Terre Thaemlitz: Trans-Sister Radio

English | Japanese | German | Portuguese

Top 5 finalist for the Karl Sczuka Preis 2005.

"TRANS-SISTER RADIO" TRANSCRIPT (ENGLISH)
A Radio Drama by Terre Thaemlitz

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"Trans-Sister Radio" is an electroacoustic radio drama about transgenderism and migration originally developed for Hessischer Rundfunk by Terre Thaemlitz.

"When travelling, dressing for the occasion means downplaying our gender bending by dressing to match our documented genders. Many fully transitioned transsexuals whose countries prohibit legally changing their genders resort to wearing asexual sweat pants and other anti-fashion statements as a kind of devolutionary drag, all in hopes of passing as the man or woman they once were. Or, in some cases, they resort to using false passports showing genders that match their appearances. It all gives new meaning to the term 'pass control.'" - Terre, Transgendered MTF(TMTF...), on international travel.

DURATION: 57 MINUTES

BAND ID:

01. "TSR1 SIGN ON ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 01:11
02. "TSR2 SAKI PART 1 ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 02:44
03. "TSR3 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:08
04. "TSR4 WENDY ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 02:02
05. "TSR5 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:07
06. "TSR6 STAND UP ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 06:03
07. "TSR7 STILL LIFE ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 05:04
08. "TSR8 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:07
09. "TSR9 SAKI PART 2 ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 02:12
10. "TSR10 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:07
11. "TSR11 TRANS PORTATION PART 1 ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 13:24
12. "TSR12 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:08
13. "TSR13 TRANS PORTATION PART2 ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 04:37
14. "TSR14 TRANS PORTATION PART3 ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 04:29
15. "TWO FACES HAVE I" TIME (MM:SS): 01:44
16. "TSR16 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:05
17. "TSR17 A MUZAK ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 03:40
18. (UNTITLED) TIME (MM:SS): 00:30
19. "TSR19 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:07
20. "TSR20 SAKI PART 3 ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 01:35
21. "TSR21 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:08
22. "TSR22 INTERSEX ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 05:31
23. "TSR23 SIGN OFF ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 01:04

CREDITS:

Audio and implementation: Terre Thaemlitz
Producer: Manfred Hess
German translation: Dietmar Wiesner/Manfred Hess
German synchronization: Dietmar Wiesner
Hessischer Rundfunk, Hörspiel
Frankfurt am Main, October 2004

Produced for Hessischer Rundfunk Radio (Channel HR2, Frankfurt M, www.hr-online.de), premier airdate November 17, 2004. CD co-issued by Grain of Sound (www.grainofsound.com) and Base Recordings (www.basept.org), Portugal, September 2005, catalog numbers GOS018/BRCD00505.

Producer: Hessischer Rundfunk 2004 Hörspiel, Redaktion: Manfred Hess. All tracks published by T. Thaemlitz (BMI), except 15 & 18 (unknown/found sound). Released under license from Comatonse Recordings. Tracks 4 and 22 adapted from "Interstices" (Germany: Mille Plateaux, 2000), 7 from "Means From An End" (Germany: Mille Plateaux, 1997), and 17 from "A-Muzak" (Germany: A-Musik, 1999).

Thanks to Saki, Tsuji Aiko, Georg Odijk and A-Musik, Manfred Hess and Hessischer Rundfunk, Nuno Moita and Grain of Sound, and everyone else who has contributed to this project.

KEY:
* Japanese language translated into English appears in italics.
* Music lyrics are underlined.

01. "TSR1 SIGN ON ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 01:11
(Program Sign-on)

Terre:	So, how should we begin?
Saki:	Hello.... Hello, Terriko.
Terre:	(Laughing) How do you do?
Saki:	How do you do? Um...
Terre:	Would you like to try in English?
Saki:	Japanese-English...
Terre:	Together? Okay...
Saki:	Okay...
Terre:	Yeah...
Saki:	Yes...
Terre:	Trans-language, right?
Saki:	Trans-language... (Laughing)

02. "TSR2 SAKI PART 1 ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 02:44
Saki (Part 1: Beginnings)

Saki:

My name is Saki. I am Japanese and Transgendered. Three years ago I started this style, because I like this style. When I was a junior high school student... my adoration of this style began, and I wondered... why am I a man? I envied women. They wear skirts and make-up. When I was a child it was a secret, secret... yes... while a junior high school student. But, sometimes I dressed up at home inside my house... but I thought it was bad so I stopped. I really held it in, for a long time, until I moved out on my own. I live on my own now, so I dress in this style. Maybe I think most people start cross-dressing in one's own room, in front of a mirror. To step outside it is too frightening.
The scene was midnight. I went as far as a local vending machine and returned home. It was like that.

The first time I went out in the daylight was to Harajuku in Tokyo. Many people... I was in this style, Japanese school girl style. My heart was pounding. But it was very fun because, because people, nobody cared. When I wear jeans, they see a man. When I wear a skirt, they see a woman. I am lucky. My face is feminine, style is feminine. I'm not big. I wear the Japanese school girl's style. For example, white blouse, navy vest, navy blazer, Tartan-check skirt, and white high socks and loafers... school girl style. Maybe there is no meaning to it... I have no money, this is a cheap style. Maybe when I can no longer pass as a student I will dress in an adult lady style. But everyone tries to preserve this image. Sometimes I dress in a different style, but they ask, "Why? Why? You should dress as a school girl!" Everyone says so. Maybe my next look will be a Japanese office lady uniform. When I can no longer dress as a school girl, I think I will dress in a women's office worker uniform.

03. "TSR3 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:08
Program identification.

04. "TSR4 WENDY ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 02:02
There Was A Girl/There Was A Boy.Wendy (15 Minutes Of Shame)

Montel:	What's going on? This must just be your style, right? Huh? Like you're not into... into boyish kinda things or anything. What's going on?
Wendy:	I don't know, I just... I play a lot of sports and I guess it's comfortable to me.
Montel:	Uh-huh, it's comfortable? What's that?
Wendy:	It's just comfortable wearing guy's clothes, I guess.
Montel:	I know, but you know... I know you're into guys, right? Right? That's what I've been told.
Wendy:	Yeah.
Montel:	That's right, so those cute guys out there are not gonna want to just accept the jock next door. They want, you know, girly next door. So Wendy went for her makeover and we barely recognized her when she came back out. Take a look at this. You know Wendy before... take a look at Wendy before. Please welcome the new Wendy to the show! (Loud distortion noise)
Girl Friend:	Oh, I can't believe it! Oh, you're so beautiful! Look at you!
Montel:	What do you think, Wendy?
Girl Friend:	Oh my God!
Montel:	Wendy, what do you think, babes? What do you think?
Girl Friend:	So pretty!
Montel:	What do you think, Wendy?
Wendy:	(Unemotionally) I really like it.
Montel:	You really like it? You look gorgeous, girlfriend! Here's the update. Now Wendy really loved her new look, and in fact she's gotten so into it that now it takes her an hour to get ready for school instead of the ten minutes it used to take.
Music:	There was a girl... There was a boy...

05. "TSR5 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:07
Program identification.

06. "TSR6 STAND UP ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 06:03
Stand Up (They're Not Laughing At Me, They're Laughing With Me)

Terre:

(Responding to woman laughing loudly in audience.)
She has a beautiful voice, doesn't she? Is it any wonder why I don't put more effort into sounding like a woman?

So yes, I spent my high school years as a hillbilly gender bender. And when I turned eighteen I just got the hell out of there, you know. I just ran for New York as fast as I could. So I had been there about, I don't know, five or six months and I was riding the subway, doing alright. Suddenly the door flies open between cars and in comes a group of five or six Puerto Rican queens, and I mean they were flaming. And these queens were like, you know, horsing around a bit... pretty young, but I thought, "Oh, wow! This is really cool. Yeah, you know, like a gang of Queers, yeah. It's like, 'we're safe now!' Right on, sister! You know, they were horsing around, and then suddenly all these queens are standing around me, and the kind of head queen - I'll just never forget her, she's real thin - starts calling me, "Bitch!" And I'm thinking like, "Excuse me? What is going on?" And suddenly the train stops and this queen grabs me by my hair, and literally yanks my head down to the floor, slams my body to the floor, and drags me by my hair off the train. I mean, talk about your surprises... I did not see that coming! So I'm getting dragged off the train. Luckily it happens to be my stop.

So this queen starts dragging me up the stairs to the train transfer, and I don't know if you know New York, but this was the 14th Street station transfer between the L and One/Nine Lines, and that is a long underpass. So she's dragging me by my hair - I'm still on the ground, disoriented and unable to get up yet - dragging me by my hair up the stairs and all her little cronies are giggling it up and stuff. And she's just going, "Bitch! Bitch!" and gets me to the top of the stairs. I try to get up and she swings me around and throws me down to the ground and goes, "You like that, don't you bitch!" I'm trying to get up, but every time just before I can get up she grabs me again by the hair, slams me down, spins me around so that I'm dizzy and disoriented... And I just remember going through this pass maybe about, like, two or three yards at a time, getting thrown down, and... Nobody really seemed to express any sort of alarm or anything. And this queen just kept throwing me down, and every now and then one of these other queens would kick me or something. And, just "Bitch! Bitch!" And I'm thinking, like, "What the fuck is going on here?!" Why isn't anybody helping... or at least getting... I'm like, I didn't expect them to jump in and take on this gang of Puerto Rican queens, but it's like, you know... why didn't somebody just run and get some help from the staff or something? And so I'm trying to get up... I'm getting hysterical, of course, and... I finally manage to get up and run, just run as fast and hard as I can to get to the other end of the transfer just to get away from these queens, and, um... As I get there, there are two Metro Police officers that are supposed to patrol the subways, and they're just exiting the station right then, and I grab one of them by the arm... These are like real police officers, with guns, and they're like real - real, you know, American cops, you know? So, I'm like, "Look, I'm being chased by these guys! You gotta help me!" And literally this guy just says, "It's not my business," and walks out. And I'm standing there like, "What the fuck is going on here?"

(Speech starts to get more nervous)

Meanwhile, this gang of queens is still coming down through the transfer, you know. They're taking their time. You can hear them whooping it up as they come down. And then I go to, like, you know, the station attendant who's inside this bullet proof, uh, case, you know, to sell the tokens to get into the subway and I'm like, "Look, please call the police! Get some help!" "I don't want anything to do with it," she's saying. And, you know, I'm just thinking, like, "What... what is going on here?" and, and you know, where is... Where are the people who are supposed to be helping me? Where is the... You know, this... betrayal of being beaten up by a gang of sisters, you know? And at the same time having these other people not wanting anything to do with it, and these people looking at me as if, like, well... I'm on the floor, looking up, looking at them, and they aren't doing anything, and they don't even... They don't even look concerned, and...

So I manage to... a different train comes in and I manage to jump into a train before, you know... get into a different train and leave the station before this other, before the gang got back there and... You know, I just don't know how to deal with this situation, and, and, and.... I'm holding my head, like this with my hands in my hair and, and I pull my hand down and it's, it's filled with, with hair... You know, because they had pulled out my hair. It was all loose. Just, my hair, my hand was just filled with hair.

07. "TSR7 STILL LIFE ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 05:04
Music: Still Life w/Numerical Analysis.

08. "TSR8 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:07
Program identification.

09. "TSR9 SAKI PART 2 ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 02:12
Saki (Part 2: "I Like Travel")

Saki:

My name is Saki. I am Japanese and Transgendered. I like travel. Kyoto, Osaka, Nara... for four or five days at a time. At first I only travelled in Tokyo. Next was Yokohama, then Chiba... going further and further. The first time I dressed like this in the trains, nobody paid any attention. I went alone. The train to Kyoto and Nara was a night train.
Usually, when transitioning from a man to a woman, nobody dresses as a school girl. But perhaps my face is young, so I can get away with it. Nobody acts surprised, so I'm really lucky. I like it.
When Japanese school girls want to stand out in a crowd, on their own time, they raise their skirts and pull their socks tighter. It's really cute and sexy. Long skirts are out. I always wear colorful Tartan check skirts.

When riding the train, nobody harasses me. They don't yell, "Pervert!" or anything. People really don't do anything. I don't have money, so I can't take the bullet trains or express trains. I go by local train. From Tokyo to Kyoto, eight hours. It's really tiring. It's open seating with many people, and they sit next to me and don't pay any attention to me.

I like travel.

10. "TSR10 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:07
Program identification.

11. "TSR11 TRANS PORTATION PART 1 ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 13:24
Trans-portation

Music:	We are the jet set society We are the jet set and that means liberty, liberty (Repeat four times)
Terre:	This is Terre Thaemlitz with a special radio spotlight on Transgendered travel we like to call "Trans-portation." In this segment we'll be talking about Transgendered mobility. In particular, the mobility between nations.
Music:	We are the jet set society We are the jet set and that means liberty, liberty
Terre:	Tired of long lines and delays at airport security and passport check points caused by Transgendered passengers whose appearances don't match the gender indicated on their identification? What is up with that? Chances are you've never experienced such a delay, because the majority of Transgendered people travel incognito. When travelling, dressing for the occasion means downplaying our gender bending by dressing to match our documented genders. Many fully transitioned transsexuals whose countries prohibit legally changing their genders resort to wearing asexual sweat pants and other anti-fashion statements as a kind of devolutionary drag, all in hopes of passing as the man or woman they once were... Or, in some cases, they resort to using false passports showing genders that match their appearances. It all gives new meaning to the term "pass control." In October of 2003, a terrorist drag queen alert was issued across America. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued an alert to law enforcement agencies, urging authorities to be on the lookout for Al Qaeda suicide bombers dressed in drag. The alert warned that "previous attacks underscore Al-Qaeda's ability to employ suicide bombers," and citing our propensity for showmanship and the arts, went on to say, quote, "Terrorists will employ novel methods to artfully conceal suicide devices. Male bombers may dress as females in order to discourage scrutiny." The alert prompted the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition, or NTAC, to issue their own statement warning members to expect 'unwitting abuses' both at airports and anywhere else they go dressed up. The NTAC advised: "Crossdressers should seriously consider doing any air travel in male garb until reaching their destination. With a focus on soft targets, even more casual pursuits such as shopping or going to restaurants could also potentially draw scrutiny."
Music:	We are the jet set society We are the jet set and that means liberty, liberty
Terre:	I have to admit, I personally have always found it unnerving when entering a country with a suitcase filled with ladies delicates and apparel... not so much out of fear of disclosing my Transgenderism as a fear of being accused of thievery, attempting to take someone else's bag... or, as a male toting a case of women's clothing, even having to talk my way out of paying import taxes on my used personal belongings which, in certain quantities, raises suspicions that I purchased the items abroad and removed their price tags in an attempt to secretly import the items for resale... after all, why would a man have so much ladies clothing? So on a recent trip from Vienna back home to Japan, with the announcements from the Department of Homeland Security and NTAC compounding my usual concerns and paranoias, I decided to try and ask some airport and airline staff about their experiences with Transgendered passengers - if they had even seen any... and if we warranted any special attention on their part. Of course, the operation of recording devices is frowned upon at airports recently, and nobody wants to go on record, so these recordings are a bit noisy because they were secretly made by plugging my portable MD player headphones into the microphone port - crossdressing the microphone input as headphone output, as it were. I really wanted to speak with the passport inspectors who make that judgement call as to who can and cannot enter or leave a country... but they were busy, and quite frankly too intimidating. So, I first set out to simply talk with airport police, but the offices were empty. I then approached a patrolling airport security officer, and got this response....
(Field recording: start)
Terre:	Excuse me, are you with security, or are you with an airline?
Guard:	Security.
Terre:	My name is Terre Thaemlitz, and I'm doing some research around transgendered people travelling. Could I ask you three or four questions real quick? Just short ones?
Guard:	No, no, no, no.
Terre:	No? I tried to speak with the police, but there wasn't anybody around. Do you know where there is a security office or something?
Guard:	The security office is not on the airport here. It's outside, so... It's not the right time for this.
Terre:	Okay, sorry.
(Field recording: end)
Terre:	By now it was time to pass through a secondary security search to enter the boarding gate area. So, I decided to try and ask the staff of Austrian Airlines about their experiences or views on Transgendered passengers. A male, English speaking employee was helping translate between myself and a middle aged woman security officer. She's really hard to pick out in this recording, but if you listen closely enough you'll hear that - on the one hand, she did at least have some kind of thought out concept of what to do in the case of meeting Transgendered passengers. She's really the only person I met during my entire journey who had at least some kind of response that took into consideration the possibility of Transgendered passengers. But what you will also notice is that towards the end of the conversation she starts to ask the English speaking employee if the questions are about myself personally. Then you can see some confusion starts to ensue.
(Field recording: start)
Man:	It's only dressed as a man, or?
Terre:	Yeah, or if somebody is surgically post-SRS, like if they've been surgically altered but their passport is still showing their previous gender... that sort of situation?
Man:	(Man and woman speaking German) Then they have to ask if he wants to visit as a man or woman, but it's no problem. (Man and woman speaking German) They have to ask him if he wants to have the security check of a man or a woman.
Terre:	Oh, I see. So you mean that would just effect if the buzzer went off, and how they would check the body...
Man:	Yes.
Terre:	...Okay, thanks. (Man and woman speaking German - woman is asking if this is about myself)
Man:	(Signalling me to go away.) No, it's no problem.
Terre:	...Okay, thanks.
(Field recording: end)
Terre:	So this larger environment of, on the one hand, people who don't want to answer; on the other hand, people who start to get nervous and concerned if it's possible that these questions are about myself individually, really shows the larger dynamics that help contribute to the internalised fear that many Transgendered people travel with. In the end, we don't know who to ask these kinds of questions to, and basically we're just afraid of bringing trouble upon ourselves. Once in flight, I continued by asking the cabin attendants if they had ever noticed any Transgendered passengers. You can hear that by this time I was concealing my own Transgenderism by stating my inquiries were related to a research project. I think this helped distance the questions a little, and put people at ease that it was just talking generally, and not making it such a personal, defensive issue...
(Field recording: start)
Terre:	Could I ask you a question that's related to a project I'm doing about travel and gender?
Stewardess1:	Yes.
Terre:	Have you ever noticed any Transgendered passengers, ever?
Stewardess1:	Trans?
Terre:	Transgendered, like a woman dressed as a man, or a man dressed as a woman, or Transsexual?
Stewardess1:	No, no.
Terre:	Thanks. (Beep) I'm doing a project about gender and travel, and I'm asking people in the travel industry a question... I was wondering if I could ask you a question... Have you ever noticed any Transgendered or Transsexual passengers over the years?
Stewardess2:	No, never.
Terre:	Have you ever thought about it?
Stewardess2:	No, never, actually.
Terre:	Okay, thanks. (Beep) Could I ask you a question related to some informal research I'm doing about gender and travel?
Steward:	Yes.
Terre:	Have you ever noticed seeing any Transgendered or Transsexual passengers during your years?
Steward:	No, I don't think so. Within the last 16 years or so I saw some of them, but not on board.
Terre:	Where did you see them? Like, just at the airport?
Steward:	New York or somewhere, but not travel related.
Terre:	My project's about mobility and this sort of thing....
Steward:	Oh. I never noticed some of them on board. I mean, usually we don't stay very long at the airport, and we don't leave the airport. We only go through the airport.
Terre:	Are you familiar with this warning issued by the American government for security people to be more on the lookout for suspicious types, which would be men dressed as women to cloak terrorist bombs...
Steward:	I never heard anything about it. No, not really. I mean, I was in New York one and a half weeks ago, but they didn't give any notices like that. Never in this direction. I mean, of course we always have to look after the passengers and if they look strange or behave strange or something else... but not in a specific way. Not in this direction, nor if they look very Arabic, or very Jewish, or whatever. It wasn't in one of these kinds of directions.... Just one second...
Terre:	Sure. (Beep) Excuse me, could I ask you a question I was asking him and some of the others?
Stewardess3:	Okay.
Terre:	I'm doing a project about issues of gender and mobility, and I'm wondering if you've ever seen or noticed any Transgendered or "New Half" (Japanese expression for Transsexual) passengers?
Stewardess3:	Never. I don't realize it.
Terre:	Are you familiar with a notice from the American government to watch out for suspicious people, including men dressed as women who might be terrorists? Have you heard about anything like this?
Stewardess3:	No, because on Japanese flights we have almost only Japanese passengers, so I don't think those are really terrorists or something like that. If I see a suspicious passenger I will take care of him, but...
Terre:	Do you think seeing somebody who was cross-dressing would be considered suspicious for you? Or not necessarily?
Stewardess3:	(No response...)
(Field recording: end)

12. "TSR12 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:08
Program identification.

13. "TSR13 TRANS PORTATION PART2 ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 04:37
Trans-portation (Part 2)

(Field recording: start)
Stewardess3:	Sorry, um... No.
Terre:	No?
Stewardess3:	Just, sometimes a passenger is in a bad mood, then I will think, "Oh, I have to take care of him..."
Terre:	So more about behavior than the image...
Stewardess3:	Yeah, not so directly related to terrorists, but just a little bit... I've never realized a person who looks like a terrorist or something.
(Field recording: end)
Terre:	I spent a lot of time on the flight thinking about how I could plan to ask the Japanese Immigration officials questions around re-entry and Transgenderism without jeopardizing my own status or triggering some kind of investigation into myself. And I knew that, in the end, this would be not possible to do in a way that would be satisfying to the kinds of questions I wanted to ask. So, what follows here is more like documentation of my nervousness and discomfort around dealing with this whole situation of re-entry.
(Field recording: start)
Steward:	Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Tokyo.
Terre:	I just arrived at Narita, heading towards immigration, and hopefully I'll have the ovaries big enough to ask some questions to the immigration officers... but I don't know, I'll probably chicken out... (About 20 seconds without talking while I pass through Passport Control.) I just silently passed through Immigration with no troubles.
(Field recording: end)
Terre:	Once I had passed through Immigration I did go back and try to ask a Japanese Immigration official if they had ever seen or noticed any Transgendered people entering the country. I really wanted to ask, particularly, if the Transgendered people they had noticed were Japanese Nationals, or people from East Asia, or... Basically, what types of people did feel comfortable enough to re-enter the country as Transgendered. But, as you can hear, this didn't really get very far.
(Field recording: start)
	(Japanese - not necessary to translate.)
(Field recording: end)
Terre:	Basically, this officer, who deals with the special cases and trouble cases of people who have been pulled off to the side of the line, said that he didn't see enough people on an individual, one to one basis to really know if he had ever seen or noticed Transgendered people. So that was about the end of the conversation at that point. As many transgendered people have experienced, issues of gender expression are easily confused with issues of sexual expression, and this also affects us during travel - particularly in relation to spousal visa issues. We are assumed lesbian or gay, with little understanding of how our Transgenderism often complicates the relationship between gender and sexual identity. What is a Transgendered person's gender opposite? Or better yet, why must we define our sexuality in relation to gender object choices rather than in relation to sexual acts themselves.
Music:	She's a liar, I'm a lover She's a priestess, I'm her cover She's a lady, I'm her man If she's a man I'll do what I can We are the jet set society We are the jet set, and that means liberty, liberty

14. "TSR14 TRANS PORTATION PART3 ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 04:29
Trans-portation (Part 3)

Music:	I don't want the world to know... (Repeating....)
Terre:	Preconceptions about the relationships between gender expression and sexual expression can result in fear and complications for Transgendered people entering a country on spousal visas - raising suspicions about the legitimacy of such a heterosexually-tainted visa. Immigration officers are trained to weed out quote-unquote fake marriages, and any doubts in one or both partners' heterosexuality certainly sends up major red flags. This is a bit of a panic button for yours truly, Ms. World-Renowned Queer, who fucking hates the marriage system, but just so happens to be living on a spousal visa in Japan right now. Although the visa is legitimate in the sense that my partner and I are a real couple, and of opposite genders, an investigation into my visa status could easily take any number of wrong turns given my visibility and the well documented nature of my career and interests. This issue of who can and cannot marry - and hence, who can and cannot apply for a spousal visa, let alone obtain one, gets very complicated. For example, this year in Japan they finally passed legislation which allows people who underwent sexual reassignment surgery to legally change their gender, and thereafter legally marry partners of the opposite legal gender, and obtain the rights and privileges therein. Unfortunately, this totally screwed over anyone who, after changing their gender, would thereafter be considered lesbian or gay - such as a Female-to-Male transsexual who sexually prefers men. Despite these problems, the legislation worked out well for Aya Kamikawa, the Male-to-Female transsexual who was recently elected to Setagaya Ward's municipal assembly and a major advocate for the legislation. As fate would have it, Kamikawa's partner is a Female-to-Male Transsexual, and the two of them therefore continue to constitute a legal heterosexual couple after changing their gender registrations. As you can see, all of this territory around marriage and visas leaves a sour taste in the mouth. In the end, the act of legally changing one's gender is not so much about self-actualization as hiding one's transition - keeping the Transgendered community invisible, registered and statistically miscounted as Men and Women. And, in a country like Japan, this is an economic necessity since full-time employment requires the presentation of federal identification showing a job applicant's gender. Until now, most passing full-time transsexuals in Japan have only worked part-time jobs in order to avoid disclosing their registered genders.
Music:	I don't want the world to know I don't want my heart to show Two faces have I, yai, yai, yai... Two faces have I, no, no, no (Repeating....)
Terre:	Of course, this has a tremendous economic impact when you can only work part-time. It affects your benefits as well as your income. And, around the world, the overwhelming majority of Transgendered people live in poverty, and therefore lack the funds and business connections necessary to buy our way into countries through income-based visas. Those of us who are able to legally marry must do so by hiding our Transgenderism... at the airport, or at the Immigration Bureau, the story is the same. In order to protect our residence status, we officially capitulate to the bureaucratization of secrecy around Transgenderism. Both marriage and visas are systems of economics - not romance. They are neither about the love romance between individuals, nor the patriotic romance between an individual and her nation of choice. They are means of social entry and participation. And, although one might wish to conclude that participating in the matrimonial system somehow standardizes a Transgendered person's relationship to dominant culture and economics, the reality is that matrimony and the spousal visa system still bind us to stereotypes of Transgendered subsistence and labor revolving around sex-work - in this case, the spouse as whore - unable to buy our way into a country, we find ourselves fucking our way in.

15. "TWO FACES HAVE I" TIME (MM:SS): 01:44
Music: Two Faces Have I

Music:

Two faces have I, no, no, no
One to laugh and one to cry, ai ai ai
Two faces have I
One to laugh and one to cry, ai, ai, ai
One to laugh and one to cry, ai, ai, ai

Will I laugh or love again?
She'll never see me cry
Will I walk with a smile on my face
Knowing I never lie? yai, yai, yai...

I pretend that I'm carefree
My heart and I
I pretend that I'm carefree
But I'm living a lie, yai, yai, yai

Two faces have I, no, no, no
One to laugh and one to cry, ai ai ai
Two faces have I
One to laugh and one to cry, ai, ai, ai
One to laugh and one to cry, ai, ai, ai
One to laugh and one to cry

16. "TSR16 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:05
Program identification.

17. "TSR17 A MUZAK ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 03:40
Music: A-Muzak (Program A).

18. (UNTITLED) TIME (MM:SS): 00:30
Stand Up.

Comedian:

It is a sexually confusing society. You never know what or who you're talking to, what with the idea of Transsexuals... I look at that woman right there... Might be a man's spirit trapped in that body. I applied it to myself. I thought, well, maybe there's a female spirit trapped in my body and I don't know it because she's a lesbian. How would I know?

19. "TSR19 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:07
Program identification.

20. "TSR20 SAKI PART 3 ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 01:35
Saki (Part 3: Sexuality and Androgyny)

Saki:

My name is Saki. I am Japanese and Transgendered. I feel half female, half male. I preserve both the male part and female part. I love pro wrestling. I watch martial arts. But, I also love feminine things. I also watch adult videos, now and then. I identify with the women. But whether or not I really care for the men is a bit delicate... Women or men, if they look really cute, I can like either. I'm not really Homosexual or Gay. Not Lesbian. Not a Straight man. Not a Straight woman. It's difficult. I really like Hermaphrodites. I admire androgyny - I think it's what I feel closest to. A female, feminine image but the body is male - I do that often. That's what I like.

21. "TSR21 PROGRAM ID ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 00:08
Program identification.

22. "TSR22 INTERSEX ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 05:31
There Was A Girl/There Was A Boy.Intersex

Music:	There was a girl... There was a boy... (Repeating...)
Intersex 1 (Feminine Voice):	At first they had plans to do masculinizing surgery on me. Since I had been raised as a boy, that I should have phalloplasty. I quickly learned that that meant I would spend my entire teenage years in the hospital. They were showing me these pictures of people who looked like they had, I don't know, Polish sausages sewn between their legs. I was injected with testosterone for five months and I didn't react very well to that, and so they quickly reversed their decision and decided to do a feminizing puberty: a macindo-vaginoplasty and clitorectomy. I'll tell you something, I was so confused and frightened that happiness just didn't even enter into any of my emotions at the time. I thought that if they did surgery, and I knew that vaginoplasty and clitorectomy was only one or two surgeries, it was like okay I'm free then. It didn't work out that way. I still had to keep going back for examinations, psychological testing, endocrynological testing...
Male Doctor:	Um, we now know, of course, much more about this condition. We give the parents the option at birth. It's more of a team effort. There are the doctors, there are the parents. Unfortunately there is not the kid yet because we don't know exactly what the kid will want, but we're trying to inform the parents. When we say the parents should choose, I think it's true, but they need to be informed and that's the role of the doctors.
Mother:	But they're not given true information. They're not given accurate information. In my case - and this is true too because I talk to parents all the time who have children born like this - they're not given information. What they're told is, "This is the way it is, and this is the way it should be." And they're not given information that anesthesia's dangerous. Any child under a year old, you can have a hole in your heart and they won't do surgery on you, but if you are intersexed they're going to cut you like that.
Male Doctor:	There is a lot of ignorance in the medical community about this topic, and that's a problem. That's the main problem.
Mother:	Literally every hour during the first two days after his birth there was a new intern, a new doctor, doctors drove miles to come and look at this child to see what he looked like and why was he this way. And, I mean, even now I have to tell them, "No! You get a doctor and a nurse in a room. You're not putting forty people in a room when he's having an exam." You really have to put your foot down. They called it an "offending appendage, we have to remove that," and they wrote that in the records for the consent, "remove this offending appendage." He doesn't look like a boy anymore. He did when he was born before they did the surgery, and he does not now.
Intersex 1 (Feminine Voice):	As an "interesting case" you are definitely in harm's way for psychological investigations, psychological testing, endocrynological experimentation, and even in my case experimental surgery.
Intersex 2 (Masculine Voice):	Doctor's see us as an experiment of nature. A natural variant between male and female that doctor's can learn a whole lot about Homosexuality, maleness and femaleness from. And on that basis we're seen as this special group that can be experimented on to learn about "real humans," which I guess we're not.
Intersex 3 (Feminine Voice):	What is Homosexual for me? What is Heterosexual for me? Exactly what is my opposite sex? Approximately one in sixty-five thousand is born in America each year. It's just as common occurring as cystic fibrosis, and it's more common than cleft palate or club foot.
Audience Woman 1:	Do you not think that it would be reasonable to wait until a child is between the ages of at least three and five, when we can see some unfolding as to what the natural selection would be for that child before any surgery is decided? I mean, would that be the way you would want it to be done?
Intersex 2 (Masculine Voice):	No. What we want is for the child to come to a place where the child can tell us what it is that they want.
Audience Woman 1:	But sometimes by the time they're in their teens they're so very confused.
Intersex 2 (Masculine Voice):	Uh-huh (yes). With Intersex kids we want them to have access to other Intersex people who fit within their syndrome who have had surgery and who have not, so they can be fully informed instead of having some doctor make this decision for them.
Audience Woman 2:	Are there any good stories? I mean, like, people who had these operations and they are okay?
Intersex 3 (Feminine Voice):	None that I've heard of.
Intersex 2 (Masculine Voice):	I've talked to hundreds of people worldwide on this, and what I hear over and over again is all of us want the genitals we were born with, not the genitals the doctors left us with after cutting on us.
Intersex 3 (Feminine Voice):	I am an advocate for a moratorium, for the surgeons putting down their scalpels. Indeed surgeons are trained to cut, but many times they feel crooked shall be set straight. I was not malformed from birth. Just ambiguous. Is that a crime? Howard and Patrick are the twelfth and thirteenth Intersexed individuals I've met respectively in my travels and professional work as a writer and lecturer. And, all of them, with the exception of one who was a five year old child who was unaltered and unoperated as I am, had between one and twenty five surgeries. They were out of commission. They were living on tranquilizers and pain killers. They were bitter. They were angry. They detested their parents, and they hated the doctors. They were... they were ruined people.

23. "TSR23 SIGN OFF ELECTROACOUSTIC COMPOSITION" TIME (MM:SS): 01:04
Program Sign-off (Aufwiedersehen).