Resource: Primary Care Protocol for Transgender Patient Care
This month the Center for Excellence for Transgender Health out of the University of California, San Francisco, released online a new Primary Care Protocol for Transgender Patients. What makes this both important, and different than other resources, is that it focuses on primary care instead of just transition needs, and it’s designed to be accessible not just to providers, but also to gender variant people themselves. You can read more about it in this Huffington Post article, A New Tool for Treating Transgender People.
Event: Philadelphia Trans-health Conference
The Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference is celebrating it’s 10th year and will take place June 2nd through 4th at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City Philadelphia. If you haven’t attended the conference before, it’s a great place for people who identify as trans, people who are questioning their gender, educators, providers, therapists, doctors, family members, significant others, parents, and friends to come and learn from workshops or each other!
This year Damon is presenting two workshops, Non-Binary Gender Identity and Intimacy: A New Model and Genderqueer Masculinity and Femininity.
To learn more about the conference check out their website, www.trans-health.org.
In The News: J. Crew and Gender
Yes, the J.Crew designer did indeed paint her son’s toenails neon pink. But that’s not the story here – the real story is the sensationalized reaction from the media. What does it mean that a picture of a five year old with painted toenails could rock the headlines on all major news networks?
One thing that it means is that the gender binary is still very important AND rigidly enforced. This is an amazing example of how we punish boys and girls for expressing themselves in ways that aren’t traditionally associated with their gender. To some people, it’s downright scary. Rules are being broken, new rules are being written, and it’s messing with what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman. More than that, it’s messing with who has the power. Maybe the J. Crew controversy isn’t about a boy’s toenails or the medias reaction, maybe its about patriarchy and sexism and a definition of masculinity that limits both men and boys.
Click to here to read the full story that’s the news anchor raising their eyebrows and parading out the experts. .
Event: 2nd Annual LGBT Health Student Symposium
This weekend Mazzoni Center, Philadelphia LASOH, Jefferson Medical College and GLMA are partnering to host the 2nd Annual LGBT Health Student Symposium. This two-day conference features a range of speakers, work-shops and panels. To learn more about go to http://mazzonicenter.org/events/symposium. You can also click on the link to see a list of workshops: LGBT Symposium Program.
Whose Orgasm is It?
Early this month Alternet.org posted an article about a new movie , ORGASM INC., which portrays one view of big pharma’s attempt to create a “female viagra.”
You might be thinking, do women need a female viagra? Do women experience sexual dysfunction? What IS normal for women? Do women NEED medical help acheiving a satisfying sex life? If so, you are not the only one.
The New View Campaign was formed in 2000 by a committee of doctors, psychologists, and social workers including Dr. Leonore Tiefer to challenge the pharmaceutical industries oversimplification of women’s sexuality. Their manifest provides an alternative to the DSM categorization of sexual dysfunctions that frequently relies on a male model of sexual response. You can learn more about The New View Campaign through their website, www.newviewcampaign.org or their book, A New View of Women’s Sexual Problems. Dr. Tiefer’s book, Sex Is Not a Natural Act, also weighs in on the discussion. Finally, you can learn about the new film ORGASM INC. in the Altnernet.org article, How the Pharmaceutical Industry is Monetizing the Female Orgasm.
