Crossing the gender divide

Updated: 2014-12-24 07:52

By Yang Wanli(China Daily USA)

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Transsexuality has long been a taboo subject in China, and openly transgender people have been subjected to widespread discrimination. However, attitudes have started to change, as Yang Wanli reports.

When Li Yinhe, China's first female sex sociologist, unveiled her female-to-male transsexual partner of 17 years on her blog on Thursday, the post attracted public attention to transgender people, a group that has been largely unknown and unacknowledged.

As the widow of Wang Xiaobo, an outspoken novelist and essayist who died in 1997, the 62-year-old is a well-known figure, and the nationwide discussion prompted by her declaration provided many people with an introduction to concepts such as gender identity, sexual orientation and transgender issues.

"Transgender" is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity, expression or behavior doesn't conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth. Many of them seek to change their gender by hormone therapy or electing for sex-reassignment surgery.

Li caused a stir by referring to her partner - a Beijing taxi driver known only as "Swordsman", the pseudonym he uses on the popular social networking platform WeChat - as "he" because despite being physiologically female, he is psychologically male. As long-term partners, the couple adopted an abandoned boy with severe learning difficulties from a State-run children's home in 2000.

In her blog Li emphasized that she is not a lesbian, but added she simply wanted to clarify her sexual orientation and stressed that she isn't prejudiced against homosexuals, a term frequently and inaccurately used to describe her on social media.

For Chen Min, Li's post was a welcome and encouraging move. "People used to call the transgender group 'perverts'. It's time for them to learn more about us, and for greater public awareness of sexuality and gender issues," said the 26-year-old, who underwent surgery earlier this year to have her male sexual organs removed and replaced with a vagina constructed from the excess tissue.

Chen became aware of her true sexual identity in 2006, the year she graduated from high school. "I should be a woman, but I was born with the wrong body. I prefer women's clothing and the female mentality," she said, adding that she has spent the last six years attempting to underscore her feminity by growing her hair well below her shoulders and dressing as a woman.

Whenever Chen read about people who had successfully changed their gender, her admiration for their fortitude and honesty strengthened her resolve to become the person she really wanted to be. She took estrogen and other hormone therapies for several years before deciding to have the surgery.

"Discrimination against people like me is always present, along with public and family pressures, but, compared with the happiness and satisfaction of being who I really want to be, those things are insignificant," she said.

Greater public acceptance

The number of Chinese officially classified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, or LGBT, remains unclear because there are no definitive recent statistics. In 2006, the National Health and Family Planning Commission estimated that there were 5 million to 10 million homosexuals in the Chinese mainland, aged between 15 and 65. However, having conducted her own research for more than a decade, Li estimates that the real figure is between 36 and 48 million.

A survey conducted by the US Public Religion Research Institute in 2011 showed that 11 percent of US respondents said they had transgender friends or family members, but the number of transgender people in China, which has a population of 1.3 billion, is not known.

"We've seen greater public acceptance of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals in the past three to five years, but there is still a lack of knowledge about transgender people," Geng Le, director of Danlan, a website for gay people, said.

"Li has opened a door for those with a lack of knowledge, and has given courage to transgender people, who are under more pressure than the other three groups because of the visible collision between their physical appearance, their dress, and their general behavior. Some inadvertently bring more pressure on themselves by opting for medical intervention to change their gender," he said.

Discrimination is one of the biggest problems faced by transgender people, especially in terms of employment. "In some occupations, such as teaching, to be a 'T' is the end of one's professional career. I know some transgender people who work as teachers, but they had changed their gender before they started in the profession. Negative public attitudes mean it simply isn't possible for someone to change their gender and still work as a teacher," Chen said.

In 2011, the US National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force released a report that confirmed the pervasive, severe discrimination faced by transgender people. Having surveyed nearly 6,500 transgender people, the researchers discovered that they experienced high levels of discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, education, the legal system, and even from their families.

Chen works for Aibai, a nonprofit organization that offers support to the LGBT community, provides assistance, works to change public attitudes, and teaches skills to help transgender people cope with workplace discrimination, such as emphasizing ability rather than gender difference.

Chen said her most important task is to help people like her build a positive mental attitude and to be confident about their choice of sexuality and gender.

In addition to introducing new members to friends within the community, Aibai also encourages them to participate in a wide range of social activities. "For example, going to the swimming pool is one of the most challenging things for transgender people," Chen said.

Misunderstood concepts

Although public understanding of transgender issues is growing, some people can't understand how a woman can love another "woman" while remaining heterosexual.

"I think Li and her partner are a good example that serves to introduce two concepts - sexual orientation and gender identity - that have been misunderstood by many people for decades," said Li Jinzhao, a sociologist from Beijing Foreign Studies University.

She said sexual orientation refers to an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic and/or sexual attraction to another person, while gender identity refers to a psychological sense of being male or female, or something else.

"Gender and sex have always been closely connected with morality in Chinese history. People believe that there are just two gender identities - male and female - and that gender identity only corresponds to a certain type of sexual orientation," she said. "However, both gender identity and sexual orientation are varied, and attraction differs from person to person."

Earlier this month, a group of students from the university launched a research project. It will consist of interviews with LGBT groups in several universities in Beijing who have or are trying to come out of the closet. The researchers will attempt to discover how family members and friends influence LGBT groups during the coming-out process.

Coming out is often an important psychological step for LGBT people, according to the American Psychological Association, whose research suggests that having a positive attitude toward one's sexual orientation and integrating it into one's life fosters greater well-being and mental health.

"Being able to discuss one's sexual orientation with other people also increases the availability of social support," Chen said. "China has witnessed a dramatic change in terms of public acceptance of LGBT groups. Now, you often see transgender people in the media, which is a real step forward. We hope and expect to see greater social tolerance towards the 'T community' in the years to come," she said.

Contact the writer at yangwanli@chinadaily.com.cn

Crossing the gender divide

Crossing the gender divide

 Crossing the gender divide

Li Yinhe, China's first female sex sociologist, recently unveiled her female-to-male transsexual partner of 17 years on her blog, sparking a national discussion about transgender people. Above: One of Lin Yinhe's best-known books, The Subculture of Homosexuality. Provided to China Daily

 Crossing the gender divide

"Transgender" is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity, expression or behavior doesn't conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth. In China, discrimination is one of the biggest problems faced by transgender people. Chen Wei / for China Daily

(China Daily USA 12/24/2014 page6)

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