Help Kickstart Progress on Gender Identity and Fluidity
Toronto, Ontario (PRWEB) November 14, 2016 -- The concept of gender has witnessed a dramatic shift in recent months. Several landmark amendments to human rights legislation have marked the end of an era defined by binary definitions of male and female. In Ontario for example, the Human Rights Code was recently amended to include a provision protecting individuals from harassment and discrimination based on gender identity or gender expression. This change was considered a powerful deviation from conservative theologies which have long stood to protect binary classifications.
Opponents of such measures argue that the new provisions conflict with freedom of expression. They also suggest governments have no right to mandate words that citizens speak. A viewpoint which sparked sharp backlash from local university administrators in an attempt to mitigate the aftermath of a controversial YouTube lecture series released by one of its professors.
The U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear an appeal on the issue of transgender bathrooms, in an effort to address sex based discrimination. The case challenges long standing binary customs that have marginalized members of the transgender community. Supporters argue that the right to self-identify as either male or female should be just that; a right, protected and enforced by law.
The subject of gender identity can appear convoluted on its surface, fraught with definitions, terminologies and vague interpretations of difficult and controversial themes.
So how does one make sense of it all and form a perspective? Ikigai Family Services has recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds for an educational web series that seeks to offer an objective interpretation of gender identity, neutrality and fluidity. Through a series of interviews, seminars and lecture style presentations, Ikigai hopes to further discredit preconceived stigmas which stoke discrimination, harassment and even violence upon a vulnerable group of society.
An excerpt from the Ikigai Kickstarter states: “The educational web series will delve into the adverse effects of various therapies that attempt to recondition transgender individuals back to binary conformity. The series will provide case analysis of sexual orientation and attraction and its lack of correlation to the expression of gender identity. Scientific findings that support neurological reasoning for gender expression will be presented as a mechanism to refute claims of socioeconomic conditioning and parenting styles as a ‘cause’ for non-binary orientations.”
The Kickstarter campaign has already generated quite a buzz, with several backers already committed to helping this project take off.
To view or contribute to the campaign, visit:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ikigai/ikigai-educational-series-gender-identity-and-flui
Erika Silveira, Ikigai Family Services, http://www.ikigaifamily.com, +1 289-624-9283, [email protected]
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