Submitted by Spud
Wet Wednesday *32
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Saving he Lives of Trans Kids is easy: Accept Them.
The transgender community has disproportionately high levels of depression and anxiety. Though some foolish physicians have suggested this is a fundamental part of being trans, a new study shows that trans kids who are accepted display virtually the same anxiety level as any other kid.
There are disproportionately high rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide among transgender people in the United States. One familiar statistic shows that a startling 41 percent of trans people attempt to take their own life. This data has been used to undermine the gender transition process: Some foolish physicians have suggested that high rates of psychological issues imply that being transgender is destructive to mental health. Meanwhile, trans advocates have argued that mental anguish in the trans population is the result of environmental factors like discrimination, rejection, and harassment—and not the process of transition itself.
New research published in the medical journal Pediatrics corroborates that claim, suggesting that trans kids who are accepted by their communities do not experience disproportionately high rates of mental health issues. The study measured self-reported feelings of anxiety and depression in a given week among 73 transgender children between the ages of three and 12 years old. As NBC reported, “They found the transgender kids averaged an anxiety score of 50.1 on a National Institutes of Health scale—almost the same as the national norm of 50.”
Dr. Stephen Russell is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin specializing in child development and the co-author on another recent study looking at the mental health of LGBT youth. In an interview with Broadly, he explained, “There is no question that disproportionate rates of mental health problems among trans people are due to stigma, discrimination, and hostility in our culture (transphobia).”
“Children look to their primary caregivers for nurturance and support,” he continued. “True rejection is evolutionarily devastating.” Dr. Russell says that in most species it is typically taboo to reject offspring, but something has occurred in our culture that has made it socially acceptable to reject transgender or LGB children.
According to Dr. Russell, we’re just beginning to uncover the real, lasting impacts of discrimination on well-being and health. “We are seeing that even at a physiological level, discrimination may make people chronically physically and mentally stressed.” Transgender kids today may be the first generation of trans youth to grow up with a heightened degree of cultural awareness around trans identity, as well as increased social acceptance. For the majority of trans people who did not grow up in an accepting environment, their coming-of-age process has often been mired in prejudice. It is important for these trans people to learn how to move beyond the trauma of rejection in formative years.
“Acknowledging those experiences is one important step (and the problem with discrimination is that it is usually stigmatized – we often find it too painful to talk about),” Dr. Russell said, adding that in his research he’s observed that “people who are the victims of harassment and discrimination often feel like a burden to the people who matter the most—even when they are supportive. They often feel that they are ‘bringing them down’ because of their (often chronic) harassment or negative experiences.” It’s important for these kids to understand, he said, “that they aren’t a burden to us—that we are angry because we love them and care for them, not because we’d be better off without them.”
To the parents of transgender kids, Dr. Russell said: “Love your child.” That’s obvious, he added, but for parents it may mean an internal overhaul of biases and beliefs. “Examine your feelings and assumptions and biases about gender: boys and girls, men and women, and what you imagine for your child in the future,” Dr. Russell said, adding that parents should seek professional help if their feelings of discomfort are impacting their relationship with their child.
“Gender is a fundamental organizing principle of our society and culture and of growing up,” Dr. Russell explained. “I think gender non-conforming kids need for adults in their lives to say that and to acknowledge that they are special and brave for expressing themselves in ways that will often challenge other people. That is, they need acknowledgement that they may find themselves ‘going against the grain’—they need adults to acknowledge that and let them know that they support them and are proud of them because of, or despite, that.”
Growing up as a transgender kid can be intensely isolating and frightening. If your family rejects you and your peers reject you, it is possible to develop negative ideas about yourself and your identity, and these damaging views can last a lifetime, leading the trans person away from life-sustaining resources. “Gender non-conforming/trans children whose parents regulate their gender are among those that have the hardest time emotionally,” Dr. Russell said, leaving us with one last piece of advice: “Understand that gender is not just one thing. Just love your child for who your child is and will become.”
via Broadly
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Skyclad Saturday *24
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Gisberta
Again and again Elisha finds himself confronted by Alex, Timo, Sascha, and Mika – all 14-year-olds living in the boys’ orphanage with him. Their worlds ought to be similar and yet they are completely different. While Elisha builds tiny obstacle courses for ants in the woods, the other boys spend their days watching porn, absorbed in their emerging sexual fantasies.
When the attractive 31-year-old Gisberta is newly employed at the orphanage, she quickly becomes the object of their desires and the boys try to approach her with clumsily aggressive adolescent behavior. Elisha, however, actually gets to know Gisberta.
Alex, who has his eyes everywhere, discovers the two laughing in the kitchen. His erupting jealousy drives the group to continuously humiliate Elisha in any way possible, but this just brings Elisha closer to Gisberta, and a tender friendship develops between them.
But one day the sexual fantasies of the other boys take a turn to brutal reality.
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Tummy Tuesday *22
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Greyson’s Gay
Greyson Chance first made waves in public with an amazingly accomplished cover of “Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga, which went viral after he performed it for Ellen DeGeneres at the age of 12.
Today, Greyson has announced on Instagram that he’s gay, and explains why it took him a bit of time to acknowledge his sexuality.
“I came to fully recognize that I was gay when I was sixteen,” he writes. “I decided not to publicize my sexuality largely due to a matter of privacy, as I was still trying to find comfort and confidence within my own skin.” He also explained his perspective that his sexuality wasn’t necessarily the most interesting topic of conversation: “I always found conversations regarding music, politics, art, books — and the greatness of Nas’ catalog —to be far more interesting than what type of guy I was into. This is still true today.”
He changed his mind after reading an inspirational message from one of his fans, which made him realize the importance of LGBTQ visibility — even if you have to find it on your own terms.
“I encourage anyone who is navigating their sexuality to devote as much time as they need to the process of finding self-confidence, self-acceptance, and self-love,” he says. “Hell, for me, it took years to write this message.”
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In a Heartbeat
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Wet Wednesday *33
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Raised Without Gender
A new documentary heads to Sweden, home to gender neutral kindergartens and gender non-conforming families, to find out what it’s like to grow up beyond the binary.
With recent victories for the trans rights movement, and more young people defining as something other than “male” or “female” than ever before, Amelia Abraham visits Sweden – arguably the world’s most forward-thinking country when it comes to questioning gender – to find out what it’s like to grow up without the gender binary.
In Sweden, the gender neutral pronoun “hen” has been in the national dictionary since 2015 and is now commonly used by most Swedes. Since 1998, the Swedish government’s school plan has forbidden enforcing gender stereotypes, and government-funded gender neutral kindergartens with gender aware teachers has made it possible for families to raise their children without a set gender identity – something that often sparks controversy in the foreign press.
Amelia spends time with one of these gender non-conforming families, made up of mapa (mum and dad) Del LaGrace Volcano, who was born intersex (both male and female); the children, five-year-old Mika and three-year-old Nico, and their grandma, Margareta. She visits Mika and Nico’s gender aware kindergarten to find out what the teachers and the other kids make of Mika’s gender expression. She also meets Lotta Rajalin, the founder of Sweden’s gender-neutral kindergartens, to learn how they go about deleting gender norms from education, as well as psychiatrist Dr Eberhard, who is against Sweden’s attitude to gender in kindergartens.
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Face Friday *18
Tyson Wilder
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My 13
Jonathan is in love with Julie. Unable to gather the courage to speak to Julie, Jonathan formulates a plan to steal her diary, which he believes would reveal to him the way to impress his crush. The plan includes befriending Julie’s brother Charles who is Jonathan’s classmate. Thanks to Charles, Jonathan gets an invitation to a party at their house.
During the party, Jonathan manages to steal the diary, excuses himself and heads home to read it. On one of the pages of the diary, he finds a drawn heart and the name …Jonathan. He is overjoyed until he realises what’s really going on…
You can enable English subtitles in the bottom right corner of the player
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Mirror Monday *23
click the duck
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The Empress Sword
With a kingdom to save and a dragon to slay, not to mention the loss of a dear friend and the first stirrings of a childhood crush, transitioning into a female is literally the least important problem on Crown Prince Aster’s mind. See, there’s this dragon attacking Caledon, and the only way to defeat it is to find and wield the mythical Empress Sword—a sword that will not bear the touch of any man. So Aster does what any sensible thirteen-year-old crown prince would do: he gets magical gender reassignment surgery.
Actually, it’s more complicated than that, and Aster doesn’t exactly understand what he’s agreeing to when he grasps the sword for the first time. Nonetheless, Aster becomes Astrid and what had the danger of becoming yet another too-straightforward boy’s adventure book on the shelves swiftly takes on new dimensions. We suddenly have a strong, female protagonist where we once had a slightly naive but endearingly noble male—one who has no problems with it beyond the obvious issues of a changed centre of gravity and a vague sense of “this is new and a bit weird!”
The narrative continues to refer to the prince as “him” because for Aster (as he still thinks of himself—though he quickly realizes that introducing himself by the prince’s name would draw confusion), the transition to “femaleness” is at first only a matter of changing some outward behaviors—like when the prince has to convince people that “he’s” become a girl, but maintains a comfortable male wardrobe, manners, and speech with friends. The prince’s own perceptions of “femaleness” are challenged and turned over frequently, but Aster’s assumptions are the fault of a royal upbringing (and a perception of “maleness” that is also quite skewed due to that heritage).
Aster’s transition is a non-issue in the book, with no broad, overarching statement made about transphobia. There is no fear over body image, shame, disgust, or humiliation—these things are entirely absent from Aster’s transition experience. And that’s a statement in and of itself. The fact that Jaxton doesn’t make a big flurry/trauma/statement about the gender change—nobody calls Astrid gross, unnatural, or a freak when they find out she used to be the prince—is a small but important victory.
In Aster’s arrogant and selfish selflessness, we see the ego of a child who has always been treated like an equal and a grown-up, played fantastically against the condescending humiliation of being a “little girl.” More important is Aster’s realization that people were just as condescending when she was a boy, but in a more subtle way because she was a prince. And Aster has no problems with being a girl in love with another girl.
Aster is also rather egalitarian in other relationships. Aster is good friends with a stable boy and doesn’t see why a merchant’s daughter can’t be asked to dinner, and when confronted with a monster who displays intelligence, actually listens to what the dragon has to say and concedes that the dragon’s point of view and concerns are as valid as the humans’ are. In that moment, the book is elevated from mere adventure story to a tale about equality, compassion, and the basic rights of all people—be they dragons, foreigners with unfamiliar features, or boys in dresses.
In the end, the success of The Empress Sword lies in the normalizing of transgender characters and heroes who treat everyone around them equally, and offering a fantastic quest adventure yarn for young people that teaches as well as entertains.
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Tender Thursday *27
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Flower Friday *5
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Heartstone
Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson makes a promising debut in this tender, slightly lopsided study of teenage friendship and inchoate sexuality.
There’s a vast, storm-hued majesty to the jagged coastal edges of Iceland that inspires hushed awe in tourists, armchair travellers and filmmakers alike, but to a teenager growing up — and, more trickily still, coming out — in this brooding idyll, it can seem like a smallest place in the world. That’s the cruelly frustrated perspective shared by two best friends in Heartstone, at least until they realise that they’re no longer experiencing the same coming-of-age crisis. Richly atmospheric the film toggles its main characters’ arcs for a stretch, before giving preferential treatment to the less dramatically challenging of the two. Still, first-time feature director Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson steers proceedings with enough serenity and sensitivity to soften stonier hearts in the arthouse market.
In its positioning of the rural Icelandic landscape as a kind of silent, ever-present antagonist to its principals’ progress, Guðmundsson’s formally imposing debut visually and tonally recalls the work of his compatriot Runar Runarsson — whose own somber 2015 coming-of-ager, Sparrows, deployed similar physical terrain to much the same emotional effect.
The boys’ conflicted, even hostile, relationship to their environment is viscerally symbolised in a startling opening scene, which in which 14-year-old Thor and Kristján, together with a group of pals, savagely cull a school of fish in the local dock, plucking them from the water and bashing their heads on dry land. This kind of hormonally fevered destruction is what passes for fun in their sleepy maritime village, where Thor lives with his single mother — who has recently, to her children’s aggrievement, re-entered the dating scene — and two older, somewhat bullying sisters. Kristján, meanwhile, weathers a consistent stream of abuse from his hard-drinking dad.
While the two boys have a supportive social circle (including some girls with whom they make halting attempts at romance), it’s clear that they’re the most important people in each other’s lives. Tall, sturdy Kristján, already accelerating into manhood, acts as something of a protector to the less mature, none-too-aptly named Thor — who, in one of several wry observations on the occasional tedium of adolescence, fashions a merkin from hairbrush debris as he waits for his pubic hair to grow in.
But as the kids horse around and venture into tentative sexual explorations, it’ll become clear to audiences — if not quite yet to Thor himself — that Kristján’s devotion to him isn’t purely platonic. For many LGBT audiences, such inchoate, unrequited desires will register as a familiar rite of passage. Guðmundsson maps the subtle, even subconscious, strain this development places on the relationship with tact and intelligence, aided by the open, naturally expressive performances of his two young leads. But as the film drifts further into Thor’s not-quite-comprehending headspace, Kristján recedes into the background, even as his character negotiates a compelling maelstrom of warring feelings and external obstacles — including the homophobia of his own parents, as adulthood comes with its own limitations in this stymied community. To quote an Emiliana Torrini song that Thor’s sisters blissfully listen to: “If it’s so good being free/Would you mind telling me/Why I don’t know what to do with myself?”
Sympathetic as Thor’s journey to awareness is, Heartstone’s languid, rollingly repetitive storytelling never quite justifies its weighted focus on his character at the expense of his friend’s more active anguish; a more judicious edit could place both in sharper relief. (The question of how assured Thor is of his own nascent sexuality, meanwhile, is only skirtingly addressed.) Later, Guðmundsson returns to the fish motif in slightly more contrived fashion, as a bullrout is briefly taken from the water and thrown back in, plummeting briefly before finding its gills. Not everyone in this thoughtful, lyrical, slightly over-deliberate tour of a beautiful teenage wasteland gets his own sink-or-swim moment of catharsis.
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Model Monday *19
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Wet Wednesday *34
Photo by Sinal
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Periodical Political Post *42
Queer News
- Australia’s transgender “Forced Divorce” laws stay for now
- Swedish PM says All priests should wed same-sex couples
- Gay asylum seekers were beaten close to death in Germany
- Trans teen suicide attempts may be spiking because of Trump
- Disgusting anti-gay posters are showing up in Australia
Other News
- The president of the USA is now a neo-Nazi sympathiser
- The amount of very old politicians is a serious problem
- Study finds quitting Facebook makes you happier
- United Nations warns US over ‘alarming’ racism
- Tumblr hides sex blogs from public (once again)
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Feasting Friday *6
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