| |
|
Hello!
If you identify (or have ever identified) as transgendered, intersexed or queer (see definitions used in this study below), or as a significant other, partner, family member, friend, or ally of someone who does, please take a few moments of your time to fill out this survey, or at least forward it to
anyone you know who might be interested in filling it out. Feel free to answer any and all questions you feel comfortable with, and then send your response to me at newmonologues@yahoo.com. Or, if you prefer snail mail, you can send your responses to the address at the bottom of this message.
My name is Toby Davis. I am twenty years old, majoring in theatre at a small liberal arts college in Western Massachusetts. I identify as transgendered, and this survey is the beginning of the research for my
senior thesis. With your answers from this survey, I intend to create and hopefully produce a set of monologues about the
not-so-traditionally-woman-identified genitals. In other words, I want to use your stories/poems/thoughts, anonymously of course, in a new play. I would ideally like to conduct interviews during the summer of 2002 to gather more information for this project. If you would be interested in being
interviewed, either in person or by phone, as well as (or instead of) sending a written response, please include any pertinent contact information (address, telephone number, etc.)
The point of this survey is to get you talking about genitals, especially vaginas, whatever that word means to you. I know it may not be the most comfortable or appealing concept (or maybe it is, let me know), or even the most appealing word. But I still want to hear about it, about your opinion.
Eve Ensler started this process in her play "The Vagina Monologues," which you can read about at www.vaginamonologues.com, but I think she stopped short, that she didn’t take her ideas far enough. She was too convinced that vagina meant woman, that vagina meant biology, a thing you were born
with, if you were a woman, a thing you can't be a woman without or a man with. Man and Woman, in the traditional sense, were Ensler's only choices. So while she was working to get rid of the stigma around the word vagina, to create a sense of vagina-pride, she unfortunately ignored and silenced the voices of many individuals who may not be "women" in her sense of the word, but certainly have important opinions and experiences with vaginas/genitals. For this study, which will hopefully result in a new set of monologues, I want to hear about genitals outside of the context of "woman" or "man" in any conventional sense. I want to give omitted, overlooked voices a chance to express themselves. I am especially
interested in the opinions of people who identify as transgendered and queer (see definitions below). I am also interested in the thoughts of the significant others, partners, family, friends, and allies of these people. If you are unsure as to whether you fit into the categories of respondents I’ve named, please respond. Chances are, you have a valuable story for me as well!
Right now my goal is to gather as many different viewpoints as possible, so if you think you might have something interesting to tell me, or even if you don’t (I do), then I want you to respond to me. This questionnaire is a starting point, you don’t have to answer all or even any of the questions, if you just have a story you want to tell, a poem you’ve been itching to
write, or a thought you just want to develop, feel free. Or use the questions as a starting point to get ideas flowing. Follow any train of thought as far as you’d like. I want to hear about your experiences, your thoughts, your ideas around
gender, sex, genitals, and that strange medical word: vagina. NOTE: Constructive criticism of my project and its format is also encouraged. All information given to me will be kept confidential unless otherwise mutually decided.
DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED IN THIS STUDY:
NOTE: many of these definitions are oversimplified for the purpose of clarity. Please email me if you have a question/problem with any one of them.
Gender: The expression or behavior of a person qualified by society as masculine, feminine, androgynous or any mix thereof.
Gender Identity: One's inner image of one's self, and the gender one identifies as.
Gender Expression: How one expresses oneself, in terms of dress and/or behaviors that society characterizes as "masculine" or "feminine."
Gender Queer: A person whose gender identity and/or gender expression falls outside of the cultural norm for their sex.
Transsexual (TS): A person whose gender identity does not match their anatomical sex; who has an internal image of themselves as the opposite sex from their anatomical sex as well as a desire to change their bodies to match this image. It is this desire, not actually having had Sex
Reassignment Surgery, which defines a transsexual.
Intersexed (commonly known as Hermaphroditic): Persons who are born with
"ambiguous" or "indeterminate" genitals which do not fit neatly into societal standards for male and female genitals. Many have surgery in infancy/childhood assigning them male or female genitals.
Transgender: anyone who feels that they do not fit into society’s traditional ideas of man and woman. For example: intersexed, transsexual, butch, femme, genderfuck, genderqueer, and all others who feel that their gender does not fall within traditional societal categories.
Queer: anyone who chooses to identify as such. This can include, but is not limited to gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered people, allies, leather fetishists, perverts, freaks, etc. Of course, not all people who identify as queer subscribe to any or all of the aforementioned potential
"subcategories."
QUESTIONNAIRE:
NOTE: if you are filling out this questionnaire as a significant other, partner, friend, ally or family member of a transgendered/intersexed person, please modify the questions to apply to your experiences, either in your own life, or in your interactions with transgendered/intersexed people.
What is your name?
What led you to respond to this survey (thanks, by the way!)?
Please give me as much identification as you feel comfortable with (age, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, "assigned" sex at birth/now, ethnic background, profession, where you are from/where you live now)
Do you have what is conventionally defined as a vagina? (yes, no, sort of, sometimes, it’s a long story, etc.)
Have you since birth?
How do you/would you feel if someone defined part of your body as "vagina?"
What is a vagina?
Who has one?
What can you do with it?
What can you do to it?
What can other people do with it?
What can it do to you?
What does it do to you?
What do you do with it?
What do other people do with it?
Tell me about your genitals.
-What do you call your genitals?
-What did you call your genitals as a kid?
-What do your lovers call your genitals? What have they called your genitals?
-Do you ever look at your genitals? What does your genitals look like?
-How does your genitals feel? From the outside? From the inside?
-What does your genitals do?
-What do you do with them?
-What do other people do to/with your genitals?
-What is your genitals used for?
-What do you use your genitals for?
-What do others use your genitals for?
-Does your genitals have a preferred pronoun (he/she/it/other)? Does its pronoun differ from yours? How/Why?
-What purpose does your genitals fulfill or not fulfill in your life?
-Would you ever want to change your genitals? How? Would the change be permanent?
Has the way you think about your genitals changed over the years? How?
How does your genitals affect your gender, if at all?
How does your gender presentation affect people’s assumptions about your genitals? (e.g., short hair, pants, no breasts = penis)
How do people’s assumptions about your genitals affect your gender presentation? (e.g., they think I have a penis, so I will sit as though I do)
Has your genitals ever undergone a voluntary physical change (e.g., giving birth, sterilization, piercing, Sex Reassignment Surgery, etc.)? How did this physically alter your genitals? How did this change your attitude toward your genitals? How did this change your attitude toward yourself in
general?
Has anything ever happened to your genitals that you didn't want? (e.g. giving birth, sterilization, circumcision, sexual assault, an accident, a Sex Reassignment Surgery, puberty, menopause, etc.)
Tell me about sex.
-Does it have anything to do with a "vagina?"
-How does it relate to genitals?
-How do you feel about your genitals during sexual activities?
-Relate any sexual experiences you feel illustrates your relationship to your genitals (I know this is a broad question; I’m looking for anything that comes to mind)
Tell me about masturbation.
-Does it have anything to do with a "vagina?"
-How does it relate to genitals?
-How do you feel about your genitals during masturbatory activities?
-Relate any experiences you feel illustrate your relationship to your genitals.
Have you ever experienced an illness which involved your genitals? (e.g. STD, STI, cancer, non-sexually transmitted yeast infection, or UTI.) How did this affect your attitude toward your genitals?
Some thoughts to get more stories going:
Tell me about going to the doctor.
Tell me about bathrooms.
Tell me about changing rooms.
Tell me about periods.
Tell me anything else.
THANK YOU for responding! I would just like to reiterate here that I am not looking for answers to every question, or even to any specific question. I just want you to send me a thought, or an experience, or a story, or a poem, or all of the above - some hunk of writing that describes some aspect of
your thoughts on genitals, gender, sex, etc.
SNAIL MAIL ADDRESS:
Toby Davis
C/o Pride Zone
P.O. Box 3301
Amherst, MA
01004-3301 |
|
|
