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Trans Dilemmas: Living in Australia’s Remote Areas and in Aboriginal Communities PDF

134 Pages·2018·0.76 MB·English
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Trans Dilemmas Trans Dilemmas presents the findings of a three-year research project which examined the lived experiences of trans people in Australia’s Northern Ter- ritory. The book argues that whilst trans people who live in remote areas experience issues which may not be distinct from those living in urban areas and the inner-city, these issues can be aggravated by geographic and demo- graphic factors. By conducting online surveys and in-depth interviews, Stephen Kerry brings to light the issues for transgender people which are compounded by living in sparsely populated, remote communities. Namely social isolation; maintaining relationships with friends, family, and partners; and the dif- ficulties accessing health care. The book also includes significant findings on the experiences and treatment of Australia’s trans Aboriginal people, also known as sistergirls and brotherboys. An analysis of first-person narra- tives by sistergirls and brotherboys reveals the racism within predominantly white trans communities and transphobia within traditional Aboriginal communities, which they are uniquely faced with. Trans Dilemmas represents an important contribution to contemporary research into the lives of transgender Australians. It gives a voice to those transgender people living in the more isolated communities in Australia, which up until now, have been largely unheard. For students and researchers in Queer Studies and Gender Studies, this is valuable reading. Stephen Kerry is a sociology lecturer at Charles Darwin University and is a queer activist, focusing hir academic career on intersex and trans wellbe- ing. In 2015, Xie was keynote speaker at the Variant Sex and Gender, Reli- gion, and Wellbeing Conference at the University of Exeter. Trans Dilemmas Living in Australia’s Remote Areas and in Aboriginal Communities Stephen Kerry First published 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 Stephen Kerry The right of Stephen Kerry to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by hir in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this title has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-50594-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-14675-1 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC For Paniscus and Chakotay. You are loved. You are missed. Contents Foreword viii Acknowledgements xvi List of abbreviations xvii 1 Introduction 1 2 Trans relationships 17 3 Being transgender 36 4 Sistergirls and brotherboys 60 5 Being transgender, being Aboriginal 82 6 Afterword 96 Bibliography 104 Index 113 Foreword It is likely that trans people have lived in the Northern Territory (NT) for as long as there has been human occupation (Bayl is, 2015, p. 12; Curt is, 2015, p. 37; John son, 2015, pp. 28–29). However, there has prevailed throughout most of the NT’s recorded history either uncomfortable silences or regret- table distortions about trans people (Dunn- Holland et al., 1994; Hodge , 2015). In the early 1980s the first biographical profile appeared (Kibble white & Bonney, 1981, p. 32). The wider Territory community was beginning to acknowledge and respect trans Territorians. In the 1990s these sketchy details morphed into a growing presence as life stories and reports were published (AFAO, 1994; NTAC, 1998). The exigencies arising from a pub- lic health crisis meant the health profession needed to engage with trans people (Kerry , 2014; Lee, 1996). By the early 2000s trans citizens had acquired the skill-set for self-advocacy, and they began to articulate their experiences and needs to policy makers and service providers (Johnso n, 2015, pp. 29–31). During the first years of the new millennium, trans people across the Territory have been exercising agency in their lives, advocating and negotiating directly to have their needs recognised and met (Curtis, 2015, pp. 45–47; Johnson, 2015, pp. 31–34; Sisters & Brothers NT, 2015). Information about the lives of trans Territorians began to appear in the final decades of the twentieth century. The book Did You Meet Any Mala- gas? A Homosexual History of Australia’s Tropical Capital mentions the first Territorian known to identify as trans. In this book the Larrakia man Gary Lee recounts: The first Aboriginal man to come out was actually one who came out full-on [during] the late-1950s . . . and he started wearing women’s clothes. The thing which was hard for a lot of people to take was that he looked very, very attractive. In fact, he . . . looked like a very attrac- tive, sexy woman from all accounts. . . . He came out when he was quite young, about eighteen, which was a very brave thing to do, I would Foreword ix think. He was working in Darwin and was here for a good ten years before he went down south and lived as a woman. (Hodge, 1993 b, p. 57) The book Darwinites: Portrait of a City (Kibblewhite & Bonney, 1981) offers a snapshot of the second Territorian known to identify as trans. Dar- winites presents profiles of residents who ‘make the character of our fair city’. Phylis Victoria Burns describes her achievements as ‘having gained the love and understanding of the people of Darwin. Also, being able to be accepted as a human being, and live a comfortable and healthy life’ (cited in Kibblewhite & Bonney, 1981, p. 32). She aspired to ‘create a better under- standing between naïve people in relation to the other person’s outlook on life’ (cited in Kibblewhite & Bonn ey, 1981, p. 32). Burns was born in Christchurch, Aotearoa, New Zealand, on 22 April 1943. She was working in Sydney when the hospitality entrepreneur John Spellman persuaded her to relocate to Darwin in the post–Cyclone Tracy 1970s. Spellman invited Burns to work as a DJ and entertainer in his renowned venue, Dix. He recalls: We brought up Phylis . . . with the Les Girls show. Now she’s living in the community. She did the DJ-ing thing for Dix for me for years, and now she’s working for Telecom as a real girl – telephone switch bitch, yeah, Telecom directories enquiries officer. . . . I think Phylis is moulded very carefully into her community. She’s working, basically, I think in an all-girl environment on a switchboard. She is a respected member of Telecom, working quietly. Got a flat in the northern suburbs. Even in the bars . . . she’s not loud about it; she’s just one of the girls playing pool. (cited in Hodge, 1993b, p. 115) The 1970s and 1980s were not without difficulty. Spellman employed another transwoman (whom he refers to as a ‘drag queen’), and comments: We were fairly shocking. We actually had a topless barmaid that was a drag queen, and the police actually came in to tell me to cover up the girl – and I said, ‘Why can’t a boy walk around without his shirt on?’ – which confused the police no end. They didn’t have one for that! We slapped people in the face with sexuality there a bit. (cited in Hodge, 1993b, p. 108) Spellman add s: The business was mostly a casual bistro, bar attached, and the gay- ness was – I don’t know – it wasn’t like your Sydney gay pub where

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