5/9/13

变性能见度开始与“兄弟”Chinese Transman Visibility begins with the "Brothers" Documentary

In 2012 a competition was held for fledgling Chinese directors who aspired to make documentaries about LGBT topics. Out of dozens of applicants two projects were chosen. One project about transmen was picked up because the subject has received so little attention. Chinese transgender men share a peculiar blessing universally with all queer comrades worldwide. Many meld seamlessly into society which is why so little is known of their lives, joys and struggles. We see transmen day to day like vague distorted images seen through a moving vehicle's window.

Yaoyao, one of the winners runs a photo studio for lesbians in Shandong province '... works in an organisation with quite a few transgender people and she already has the permission of one of them to film the whole process [from female to male],’ Stijn Deklerck of Queer Comrades told
Gay Star News in 2012 . ‘And that's a story that hasn't really been covered in China. There have been quite a few documentaries and films about male-to-female transgenders, but there's not been very much on female-to-male.

That's about to change. The Netherlands Embassy in Beijing, Queer Comrades, the Aibai Culture & Education Center, the Beijing Gender Health Education Institute and Common Language are holding an event in connection with the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) on Friday 17 May, 14.00 – 17.00 pm.



The event is hosted by and will take place at the Netherlands Embassy in Beijing. It will consist of the premiere of the documentary “Brothers” produced by the LGBT organization Queer Comrades (you can watch the trailer here), a panel discussion including Yaoyao (director of thedocumentary), Tony (transgender man, documentary main character), Joanne Leung (founder Transgender Resource Center Hong Kong), Zhen Hongli (psychologist Global Care Women & Children’s Hospital Beijing), and Guo Yanan (Aibai Transgender Program Assistant). This will be followed by an informal networking event where you are encouraged to get to know the Beijing LGBT organizations and their work on transgender issues. The documentary will be provided with Chinese -English subtitles, the panel discussion will take place in the Chinese language without translation.

As seating is limited, please confirm your attendance by writing an email to IDAHO2013@163.COM. We will give priority seating to members of the media, educational professionals and psychological counselors, so please specify your affiliation in this regard.

Address: Netherlands Embassy in Beijing, Liangmahe South Road #4, Chaoyang, Beijing

Tel. : (+86 10) 8532 0200

event information

5/8/13

National Institute of Mental Health Rocks the Mental Health World by Abandoning The DSM

Just weeks before the release of the DSM-5 National Institute of Mental Health Abandoning The DSM has they will be "Transforming Diagnosis" by initiating a completely separate system of Diagnosis.
It became immediately clear that we cannot design a system based on biomarkers or cognitive performance because we lack the data. In this sense, RDoC is a framework for collecting the data needed for a new nosology. But it is critical to realize that we cannot succeed if we use DSM categories as the “gold standard.

That is why NIMH will be re-orienting its research away from DSM categories. Going forward, we will be supporting research projects that look across current categories – or sub-divide current categories – to begin to develop a better system”

The NIMH understands this is an immense expensive proposition, one that will be fought by entrenched bureaucrates, but desperately needed as the diagnosis of transgender people by the APA has become disassociated with reality.

RDoC, for now, is a research framework, not a clinical tool. This is a decade-long project that is just beginning. Many NIMH researchers, already stressed by budget cuts and tough competition for research funding, will not welcome this change. Some will see RDoC as an academic exercise divorced from clinical practice. But patients and families should welcome this change as a first step towards "precision medicine,” the movement that has transformed cancer diagnosis and treatment. RDoC is nothing less than a plan to transform clinical practice by bringing a new generation of research to inform how we diagnose and treat mental disorders. As two eminent psychiatric geneticists recently concluded, “At the end of the 19th century, it was logical to use a simple diagnostic approach that offered reasonable prognostic validity. At the beginning of the 21st century, we must set our sights higher.”3

Read more at the National Institute of Mental Health Abandoning The DSM