Special Issue of At the Forks
Vol. 3 No. 1 (2024): Special Issue: Unmasking Transphobia, Building Transpositive Solidarities
The historical catalyst for this collection of essays is a tragic and disturbing one, consisting both of a particular event and a general global pattern. In March of 2023, Joanne Boucher, a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at the University of Winnipeg, delivered a public talk with the dodgy title, “The Commodification of the Human Body: The Case of Transgender Identities.” According to the event description, Boucher’s talk was to explore the “economic interests involved in transgenderism” and to investigate the intersection of “government, corporate-funded lobby groups, the medical industry and the biotechnology sector.” Although framed in neutral-sounding academic jargon, both the event title and the event description contained blaring red flags, readily identifiable even to casual readers. Far from being a unique and isolated event, Boucher’s talk was part of a much larger and more general global explosion of transphobic discourse, which has been expressed in recent years in the form of utterly cruel and inhuman legislation. In response to this frightening national and global drift, the University of Winnipeg’s Centre for Research in Cultural Studies (CRiCS) organized a public event aimed at understanding our current political moment and offering guidance for solidarity and praxis. This collection features essay versions of the informal talks delivered at the March 2023 event.
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Cultural Studies engages with pressing issues of local and global consequence and is at the forefront of developing critical understandings of the social and political dynamics of contemporary culture, including forms of conflict and reconciliation. Established in 2017, the Centre for Research in Cultural Studies (CRiCS) enhances UWinnipeg’s ability to highlight these engagements and functions as a hub for interdisciplinary collaboration between students, faculty, and community research partners.
CRiCS increases research capacity on campus by providing a context for developing methods and tools for Cultural Studies research, supporting the program of the Canada Research Chair in Culture and Public Memory, and connecting student Research Assistants, Research Associates, Visiting Scholars, and Postdoctoral Fellows to the projects of the Centre. CRiCS aims to build sustainable, socially relevant research programs and raise the national and international profile of UW as an outstanding place to do Cultural Studies research.
Keywords: transphobia, transgender rights, 2SLGTBIQ, queer
Abstract
The historical catalyst for this collection of essays is a tragic and disturbing one, consisting both of a particular event and a general global pattern. In March of 2023, Joanne Boucher, a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at the University of Winnipeg, delivered a public talk with the dodgy title, “The Commodification of the Human Body: The Case of Transgender Identities.” According to the event description, Boucher’s talk was to explore the “economic interests involved in transgenderism” and to investigate the intersection of “government, corporate-funded lobby groups, the medical industry and the biotechnology sector.” Although framed in neutral-sounding academic jargon, both the event title and the event description contained blaring red flags, readily identifiable even to casual readers. Far from being a unique and isolated event, Boucher’s talk was part of a much larger and more general global explosion of transphobic discourse, which has been expressed in recent years in the form of utterly cruel and inhuman legislation. In response to this frightening national and global drift, the University of Winnipeg’s Centre for Research in Cultural Studies (CRiCS) organized a public event aimed at understanding our current political moment and offering guidance for solidarity and praxis. This collection features essay versions of the informal talks delivered at the March 2023 event.
Author Biography
Jason Hannan, University of Winnipeg
Dr. Jason Hannan (him/his) is Professor in the Department of Rhetoric, Writing, and Communications at the University of Winnipeg. He is the author of Trolling Ourselves to Death: Democracy in the Age of Social Media (Oxford, 2023) and editor of Meatsplaining: The Animal Agriculture Industry and the Rhetoric of Denial (Sydney, 2020). His current book project is Reactionary Speech: Conservatism as the Denial of Reality.
Keywords: transphobia, transgender rights, university, 2SLGBTIQ
Abstract
In this brief commentary, I want to address two issues raised by Joanne Boucher’s talk at the University of Winnipeg, “The Commodification of the Human Body: The Case of Transgender Identities.” First, there is the problem of how universities should handle events on their campuses that appear to target, disparage, or objectify a marginalized group. Especially in the United States, this has become a familiar problem, often posed by actors aiming to spark controversy, gain attention for intolerant claims, and perhaps be “canceled.” Second, there is the fact that Boucher’s talk took place within the context of a large-scale, organized anti-trans campaign, which is global, but especially visible in the United States.
Author Biography
Jarvis Brownlie, University of Manitoba
Dr. Jarvis Brownlie is a transgender white settler Canadian who teaches history at the University of Manitoba. His research focuses on Canadian settler colonialism, Crown-First Nation relations, treaties, and hydropower extractivism. He is currently involved in community-driven, collaborative research with Inniniw and Ithine communities in northern Manitoba on the current and historical impacts of hydro dams, with a particular focus on gendered experiences.
Keywords: transgender right, transphobia, 2SLGBTIQ
Abstract
We’ve had a couple of moments of major community rallying against anti-trans oppression recently. Back in Fall 2023, several hundred people showed up in Winnipeg to protect a drag queen story hour from bigoted protestors. Both this and the more recent response to Prof. Boucher’s talk have been incredible displays of community support which created space for activists to connect with one another and foster social ties which can be drawn on for the next time people need to respond. These major flashpoints were both organized responses to rightly perceived threats. It’s good that we’re able to mobilize support during these times. However, we cannot liberate trans people through defensive actions alone. These actions protect our communities and keep us safe, but they are not where our power is.
Author Biography
Misha Pensato
Misha Pensato is a trans writer and activist from Winnipeg. She is an editor at Midnight Sun Magazine and is currently working on her first poetry manuscript. You can find her poetry and essays in CV2, Xtra!, Briarpatch, openDemocracy, and elsewhere.
Keywords: transphobia, transgender rights, 2SLGBTIQ
Abstract
The roundtable this essay is built from was created partly in reaction to something harmful occurring on the University of Winnipeg campus, but it was, and is also an opportunity to imagine something better together and to begin to build that better right now.
Author Biography
Noah Schulz
Keywords: transphobia, transgender rights, 2SLGBTIQ
Abstract
I originally planned to attend Dr. Boucher’s talk in person, but in a very 21st-century compromise, it ended up on Zoom. It was a bit of a scramble. When I say I “attended,” I had a piece in my ear, listening and engaging with the talk while eating cupcakes at the counter event, which I found quite interesting. At 60 years old, I come from an academic background where I don’t discuss talks or events without attending and understanding the content. Thus, I engaged with the talk, which has broader ramifications and specific terms that are important to consider.
Author Biography
Lara Rae
Lara Rae is a comedian, instructor, and writer. She transitioned in 2015 and her experience is told in her play Dragonfly available in print and audio book format. Dragonfly is winner of the Chris Johnson Manitoba Book award for Best New Play.
Lara is the co-founder of the Winnipeg Comedy Festival. She was the first trans woman to guest host CBC's flagship news program The Current and was one of the developers of the international hit series Little Mosque on the Prairie for which she was nominated a Gemini and shares three Canadian Comedy Awards and the Prix Roma Italian screenwriting prize. She has taught trans culture and literature at the University of Winnipeg in the gender studies department and has an honorary PhD in Literature from the University of Manitoba.
Keywords: transphobia, transgender rights, 2SLGBTIQ
Abstract
Several of the other contributors to this round-table — Lara Rae, Jarvis Brownlie, Noah Schulz – have noted that Professor Joanne Boucher’s talk, “The Commodification of the Human Body: The Case of Transgender Identities,” raises issues of free speech and academic freedom. The media coverage of the event and the statement issued by the University of Winnipeg presented the question in a standard framework that pits the support of a “healthy and inclusive society” and respect and support of the members of our 2SLGBTQ+ community against free speech and academic freedom. In this case, the University of Winnipeg seems to have ‘balanced’ those competing ideals by siding with the latter, with many feeling the former was sacrificed.