Mirha-Soleil Ross | |
---|---|
Born | 1969 |
Other names | Jeanne B |
Known for | Transgender videographer, sex-worker and animal-rights activist, filmmaker |
Mirha-Soleil Ross is a transgender videographer, performance artist, sex worker and activist. Her work since the early 1990s in Montreal and Toronto has focused on transsexual rights, access to resources, advocacy for sex workers and animal rights.
Ross grew up in a poor neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec. As a teenager during the 1980s, she became aware of animal abuse. [1] At that time, Ross became a vegetarian and involved with animal rights activism. [1] She said that although people often ask her what it was like to try to pass as a woman, she struggled much more when she was trying to pass as a boy and was often attacked for looking too feminine. [2] Ross moved from Montreal to Toronto during the early 1990s, where she was a sex worker and began producing zines and videos.
From 1993 to 1995 Ross and partner Xanthra Phillippa MacKay published gendertrash from hell, a quarterly zine which "[gave] a voice to gender queers, who've been discouraged from speaking out & communicating with each other". [3] They managed the zine's publisher, genderpress, which also distributed other transsexual pamphlets and literature, corresponded with local organizations and sold buttons.
In standard zine format, gendertrash was a combination of art, poetry, resource lists, serialized fiction, calls to action, classified ads, illustrations and collages and movie reviews. By and for transsexual, transgender and transvestite people, it addressed gender experiences at the individual and societal level and prioritized sex workers, low-income queers, trans people of colour and prisoners. [3] Articles frequently addressed the erasure of transsexuals from lesbian, gay, bi and queer communities and the communities' co-opting of trans identities and issues. [4] Four issues of gendertrash were published, and its run ended in 1995. [5]
Ross' videos, primarily short films, centre on gender, sexuality, animal rights and the humour and beauty of the transsexual body. Her videos are distributed by V tape in Toronto. [6]
Title | Date | Credits | Length | Summary |
---|---|---|---|---|
Chroniques | 1992 | Mirha-Soleil Ross | 12:00 | Clips from Ross' video diary in which she recounts situations where she had unsafe sex with a client. [7] |
An Adventure in Tucking with Jeanne B | 1993 | Mirha-Soleil Ross | 5:00 | A humorous video that shows Ross attempting to tuck with scotch tape before meeting a client. [8] |
Gendertroublemakers | 1993 | Mirha-Soleil Ross and Xanthra MacKay | 20:00 | Ross and MacKay speak frankly with each other about their sexuality and negative experiences with gay men. [9] |
I never would have known: A conversation with Peter Dunnigan | 1997 | Mirha-Soleil Ross | 24:00 | An interview with Toronto activist and trans man Peter Dunnigan about his transition, sexuality, addiction, and recovery. [10] |
Dysfunctional | 1997 | Mirha-Soleil Ross | 9:00 | A response to society's fascination and repulsion of transsexual bodies. [11] |
Journée Internationale de la Transsexualité | 1998 | Mirha-Soleil Ross | 38:00 | A documentary about the trans women's event hosted by l'Association des Transsexuels-les du Québec. [12] |
G-SPrOuT! | 2000 | Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky | 12:00 | "A cyberspace encounter turns into a trans/polysexual vegan-docu-porno featuring urban veggie lovers speaking out on dating, intimacy and sex in a meat-centered culture." [13] |
Tales from the Derrière | 2000 | Mirha-Soleil Ross | 24:51 | A video of Ross 1999 performance of the same name which featured stories from her work and stories about her anus. [14] |
Tremblement de Chair | 2001 | Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky | 3:40 | "A poetic meditation on the beauty, perils and power of sexuality in a transsexual woman's body." [15] |
Madame Lauraine's Transsexual Touch | 2001 | Mirha-Soleil Ross, Viviane Namaste, and Monica Forrester | 34:00 | A film on safer sex between transsexual sex workers and their clients. [16] |
Lullaby | 2001 | Mirha-Soleil Ross | 4:00 | A video produced as part of Ross performance art piece where she simulated pregnancy for 9 months. [17] |
Yapping Out Loud: Contagious Thoughts from an Unrepentant Whore | 2002 | Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky | 74:00 | A film of Ross' one-woman show by the same name. [18] |
Proud Lives | 2002 | Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky | 5:00 | Film footage of Ross as the grand marshal of Toronto's Pride Parade in 2001. [19] |
Allo Performance! | 2002 | Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky | 13:00 | A video of Ross at the Golden Gate Bridge as part of her 9-month Pregnancy Project. [20] |
Materstina (Langue Maternelle) | 2003 | Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky | 11:40 | "A Czech woman speaks about her exile in Canada and about her sense of loss as it relates to language and her relationship with her children." [21] |
Live eXXXpressions: Sex Workers Stand Up | 2006 | Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky | 15:00 | Footage of Forum XXX, a four-day sex workers' activist event held in Montréal in May 2005. [22] |
Brandee aka Lana Lamarre | 2007 | Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky | 3:00 | A memorial video for the performer Brandee, who passed away in 2007. [23] |
Les Vérités Vo(i)lées | 2007 | Mirha-Soleil Ross | 31:45 | A look at sex workers' response to panic and scapegoating of sex workers for the spread of HIV/AIDS and other STIs. [24] |
Ross produced a one-woman show, Yapping Out Loud: Contagious Thoughts from an Unrepentant Whore, based on her sex work and activism, at the 2002 Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts and in 2004 at the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. [25] The show intended to educate audiences about issues facing sex workers and refute stereotypes contributing to violence against them. [26] Yapping Out Loud also incorporated Ross' animal-rights activism with images of coyotes and comparisons between oppression faced by sex workers and coyotes, inspired by the American sex-worker organization Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics. [25] In 2001 and 2002 she performed a nine-month Pregnancy Project, appearing in public with a prosthetic belly to have conversations about gender, motherhood and the possibility of womb transplants for transsexuals. [27]
In 1997, 1998, and 1999 Ross ran Counting Past 2 (CP2), a transsexual and transgender film, video, performance and spoken-word festival which provided a space for transsexual and transgender people to speak for themselves without catering to the aesthetic standards or curiosity of cisgender audiences. [28] The festival's goal was to be more inclusive and encouraging of trans artists than mainstream gay and lesbian film festivals by centring trans voices, accepting less-polished work and including cabaret and performance components instead of restricting submissions to films. [29] Performers included Aiyyana Maracle and Max Wolf Valerio. [30] In 2002, the festival returned after a two-year hiatus, under the stewardship of Boyd Kodak and Cat Grant. [31] In a 2007 interview with Viviane Namaste, Ross said that her efforts with CP2 to create transsexual spaces outside a lesbian and gay framework had failed and she regretted that those spaces had disappeared or been absorbed by the LGBT community. [32]
During the 1990s and early 2000s, Ross was involved in social-service work for the transsexual and sex-worker communities in Toronto. In 1999 she was the founding coordinator of Meal-Trans at the 519 Church Street Community Centre, a drop-in program offering meals and peer support to trans people. Ross was involved in the general expansion of the 519's trans programs, providing services for transsexuals who are HIV positive and sex workers and founding peer-support groups for trans men and trans women with colleague Rupert Raj. [33]
Ross and her friends worked to improve access to social services for Toronto transsexuals, particularly those who were sex workers, HIV-positive, low-income or immigrants. [34] She worked with women's shelters, community centres and sex-worker organizations such as Maggie's to improve access and educate service providers. [35] As a sex worker, Ross was involved in pushing back against efforts by residents' organizations in the Gay Village and Allan Gardens areas to expel sex workers. [36]
Ross has received several grants from the Canada Council for the Arts. Her video, Mateřština (co-directed with Mark Karbusicky), won the Marian McMahon Award at the 2004 Images Festival in Toronto. [37] In 2001, Ross was the Grand Marshal of Toronto's Pride Parade. [38] In 2011, she was inducted into Canada's Q Hall of Fame. [39]
EXHIBITION | DATES | EXHIBITOR | LOCATION |
---|---|---|---|
No Master Territories: Feminist Worldmaking and the Moving Image [40] | June 19–August 28, 2022 | Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) | Berlin Germany |
Queering Family Photography [41] | Apr. 21 – May 26, 2018 | Contact festival, Stephen Bulger Gallery | Toronto, Canada |
Edgy Women Festival [42] | March 2006 | Studio 303 | Montreal, Canada |
The legal status of transgender people varies greatly around the world. Some countries have enacted laws protecting the rights of transgender individuals, but others have criminalized their gender identity or expression. In many cases, transgender individuals face discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, and other areas of life.
Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to social gender roles. Transphobia is a type of prejudice and discrimination, similar to racism, sexism, or ableism, and it is closely associated with homophobia. Transgender people of color can experience many different forms of discrimination simultaneously.
Shemale is a term most commonly used in the pornography industry to describe trans women or other people with male genitalia and female secondary sex characteristics acquired via hormones or surgery. Many people in the transgender community consider the term offensive and degrading. Using the term shemale for a trans woman may imply that she is working in the sex trade.
Transfeminism, or trans feminism, is a branch of feminism focused on transgender women and informed by transgender studies. Transfeminism focuses on the effects of transmisogyny and patriarchy on trans women. It is related to the broader field of queer theory. The term was popularized by Emi Koyama in The Transfeminist Manifesto.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), also known as the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, has been observed annually from its inception on November 20 to memorialize those who have been murdered as a result of transphobia. The day was founded to draw attention to the continued violence directed toward transgender people.
The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives, formerly known as the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, is a Canadian non-profit organization, founded in 1973 as the Canadian Gay Liberation Movement Archives. The ArQuives acquires, preserves, and provides public access to material and information by and about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and two-spirit communities primarily in Canada.
Transgender rights in Iran are complex, with seemingly contradictory laws in place. While there certainly are some extreme legal and social barriers to the rights of transgender people, Iran is, in other ways, more progressive on the issue than many of its neighboring countries.
Nina Arsenault is a Canadian performance artist, freelance writer, and former sex worker who works in theatre, dance, video, photography and visual art.
Sexuality in transgender individuals encompasses all the issues of sexuality of other groups, including establishing a sexual identity, learning to deal with one's sexual needs, and finding a partner, but may be complicated by issues of gender dysphoria, side effects of surgery, physiological and emotional effects of hormone replacement therapy, psychological aspects of expressing sexuality after medical transition, or social aspects of expressing their gender.
Ottawa Capital Pride is an annual LGBT pride event, festival, and parade held in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and Gatineau, Quebec, from mid to late August. Established in 1986, it has evolved into a 7 to 9-day celebration of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, advocating for equality, diversity, and inclusion in the National Capital Region. The festival offers bilingual events in English and French, known as 'Capital Pride / Fierté dans la capitale', seamlessly blending local pride with national importance.
The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male is a 1979 book critical of transsexualism by American radical feminist author and activist Janice Raymond. The book is derived from Raymond's dissertation, which was produced under the supervision of the feminist theologian Mary Daly.
Trish Salah is an Arab Canadian poet, activist, and academic. She is the author of the poetry collections, Wanting in Arabic, published in 2002 by TSAR Publications and Lyric Sexology Vol. 1, published by Roof Books in 2014. An expanded Canadian edition of Lyric Sexology, Vol. 1 was published by Metonymy Press in 2017.
Grooby Productions is a company founded in London, England in 1996 and operationally based in Los Angeles, California, that produces transgender online adult entertainment. It established itself as one of the pioneer companies of online adult transgender entertainment with its website Grooby Girls, "the first transsexual pay site with original content". The company owns a number of transgender adult websites, produces its own DVD line, and has other interests in forums, blogs and social networking in the transsexual niche genre including the Transgender Erotica Awards.
Feminist views on transgender topics vary widely.
Transgender studies, also called trans studies or trans* studies, is an interdisciplinary field of academic research dedicated to the study of gender identity, gender expression, and gender embodiment, as well as to the study of various issues of relevance to transgender and gender variant populations. Interdisciplinary subfields of transgender studies include applied transgender studies, transgender history, transgender literature, transgender media studies, transgender anthropology and archaeology, transgender psychology, and transgender health. The research theories within transgender studies focus on cultural presentations, political movements, social organizations and the lived experience of various forms of gender nonconformity. The discipline emerged in the early 1990s in close connection to queer theory. Non-transgender-identified peoples are often also included under the "trans" umbrella for transgender studies, such as intersex people, crossdressers, drag artists, third gender individuals, and genderqueer people.
Rupert Raj is a Canadian trans activist and a transgender man. His work since his own gender transition in 1971 has been recognized by several awards, as well as his inclusion in the National Portrait Collection of The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives.
John Alan Lee was a Canadian writer, academic and political activist, best known as an early advocate for LGBT rights in Canada, for his academic research into sociological and psychological aspects of love and sexuality, and for his later-life advocacy of assisted suicide and the right to die.
Viviane K. Namaste is a Canadian feminist professor at Concordia University in Montreal. Her research focuses on sexual health, HIV/AIDS prevention, and sex work.
Christin Scarlett Milloy is a Canadian politician and LGBT activist. She was the first political candidate at the Canadian provincial level to publicly identify as transgender and ran for the Ontario Libertarian Party. In 2014, she helped lead the Trans Pride march. She is a member of the Trans Lobby Group, which lobbied at Queen's Park to pass Toby's Law, and has campaigned for transgender rights and gay-straight alliances for LGBT youth.
Roberta Perkins was an Australian sociologist, writer, and transgender rights and sex worker rights activist. She wrote several books and multiple academic articles on the semi-nomadic lives of transgender sex workers, and established the first assistance center for transgender people in Australia.
In the mid-80s, when I was about 16 years old, I watched a TV documentary about fur that included footage of animals caught in snares and leg-hold traps. It changed my life forever.
{{cite book}}
: |work=
ignored (help){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)