Category: Human Rights
-
Transition, Six Years Later.
Content Warning: This article mentions a previous way of thinking that conflates androgynous trans men and cis butch women. It also details transphobic harassment. My transition started as the cumulation of little changes that eventually became something. There isn’t a definite start. I didn’t like what puberty did to my genitals, which hit me the…
-
Common Spaces
I walked around my place, unsure what to do. My contract had ended unexpectedly right before Christmas. It was about the worst time to look for work, and I had surgery in two months further complicating the job search. I immediately went to Halifax. Never been. Always wanted to go. A friend met me there…
-
Debates are not neutral
This week the Vancouver Public Library is at the center of outcry over its hosting of Meghan Murphy’s event. She is perhaps the highest profile transphobe in Canada along with Jordan Peterson. The VPL said in its statement following the negative attention: VPL is not endorsing, or hosting this event; it is a rental of…
-
Emergent Traits in Trans Activism
This is a short article in which I want to note two emergent traits I have observed in trans activism. The traits can be summarized as such: An entitlement by privileged trans people co-opting the hardships of others A framing of trans rights as only being about gender identity An entitlement by privileged trans people…
-
List of Anti-Trans Scientific-Sounding Evidence
While there are thousands of peer reviewed articles and a multitude of medical organisations that support the acceptance of trans people, there are also a handful of articles and medical professionals that are in opposition. Yet this handful is over-represented in newspapers and television. After hearing mental health professionals inquire about both the Swedish Study and Rapid Onset…
-
Trans people according to the National Post
The National Post is one of two leading national newspapers in Canada. From 2011 to 2018, the National Post has released at least sixty editorials advocating against the acceptance of trans people. Most of these date from after 2014. So I thought I would paint a picture of trans people, as depicted by the National…
-
Homophobia and transphobia is why PC’s repealed sex ed
On July 11th 2018 the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PCs) followed through on a campaign promise rid Ontario of the 2015 sexual education curriculum. Come September, students would be taught the 1998 curriculum. The 2015 curriculum included content about consent, online bullying, and LGBT realities. None of these were present in the 1998 curriculum, which…
-
To young women in tech (2018)
The other day I decided to compile statistics on the gender balance at my workplace. I found that: 0% of leadership (managers and above) are composed of women 7% of technical roles are made up of women 12% of all employees are women Now compare this to the 2016 census data. For Ottawa-Gatineau, where my workplace…
-
Slam Sermon: Sex Work
This is the poetry I recited for the slam sermon at my church. The common occupations Among my relations Are sex work And social work One has their work Foisted upon them As an identity Objectified For our moral supremacy The other is normalized Invisible from all pulpits Free of proselytizing When you say prostitute…
-
A Month After Bill C-16
Warning: This article contains some deeply transphobic images and text. Following Bill C-16’s passing, I monitored Twitter and other social media platforms with respect to the bill. Initially, coverage was mostly positive. As the news of the bill’s passage left the current news cycle, the coverage turned sharply negative. Some of it was particularly nasty.…