Showing papers on "Transgender published in 2004"

Transforming Sex: An Interview with Joanne Meyerowitz, Ph.D. Author of How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States

Abstract: Christine Jorgensen's widely publicized sex reassignment surgery in 1952 brought transsexualism to worldwide attention and fostered medical interest in transsexualism. Joanne Meyerowitz has traced the history of Jorgensen's personal odyssey, the medical history of transsexualism, and the broader impact of transsexualism on United States culture. In this interview, Meyerowitz discusses how she came to this project and some of its theoretical and methodological challenges. Finally, she sets her historical work in the context of contemporary gender and transgender politics.

Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working with Gender-Variant People and Their Families

Abstract: Explore an ecological strength-based framework for the treatment of gender-variant clients This comprehensive book provides you with a clinical and theoretical overview of the issues facing transgendered/transsexual people and their families. Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working with Gender-Variant People and Their Families views assessment and treatment through a nonpathologizing lens that honors human diversity and acknowledges the role of oppression in the developmental process of gender identity formation. Specific sections of Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working with Gender-Variant People and Their Families address the needs of gender-variant people as well as transgender children and youth. The issues facing gender-variant populations who have not been the focus of clinical care, such as intersexed people, female-to-male transgendered people, and those who identify as bigendered, are also addressed. The book examines: the six stages of transgender emergence coming out transgendered as a normative process of gender identity development thinking "outside the box" in the deconstruction of sex and gender the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as the convergence, overlap, and integration of these parts of the self the power of personal narrative in gender identity development etiology and typographies of transgenderism treatment models that emerge from various clinical perspectives alternative treatment modalities based on gender variance as a normative lifecycle developmental process Complete with fascinating case studies, a critique of diagnostic processes, treatment recommendations, and a helpful glossary of relevant terms, this book is an essential reference for anyone who works with gender-variant people. Handy tables and figures make the information easier to access and understand.Visit the author's Web site at http://www.choicesconsulting.com

Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People

Abstract: In this innovative celebration of diversity and affirmation of individuality in animals and humans, Joan Roughgarden challenges accepted wisdom about gender identity and sexual orientation. A distinguished evolutionary biologist, Roughgarden takes on the medical establishment, the Bible, social science - and even Darwin himself. She leads the reader through a fascinating discussion of diversity in gender and sexuality among fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals, including primates. Evolution's Rainbow explains how this diversity develops from the action of genes and hormones and how people come to differ from each other in all aspects of body and behavior. Roughgarden reconstructs primary science in light of feminist, gay, and transgender criticism and redefines our understanding of sex, gender, and sexuality. This is a witty, playful, and daring book that has revolutionized our understanding of sexuality.

Transgender Studies: Queer Theory's Evil Twin

Abstract: tions of the interrelated histories of gender studies and sexuality studies? Has gender assumed a new salience in LGBTQ studies recently? Is it necessary to preserve a sense of the specificity of sexuality in relation to the study of gender, or a sense of the specificity of gender in relation to the study of sexuality? Addressing a persistent thematic in feminist and queer theorizing across a range of disciplinary and methodological differences, the following responses to our questions elucidate variously the complex and mobile relations between sexuality and gender that energize our everyday teaching and writing, reading and thinking.

Witnessing and Mirroring: A Fourteen Stage Model of Transsexual Identity Formation

Abstract: SUMMARY Coming to recognize oneself as transsexual involves a number of stages of exploration and analysis on both an interpersonal and intrapersonal level over the course of many years. A model encompassing fourteen possible stages is proposed: (1) Abiding Anxiety, (2) Identity Confusion About Originally Assigned Gender and Sex, (3) Identity Comparisons About Originally Assigned Gender and Sex, (4) Discovery of Transsexualism, (5) Identity Confusion About Transsexualism, (6) Identity Comparisons About Transsexualism, (7) Tolerance of Transsexual Identity, (8) Delay Before Acceptance of Transsexual Identity, (9) Acceptance of Transsexualism Identity, (10) Delay Before Transition, (11) Transition, (12) Acceptance of Post-Transition Gender and Sex Identities, (13) Integration, and (14) Pride.

An Analysis of Tobacco Industry Marketing to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Populations: Strategies for Mainstream Tobacco Control and Prevention

Abstract: Research on adult tobacco use consistently shows a higher prevalence among lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) populations than among the general population-reasons why are largely unknown, and counterstrategies are critical. Tobacco industry marketing, uncovered when the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) forced companies to share its internal documents, provided insight. The American Legacy Foundation uncovered the industry campaign Project SCUM (Sub-Culture Urban Marketing) aimed at gays and the homeless. The formerly secret documents revealed specific marketing toward LGBT, whose rates increased when the MSA banned youth (but not other population) advertising. The industry reaches out to LGBT persons through direct and indirect advertising, community outreach, and sponsorships. Messages to LGBT have been relatively absent from advertising until recently, creating receptivity to such overtures. Reducing LGBT smoking rates is a public health challenge that will require exceeding the sense of validation tobacco advertising has created in LGBT communities.

Patient satisfaction with transgender health services

Abstract: Measuring patient satisfaction (i.e., patients' subjective evaluation of health care services received) is increasingly important in assessing health care outcomes because of the current emphasis on greater partnership between providers (therapist, doctor, staff) and consumers (patients) in health care. In care of transgender persons, achieving good patient satisfaction is particularly challenging given the primary role mental health professionals play as arbiters of who has access to sex reassignment and when such candidates are ready. Dependence on a mental health professional in this "gate-keeping" role is perceived by some members of the transgender community as unnecessarily pathologizing. This study compared satisfaction ratings of 180 transgender and 837 other sexual health patients with psychotherapeutic, psychiatric, and sexual medicine services provided at a university-based sexual health clinic. Five consecutive surveys conducted during 1993-2002 showed high patient satisfaction. We found few significant differences between transgender and other sexual health patients, except that in 1995, transgender patients had higher satisfaction on their perceived ability to handle the problems that originally had led them to therapy. Survey results helped target areas in need of improvement (e.g., friendliness and courtesy of staff, handling of phone calls), and efforts by the providers to improve services resulted in significant increases in patient satisfaction. These findings put individual complaints in perspective and showed that despite the challenges inherent in providing transgender care good satisfaction can be achieved. We encourage providers to implement quality assurance and improvement procedures to give patients the opportunity to provide feedback and have a voice in shaping their own health care.

HIV, syphilis infection, and sexual practices among transgenders, male sex workers, and other men who have sex with men in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Abstract: Objectives: To establish the prevalence of HIV, syphilis, and sexual risk behaviour among three groups of men who have sex with men in Jakarta, Indonesia, and to investigate sexual links between these men and broader heterosexual populations. Methods: Anonymous, cross sectional surveys among community recruited transgender and male sex workers and self recognised men who have sex with men (MSM) were undertaken in mid-2002 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Places where transgender and male sex workers sell sex and where men go to meet non-commercial male sex partners were mapped. Probability samples were selected for the sex worker populations, while a mixed probability and convenience sample was drawn for self recognised MSM. Blood was drawn for HIV and syphilis serology and community interviewers administered a standardised questionnaire. Results: HIV prevalence was 22% among transgender sex workers, 3.6% among male sex workers, and 2.5% among self recognised MSM, and syphilis prevalence was 19.3%, 2.0% and 1.1% respectively. 59.3% of transgender sex workers and 64.8% of male sex workers reported recent unprotected anal intercourse with clients, and 53.1% of other MSM reported unprotected anal sex with male partners. Some 54.4% of male sex workers and 18.3% of other MSM reported female partners in the preceding year. Conclusion: HIV has reached substantial levels among transgender sex workers, and is not negligible in other MSM groups. Risk behaviour is high in all subpopulations, and bisexual behaviour is common, meaning the threat of a wider epidemic is substantial. Prevention programmes targeting male-male sex are needed to reduce this threat.

Becoming a Visible Man

Abstract: Written by a leading activist in the transgender movement, Becoming a Visible Man is an artful and compelling inquiry into the politics of gender. Jamison Green combines candid autobiography with informed analysis to offer unique insight into the multiple challenges of the female-to-male transsexual experience, ranging from encounters with prejudice and strained relationships with family to the development of an FTM community and the realities of surgical sex reassignment. For more than a decade, Green has provided educational programs on gender-variance issues for corporations, law-enforcement agencies, social-science conferences and classes, continuing legal education, religious education, and medical venues. His comprehensive knowledge of the processes and problems encountered by transgendered and transsexual people - as well as his legal advocacy work to help ensure that gender-variant people have access to the same rights and opportunities as others - enable him to explain the issues as no transsexual author has previously done. Brimming with frank and often poignant recollections of Green's own experiences - including his childhood struggles with identity and his years as a lesbian parent prior to his sex-reassignment surgery - the book examines transsexualism as a human condition, and sex reassignment as one of the choices that some people feel compelled to make in order to manage their gender variance. Relating the FTM psyche and experience to the social and political forces at work in American society, Becoming a Visible Man also speaks consciously of universal principles that concern us all, particularly the need to live one's life honestly, openly, and passionately.

Giving voice to emerging science and theory for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people of color.

Abstract: Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people of color may experience multiple layers of oppression, as they often not only contend with the negative societal reactions to their sexual orientation but also may experience racial prejudice, limited economic resources, and limited acceptance within their own cultural community. Despite the range of psychosocial issues that may be encountered by this population, and the need to understand factors that promote resiliency and well-being, the empirical psychological literature has virtually ignored LGB people of color. This article provides general background regarding the empirical research needs and concerns regarding LGB people of color and introduces the articles included in this special issue. Recommendations for increasing research with LGB people of color are offered.

Creating Emotional Resonance: Interpersonal Emotion Work and Motivational Framing in a Transgender Community

Abstract: In this article, we examine how interpersonal emotion work in a transgender support group and motivational framing of transgender social movement organizations together constructed favorable conditions for emotional resonance. We define emotional resonance as the emotional harmony and/or disjuncture between collective action frames and the emotional lives of potential recruits. Data derive from fieldwork, interviews, online e-mail lists and forums, community publications, activist speeches, and social movement organizations' recruitment appeals. Transgendered people joined support groups hoping to find relief from shame, fear, powerlessness, alienation, and inauthenticity. Although group members' emotion work partly accomplished such relief, it was hindered by identity conflicts and the temporal bounds of the meetings. Transgender activists and nascent social movement organizations, however, used motivational framing to promise targeted recruits a more permanent emotional resolution—one which could draw them into the movement. Our analysis moves transgender scholarship beyond issues of identity and moves framing theory beyond an almost exclusive concern with cognitive processes.

Treatment counselor's attitudes about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered clients: urban vs. rural settings.

Abstract: Treatment counselors’ attitudes about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) clients can have important effects on these client's recovery. There is a common, but unexamined, perception t...

GL vs. BT: The Archaeology of Biphobia and Transphobia within the U.S. Gay and Lesbian Community

Abstract: This article discusses the contentious social and historical relationship within and among the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities in the United States, theorizing that biphobia and transphobia are a product of power relations, rather than phobias.

Social Work Practice With Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Adolescents

Abstract: The author addresses social work practice with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) youth. Identity development, including disclosure and the emergence of sexuality are discussed, along with family and school issues. Particular emphasis is given to a number of risk factors that GLBT youth encounter: emotional distress, isolation, internalized homophobia/transphobia, depression, substance abuse, suicide, violence/victimization, family conflict, school performance, and sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. Guidelines for social work practice with GLBT youth are presented.

Violence, identity and policing: the case of violence against transgender people

Abstract: The call by transgender people for the police to take violence against them more seriously has some familiar attributes. In general it is a violence characterized as hate crime. Transgender activism has highlighted many problems, for example, under-reporting, lack of trust and confidence in policing, lack of police recognition, low detection rates, clear up rates and infrequent judicial determinations of guilt. This activism might be characterized as another instance of identity politics emerging within the field of policing and criminal justice. While we welcome its emergence some scholars have been critical of the impact of identity politics upon policing and criminal justice bodies, suggesting it promotes further social and community divisions. Although we share some of these concerns, in this article we argue that these problems are the effect of particular assumptions about the nature of identity. We offer an analysis of identity politics that seeks to challenge this position, as well as an analysis ...

Been There Done That

Abstract: Women in prostitution and those in the process of exiting prostitution experience many barriers to social services traditionally encountered by other marginalized populations, including discrimination, alienation, stigmatization, victim-blaming and inaccessibility to social services. Compounding these problems are the wariness and distrust that result from years of sexual and emotional trauma. Standing Against Global Exploitation (The SAGE Project) is a human rights non-profit survivor-run drug, mental health, and trauma treatment center that offers job training and placement and other forms of advocacy to women, girls, men, and transgender survivors in the San Francisco sex industry. SAGE has developed a survivor-centered model of peer counseling and harm reduction. SAGE trains and employs survivors of prostitution at all levels of management, development, and service provision in order to build trust and empathy among its clients and staff.

Questioning Gender and Sexuality Binaries

Abstract: Social work has largely adopted the oppression model in our research, practice, education, policy and advocacy work These essentialist constructions rely on the binary categorizations of male/female and heterosexuality/homosexuality Largely missing from the mainstream social work literature are the perspectives of postmodern/queer theorists, the latest sex research, and the experience of transgendered individuals These perspectives offer critiques of gender and sexuality binaries as well as libratory goals for social justice Tensions between the postmodern perspective and the social work liberal model are discussed, and suggestions for incorporating the ideas emanating from queer theorists, new sex research, and the lived experiences of the transgendered into all areas of social work are offered

A Quest for Authenticity: Contemporary Butch Gender

Abstract: A model of contemporary butch identity has been constructed from the analysis of a series of semistructured interviews with butch-identified women who described their gender in relation to their own experiences and beliefs. The analytic process entailed a grounded theory approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The results of the study describe how butch-identified women conceptualize their gender identity and how it affects their social relations within lesbian and heterosexual communities. The core category in this model (i.e., A Quest for Authenticity) frames butch identity as entailing an ongoing process of negotiation between an essential sense of lesbian gender and gender presentation demands that are understood in relation to the signification and meaning of genders across social contexts.

Towards a queer research methodology

Abstract: This paper proposes that psychological researchers generally, and psychologists concerned with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues specifically, could benefit by including ‘queer theory’ insights into their research. It begins with an elaboration of this theory, with special attention given to Judith Butler's arguments in her book, Gender Trouble. These insights are used in a close reading of Evelyn Hooker's famous research from the 1950s on gay male adjustment, and more contemporary writing on homosexual adjustment done by James M. Cantor. It will be shown that while traditional psychological research methods aspire for the objectivity of science, this aspiration is often complicit in a regulatory regime which does less to liberate homosexual desire, than to account for it, limit it, and often convert it to something ‘normal’. The implications for research are discussed in the final section.

Playing Back the Nation: Waria, Indonesian Transvestites

Abstract: Author(s): Boellstorff, T | Abstract: Waria (better known as banci or bencong), who can be provisionally defined as male-to-female transvestites, are well-known members of contemporary Indonesian society. Waria are best understood not as a third gender but a male femininity. By exploring how waria reconfigure concepts of authenticity, I address the relationship between the waria subject position and Indonesian national culture.

Chicks with dicks, men in dresses: what it means to be a drag queen.

Abstract: One of the burning questions about drag queens among both scholars and audiences is whether they are more gender-revolutionaries than gender-conservatives. Do they primarily destabilize gender and sexual categories by making visible the social basis of femininity and masculinity, heterosexuality and homosexuality? Or are they more apt to reinforce the dominant binary and hierarchical gender and sexual systems by appropriating gender displays and expressing sexual desires associated with traditional femininity and institutionalized heterosexuality? We address this question through a case study of drag queens at the 801 Cabaret in Key West, Florida. On the basis of life histories, observations of their performances, and focus groups with audience members, we examine the role of gender and sexuality in the process of becoming a drag queen and in the personal identities of drag queens. We find that transgenderism, same-sex sexuality, and theatrical performance are central to the personal identities of these drag queens, who use drag to forge personal and collective identities that are neither masculine nor feminine, but rather their own complex genders.

School Experiences of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth

Abstract: Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) youth are coming out at younger ages, but schools have not changed as fast as the culture, leaving many youth isolated and at risk of violence and harassment. For GLBT youth of color, these problems are exacerbated by racism and the risk of rejection by their ethnic community. Children of GLBT parents are also commonly targeted and harassed by peers. Often ignored or underplayed, however, are the strength, resiliency, and extensive self-advocacy of GLBT youth. This essay summarizes what is known to date about the school experiences of GLBT youth.

Encyclopedia of sex and gender : men and women in the world's cultures

Abstract: * Preface. * Cultural Conceptions of Gender. Cultural Constructions of Gender E.S. Segal. Gender Stereotypes D.L. Best. Gender Differences. Biological Bases of Sex Differences B.S. Low. Socialization of Boys and Girls in Natural Contexts C. Pope Edwards, L. Knoche, A. Kumru. Adolescence G.E. Weisfeld. Personality and Emotion C. Whissell. * Gender Roles, Status, and Institutions. Courtship and Marriage L. Hendrix. Parental Roles R.A. Veneziano. Economic Activities and Gender Roles R. O'Brian. Leadership, Power and Gender K. Kauppinen, I. Aaltio. War and Gender J.S. Goldstein. Religion, Religiosity, and Gender B. Beit-Hallahmi. Gender-Based Social Groups C.R. Ember, M. Ember. Relative Status of Men and Women M.L. Margolis. Economic Development and Gender R. O'Brian. Language & Gender B. McElhinny. Transitions in the Life-Course of Women J.K. Brown. * Sexuality and Male-Female Interaction. Sexual Attitudes and Practices G.J. Broude. Modesty and Sexual Restraint C.E. Rothenberg. Husband-Wife Interaction and Aloofness G.J. Broude. Homosexuality F.L. Cardoso, D. Werner. Transgender and Transsexuality T.M. Witten. Rape and Other Sexual Aggression L. Zimmer-Tamakoshi. * Sex and Gender in the World's Cultures. Abaluyia M.G. Cattell. Abelam R. Scaglion. Armenians A. Ishkanian. Aymara W. Mitchell. Bakairi D.S. Picchi. Bakkarwal A. Rao. Balinese L. Parker. Bamileke P. Feldman-Savelsberg. Beng A. Gottlieb. Blackfoot A. Kehoe. Canela W.H. Crocker. Cherokee M.J. Tippeconnic Fox. Chinese Americans Xiaojian Zhao. Chipewyan R. Jarvenpa. Czechs T.M. Hall. Eastern Tukanoans J.M. Chernela. Germans J.M. Pastoetter. Glebo M.H. Moran. Greeks of Kalymnos D.E. Sutton. Hadza F. Marlowe. Han Chinese W. Jankowiak. Hma' Btsisi' B.S. Nowak. Hmong of Laos and the United States Dia Cha, T. Dunnigan. Hopi A. Schlegel. Hungarians B.A. West, I. Annus. Iatmul E. Kline Silverman. Ifugao L.M. Kwiatkowski. Igbo D.J. Smith. Iranians M.E. Hegland. Israelis M.P. Safir, A. Rosenmann. Italians V.A. Goddard. Jamaica W. Wedenoja. Kayapo W.H. Fisher. Kazakhs C. Werner. Kyrgyz K. Kuehnast. Lahu Shanshan Du. Maasai A. Talle. Manjako M. Buckner. Mardu R. Tonkinson, M. Tonkinson. Marquesans K.C. Riley. Maya J.R. Sosa, B. Montes, M.-A. Yeager, E. Paqcha Benites. Mehinako U. Prinz. Mexicans J. Pauli. Mormon Fundamentalists W.R Jankowiak. Mountain Arapesh P. Roscoe. Mundugumor N. McDowell. Na E.R. Walsh. Nahua J.M. Taggart. Nandi R. Smith Oboler. Navajo M.T. Schwarz. Nepali M.M. Cameron. Northeast India: Orissa and West Bengal S.C. Seymour. Orang Suku Laut L. Lenhart. Puerto Ricans M. Asencio. Rungus Dusun G.N. Appell, L.W.R. Appell. Sakha S.A. Crate. Samburu B. Straight, J. Holtzman. Samoans J.M. Mageo. San Blas Kuna J. Howe. Shipibo W.M. Hern. Shoshone R.H. Crapo. Spanish S. Tax Freeman. Swat Pathan C. Lindholm. Swazi B.J. Harris. Taiwan Chien-Juh Gu, R.S. Gallin. Taiwanese Americans C. Avenarius. Tanna L. Lindstrom. Tarahumara F.S. Wyndham. Tikopia J. Macdonald. Timpaus Banggai H.B. Broch. Tlingit L.F. Klein. Trobriands W. Schiefenhoevel. Tswana R.L. Upton. Ukrainians S.D. Phillips. Uzbek M.R. Kamp, A.C. Shalinsky. Waorani P.I. Erickson. West Indian Americans O. LaBennett. Yanomami G. Herzog-Schroeder. Yapese R.A. Marksbury. Yupik Eskimos C. Zane Jolles. Yuqui A. MacLean Stearman. Zapotec L. Stephen. Glossary. Alternative Culture Names. Index.

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Elders: The Challenges and Resilience of this Marginalized Group

Abstract: Current gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) individuals age 65 years and older grew up before the Gay Rights movement. They have learned over many years to hide their identities in order to avoid discrimination and ridicule. Unfortunately, this secrecy has led to the near invisibility of the elder GLBT population and to poor health and service access. This paper reviews what we know about GLBT elders, describes some of the unique strengths they bring to the aging process, and outlines some of the challenges they face. Micro, mezzo, and macro practice implications are suggested.

Beyond ‘MSM’: Sexual Desire Among Bisexually-Active Latino Men in New York City

Abstract: Latino male bisexuality has been studied for the most part with a focus on men who have sex with men (MSM) and with little attention to sexual desire. The goal of this article is to present a comprehensive understanding of how sexual desire is organized, enacted through sexual activity, and interpreted in the sexual lives of bisexually-active Latino men. To achieve this aim, an analysis was made of 18 sexual histories of bisexually active Latino men who participated in a two-year ethnographic study. Four configurations of sexual desire were constructed to reflect what was found in this population of bisexually-active Latino men: (a) lifetime homoerotic desire and casual sex with women; (b) lifetime heteroerotic desire, but commercial sex with men; (c) lifetime heteroerotic/transgender desire; (d) lifetime sexual desire for women and men. These configurations are explored in detail in this article. The analysis presented here is intended to offer insights into the overall study of Latino male bisexuality and into the foundations for the design of HIV and STI prevention programs directed toward bisexually-active Latino men and their partners.

Gay and lesbian aging : research and future directions

Abstract: The year 2003 marks the 30th anniversary of the landmark "declassification" of homosexuality as a disease by the American Psychiatric Association - a watershed in the lives of gays and lesbians in the United States. For the first time in history, a generation of self-identified lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender individuals are approaching retirement. This volume brings to the forefront important issues concerning the health, mental health, and concomitant special social service needs of this population, and emphasizes the need for more research on aging sexual minorities. Based on empirical and qualitative research methods, chapters focus on the myriad issues of aging for lesbians and gay men, including: social and cultural considerations about HIV among midlife and older gay men; psychological well-Being in midlife and older gay men; well-being among middle-aged and older single gay men; and lesbian friendships at and beyond midlife.

Life course analysis: The courage to search for something more: Middle adulthood issues in the transgender and intersex community

Abstract: In this paper we discuss middle-to-late life issues of the transgender and intersex communities. We demonstrate that these mid-to-late life issues are richly complex, full of courage, coping, risk,...

“Be Your(Real Lesbian)Self”: Mobilizing Sexual Formula Stories through Personal (and Political) Storytelling

Abstract: This article investigates the ways individuals tell their life stories as a means of social movement activism. The authors rely on the participant observation fieldwork of one author, wherein she participated on “ panels” of a local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) organization as they spoke to classes and organizations ostensibly to inform audiences about panelists’ experiences as LGBT people. Using analytic bracketing, they look at the kinds of meanings being conferred in these settings and the strategies used to accomplish the goal of undoing stereotypes. They find that although panelists are encouraged to “be themselves”—unique, nonstereotypical individuals—the auspices of the setting and the coming-out formula story call on panelists to typify what it means to be LGBT, albeit in ways that contradict popular stereotypes. The authors place the analysis within a broader historical trend of latemodern sexual storytelling and discuss some implications for storying identities in social movement work.

Changing Models of Transsexualism

Abstract: SUMMARY The second half of the twentieth century saw the development within the psychological and medical communities of a transsexual model and procedures for identifying, describing, and treating individuals who sought sex reassignment. This model viewed transsexualism as a form of mental illness characterized by a pervasive and ongoing wish to be a member of the other sex. The model prescribes a set of medical and social procedures called sex reassignment, whereby an individual “changed sex.” The 1990s saw the rise of a new model which explained transsexualism as a natural form of human variability. This model, which continues to gain prominence, views sex reassignment as but one of a variety of acceptable life choices for transsexual individuals, and recognizes the need and right of nontranssexual transgendered people to make similar choices. This paper discusses both models and touches on the social and treatment implications of the rise of the transgender model.

Understanding Agency Beyond School Sanctioned Activities

Abstract: This article reviews literature that portrays lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) students both as victims of heterosexism and homophobia as well as agents, or ones who exert power, for change in schools. It complicates this literature by focusing on three youth who deal with the oppressions they experience in quite different ways and in ways that are not always sanctioned by schools. It challenges educators to recognize and value this agency. It asserts that it is not the job of educators to increase young people's agency. Rather, it is the job of educators to tap into students' agency for the good of the students, and to create school communities that allow students to be themselves and work for social change.