GENDERED INEQUALITY: DECONSTRUCTING BARRIERS TO ENABLE SENSITIVE SYSTEMIC PRACTICE WITH DIVERSE PEOPLE AND RELATIONSHIPS ANNE PROUTY OCTOBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FAMILY THERAPY ANNUAL CONFERENCE ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA “IF WE COULD CHANGE OURSELVES, THE TENDENCIES IN THE WORLD WOULD ALSO CHANGE.” - MAHATMA GANDHI Global Gender Inequities are DEADLY MISERABLE REAL “GENDER” CUTTING EDGE * TO PROMOTE SOCIAL JUSTICE * ADVOCATE FOR CLIENTS SEX AND GENDER THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION HAS RECOGNISED SEX AND GENDER GLOBALLY AS CORE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING 44 • LGBTI are 11% of Australians as of 20146 • 1.7% of Australians are estimated to be Intersex (Australian Human Rights Commission) • 2% of people globally estimated to be non-binary gender • 34% of LGBTI Australians hide their identity when accessing services 2007 “Yogyakarta Principles”: 28 Principles of the Application of International Human Rights Law in Relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity 64 • www.Yogyakartaprinciples.org • GENDER Keynote/Yogyakarta principles_en.pdf Approaches to Social Justice Multiple Cultural Communities Human Diversity within Communities/Contexts Human Diversity Across Lifespans INTERSECTIONALITY INTERSECTIONALITY AND PERSONAL IDENTITY • WHO DEFINES WHOM? • EACH PERSON’S EXPERIENCE? • BY INTERACTING WITH EACH OTHER? • INTERACTING BY PROXY AND VIA COMMUNITIES? INTERSECTIONALITY – IDENTITIES PLACE TIME SEX &/OR GENDER ID ETHNIC ID SEXUAL ORIENTATION SPIRITUAL ID RELATIONAL ORIENT CITIZEN ID RELATIONAL ROLES PHYSICAL ABILITY AGE “Just as the constant increase of entropy is the basic law of the universe, so it is the basic law of life to struggle against entropy. - Vaclav Havel SEX or GENDER? Non-Binary Sex Survey of Medical Literature by Blackless and Colleagues (2000) Estimated as high as: 2 % of live births 7 SEX Historically Relied on Phenotype – Physical Appearance Physical Body Parts – outside and inside – many different reasons Hormones & Hormone Receptors (can be from chromosomal condition) Example: Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome: Complete or Incomplete https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001180.htm http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/924996-overview Hormones in-utero exposure and brains – studies with small samples of people who donate brains to science, researchers are showing that cismale and transmale stain alike, cisfemale and transfemale stain alike 35 Medicalized Narrative of Binary Sex Babies • Used a small caliper to measure penis / clitoris – where is urethra? • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phall-O-Meter • Orchidometer (testes) • Differentiation of Testes / Labia • Vaginal Foramen Present? SEX and CHROMOSOMES Male, Female, and Intersex Mosaic / Chimaera – some cells XX, others XY Examples of Sex Chromosome Variants – some cause infertility X0 “Turners” XXX+ ”Triple X” XXY “Kleinfelters” XYY “Jacobs” Medicine and Binary Bodies • Babies • Interdisciplinary Team Articles Arising • https://oii.org.au/category/media/videos/ (video hyperlink to Bonnie Hart, author of “Orchids, My Intersex Adventure” – ex. of Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome in a family – 4 minutes) • Preteens and Teens • Hormone blockers to pause puberty • Hormones to move puberty toward sexual body development • Adults • Endocrine System Hormones, Bones, Epiglottis, Vocal Cords, Gonads, Secondary Sex Characteristics; Cultural gendered social, vocal, & movement • https://oii.org.au/category/comment/personal-stories/ • Not necessarily a LINEAR or binary gender (medical) journey Humans’ Sexes are Complex, Diverse, Unique WHAT IS GENDER???? GENETICS BODY MY IDENTITY CULTURAL Child Development & Gender50 • Gender Identity or Awareness – by age 3 • Idea of Gender Stability – if taught – by 5 • Idea of Gender Consistency by 7 • CONTEXT! •Familial and Community Reinforcement •Peers - Options for Trying-on Identities as well as Bullying •Internet Community Options and Bullying Myth of Binary Gender Male Androgenous Female Intergender Cisgender Privilege 29 • Sex assigned at birth is linked to your experience of gender • Your gender identity is not pathologized and dx not required for medical support • Your identity documents have your preferred gender and you do not need to share personal or medical information to get them changed • People use your preferred pronouns (infrequent misgendering) • People and identity documents use your preferred name • Cosmetic surgery probably wasn’t performed on you without your consent just so others would feel more comfortable • No one asks you about your genitals, or whether you will take hormones or get surgeries • You may be able to marry and stay married– in some countries • Safety – based on gender anyway (intersectionality plays-out here too) • Gender option available on most paperwork and forms • Community, Money & Medical, ….. Cisgender Assumptions • Not everyone who’s gender does not match their assigned sex (whether it’s binary or not) wishes to become either male or female 45 • Of those who wish medical corrective interventions not everyone wishes to do them in the order often directed by medical institutions (hormones then surgery or all surgery options or stereotyped outcomes) 45 Common Examples of Microaggressions Including Those Used by Partners (see IPV section) • Personal questions, including “why?” • “real” man/woman does x,y,z • “Biological man/woman” instead of using person’s preferred gender term • Misgendering or misnaming • “You’re not doing it [gender] right” • Pathologizing thoughts, feelings, etc. – in order to obtain access/resource • MORE?? Long History of Gender as Non-Binary Identities National Geographic 2017: http://www.nationalgeogr aphic.com/magazine/2017/ 01/how-science-helps-us- understand-gender- identity/ http://www.nationalgeogr aphic.com/magazine/2017/ 01/gender-issue-reader- comments-faq/#/gender- revolution-ngm- covers.png Gender Singular Pronouns in English HE SHE ONE ZE THEY HIM HER ONE ZIR THEM HIS HERS ONE’S ZIR THEIR HIS HERS ONE’S ZIRS THEIR’S HIMSELF HERSELF ONESELF ZIRSELF THEMSELF Multiculturalism Applied to Gender • Cultures of gender, gender identity, gender journey • Influences on my beliefs • Influence my attitudes about people and their needs • Influence definition of helpful, support, resilience • Experience with gendered communities and diversity of people • Experience with Advocacy (practical and legal rights) Gender Diversity within Gender Variant Communities and Transgender Communities • Gender Fluid - Dynamic, Moving Among , Simultaneously More than One • Some non-binary people identify as Transgender or Gender Variant (TGV), while others do not Relational Intersections •Sexual Orientation •Relational Orientation Models of Sexual Orientation • Many models are based on whether the desired person is similar or different from one’s own gender identity (that’s not helpful) • Static? Dynamic? • Influenced by social context’s options? • Should include asexual • Often helps if includes an intersection with sex drive, with a definition that can vary over time/situations • Note: I am talking about human adult-adult & consensual only Sexual Orientation http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/sexinfo/article/overview-sexual-orientations RELATIONAL ORIENTATION59 Relational Orientation An enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these two) to monogamy, nonmonogamy, or to a degree of both 9,18 Types of Amorous Relationships • Sexual Freedom/ No Commitment • Friends with Benefits • Monogamy • Serial Monogamy • Partnerships - Committed – Legally Recognized • Non-monogamous (Consensual & Nonconsensual) • Open, Swinging, Geographical • Plural Commitments & Marriages • Polygamy (polygyny, polyandry) • Poly-Network Global Prevalence of Plural Families • More than 850 societies within Africa, Asia, Oceania, Middle East, and Americas • North America: Several Indigenous Nations practiced polygamy prior to European invasion (KOSTER 2012). • Tibet - polyandry – until China invaded in 1950 – kept brother-husbands’ family land in their family • Now two religious groups are responsible for most of growth in the U.S. (100,000 + plural families estimated) Context Challenges & Resiliency Strategies • Legal – Trusts, Wills, Financial Accounts, Adoption, Custody Papers, Divorce/Dissolutions, Official Papers & Gender Identity • Immigration – Who is acknowledged as whom • Spousal Evidentiary • Visibility/ Invisibility Management – Adults and Children (parents) • Medical & Mental Health Access – gender affirmative care • Police Protection & Respect • Illegality can make vulnerable to cults & other closed systems – these are the dynamics that lead to serious vulnerability and harm Violence Violence: Hate Crimes • U.S. National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs reported that Transgender Women experience 72% of anti-LGBT homicide victims, and 89% of these are people of color 1 • 20% of hate crimes in U.S. are against people who identified as LGBTQ with highest rates among transgender people, and transgender women in particular 23 • Australian Human Rights Commission 2014: 47% of Trans-Men and 37% of Trans-Women report experiencing verbal abuse • Transgender Men and Women experience high rates physical abuse Family Violence: Interpersonal Violence PARTNER(S) AND FAMILY VIOLENCE30 • More than half (>60%) of transgender people have been victim of violence • Cisgender and Not-cisgender sample (not just T) of teens in a study of peer violence and bullying and substance use, a history of bullying during recent year fully mediated relationship between