KXAN’s Post

Hello LinkedIn Happy Tuesday! Today, we continue our celebration of Transgender Awareness week with a critical conversation on what it means to be non-binary. We can think of gender as a performance in a play, with different roles. As we grow, we learn society’s rules for us – the different “scripts” we’re supposed to follow based upon our gender. While most of us express ourselves as “male” or “female”, this isn’t the case for everyone. In a way, non-binary people write their own script. Non-binary people often identify as transgender, but do not identify with being fully male or fully female. They may use pronouns such as “they / them,” to refer to themselves, though some may also still use “he” or “she”. Today’s share is a short film called “They / Them” that ties into this. It stars Ash, an Australian teen that struggles to fit themselves into the rigid boxes of gender expectations. Ultimately, though, they find peace and self-acceptance, and present a powerful speech to their class on their identity. The whole film is a wonderful watch, and I highly recommend it. But if you’re short on time today, the speech last 4 minutes (linked here) does a great job summarizing the key points. https://lnkd.in/enq6PhqU

Gender is particularly important to me because it does not exist outside of social structures and norms. Gender is enacted and read through a social, cultural lens, which shifts according to time and place. As we think through inequities experienced by gender expansive populations we must address and look to the social contexts of our target population(s). I read research published over 10 years ago, and we -today continue to find similar findings. There is a slue of public health research geared toward gender expansive populations, and I need us to make space for more researchers from these populations. I want to see a black transgender PI leading research. I want to see a transgender immigrant Latina leading the research. We cannot accept sitting in on talks where individuals refer to their projects with transgender individuals : "the trans stuff". This is true, it happened, and I sat there and felt my heart skip a beat. I felt that individual's statement in my gut- a knot in my throat. So much of our daily experience is informed by the bodies we occupy, the roles we play in society. Somewhere along the way we stopped addressing our positionality within our research. And I realize that what may feel like a formality to some, is critical to others- signaling the lenses through which our projects were enacted. The video is Mykki Blanco performing "I want a dyke for president" by Zoe Leonard. #publichealth #nih #cdc #transhealth #research #hiv

"How do we concede human rights to a relatively small group of people?" 🌈 Discover Henri's perspective in the documentary "Privileg." Streaming now on Prime Video US & UK. 🍿 Don't miss it! 🏳️⚧️ #privilegfilm #filmpremiere #filmproduction #alefcinepictures #filmmaking #indiefilmmaking #supportindiefilm #movies #indiefilm #storytelling #changingthenarrative #filmindustry #documentary #transstories #transvisibility #lgbtqdocumentary #lgbtqcommunity #lgbtqrights

"it’s a culture that begins with a joke, a gesture, a throwaway word or a game between friends, and it ends in an act of violence" https://lnkd.in/d3B2ig6b TW: sexual assault. One of our network's aims for this year was to inspire our membership, providing ample and varied learning opportunities to explore the topic of gender equality. So, with this in mind, Ogilvy Equals organised a group visit to the Almeida to see 'Alma Mater'. The play was engrossing - at times heartbreaking, at times galvanising - but what struck me the most was the crafting of a narrative in which so many different perspectives are explored without judgement. The writing manages to silently pass the sympathetic spotlight from person to person, in a nuanced and multi dimensional take on rape culture, belonging, intergenerational differences and culpability. It was moving, brilliantly acted, and it gave us loads to think about. As a young(ish) woman watching the play, I resonated strongly with the younger characters - their lived experiences all too familiar from my own pre #MeToo university experience. However, it was enlightening to explore the older generation's response - I feel I learned a lot about where they were coming from; even if I didn't agree with their actions, I could understand the 'why' behind them. What arguably proved even more thought-provoking was the post show Q&A, where it became clear that some audience members had experienced the play altogether differently. The panel were met with a couple of rageful responses, condemning particular characters as 'evil', with victim blaming at the forefront of their arguments. It was both interesting and worrying to see such binary responses, given that the play has, in the words of the principal actor, 'no real goodies or baddies'. It seems it had, for some people, proved quite a confronting watch, and their response was to apportion blame - not to the perpetrator of the assault, but to those left behind in its wake. I guess this shows how relevant broader conversations around gender equality really are. Even though that Q&A proved both a distressing and anger-fuelling space, I'm glad we witnessed it. It certainly made me aware of opinions outside my own echo chamber, and served as a good reminder - there is plenty of work left to do.

This weekend, I'd like to share a #diversityandinclusion insight I gleamed from a conversation with a dear friend earlier today. Of course, we started by sharing our reactions to none other than the #barbiemovie, and even though I loved the film, I had to agree with her point that the film felt overtly 'white feminist' than anything else. This led to a broader conversation about my personal inclination towards consuming white media, and our shared aversion towards consuming media geared towards an #asianamerican audience--even though we ourselves, are Asian-American. For some reason or another, these films (with a few exceptions--Everything Everywhere All At Once and Minari, I'm looking at you...) felt shallow and underdeveloped to us, representative of an experience which didn't resonate with us at all, which brings me to my main point. Just like any demographic, there is great internal variance in that demographic's experiences. It is not enough to 'tell Asian-American stories' as it is to 'tell a VARIANCE of Asian-American stories.' Diversity teaches us 'one size fits all' does not exist. Though this ask may be a bit tall for the current state of #hollywood, let me remind any underrepresented film-viewer out there that any story can be yours. Back to Barbie. The film is clearly written from a white perspective, and for the white gaze, but that didn't stop me from relating to Margot Robbie at every unexpected narrative jump and turn. Yes, there is power in #representation and #diversity, but let us not forget the power which exists in consuming that which is not made for you, and yet in spite of that, embracing it. #film #representationmatters

For the first time in many years, I'm not giving an #iwd speech at a breakfast or lunch adorned with pink balloons, pretty cupcakes, and lots of flowers. That's not a bad thing - I don't miss the performative pink and there are many other far more diverse and deserving women who should be spotlighted on stages this International Women's Day. In recent years when I've been a speaker for IWD, I've tried to demonstrate how #genderbias exists by "flipping the script" -- showing some of the ways we speak about women and how ridiculous it sounds when we say the same things about men. A great resource for laughing about this, and for maintaining some sanity as a woman in a man's world, is the social media account @manwhohasitall (see links below). In the same spirit, this video by In Her Chair is a great way of demonstrating through humour the #unconsciousbias women face at work. In this video, ten male Swiss CEOs answer questions that are usually only asked of women: https://lnkd.in/gkb_h2Vz And the kicker is these questions, and many more far worse, really do get asked! In my executive coaching work with women leaders in human rights, humanitarianism and development, I've heard so many stories like these of the ridiculous questions that women get asked in interviews, and the overt and subtle discrimination they face in the workplace. The problem is, these days it's unconscious bias that is often showing through, not deliberately outrageous statements. That's why it's so useful to flip the script as a way of seeing that these things, while often innocuous on the surface, are indeed discriminatory -- because if we wouldn't say it to men, we shouldn't say it to women. If you want some light relief, and some ideas about how to #flipthescript , check out Man Who Has It All: FB: https://lnkd.in/giG9Trgw Insta: https://lnkd.in/gWG7jfN5 X: https://lnkd.in/gTEYrEM7 and soon in print form: https://lnkd.in/gBR9C7h3 #flippingpatriarchy #genderequality #genderinequality #iwd2024

Calling UK film critics! Girls On Film is conducting a survey on the state of film criticism in the UK in 2024 and we are keen to have the input of film critics across the UK. If you write or broadcast about film professionally, please take five minutes to complete our survey - https://lnkd.in/e7EU3mEj Please share it! The survey is designed to help us understand the gender balance and diversity in film criticism, and to support us in our work to be a catalyst for change. Find out more about the survey here: https://lnkd.in/eUFfGMGs #GirlsOnFilm #AnnaSmith #Podcast #Survey #FilmCritic #FilmCritics #Feminism #Feminist #MovieCritic #MovieCritics #Equity #Diversity #Genderbalance #Cinemagoer #Moviegoer #FilmJournalism #FilmBlogger #FilmBlog #MovieBlog #MovieBlogger #Journalism #UKCritics #Questionaire #Research

Hey look! It's my latest for _PopMatters_, about the movie _The Piano_ at 30 years! I also talked about it for Maryville Talks Movies, our rotating-instructor film class, so a big month for this film for me. Thanks for reading! #film #filmreview #gender #literature #essay #review

Changing our work and educational environments to include pwd in roles of responsibility and authority are the cornerstone of creating true inclusion. We can’t overcome implicit bias through the sharing of information. This can only be accomplished through experiential learning!

Is the failure to nominate Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie for Oscar nominations sexist? Especially in light of the fact the film is about the patriachy? It is ironic that Ken and the Ken song were nominated. It's a classic demonstration of the problem Barbie was trying to illustrate, right? Yes and No. In my opinion, Barbie was a fun, light hearted movie that made a serious point. To me, it was good, not great and I honestly couldn't see what the big fuss was all about. However, for whatever reason, it captured the cultural zeitgeist of the moment. People needed something fun and frothy, something light hearted and funny to take their minds off all the serious stuff going on in the world, and this was even before October 7th! It's a lot worse now! Women directors have been nominated now for Academy Awards and some have won them. And there are loads of really great actresses who were nominated for Academy awards for the best actress category. There was some stiff competition. Some others, heavy weight actresses like Julie Ann Moore, May December, weren't nominated either. Was that sexist? Or maybe in this case ageist? I know it sticks in the craw and feels like a slap in the face that Ryan Gosling was nominated best supporting actor for Ken--did he really deserve it? I dunno. What I don't like is the immediate knee jerk reaction and everyone jumping on the bandwagon crying sexism/patriarchy when maybe the quality of directors and films Barbie was up against were superior. The competition this year, finally after Covid, was tough. And the Academy love jumping on cultural bandwagons as much as anyone. So maybe they decided one woman director nominated was enough and they had to represent other 'minorities', who knows. I do think representation is a lot better than it was, but of course it could be better than it is. But what about choosing on merit---well that is subjective as well and things go in and out of fashion. And some of it is luck---being in the right place at the right time and catching the wave of public opinion at the right time. I really wish Greta and Margo the best and wish them better luck next time. #sexism #patriarchy #Academyawards #oscarnominations #culture