A Transgender and Intersex Learning Exchange: Feminism and Gender & Sex Diversity. Saturday 12th July, Lambeth Women's Project, 166a Stockwell Road, London. Solidarity Picnic on Sunday 13th July, Hampstead Heath.

FAF presented a learning exchange on trans and intersex issues and their relationship to feminism. This learning exchange was geared toward people who may be unsure of the importance or relevance of transgender to feminism, particularly from an intergenerational perspective.We want this to be a safe space for people from all backgrounds/feminist perspectives to come together, ask questions, exchange ideas, make mistakes, learn, create, and build alliances.

The event was organised by a collective of trans and non-trans feminists, and trans-people were actively involved in the running of the day, including speaking at and facilitating sessions.This event was free and open to feminists of all genders. Lunch was provided, with donations. FAF also launched the trans-feminism zine at this event.

 Schedule (everything took longer than this in the end!)

12.15pm  Welcome to FAF and Safer Spaces Guidelines

12.30pm

 

 

 

Panel: Everything you wanted to know about transgender issues but were afraid to ask.  Speakers: Debbie , Col (film-maker), Sophie (activist), and Helen G (f-word blogger). Chair: Sophie. An introduction to 'transgender' issues and the opportunity to listen to trans men and women's stories and experiences. This session will incorporate a Q&A session, where questions can be posed anonymously as well as openly, and a screening of the short-film 'The Jar'. 
1.45pm  Lunch. Chance to natter and have a look at the art & resources

2.15pm

 

 

 

 Panel: Second wave feminists talk out loud about transgender. Speakers Elizabeth (anti-porn activist), Sue (Older Feminist Network), Gail (The Feminist Library), Carol (socialist-radical feminist). Chair: Jo. Radical feminists have long known the benefits of organising autonomously from men in their grassroots activism. This panel sees Second Wave Feminists share their  different exeriences and ideas about women-only space and transgender recognition.
3.45pm Workshop: Sex Diversity: The spectrum of sex beyond 'male' and 'female'. With Marcus and Daniel (a former biologist), chaired by Col. This workshop explores the diversity of sexed experience. Come and learn about the spectrum of sexes and place yourself somewhere along the continuum.  This session also includes a screening of the animation "Not So Black and White".       
5.15pm Discussion: Beyond the Binary. The implications for feminism. Speakers: Sherry, Kris and Sophie. Chair: Debi.This session asks: how have trans-gendered and gender variant people influenced feminism? What is feminism's relationship to binary structures- such as man/woman - and how are binaries related to other hierarchical power structures in society? What are the links between trans-liberation struggles and the demands of the Women's Liberation Movement? Opportunities for creative responses and manifesto writing aplenty.
7.00pm
 Film Screening:  XXY (Argentina, 2007)  Spanish with English subtitles.


"The Jar" (Australia) 7 minutes. 1987
A trans feminist film in its darkest light. The filmmaker re-creates a process that they would  watch their father do as a child. In the fathers mind it was a hobby, in the mind of the child filmmaker it was a tragic loss to the feminine, to the spirit of  planet earth, and  22 years later, after The Jar was created, the filmmaker still feels the same tragic ignorance in this world today.

"Not So Black Or White" (UK/Australia) 3 mintues. 2006
A narrative journey of an intersex person who allows his voice to be recorded to a visually animated, external representation of himself. The never ending patterns of truth mirror his transformation in life and reflect in different shapes and forms that nothing is what it seems,  nor permanently stays a fixed state.