Polare 91

Issued April 2012

Manager's Column

Report from the Gender Centre's Manager Phinn Borg includes information regarding the visit to the Gender Centre of National L.G.B.T.I Health Alliance Health Policy Officer, Sujay Kentlyn

Editorial

In introducing the many and varied articles in Polare 91, Katherine also discusses aggressive self-descriptors and an eleven year-old British transgirl's attempt to persuade the media not to use insensitive terms in relation to transgender issues.

My Intersex Adventure

My name is Phoebe and I have Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. Back in January, my award-wining autobiographical film "Orchids: My Intersex Adventure" screened on A.B.C. television. It's my story, and it looks at my family and our lives with intersex. It's also about busting wide the shame, stigma and secrecy I experienced growing up.

Dear Fifteen Year-old Me

Zoe Brain writes a letter of hope and support to her fifteen-year-old self, when back in 1973 she was enduring all of the hardships that go with growing up in a body that felt so foreign.

Happiness and the Search for Meaning

Gender Centre Counsellor Anthony Carlino writes that the idea of being constantly happy is both unrealistic and unattainable and that humans are happiest when we are working towards something of meaning, which helps us exist in a way that feels fulfilling.

A Second Second Life

Laura Seabrook explains that the virtual world of Second Life, with its immersive environment and avatars, can be a very useful resource for transgender people to experiment with body image, clothes and interacting with other people through their similarly personalised avatars.

The A.T.O. Bends on Transgender Expenses

Evie Belle, a transgendered woman, has received a private ruling from the Australian Taxation Office which allows her to claim a tax deduction for medical expenses such as hair removal; the cost of a wig and its maintenance; breast augmentation and facial feminisation.

Of Leaky Umbrellas and False Inclusives

Carolyn Gage is old enough to remember when 'men' and 'man' were used to mean 'men and women'. She likens this to telling people, well, now, when I say 'dog' you know what I really mean is 'dog and cat'. No self-respecting cat would fall for that for a nanosecond.

Intersexions

Morgan, a board member of O.I.I. Australia, wrote and presented this paper at the "After Homosexual" conference in Melbourne on 4 February 2012. The conference marked the fortieth anniversary of Dennis Altman's book Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation.

O.I.I. Submission to National Human Rights Plan

O.I.I. Australia has made a submission to the Attorney General's Department consultation on the National Human Rights Action Planwith recommendations including changing legal documentation on sex or gender, gender notation on passports, data collection and relationship recognition

Harm Reduction and Chronic Disease Self-Management¹

Barbara Paterson and Max Hopwood propose that the failure of many self-management interventions to address the needs of those most at risk of disease-related complications accounts in part for the fairly homogenous population that has been attracted to the interventions, and this is why attrition tends to be high

Calling all Transgender Parents

Being a parent has many challenges. Being transgender and a parent poses its own unique challenges. There is a significant amount of literature on the Internet that helps parents as they look after their children and support them to understand the unique and diverse family in which they live, by Liz Ceissman, Senior Case Manager

Polare is published in Australia by The Gender Centre Inc. which is funded by the Department of Community Services under the S.A.A.P. Program and supported by the N.S.W. Health Department through the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch. Polare provides a forum for discussion and debate on gender issues. Advertisers are advised that all advertising is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, though no guarantee is made by the Editor that they will be published, nor any discussion entered into. The editor reserves the right to edit such contributions without notification. Any submission which appears in Polare may be published on our internet site. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, The Gender Centre Inc.I, the Department of Community Services or the N.S.W. Department of Health.