Paisley Currah Talk Review
On Feb. 28, Professor Paisley Currah
presented the talk "Body Politics: New
Directions in Transgender Studies" at Bowdoin College. Professor Currah's history of
fighting for transgender rights on multiple fronts made him an interesting and
knowledgeable speaker regarding the progress toward trans rights and the "gaps"
still present in policy and research.
Currah opened with a fictional story (including elements from factual accounts from several different individuals) illustrating how gender is something defined, at this point in history, by federal, state, and local governments, legislators, judges, agencies, nearly anyone who writes or enforces law or policy; anyone but the individual her/himself. Nor do these entities always (or even often) agree. The story depicted a transwoman whose “official” or “legal” gender was redefined by each of the agencies she came in contact with, beginning with the Social Security Administration, on to her employer, the unemployment office, the city, the workfare program, the hospital, a homeless shelter, and a jail. Each had different standards by which one's gender is determined none acknowledged the devastating effects that this inconsistency had on her and her circumstances.
Currah went on to discuss the powerful way in which the media's influence over public opinion has shaped policy regarding transgender rights, simply by playing on the fears of gender-normative individuals. He used the example of a policy debate in New York regarding how one can legally change their gender. While legislators were initially favorable toward a proposed policy which did not require surgery for an individual to change their gender on official ID, a single New York Post headline touting the policy as the state defining gender as a personal choice completely wiped out support for the policy and a far more stringent one replaced it. Why such an outcry? Currah identifies the root as fear not just among the general public, but also among some policy-makers and legislators that if people are allowed to change their legal documentation to match their gender without surgery, people identifying themselves as transgender will transition not once, but multiple times. And of course that would open the door for one member of a same-sex relationship to transition, marry their partner, then transition back, resulting in, (horror movie music here) same-sex marriage!! Furthermore, the argument goes, what is to keep a terrorist from changing their name and gender in order to infiltrate the United States? As evidenced by its presence on birth certificates, State ID, medical records, school transcripts, and numerous other "official" documents, gender has historically been used by the state as a permanent identifier, a practice few are willing to part with. Currah asserts that this is more tradition than necessity; he points out that in an age when they can put "your DNA on a magnetic stripe" on the back of a card, using gender as a permanent identifier is "so tenth century."
Toward the end of his talk, Currah turned toward a discussion of the tension between research put forth from different fields and transgender rights activists. Research indicating the fixedness of gender identity from birth, supporting a medical diagnosis and a biological explanation for the origins of gender variance, has been used to further transgender rights and the fight against discrimination. Simultaneously, research is being done that encourages an understanding of gender as a fluid concept, or something that can change over time and in response to social and cultural influences. This, too, has a place in the promotion of transgender rights. Currah suggests that rather than defending one explanation against another, activist resources would be better spent identifying the appropriate time and place to use each explanation to further the cause.