Comemora-se hoje o Dia Internacional da Mulher. Como mulher que sou, não posso deixar de escrever umas linhas neste blog.

Como se sabe, o estatuto social da mulher, se bem que melhor em certos aspectos, ainda está muito aquém do desejado.

Basta pensar-se como, em Portugal, as (poucas) mulheres que existem na política encontram-se lá, não tanto por méritos próprios, mas para preencherem "cotas", a fim de que não se diga que Portugal as discrimina. Ora só isto já é uma discriminação, diria eu...

Basta pensar-se em como esta sociedade ainda dá o direito ao homem de, em muitos casos, subjugar a mulher. Exemplos não faltam e não vou debitar aqui as inúmeras maneiras em como ainda existe essa discriminação.

No caso das mulheres transexuais, então, são duas discriminações sobrepostas, pois são mulheres e transexuais. Violência contra mulheres é um assunto diário e banal, tanto que nem os media os referem a todos, só alguns mais chamativos à compra de jornais. E no entanto sabe-se que existe diariamente.

Assim, associo-me com júbilo a este dia em que, pelo menos nós mulheres, devem relembrar o sofrimento de tantas e tantas para que hoje o ser mulher seja um pouco menos discriminatório do que já foi.

Levantemo-nos todas e falemos, critiquemos, barafustemos pelo que ainda há a fazer. Porque existimos. Porque somos mulheres.





[UK]
John Randell (1918 – 1982) Psychiatrist
Excerpt: In 1950 he was appointed Physician for Psychological Medicine at Charing Cross Hospital. There he worked with Lennox Broster who had been treating intersexuals, since the 1930s, but not transsexuals as such. At the end of the 1950s he wrote a paper on 50 transvestites and transsexuals that he had worked with. In his 1960 MD thesis (Prifysgol Cymru/University of Wales) he discussed 61 mtf and 16 ftm cases. This seems to be the first higher degree thesis on transsexuality, anywhere in the world.

[Germany]
2nd Transgender Council 2008 in Berlin
Dear Ladies & Gents, In-betweens and Gender-benders, friends and allies to the cause, Transgender Europe and the Transgender Network Berlin (TGNB), are most happy to invite you to the
*2nd Transgender Council* *-Make human rights work-* *May 2nd - 4th in Berlin*.

[Brasil]
Gays podem usar nome social em hospitais e postos de saúde
O Ministério da Saúde deve reforçar a orientação aos funcionários de postos de saúde e hospitais de usar os nomes sociais de pacientes gays, lésbicas, bissexuais, travestis e transexuais. Ou seja, em vez de usar o nome de registro, esses pacientes podem ser identificados pela maneira como são conhecidos.

[Iraq]
Anti-gay terror by Islamists
Iraqi LGBT have recently obtained new video evidence highlighting the brutality of the Badr Corps and police treatment of LGBT people in Iraq. It shows LGBT people being arrested, held in custody and having their heads shaved and taunted with songs of hate and revenge. (Vídeo)

[India]
Trans Indians mark International Women's Day
A transgender shelter and crisis intervention centre in Kolkata, India is celebrating International Women's Day tomorrow by launching an awareness campaign.

[China]
Wife finally fulfills dream by becoming a woman
A man from a poor rural family in Heilongjiang province who had been living as another man's wife for 11 years recently fulfilled his dream of becoming a woman by having a sex change operation in Tianjin municipality.

[NY, USA] [Film]
'Raquel and Rex, rated X!'
As a filmmaker, you know it's a bad sign when the writer of the novel you are adapting not only refuses to endorse the product, but also makes a point of disowning it. Given that the author has ostensibly dreamt up, lived with and learned to love the depicted characters, it would seem that if he were not sold, no one else would be. Such a sad fate enveloped Michael Sarne's 1970 adaptation of Gore Vidal's "Myra Breckenridge", his famously controversial novel about a transsexual on a mission of gender destruction.
Wallow in 'Myra Breckinridge' and other guilty pleasures
Excerpt: There's none guiltier than 1970's "Myra Breckinridge," still one of the most notorious flops ever made. How bad is it? Let's start with the premise: Raquel Welch plays the titular transsexual, who intermittently returns to her old self in the form of Rex Reed. Also on board for embarrassment are Mae West, as a 77-year-old nymphomaniac, an unknown Farrah Fawcett, and Tom Selleck, making his feature debut in the role of "stud." We're issuing an official warning, but you'll find the madness at Anthology (anthologyfilmarchives.org), all weekend long.

[USA]
Latest gay killings draw limited media coverage
The defining setting for anti-gay violence for the last decade was a rickety fence in a desolate Wyoming field.
But a string of anti-gay beatings, shootings and killings in recent months shows that homophobic hatred didn't disappear when Matthew Shepard was killed 10 years ago this October, nor is it confined to rural pockets of America's heartland.

[USA] [Blog/Commentary]
A “Bailey Controversy” Follow-Up, by Julia Serano
Julia Serano is an Oakland, California-based writer, spoken word performer, trans activist, and biologist.
Back in August 2007, I posted a critique of a NY Times article regarding what has come to be known in the transgender community as the "Bailey controversy".

[USA]
Christian right calls Day of Silence boycott
The American Family Association is urging parents to keep their children home from school April 25, the National Day of Silence. The Day of Silence, first organized in 1996, encourages students to remain voiceless for a day to represent the silence faced by LGBT people and their allies. Hundreds of schools across the country now participate in the event.