Vancouver's Manology and UVic conference to address transgender issues

Manology is one of the few places in Vancouver where men can get together to discuss, question, and debate about issues related to masculinity and being male in an open and constructive way.

Manology facilitator David Hatfield will be holding a session that has taken quite some time coordinate and organize but is finally coming to fruition. It will be the first Manology session ever devoted to trans issues.

The session, Transgender Men, is the third in the "Befriending and Including" series, a look at who or what people exclude, leave out, or overlook.

Kyle Shaughnessy and Lucas Wilson will help to address issues and experiences that transgender men deal with, such as how to behave in public washrooms, safety concerns, and speaking up without dominating. They'll also discuss transitioning from one set of gender-based social norms to another. A primer on what it means to be a transgender male will help participants to think about how they experience gender, sex, and gender expression. Ultimately, the discussion will revolve around what it means to "be a guy".

It'll be held on Monday (February 29) at 7 p.m. at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre (181 Roundhouse Mews). 

Meanwhile, local academics, professionals, and many others will want to take note of the second Moving Local Trans History Forward 2016, a conference being held from March 17 to 20 at the University of Victoria and other Victoria, B.C., venues.

Speakers and sessions will address a wide range of topics, including crossdressing in Victorian Britain, trans art and activism, trans pornography, the role of media, transgender youth, and more.

Keynote speakers will include United Therapeutics co-CEO and author Martine Rothblatt, who will speak about how technology could influence the future of human physical identities, and World Professional Association for Transgender Health president Jamison Green, who will talk about the challenges and achievements that transgender people have faced or accomplished around the world.

Cindy Holmes, Abby Hipolito, Cherese Reemaul, Velvet Steele, and Stefan de Villiers will present "Stories and Photos from “The Vancouver Trans, Two-Spirit and Gender Nonconforming Community Safety and Well-Being Photovoice Project".

Greater Vancouver Native Cultural Society's Jamie Lee Hamilton will participate in the founders' panel on the closing day, alongside panelists from Ontario and the U.S.

There'll also be a screening of Maureen Bradley's Victoria-shot transgender romcom Two 4 One, starring Gavin Crawford (This Hour Has 22 Minutes) as a transgender man who inadvertently becomes pregnant while trying to help his ex-girlfriend with artificial insemination.

For more information and full program details (including registration, which closes on March 13), visit the conference website.

The conference happens to arrive shortly after the university had announced (on January 15) that it appointed the world's first transgender studies chair: UVic sociology professor Aaron Devor.