuality in Saudi Arabia.
Did… Continue reading
Three Picture Books for Gender Variant Children
Contentnote: some Continue reading
“Fancy a 3sum?”: Online Dating As A Bi Woman…
The fact that I’m in search of a mono relationship is spelled out in nursery level English on all my dating profiles. Yet I’ve probably had at least 10 direct requests for threesomes just this month. I even had to block a man who took the time to send nine messages, each more fire and brimstone-filled than the last, explaining how my orgiastic lifestyle would land me in Hell.
It hasn’t all been doom and gloom, though. Having the chance to gauge whether or not a date will deal with the “b-bomb” OK is out of the way at the beginning, so by the time you’re at the meeting… Continue reading →