http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/news-and-trends/travel-news/australians-have-third-option-for-gender-on-passports/article2167802/
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Blogging Assignment Week 5
Australia is the first country to give equal passport rights to intersex citizens. The country added a third category under gender called "indeterminate" in which the letter is X rather than M or F. Transgender citizens can choose M or F based upon how they feel they are with medical proof that they are transitioning. The change is significant because while other countries allow for changes between male and female, some countries require proof of sex reassignment surgery and intersex people may not feel like male or female fits. The only problem is that the passport officials still warn individuals that there may be traveling difficulties based on the disparity between how one appears and how one was born.
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Blogging Assignment Week 5: Rebecca Iloulian
ReplyDeleteLast night (Saturday Night) I went to the Ke$ha concert at Universal City Walk. The opening act was LMFAO. At this show, different both groups performances there were many drag queen performers as well as gender references. First, in LMFAO, two (straight) men who are the lead singers were performing in females clothing, such as jeggings and tight fitting tank tops, and then stripped to just be wearing underwear. Then when Kesha performed her back up dancers were almost all drag queens, wearing fake books and fakes wigs. It interesting to see that drag queens as transgenderism was being used so casually, in a big performane for many people to see. This kind of implied to me that society is moving forward and becoming more accepting towards these things, such as transgenderism and the gay community. In the concert these things were prevalent throughout the whole show, and really got the audience going. Also, during the show Kesha made many references to "eating" boys, and not letting men control her. This shows how women can have power over men, and that men cannot completely control us. She talked down upon men, as if the gender roles in society were reversed and females were the ones with the majority of power. It was really cool to hear her talk about this things, and it was very pro-feminism in an odd way. This concert showed that many things which were once viewed as unacceptable and out of the ordinary, or weird, are now being accepted by society. It was great for a celebrity to endorse these ideas because people follow as celebrities do a lot of the time, so it spreads the message of acceptance and normality and spreads awareness of transgenderism, and other gender issues.