CoP3// 'I Am Woman' A2 Academic Poster

Academic Poster of CoP3 Practical Response
'I Am Woman' Zine

CoP3// ' I Am Woman ' Project

I AM WOMAN (Zine) Project 

Introduction

As part of my studies into LGBT representation I began focusing on transgender representation in animation, in particular how trans woman are represented. Trans characters such as Alice from ' SuperJail!', Mr. Garrison from ' South park ' and Ida Davis from ' Family Guy ' portrayed trans women as either an identity to be disgusted by or fearful of. Each of these character may of been written as open about their identities as trans women however each came across as transphobic in their own way; hyper sexual, overly masculine and violent. I wanted to create something that not only represented trans women's history, equality and lifestyle but created to create a more diverse portrayal of trans women.

Including my research into LGBT culture by interviewing members of the LGBT communities, I also began researching trans women bloggers online, who documented/spoke about their transitioning and experiences. I researched into the personal experiences of Kat Blaque and Stef Sanjati, who both share their experiences as trans women online on YouTube. 

Goals

To represent trans women's history, life style and equality movement and create a more diverse dictation of trans women.

Research

• Kat Blaque. (2012-present). Kat Blaque . Available: https://www.youtube.com/user/TransDIYer/featured.
• Stef Sanjati. (2014-present). Stef Sanjati. Available: https://www.youtube.com/user/ThePrinceSane.
• South park, (1997-present). [TV programme] Parker, Trey. Stone, Matt. US: Comedy Central Productions, Paramount Television.
• SuperJail!, (2007-2014). [TV programme] Karacas, Christy. Stephen, Warbrick. Gruber, Ben. US: Warner Bros. Television.
• Family Guy, (1999-present). [TV programme] Macfarlane, Seth. US: 20th Television

Development

The begining of this project involved me working on two different projects, that I ended up abandoning. 'Dreamt Awake' focused on the anxieties behind identity and '#PRIDE' focused on showing identity pride through social media and connecting with others. These two projects helped me understand the depiction of trans women as honest and realistic. 

After conducting further research into trans lifestyle and trans history, I began working on this zine. I used photoshop to create this zine page by page.

Completion

Above are the pages from the zine I created for this project. Of course this zine doesn't define trans culture or represent fully what it is to be trans. However I created this zine to promote awareness and acceptance of trans people and in that way, I'm successful with the end result of the project. This project has developed my approach to storytelling as a creative, by researching into LGBT history and Trans history it's inspired me further as a queer feminist to support the campaign for LGBT equality by creating more LGBT and gender focused material - such as zines, animations and cartoons. 

Looking back at the project, I would of liked to of interviewed more people for research, especially more transgender people.

I’ll be printing this zine later this year in order to promote trans awareness.

Covers

Page from zine

CoP3// LGBT Interviews Notes

A few weeks ago I released an AD on social media on several LGBT pages for interviewees about their LGBT identities and experiences with those identities. Despite having 40+ responses wanting to take part in the interviews only 4 were able to be interviewed, as the remaining did not respond to E-mail or messages since the first response.  The 4 interviewees agreed to not have their full names published and gave permission to refer to them by first name and identity. I won't be writing in depth about our interviews in order to not publicise too deeply into their experiences.

James:
James identifies as a homosexual man, so our interview focused on his experiences from being open about his identity and 'coming out'. James told me about how he first began to realise his identity and what it was like telling others. We also spoke about 'Queer as folk' first being broadcasted at the same time he 'came out' as gay and the representation of gay and LGBT characters in film and media. Having this interview with James also made me aware that Smithers (character from The Simpsons) wasn't being written to be funny because he was gay, but because he was closeted.

Hamish:
Hamish identifies as bisexual, so our interview focused on the representation of bisexuality in film and media as well as his own experiences being attracted to both genders. We discussed how straight women in the past assumed he was secretly gay, because he was also attracted to men and that his sexuality was some how a 'stepping stone'. The idea of bisexuality being a 'fetish' also came up - that being the idea of sexual fantasies involving both genders and how bisexuality is seem as a 'greedy'.

Bryan:
Bryan identities as a homosexual man and lives in the UK studying but is originally from Hong Kong. Our interview focused on his experiences coming out, although he had only just begun to since coming to the UK. We spoke about the LGBT scene over in the west being far more progressive than in the east, because of social and political differences.

Alexis: 
Alexis identities as a trans woman and our interview focused on trans life and her experiences with transitioning from physically male to female. Alexis and I talked about how she first came out as transgender and the reaction her family had to that as well as the negative representation of trans women in the media and on film. Our interview inspired me to begin developing the projects this year for CoP, to represent transgender women. Originally I planned on interviewing more trans women and trans identifying people, but because of personal reasons was never able to do so.  

CoP3// #PRIDE, dropped Project

Project title: #PRIDE

Description: a hashtag brings together a community and their shared identities.

Original target audience: 16+

Media: Comic, Hand Drawn/Digitally Hand Drawn

Reasons for dropping project: Story doesn't say enough about transgender identities to be informative.

#PRIDE was a smaller project I worked on for about two weeks. I wanted to produce a comic, that represented Trans Pride and social media. The story followed a trans woman and her relationship with others through her selfies. I've decided to drop the project because it doesn't bring awareness to transgender women as much as I'd like it to

Below are screen shots of scripts as well as development boards I put together for the project:

Pre-production board

Loose Script

CoP3// Dreamt Awake, dropped project

Project title: Dreamt Awake

Description: a transgender woman has her anxieties about her identity manifest within her dreams.

Original target audience: 14+

Media: Digital hand drawn

Reasons for dropping project: Complex script doesn't communicate the right message.

Dreamt Awake was a project I worked on for about three weeks, in that time I developed an original script, concept art and I also began working on an animatic. I've chosen to drop this project, as I feel what I want to achieve with this particular project doesn't represent the message for my CoP work - as for my CoP work I want to bring awareness to trans female characters and represent them, not just represent them as a single character(even if that character is leading).

Below are screen shots of scripts as well as development boards I put together for the project:

Pre-Production board

Script

Here's a link to the unfinished animatic on my Vimeo page:

https://vimeo.com/198872125

CoP3// Research into transphobia

Transphobia is antagonistic attitudes and feelings directed towards transgender, transsexual or against transsexuality much like homophobia is antagonistic attitudes and feelings directed towards homosexuality or homosexuals. Transphobia is prejudice and discrimination against someone who identities as part of the transsexual community.  

 Transphobia comes in so many forms, much like any other hate crime; like harassment and verbal as well as physical abuse. Transgender Day of Remembrance takes place on the 20th of Nov; the day is dedicated to victims of transphobic attacks and have lost their lives to it. Rita Hester was murdered on November 28, 1998 because she was a transgender woman. Her death pushed forward the equal rights movement for transgender identifying people.

''Child victims of transphobia experience harassment, school bullying, and violence in school, foster care, and social programs. Adult victims experience public ridicule, harassment including misgendering, taunts, threats of violence, robbery, and false arrest; many feel unsafe in public. A high percentage report being victims of sexual violence. Some are refused healthcare or suffer workplace discrimination, including being fired for being transgender, or feel under siege by conservativepolitical or religious groups who oppose laws to protect them. There is even discrimination from a fragment of the gay rights movement.'' - Wiki under 'transphobia'.

''Sexual assaults, other kinds of violence, threatening behaviour and harassment are all part of a 170 per cent rise in crime reports that has caused alarm among transgender people. 

According to Freedom of Information responses received from 26 of the UK's 45 police forces, transphobic hate crime reports rose from 215 in 2011 to 582 in 2015.'' - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/transphobic-hate-crime-statistics-violence-transgender-uk-police-a7159026.html

https://womenofthepatriarchy.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/the-function-of-transphobia/

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/03/22/analysis-trans-suicide-and-the-way-the-media-reports-the-trans-community/

The community GLAAD has documented LGBT and transgender representation and inclusion online through their website and by doing this are helping campaign for the acceptance of LGBT identifying people within our community. In the first month of 2017, GLAAD has released an article demanding an increase in coverage of the murder of transgender and transphobic attacks. (article here). 

''GLAAD is calling on the media to:

• Report on each transgender person murdered. In order for people to be aware of the unprecedented violence affecting the community, the public needs to know it is happening. The media has a responsibility to communicate about the deadly realities faced by transgender people.
• Respect and use the lived identity, name, and pronoun of the victim. Disregarding the victim's gender identity and misgendering them in news reports adds further insult to injury, compounding the tragedy by invalidating who the victims were. GLAAD's Doubly Victimized: Reporting on Transgender Victims of Crime offers clear guidelines for reporting respectfully on stories where transgender people have been victimized by crime. GLAAD's Media Reference Guide also offers a glossary of terms, and best practices for fairly and accurately covering transgender stories.''  - GLAAD website

http://www.transequality.org/ offers an area for transgender people to educate themselves on their rights and offers environment for allies and supports of the equally campaign for trans to gather. The website also offers a break down of laws supporting trans people as well as laws that are transphobic against them. Recently they've released their 2015 report on transgender, which I've been using as well as GLAAD to support my research. This report can be found in PDF form here http://www.transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/USTS-Full-Report-FINAL.PDF

CoP3// Research into Trans, 'I Am Woman'.

I'm planning on producing some sort of response, that supports my CoP essay on the representation of trans women. I've deiced to move towards a more informative route than a character driven one, which the three abandoned projects did focus on heavily.

Here is a short list of what I want to talk about:

1. Transitioning, trans women's bodies with/without SRS (sex reassignment surgery).
2. Trans history, historical moments for trans equality
3. Famous trans women, political figures for trans women
4. Trans 'life style', events focusing on trans representation

I have yet to develop a script before I start working on the zine, but I'm planning on writing the script much like bullet points as the zine is mostly going to be visual. I've been doing some research into Zine making since 2016 and I've attended a few Zine festivals. Developing my own zines for online stores in order to pay the bills is something I've been doing for awhile and as a result I've been put into contact with a number of Zine issues and comic makers. I'm calling this project ' I am Woman '.

CoP3// Zine planning ' I Am Woman '

Title:  ''I'm a woman.  How to draw transgender women. '' 

Number Of Pages: 12 (Including cover)
Price Of Printing: 25 copies, £35 using awesomemerchandise.com
Audience Age: 16+
Aim For Project: To create an educational Zine focusing on transgender women, including information about transitioning, lifestyle, acceptance and feminist equality.
Outline Of Zine: A zine about transgender women. Introduction, Transgender woman history, Modern day transgender transitioning, forms of transgender women, lifestyle, equality movement, feminism and statistics as well a self care. THIS ZIINE IS ABOUT PROMOTING ACCEPTANCE AND AWARENESS.

Basic illustrations of trans women for ZINE

References/ Inspiration:
Kat Blaque, Transgender illustrator/animation blogger on YouTube

Stef Sanjat, Transgender blogger on YouTube

Oh Joy sex toy, collaboration of Sex ED comics/zines

Zine: On Being Hard Femme #1 by Jackie Wang

Zine: Fear brown Queers by Jacob V Joyce

Zine: Hard Femme #1 By Kirsty Winters

Zine: QUEER TIMES By Emily Cowan

Comic: Makeshift Bride by Lucy Knisley
Comic: Queer, A graphic History By Meg-John Barker 

Rough Layout for Zine:
Front Cover
Pg1 Intro
Pg2 Definition
Pg3-4 Transitioning
Pg5-6 History
Pg7-8 Famous Trans women
Pg9-10 Trans life
Back Cover

Here are some rough sketches I did in my sketchbook, to get an idea of how the zine would work together, before I started writing/planning it out;  

Zine planning

Note, these layout pages may change if I decided before printing the layout of the pages seems a little off.


Script:
Page 1 'introduction' and Page 2,
'' Note from artist - I created this zine in order to promote LGBT acceptance.  Identities should never be challenged or questioned and should always be accepted with love.  ''

'' What are trans woman? A Transgender Woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Transgender women =  Male Sex, Female Gender   A Transsexual woman transitions into the gender they identify as physically.  Transsexual women = Female sex, Female Gender     Trans Woman is used as an umbrella term to refer to all forms of woman born with male bodies.

Page 3 and Page 4 'Transitioning',
'' Trans women have the option to transition physically with the help of medication.'' 
-Estrogen 
-Anti-Androgens

'' Transgender women can also chose to have SRS (sex reassignment surgery)''
- Vaginoplasty 

'' Every trans woman is her own woman and defines her gender however she wants to ''
-Image of different bodies of transgender women

Page 5 and Page 6 'History',
(List of events)

• Christine Jorgensen
• Transvestia release (book)
• Reef Erickson Foundation, promotes LGBT equality
• Compton Cafeteria Riot
• Sweden legalizes gender reassignment surgary
• Renee Richards 
• FTM international formed
• First trans day of remembers held
• Transgender law center
• EEOC
• Students given right to use correct toilets

- Information to promote the equal rights movement for trans women

Page 7 and Page 8 'Trans Women',

1. Coccinelle (Jacqueline Charlotte Dufresnoy)
2. Louise Lawrence
3. Marsha P. Johnson
4. Roberta Cowell
5. caitlyn jenner
6. Lana Wachowski

Page 9 and Page 10 'life style',
-Transgender Flag and LGBT pride flag
'' Gay Pride '' and ''Trans March''

''Transgender day of remembrance''
- Rita Hester

-Facts about transgender mental health
-Website for transgender equality