GenderSpeaker Live Show: Recent Episodes
Rikki Arundel
My mission is to help create a fairer world where every person's gender is accepted and respected. This is the first of a series of Video Blogs and Podcasts designed to help achieve that mission - I'll be here everyday throughout September tackling the issues of the day and helping to make sense of everything Gender and LGBTQ.
Today I will be speaking with Diversity and Inclusion expert, Jackie Handy. From a background in Recruitment, Jackie has learned about diversity and inclusion the hard way, from negative personal experiences. She is a fellow of the Professional Speakers Association and has been sharing her wisdom throughout the global speaking federation during 2020, including a trip to Namibia.
Today I want to talk about her experiences and how they have helped her to change attitudes and practices in the corporate world. We will also be talking about her book "The Little Book of Belonging" and the ways we can make simple positive step to becoming more inclusive.
You can find out more about Jackie at www.JackieHandy.com
Hate incidents and Hate Crime and sadly a part of life and have been increasing over the past few years. So what do you do if you are a victim or witness? Reporting the incident or crime to the police is essential but we k ow that most hate incidents and crimes go unreported, especially in the LGBTQ community. Often what we also need is to be able to just talk to someone about it and that is where Stop Hate UK comes in. Established 25 years ago, the charity provides a 24 hour service where victims and witnesses of hate crimes and incidents can get advice or just talk to a sympathetic ear about what has happened.
Today I am talking with Rose Simkins, the founder and CEO of the service, who is passionate about delivering help to victims and witnesses to hate, about the service, the current challenges and why this service is so important for people in the LGBTQ community.
You can find out more about Stop Hate UK on their website and Facebook page
https://www.stophateuk.org/
https://www.facebook.com/Stop.Hate.UK
Founded in 2005 by Sue Sanders from Schools Out, LGBT+ History is an opportunity every year for schools, colleges, public bodies and private organisations to celebrate and promote LGBT+ History. I have emphasised Schools ad Colleges, because this Month of celebration was inspired by the repeal of Section 28 and has always had a strong focus on schools providing a wealth of resources and materials to enable Teachers to actively promote LGBT History.
Today I am going to talk a little about the celebration and encourage you to think about how you can contribute to the 2021 LGBT+ History Month events and make your organisation more LGBT inclusive.
Every year on November 20th the Transgender community and our allies remember those trans people, mostly trans women, who, in the past year have lost their lives because they were transgender. Sadly the numbers dying is still rising every year and this global issues of violence against trans people continues.
Today I want to spend just a few minutes explaining this issue and encouraging you to do what you can to stop anti-trans behaviour on and off line.
A post on the Professional Speakers Association members FB group drew a lot of activity last week. The issue raised was how MC's and other meeting hosts should introduce men and women. Often men are introduced with a title, but women are not eg Mr John Smith vs plain Jane smith. Of course this can get worse when the women gets added adjectives eg the lovely Jane Smith. It's part of the same issues faced by women leaders and press articles which insist on talking about what they are wearing eg Jane Smith the CEO has arrived, wearing a ....
So today I have invited a few friends from the PSA to talk about the issue of sexism and gender equality for women speakers. How should you introduce a variety of speakers and maintain gender equality, how do you introduce and speak about transgender and non binary speakers and lots of other issues that impact the way people are treated differently due to their gender.
In May 1988 the conservative government passed into law section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 which made it illegal for any local authority to treat homosexuality and same sex relationships as normal. This law turned back progress towards LGBT equality in a single step, removing funding and support and making the lives of LGBT people, particularly LGBT children very difficult.
Today I am going to be talking about this law, and the huge impact it has had on LGBT rights since. So often what appears to be bad, turns out to be good.
Don't forget that the week of the 13th to 19th November is International Trans Awareness Week and Friday 20th is International Trans Remembrance Day.
Stereotyping is something we mostly all do - and it is a practice that positively or negatively impacts the way we treat people and things often without us even realising that we are doing it.
If you attend a medical practice and are told that "the Nurse will see you now," What is your expectation. Most of us expect to see a woman. So how do you feel when you walk in and find a man sitting there. We have largely become used to discovering that the doctor is a woman - but the nurse as a man? And how does that affect your judgement of that man - Do you feel comfortable about that experience? What if they are transgender?
Today I want to talk about stereotypes and their impact on our judgement about people.
The Reimer Twins were born Winnipeg Manitoba Canada in August 1965, then because of a botched circumcision, the older twin's penis was irreparably damaged. What followed was one of the most catastrophic experiments in human sexuality and gender, leading to thousands of children undergoing surgery without their consent.
Today I want to talk about this case, the psychologist John Money who led the case and its impact on the LGBTQ and intersex communities.
Marina Roberts is a Mindset and Confidence coach who works primarily with women who are starting new businesses, helping them to overcome the imitations imposed on them by a world that positions women as "other".
Marina grew up in Russia, where she took an engineering degree, but here passion has always been psychology. When I met her we talked about the insidious levels of social conditioning that prevents women from being their true selves and blocks their ability to succeed so today I want to talk to her about how she helps women to overcome this unconscious gender discrimination and create successful businesses.
Marina is also a speaking coach and member of the PSA - you can find out more about her on her website at www.marinaroberts.com
In 1910 Magnus Hirschfeld coined the term Transvestite to describe anyone male or female who preferred to dressing the clothing in of the opposite gender. Eventually that term became synonymous with heterosexual men who cross dressed.
Today I want to look at the history of transvestism starting with the infamous Chevalier d'eon de Beaumont, whose name Havelock Ellis wished t9 uses as an alternative to Transvestism , the work of Virginia Prince in the US and the Beaumont Society in the UK.
Hate Crime and Hate Incidents are on the rise against almost everyone with a visible protected characteristic. Today I am going to look at the statistics released by the Home Office last week and the implications. These disturbing trends also mean that we have to seriously consider what we can all do to help reverse this trend by supporting and allying with anyone who is vulnerable.
Changing the Law is relatively easy compared to changing attitudes. In this short presentation I will look at the breakthrough events that started the process of changing the laws in the western world that were mostly based on Henry VIII's Buggery Act 1533. Changing attitudes towards homosexuality in the western world is still an ongoing process.
In the news today I see that Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller are the latest celebrities to sign a letter of solidarity with J K Rowling referring to the online hate directed against her. I certainly will never defend online hate in any form, which is why i am critical of JK Rowling and the people who are supporting her because many have a history of publishing anti trans comments and twisting the facts to support their version of the truth.
Today I want to look at some of the claims and counter claims and hopefully put them into perspective.
Magnus Hirschfeld was the first and one of the most influential gay rights activists in history. He is also know as the father if transgenderism. At the beginning of the 20th Century there was no real distinction between transpeople and gay people. However this was also a time when sexuality had becoe a subject of considerable academic interest.
Freud was probably the most famous to begin developing explanations for human behaviour - but soon there were many. Richard Kraft Ebbing, Henry Havelock Ellis and Magnus Hirschfeld all developed theories around transgenderism and homosexuality,
Today I am going to look at the work of Magnus Hirschfeld in developing the first gender identity clinic and the impact of the Nazis in bringing his work to an end.
This is the last day of my personal 30 Day Online Challenge talking about gender issues. So what next. Next week is a very busy week - it's the PSA Summit and I will be attending a lot of sessions and networking all week
However I will be continuing the GenderSpeaker Live Show on a twice weekly basis. On Sundays - starting Sunday 4th October, I will be doing a regular LGBTQ history show - and on Wednesdays, starting on October 7th I will be broadcasting my regular Gender issues show.
Join me today at 4.00pm for more details of this and other plans for October and beyond.
Today I am talking to another transgender speaker and member of the Professional Speaking Association. Joanne Lockwood has had a successful career in technology and was a Past National President of the Round Table, an all male organisation; well we just have to talk about that. In 2017 Joanne sold her IT consultancy when she decided to undergo a complete personal rebrand - including changing gender.
Since then she has concentrated on developing her reputation as a successful diversity speaker and trainer and shares her tech knowledge with other speakers helping them to improve their skills as online presenters. Today I will be asking her a little about her past, the challenges she faced in coming out and what we can all do to get better at virtual presenting.
In this very stressful times, is life more stressful for LGBTQ people? That is one of the questions I will be asking Pam Burrows, today. Pam is a member one of the LGBTQ members of the professional Speaking Association and she specialises helping people and organisations to manage stress more effectively. But I am hearing that people who do not conform to gender norms are more at risk of losing their jobs and find it more difficult to get jobs leading to higher levels of stress.
We have been looking at inclusion a lot over this past month, and there is no doubt that the more inclusive the environment, the lower the stress levels experiences by all so I want to find out from Pam, what we can do from a gender perspective to make our workplaces less stressful.
Today we see drag queens and kings on the TV every week and if you ever go to a pride event, well, they wouldn't be pride events without a drag and general non conformist dressing. When I first came out, it was the diversity of people at LGBTQ events that encouraged me to come out .
But where did all this cross dressing start - why do we have such a rich history of gender nonconformity? That's what I want to talk about today - Drag and cross dressing - where did it start and why - and it's a fascinating history that dates back over thousands of years.
The past couple of weeks have seen a shift in UK Government attitudes against Trans and Non-binary people, despite the TUC and British Medical Association making clear their support and an employment tribunal confirming that Non Binary people are protected by the Equality Act 2010.
Liz Truss, the government minister for Women and Equalities has announced a u-turn on the Gender Recognition Act Reform and the publication of the Gender Recognition Act Review shows the full extent of the anti trans campaign. In the house of Lords the government refused to provide any evidence to support the oft quoted view that self ID would result in men using the act to enter safe spaces for women in order to attack them.
Added to this, the guidelines for schools for delivering sex education are suggesting that supporting trans pupils would be promoting dangerous stereotypes. So today, a little later than usual I am looking at uncomfortable shift in government attitudes towards trans people that is reversing all planned improvements.
When looking for guests for my show, my first stop was the Professional Speakers Association "Find a Speaker" database looking for people who spoke on gender issues. I have not met Nathalie, but as I decided to make one of my lockdown goals to finally learn French, and Nathalie is a primary school French teacher, I was immediately keen to meet and speak to her.
Nathalie speaks at least four languages (she also speaks Geordie), and travels around the northeast of England on her mobile library bus storytelling in different languages to children. She also speaks about gendering of picture books, and that is a something I am keen to speak to her about. I am also interested in how Europeans are handling the shift to non-binary, because while learning French I have noticed that most European languages are far more gendered than English.
So join me for a fascinating chat with someone who has really gone all out to take her expertise and uniquely package it - Nathalie is also a great inspiration for anyone in business for themselves. You can find out More about Nathalie at nattalingo.co.uk
We are now into the last week of my 30 day challenge and today is my first show with a guest. Most of my guests this week are fellow members of the Professional Speaking Association and today's guest is ex British Airways captain, Cat Burton.
You may have seen Cat in the news in the past, because she is a trans Woman and was the first BA captain to transition on the job. So a real trailblazer and we are going to be talking about her experiences transitioning in such a high-profile way.
Now retired from BA, Cat teaches flying and is the Chair of Race Equality First in Glamorgan, and a trustee of Trans Media Watch, the charity that does so much great work in encouraging the press to report trans issues more accurately, so plenty to talk about.
Do we need gender training in the workplace? I think so. When I started work in 1969 the workplace was very male dominated. Women were employed almost exclusively in support roles. The only female managers were in HR - I worked in the insurance industry and there were a few women with maths degrees specialising in actuarial work.
In the main women were low-level clerical staff, secretaries or typists. By the eighties things were improving, but as a senior manager myself, I lost a battle to have a female tax barrister promoted to manager because "She was young and likely to get married." Has this changed today - I think those ingrained attitudes that assume men are better at managing than women and that hierarchical structures are the only way to organise a business still exist?
But now it is hidden or even unconscious. As a trans woman I still experience hidden prejudice and unconscious bias. The workplace is still structured the way men like to work and there is an assumption that because that is the way it has always been; it is the right way. Men and women work in different ways, and failure to recognise that means that the workplace is not fair.
I deliver a variety of different gender based presentation and workshops to hope organisations to create a fair and more inclusive environment that gets the best out of everyone, whatever their gender. So today I am going to talk about the key issues that workplace training needs to address to create a more effective and balanced environment where everyone can grow to be the best that can be.
It is very easy right now to dismiss the need for so called "soft skills" training. Most businesses are struggling with Covid19 - many staff are working from home, turnover is down or fluctuating and now a second wave is making the rest of this year, including Christmas, look very tenuous.
But this is actually good for soft skills training. I have done so much personal development training this year. I don't want to sit at home doing nothing, so I have been reading, attending online courses, networking and much of the training we need is available in a variety of forms online especially live.
Now is great time to address transgender and non-binary inclusion training. The cost of online training is generally lower and more flexible to attend - No travel costs, no venue costs, often shorter courses - but easily monitored.
Today I am talking about the value of my trans and non binary training and how help to make your workplace more inclusive.
I have been reading, well listening to, a great book the past week called Women Don't Ask, which takes a no nonsense look at why women are, generally, less successful than men at negotiating for themselves. What has shocked me is that I have always had a problem with this myself, even before I changed gender?
Listening to this excellent book has left me with a dilemma. The book implies that the primary reason is the way women are socialised to be "nice" and to avoid hurting other people's feelings. Then there is the awful problem that if a woman does learn to "negotiate like a man" those qualities which appear positive when displayed by a man are suddenly negative when displayed by a woman.
This results in the Catch 22 that women don't progress in their careers because they are not assertive enough for leadership, and when they change that they don't progress because they are too bossy or aggressive. So today I am going to talk about this book and the challenges facing women, and some thoughts on how to overcome them.
If you want to see more about the book or the audio book, which I can highly recommend - please follow the link below. It is an affiliate link, but it will automatically take you to the book in the amazon store for your region, and I may earn a few pennies if you buy it.
https://geni.us/women-dont-ask
You can find the video edition of this episode here - https://youtu.be/0n1VXJEqQwg
William Shakespeare's Sonnets were love poems - but the first 126 were about a Fair Youth and the first 17 clearly encouraging a young man to marry and father children. But who was the fair youth and do they imply that Shakespeare had a gay relationship.
I have done some research on this and looked at some sonnets from a fresh perspective. Shakespeare lived in a world where young boys and men plated women's roles in the theatre. The theatre is renowned for being a place of refuge and support for gay men. But there are more clues to Shakespeare's gender nonconforming past, and perhaps some explanation for the missing years. Shakespeare also played with gender within his plays - Join me for some alternative explanations of his mysterious life.
You can find the video edition of this episode here https://youtu.be/QBo69Cph5pg
So one of your staff or colleagues discloses to you they are about to start living in their acquired gender. This may be a surprise, or perhaps you are one of the few who know. But now it is going to happen, and you need to support this colleague through that process and manage the multitude of requirements.
It is a complex process depending upon the size and complexity of the organisation. They could just turn up at work one day and announce they have changed gender, but managing that process is better for all. Today I am going to talk through what you need to do to make this process as smooth as possible.
You can find the Video version of this episode here https://youtu.be/wp1qdPehqnA
Yesterday I talked about creating an inclusive workplace where people felt they belonged. One key for that, for transgender and non-binary people, is that they feel comfortable about coming out and transitioning and that they continue to feel valued.
So what does transitioning entail. It is a complex and very scary process which involves a much more complex process than most people realise - so today I am going to talk through the kind of process trans people go through, both if they are having surgery and medical treatment and if they are not.
You can find the video edition of this episode here - https://youtu.be/reTEZntDVEQ
“What did you do over the weekend?” asked colleague, as I sat down at my desk. My heart raced.
“Oh I just went to a pub with a few friends; nothing special really,” I lied. I would so loved to have told the truth, and shared just how amazing that weekend had been, but… that would have required me to out myself as a trans woman, and I was terrified of the consequences of doing that.
That was a true event in my life before coming out - and that is exclusion. Just as much as being told we are not welcome, being unable to bring our entire selves to work is exclusion. Having to watch everything we say in case we give away some information about ourselves or family that may cause shame, humiliation, harassment or discrimination etc.
So today following my discussion about the Public Sector Equality Duty - today I am going to talk about inclusion and belonging which are a direct consequence of following the PSED guidelines.
You can find the Video edition of this episode here https://youtu.be/dD1TgPeSo2g
The Public Sector Equality Duty is not popular with a lot of politicians and Public Sector organisations. It is a key element in the Equality Act 2010 that allows anyone to hold a public sector body to account if they are not delivering services in a fair and just manner. From my experience with the PSED, most people, even employees in the public sector, are not clear about the duties imposed.
So today I am going to explain what it is, and who is required to comply with the duty - which is a lot more than just Public Sector Employees. We'll look at how it affects your job if you are bound by the duty, and how if affect you if you are a service user or client of someone bound by the duty.
You can find the video edition of this podcast here - https://youtu.be/07BMWo1kA88
I changed gender at the start of the biggest and most comprehensive overhaul of equalities law in our history. The Equality Act 2010 replaced and consolidated 114 unique pieces of legislation into a single Act and in so doing fundamentally changed the way equality law worked.
Today I want to look in very practical terms at the main provisions of the act and explore how this particularly affects gender equality. I also want to look at why there has been so little publicity to promote the act and show how it can help to create a fairer society.
This will not be a stuffy talk full of legalese - but a very practical look at what is probably the best equality law in the world, giving us the power to make genuine change and hold the government to account in the process.
This week I am going to focus on the issues that we all face with acceptance in the workplace - Being accepted as a trans or non binary person, accepting people who are gender variant and the impact of the equality Act 2010. Today I am going to focus on Bias and Prejudice and how that shows up. I was talking to a trans friend recently who was shocked to discover that people they thought were comfortable with them, were actually harboring huge levels of prejudice. Knowing that they were now able to see in their interactions and engagement with that person evidence of hidden prejudice and unconscious bias.
We cannot hide how we feel, so today I am going to look at how we can recognise and manage our own biases and work towards overcoming them and what we can all do to make a workplace more inclusive of gender variant people.
I love exploring LGBTQ history and uncovering the actual stories that were often twisted or even erased by powerful church and political leaders. LGBTQ people have been persecuted around the world for hundreds of years, and most people probably assume that was because of the opposition from organised religions.
However, when I researched this, I discovered that the first law attacking homosexuality, the Buggery Act 1533, was used to attack the Catholic Church. In today's talk I want to explore the politics behind this Act that became the foundation of anti LGBTQ legislation globally.
Most people seem to get sex and gender mixed up. It's a topic I spend a bit of time on interactively on my online workshops, and it was a sizeable chunk of my master's degree. The problem is that politicians have mixed these up in legislation over the past 2 years and so we lots of conflicts in law. I mentioned sex and gender in my broadcasts last week, but looking at a few comments on twitter and elsewhere, I think it would be a good idea to take another look. My primary reason is that you know, while watching my broadcasts, what I mean when I talk about sex and gender.
Don't forget that you can find details of my online Transgender and Non-Binary Inclusion Workshop by clicking on the link below - Pay what you can afford to attend this engaging event. on October 20th
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/transgender-and-non-binary-inclusion-an-introduction-tickets-122230074443
Following on from my talk yesterday about the cultural history of Non Binary people, today I am going to look a little more at Non Binary people on 2020 society. We face considerable challenges in gaining acceptance and daily difficulties fitting into a society that is still rigidly binary. Things are changing here and around the world, but our language and culture finds if difficult to accommodate anyone who does not conform to the binary. Let's look at what we can all do to help make our society more non-binary inclusive.
There has be a surge in people defining as Non Binary, Gender Queer, Androgyne, agender, bigender, third gender - and literally hundreds of other labels which tell us that a person does not see themselves as male or female. This is a difficult identity because few governments in the world recognise non binary or third gender - We are considering in the UK allowing an X marker on passports and driving licences - but there is some very vocal opposition to the idea. Today I want to start exploring Non Binary and Third Gender by considering the long cultural history around the world dating back thousands of years.
Following the review of the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) started in 2015 there has been a toxic battle taking place largely on Twitter between a consortium of Feminists, parents of trans children and religious groups and Transgender activists including Stonewall and Mermaids. This is a hugely damaging battle and I want to try to demystify what it happening - I am not a supporter of any extreme views, but I am a supporter of the vulnerable trans and non-binary people caught in the crossfire of this of this battle. Today I want to talk about the GRA and the review at the heart of all this.
Today I want to talk about the greatest fear I faced in my life - Coming Out "of the closet" and admitting to the world that I am transgender. Some people are never in the closet - they are openly LGBTQ from childhood and face the trauma of that growing up, and that seems to be increasingly the case. Others face the dread of coming out for years until they finally came out. Lets look at what you can do to make that process easier for LGBTQ people.
Today I want to look at Male and Female behaviours - and the influence of nature and nurture. I have delivered a lot of training on encouraging men and women to work together better. So today I will share some of my experiences of the differences between male and female behaviours learned as a result of growing up trans.
Hot and very controversial topic again today - Is there a difference between Male and Female brains - Some scientists say there is, other are adamant there is not. I have a fairly firm opinion on this topic, as do many trans people - Join me and add your thoughts - You can comment before the show in the comments below.
Talking about Growing-Up Trans and Gender Non Conforming - This is a big and very emotive topic so today I am going to start by talking a little about my childhood and the experiences of the trans women I studied for my Master’s Degree research dissertation.
I will return to this topic again and again in future shows because there is a lot of misinformation being spouted and I want to help bring some clarity to the topic of trans children.
100 years ago Magnus Hirschfeld coined the term Transvestite - then the term Transsexual, though that did not become commonplace until after the war when David Cauldwell began using it regularly using it. In 60s Virginia Prince started decided to live as a woman but not have surgery and coined the term Transgender to describe herself.
That steadily became the umbrella term for all gender non-conforming people, and was then shortened to Trans. But there were always a myriad of other terms and labels to describe trans people. Today Facebook offers 71 alternatives to male and female that doesn't include at least 20 others that I know of, and I am far too old it seems to keep up with the dazzling array of new terms and labels added daily
Today I am going to look at some primary labels and what they all mean - but there will be lots more to look at later.
Today I will talk about Gender Identity - the internal sense and feeling of who we are. For most people, their gender identity matches their sex and their gender. For many, though, that is not the case. Today I want to explore how people cope with this mis-match.
Join me for my regular discussions on Gender issues. Today I will be speaking about Gender - What is gender, why is this so confusing for everyone and why is this such a source of passionate debate. Feel free to ask questions?
Find out more and view the video versions on my Youtube Channel here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6pXUOc9W43Zv3DafPX1mszZISM2mzjzX
My mission is to help create a fairer world where every person's gender is accepted and respected. This is the first of a series of Video Blogs and Podcasts designed to help achieve that mission - I'll be here everyday throughout September talking about the issues of the day and helping to make sense of everything Gender and LGBTQ.