Christina Sforza’s experience

Blogger RachelPhilPa linked both to my post about Ian Harvie’s bathroom experience and a YouTube video of Christina Sforza describing her assault by the manager of the McDonalds on Fifth Avenue and 34th Street (which I also reported). The video was taken a year later and nothing has been done. Sforza’s story is very disturbing. I admire her courage for pursuing justice after that kind of treatment.

Last year I emailed the staff of Council Speaker Quinn (the McDonald’s in question is in her district) and got some encouraging responses. This Amnesty International report says that Quinn’s intervention allowed Sforza to file a complaint (it’s not clear whether against the manager or the police officers). However, I have not heard anything since last year. The report also gives contact information for Commissioner Kelly, an advisor to District Attorney Morgenthau and Speaker Quinn.

NYC-area readers: take the Center Survey

There’s an issue that’s important to me, but that I haven’t really had much time to discuss here on my blog: safe places to change gender presentation.  I would love it if some day we can all leave our houses dressed as any gender (or combination of genders) we like.  In the meantime, it really helps to have a safe place where people can change gender presentation away from home.

When I first asked about this at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in 2000, I was told that changing clothes in the bathrooms was not allowed.  Things have changed significantly since then.  In 2004, Donna from the My Husband Betty message boards posted that there was an unofficial policy allowing people to change clothes in the “All-Gender” bathrooms on the second floor.  Within the next two years, that policy was made official and the rules against changing clothes were removed from the lists.  I have changed gender presentation several times in those bathrooms over the past three years, and the staff and other visitors have always been perfectly supportive.

This, to me, is one of the most important “transgender community services” that a center can offer.  I hope you will agree with me, and tell that to the Center management when you take their Community Survey.

Gender, Safety and Desirability

Streetsblog recently featured four different articles that highlighted the role of gender in the success of public spaces and practices. In the first post, traffic psychologist Ian Walker attached proximity measuring equipment to test how closely (i.e. how dangerously) motorists came when overtaking him. He found that they came closer when he wore a helmet than when he was bare-headed, presumably because they felt he would be protected if they hit him. But they gave him the most space when he wore a long wig and (he assumed) passed for a woman from behind.

In another post, the New York Observer reported that a new group of women are seen riding bikes in New York: young, attractive, and most importantly, forsaking jocky spandex for a host of femme signifiers: dresses, skirts, high heels, long hair, baskets, perfume, pink, Hello Kitty. They include famous actresses and models such as Naomi Watts, Chloë Sevigny, Gisele Bundchen and, most recently, Sarah Michelle Gellar. Streetsblog pointed out, however, that Copenhagen, um, women are way ahead of New York, riding bikes in skirts and heels in great numbers.

Today, in a discussion of the soaring popularity of cycling in Portland, Oregon, the comments turned to Portland’s concern with the numbers of women cyclists. “Women cyclists,” the city’s transportation office asserts, “are the indicators of a healthy bikeway network.”

Bryant Park (1960), Charles W. CushmanStreetsblog commenter Gretel pointed us to a New Yorker report about Danny Gordon, whose job is to count the numbers of men and women in Bryant Park, every day at lunchtime. The idea comes from a man named Holly Whyte, a sociologist and founder of the Project for Public Spaces. “Women pick up on visual cues of disorder better than men do,” Gordon’s boss, Bryant Park Corporation president Dan Biederman told the New Yorker. “They’re your purest customers. And, if women don’t see other women, they tend to leave.” New Yorker writer Nick Paumgarten added, “Presumably, a female preponderance not only emboldens more women but also entices more men.”

Paumgarten acknowledged that it’s not always easy to classify people by gender. “Sometimes I’ll make it a man, sometimes I’ll make it a woman,” Gordon told him. “And, if I realize afterward that I was wrong, I’ll change the next person.” For Biederman’s purposes it doesn’t matter if Gordon gets it slightly wrong, because what really matters is how many women are perceived to be in the park.

Biederman’s assessment of the role of women in the success of a public space is probably correct, but I would guess that when safety is an issue (as it was in Bryant Park in the ’80s, and as it is in cycling now), the critical issue is that women, overall, are more vulnerable than men, and are perceived that way, by themselves and by others. They pick up on visual cues of disorder because those are likely to be cues of danger for them. When people see a place full of women (who aren’t being held captive in some way) they take that as a signal that the place is safe. When people see women engaging in an activity, they take that as a signal that the activity is safe.

I’ll even go further than Biederman and argue that the women aren’t all equal in that regard: the femmer the women, the more vulnerable they appear, and the more femme women, the safer the space appears. If I see Bryant Park at midnight full of leather-clad women with crew cuts, I won’t get the same feeling of safety as if I see it full of women with long hair wearing high heels and dresses. (Of course, there’s no feeling of safety if the women appear to be prostitutes.) Similarly with cycling: a few frail-looking women in dresses indicate safety much more than a lot of athletic-looking women in spandex.

How does transness fit into this? I think it has a lot to do with passing. An FTM once told me that he knew he passed when he saw a woman cross the street to avoid walking past him. I knew I passed late one night when a strange woman curled up next to me on the subway and fell asleep. Maybe some women would be reassured by seeing a non-passing MTF in the crowd, maybe they wouldn’t. Something to look into, perhaps.

Larry Wachowski still not transitioned

Gothamist has summaries of the gossip that came out in 2003 about Larry Wachowski, one of the creators of the Matrix series. After learning that he was dating a dominatrix who was Buck Angel’s ex, and started appearing in public with more feminine grooming (clean-shaven, long hair, make-up, fancier clothes and jewelry), the gossip columnists figured that there was only one explanation.  He’s getting a sex change (not that there’s anything wrong with that)!

Of course, in November of that year Wired ran a story with this quote: “One source who knows the couple and the scene dismisses the sex change rumor, explaining that Larry is merely a cross-dresser, not a transsexual.”  But apparently this did not stop the rumors, and a Fox entertainment reporter was fully expecting to find a woman on the set of Speed RacerHe didn’t.  He didn’t find Wachowski either, but everyone he interviewed said that Larry was still a guy.

If Wachowski wanted to transition four years ago, with as much money and power as he has I’m guessing that he probably would have by now, but he hasn’t.  Maybe his girlfriend influenced his fashion sense.  Maybe it’s some BDSM thing.  Maybe he really is a cross-dresser.  The idea that The Matrix was partly written by a transgender person makes a lot of sense to me.

Of course, it’s none of my business if he’s a transsexual, a cross-dresser, or something completely other.  But geez, will some people get it now that being trans doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to transition?

Sam de Brito on cross-dressing

Metafilter featured this interesting blog sponsored by the Sydney Morning Herald (and apparently named after this Nick Lowe song). The guy may be a jerk, but he’s got some valuable insights, I think. He did one of those “non-TG journalist cross-dresses for science!” pieces, which is more interesting than it might sound. I was also impressed with how sensitive he was to trans people. Also, he hooks up with a woman while cross-dressed, which (although not unheard of), is pretty cool.

  1. My life as a woman
  2. My life as a woman: in the beginning
  3. On the town: Samantha gets lucky
  4. Samantha: getting deeper, getting out

(Bonus YouTube link in case you were wondering what Nick Lowe looks like when he’s really singing and playing – although I’ve never seen anyone play a bass with a pick before. The guitarist and drummer are pretty sharp too.)

“Policing in Queer & Trans Communities” at Queens Pride House

An interesting event at Queens Pride House in Jackson Heights. Too bad I can’t go!

*stay ALERT series* June Event

Activism, Leadership, and Education for a Radical Takeover presents:

“Policing in Queer & Trans Communities” with FIERCE!

Thurs. June 14, 7-9pm, FREE

F.I.E.R.C.E! will lead an interactive workshop and discussion that focuses on the history of policing in queer and trans communities, particularly in New York City, and what we can do about it. The workshop will be in English. Please RSVP to Lyndsey at 718-429-5309 or Lbeutin@queenspridehouse.org

F.I.E.R.C.E! (Fabulous Independent Educated Radical for Community Empowerment!) is the 5th presenter in the new series at QPH called “stay ALERT!” which focuses on radical queer organizing and the intersections of oppressions. stay ALERT stands for Activism, Leadership, and Education for a Radical Takeover. Look for a new stay ALERT event each month. Are you staying ALERT?

THE LADIES ROOM/ BAÑO DE DAMAS at Thalia

It’s a play about bathrooms and drag queens … being performed in my neighborhood! I hope I get a chance to see it.

THALIA SPANISH THEATRE presents the
AMERICAN PREMIERE BILINGUAL PRODUCTION OF

THE LADIES ROOM/ BAÑO DE DAMAS
By one of Venezuela’s most prestigious playwrights RODOLFO SANTANA
English translation by CHARLES PHILIP THOMAS
Directed by PEDRO DE LLANO

starring
ANGELICA AYALA, ALMA D’CRUZ, LAURA PATALANO, LAURA GOMEZ, JENNIFFER DIAZ, ANGELICA GUVERNEZ,ELKA RODRIGUEZ, ANGELA PEREZ, MARTHA OSORIO, LORENA JORGE, and FRANCISCO FUERTES as “The Seagull”

Ever wonder, “What do they DO in there that takes so long?” Here’s your chance to find out!

Carmen is the attendant of a ladies room at an upscale dance club, where the elite of the social, artistic, and political scenes meet to get seen, hustled, seduced, and smashed. She confronts a crisis in her marriage as a parade of lovely ladies streams in and out, sharing makeup, advice, secrets and more. Meanwhile, the club’s waiter, a drag queen named “The Seagull”, plans to make the most of a once-in-a-lifetime chance to perform for his idol, the inspiration for his act, when she pops in to freshen up.

SIX WEEKS ONLY!

FROM MAY 18 TO JUNE 24, 2007

alternating performances in English and Spanish

Performances IN ENGLISH: Fridays at 8 PM and Saturdays at 3 PM

Performances IN SPANISH: Saturdays at 8 PM, Sundays at 4 PM

TICKETS: $25 STUDENTS & SENIORS: $22 Special group rates

INFORMATION & TICKETS (718) 729-3880
At THALIA SPANISH THEATRE, 41-17 Greenpoint Avenue (Queens)

Subway # 7 Local to 40th St. Station. Buses Q60, Q32 to Queens Blvd & 41st St.

Support Carmen’s Place

Not too far away from me there’s a small homeless shelter for transgender and GLB youth ages 17-24.  The church that housed the shelter had to close, and now they’re in a rented two-bedroom apartment.  A recent New York Times article gives details.  Here’s the shelter’s website and their Myspace page – which includes contact information if you want to volunteer and a Paypal link if you want to donate money.

Eddie Izzard update

Who doesn’t love some Eddie Izzard news? Just saw his name headlining an ad for his new show The Riches and wondered what it was all about.

It seems like the show has been an occasion for lots of interviews. The Daily Telegraph has an interesting discussion with him about balancing cross-dressing with work, and although he works as an actor, I think what he says is true to some degree for any non-transitioning transgender person regardless of their line of work.

The Discovery Channel has an article that combines some of my favorite things: it’s a summary of a forthcoming article in Language and Communication by SUNY-Binghamton professor and University of Chicago graduate Douglas Glick where he analyzes the techniques used by standup performers, focusing on two Izzard routines. At the end of the Discovery News article, added almost as an afterthought, is a quote from Glick’s colleague Stephen Straight explaining why Don Imus really did use (as opposed to mention) both a racist insult and a sexist one against the Rutgers basketball team, and the fact that he was joking is not an adequate defense.

I’m a proud Binghamton alum, the last linguistics major declared before the Cuomo budget cuts put the major on hiatus for several years, and Steve Straight was my advisor. I remember, at Steve’s suggestion, doing a paper on frame semantics and reading Victor Raskin’s frame-semantic analysis of humor. I don’t know if Glick used Raskin’s work; I’ll have to wait until the article comes out. After Binghamton I got my M. A. at Chicago, but I don’t remember Glick; he must have been in the Anthropology department. Binghamton and Steve Straight, the U of C, linguistics, humor analysis and Eddie Izzard, all in Discovery News.

Helen and Betty on Dr. Keith

Helen Boyd and Betty Crow were on the Dr. Keith Ablow show last week.  YouTube links thanks to Kiss of Athena and Helen’s blog.

I know they were both nervous about being “ambassadors of the trans community” on the show, and being able to get any kind of coherent message out while sitting in those chairs under the lights.  I think they did a great job, and I’m glad they got the word out that it’s possible to put your relationship before the trans and still be satisfied with your life.  I’m also impressed with Dr. Keith himself: he seems like a genuinely caring and open-minded guy.