Newsweek - May 21, 2007 issue

[Sharon]

Live Talk: Rethinking Gender

It's Not as Simple as Pink or Blue

Join NEWSWEEK's Debra Rosenberg for a Live Talk on Wednesday, May 16,
at noon, ET, on the changing definitions of gender

WEB EXCLUSIVE

Newsweek

May 21, 2007 issue

To most of us, gender comes as naturally as breathing. We have no
quarrel with the "M" or the "F" on our birth certificates and, crash
diets aside, we've made peace with how we want the world to see us.
But to those who consider themselves transgender, there's a disconnect
between the sex they were assigned at birth and the way they see or
express themselves. Though their numbers are relatively few—the most
generous estimate from the National Center for Transgender Equality is
between 750,000 and 3 million Americans (fewer than one percent)—many
of them are taking their intimate struggles public for the first time,
forcing society to rethink how it sees and reacts to gender. Their
push for tolerance and acceptance is reshaping businesses, sports,
schools and families. It's also raising new questions about just what
makes us male or female.

During an hour-long Live Talk on Wednesday, May 16, at noon, ET,
NEWSWEEK's Debra Rosenberg will take your questions about how science
and society are rethinking gender.

Submit questions now.
<http://discuss. washingtonpost. com/wp-srv/ zforum/05/ submit_070516_ Rosenberg. htm>

© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.

The May 21 issue of Newsweek will contain several TG related articles, so it may be worth checking out.

[Breanne]

The whole series of articles on this topic are on line:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18618970/site/newsweek/

[Calliope]

Mainstream, but sorta decent.

Complaint: There's still the idea TS is something requiring medical intervention - no wonder so many people think we're way "different" - but I was heartened to see (at the end of the article):


Because of the expense, invasiveness and mixed results (especially for women becoming men), only 1,000 to 2,000 Americans each year get sex-reassignment surgery—a number that's on the rise, says Mara Keisling of the National Center for Transgender Equality. Mykell Miller, a Northwestern University student born female who now considers himself male, hides his breasts under a special compression vest. Though he one day wants to take hormones and get a mastectomy, he can't yet afford it. But that doesn't affect his self-image. "I challenge the idea that all men were born with male bodies," he says. "I don't go out of my way to be the biggest, strongest guy."

[AmberTG]

It's probably the best mainstream article that's been written about this subject so far. It is starting to come around a bit in mainstream America, finally.

[Kimberley]

A well done series. As is always the case, getting all the facts is impossible. For that matter the scientific community cant agree. At any rate, knowing that some attitudes are changing is heartening.

Now, about the rest of the world?

:hugs:
Kimberley