Transgender Journeys

Jay Sennett has chosen to use his journey from f2m to look at herself/himself and every thing in between in a study of masculinity, whiteness, privilege. It is a journey I would like to take maybe one we should all take. By that I mean a journey through our inner most selves to discover what really lies below and a journey through the overt parts of our lives such as race, whiteness, blackness, privilege.

There is so much to say about Self - Organising men - liberating, courageous, honest, challenging, brilliant. `Have you ever yearned for the impossible or even the possible. To be someone else, to be somewhere else in mind and body, in sexuality, in life? To be in a different psychological and physical space?

The book raises so many questions about gender about identity and signifyers of gender. Is the penis the primary defining factor of maleness or gender constitution. What is sex? Is it simply penetration and how does that penetration take place? How gendered are we in our identities. When gender is dichotomised as simply female/male we restrict ourselves,our thoughts and our actions. Are you happy in your body? What does your body mean to you and how does it influence your identity. Self-Organising Men is a journey for the writers and the readers. A liberating self-discovery analysing the self and moving deep into that place - is it the heart or the soul, where ever it is it is hard to find and not often found.

The honesty of the testimonies reach out to the reader and contribute to the liberating nature of the book, the journey. One final note. As I read the testimonies and journeys of the contributors I felt that the discourse on gender and sexuality raised in the book are entirely western and to largely white. (Jay’s publishing house, Homofactus Press is presently calling for submissions for an anthology of Trans communities of colour - “Tinting the Lens in Trans Communities”.) How should we in Africa engage in this discourse when we are still at a point of battling with LGBTI’s being illegal people. So much pain - so much hatred.

Tags: Trans; Jay Sennett; Homofactus Press; Sexuality