Angie and Andrés
Hi, I would like to know about your Institutional Program, I want to change my gender, I don’t know how to do it, what to do. I’m waiting for your answer. Thanks.
Angie
Hi, I’m Andrés García Becerra, anthropologist and student of Master in Gender Studies in Colombia State University. I would like to contact with you, I’m working in my master thesis about transvestite and transsexuals in Bogota, I’m observing manner in which they build their bodies and gender identities, an also relation between gender identity and social marginalization and violence. I’m a trans and I want to star a hormonal treatment as soon as possible. I’m very interested in political action as trans and as anthropologist of gender, that is why I want to be in touch with you.
Huges and thanks for your time.
Andrés.
Dear Angie and Andrés:
ILGA Trans Secretariat is created as an space of reflection and information about trans identity, specially because are identities that are just building up, not only for population itself but also for social scientist that see in these identities a challenge to hegemonic gender relation accepted in our society. That is why your testimony and your participation is so valuable in order to built and create a virtual website which we are trying to be a simbolic reference that join us.
We encourage Andrés to share with us results of his investigation about transsexual and transvestite population in Bogotá, specially because we had receive many cases of violence and lot of reports of human rights and integrity transgressions. Also we celebrate that he decided to study this field because his contribution will be very important to understand what are the problems trans population have to resolve. Andrés, your investigation and identity you are looking for are already political actions because will open a new sphere of knowledge against hegemonic power that limited as individuals. From our website we create a campaign for a day against violence. We hope we count with your support.
Angie, we understand your worry, you want to change but you don’t know how. We invited to meditate about your identity. Change of gender, live in another gender is a response to a feel there is a contradiction between your social role and your identity. Go against hegemonic identity is not easy, but you be sure that is the change you are looking for. You have to realize if your body is the limitation of are your own fears about change your hole life. When this change pass through corporal change (surgery or hormonal treatment, as Andrés want to) you should first know about what it is going to imply and if you really want to belong to those models or prefer to be stay between them.
Anyway we recomended to you visit some parts of this website, there are some resume of books and interviews that could help you to take a decision. Also there is a long explanation about corporal procedures, to be very good informed before make a decision. We hope you continue sharing with us your doubts and experiences in the long way to built trans identities to give the meaning we want to.
We hope all documentation that is in this website help you and in the next numbers we will continue to inform about trans identity to help to build our own identity.
Yours,
Bethsabé Huamán
Research Investigator Bulletin T-Informa of ILGA
