[PR/Commentary] [South Africa] Gender DynamiX Speaks Out Against Xingwana's Bigotry
Stephanie Stevens
Gender DynamiX Speaks Out Against Xingwana's Bigotry
-Media Statement Gender DynamiX 10 March 2010-
Gender DynamiX is deeply concerned about the policing of bodies by the
State. A very large part of our work is centred on examining the
practices of the Department of Health (DoH) and the Department of Home
Affairs (DHA) and their unethical activities towards Transgender
people. We are now faced with the question whether this is becoming a
government trend.
Has the Department of Arts and Culture now joined hands with the DoH
and the DHA in their discriminatory practices towards gender variant
bodies? Minister Xingwana’s recent behaviour regarding the work of
gender activist artist Zanele Muholi adds to the gravity of what seems
to be a growing conservative trend in state departments.
“Immoral, offensive and going against nation-building,” said Lulu
Xingwana, the Minister of Arts and Culture about Muholi’s work.
“Immoral and offensive” speaks to the old “art vs. porn” debate, as
well as to peoples' personal opinions. The point of advocacy art is
not aesthetics. It is to educate, to stimulate debate, to object to
it if you wish, and to give people a platform from which to voice
opinions. When Xingwana publically gives an opinion, she's doing it
on behalf of us all. She is a government minister and so in
condemning it outright in essence, she claims that of the entire
nation echoes her opinion. It most certainly doesn't, as recent
reactions in the City Press, the Times etc. clearly show.
“Nation building,” according to our very fine constitution, includes
lesbians, transgender, gender non-conforming people, and so on - and
it certainly includes artists. The constitution even has room for
reactionary and conservative opinions like Xingwana's – but not as our
national representative of arts and culture in this country and
worldwide.
Zanele Muholi is the kind of artist you would never have experienced
in the bad old days of apartheid. She's black, she's a lesbian, and
she has very clear messages for her community – for us. Her
photography tells truths many people don't enjoy - that there are
black lesbians and gender variant people in South Africa. Her work
also tells us that we are allowing the ongoing rape of black lesbians
in order to “cure” them and all too often, their murders. Zanele
Muholi is a symbol of the inclusiveness of the constitution.
Xingwana has publicly and officially expressed her personal negative
feelings about gender variant peoples' bodies and how they should
interact. The figures in Muholi's work are clearly not engaged in
sexual activity. We interpret it as the minister’s policing of bodies
and the behaviour of those bodies.
There are disturbing parallels between this and the way the Department
of Health discriminates against gender variant bodies, noting that
discrimination is taking place in the form of exclusion / gate keeping
for treatment at most government hospitals. At the Department of Home
Affairs there is a clear trend where the Department is not
implementing the Amendment of Act 49 of 2003. Act 49 explicitly
allows trans and intersex people to amend their documentation without
requiring genital surgery. This law was amended partly because of the
lack of access to, and gate keeping at State Hospitals.
Gender DynamiX would like to see government officials and especially
Xingwana embrace our diversity, and make a concerted effort to
sensitise themselves to gender variance, to educate themselves about
art activism, and to acknowledge that gender variant people too are
part of the rainbow nation that we are building!
In addition, Gender DynamiX demands public acknowledgement by the
Government Ministers concerned, of the vulnerability of our
constituency, and of the ongoing prejudices lesbians, gays,
transgender and intersex people, artists and many other marginalised
groups are facing on a daily basis.
Contact information:
Robert Hamblin: robert...@genderdynamix.org.zaThis e-mail address
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it
Caroline Bowley: caro...@genderdynamix.org.zaThis e-mail address is
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www.genderdynamix.org.za
+27 21 633 5287 ext 2037