Joyita Mondal - trans trailblazer

In July 2017, Joyita Mondal was appointed as a judge on a Lok Adalat (a type of civil court) in West Bengal, India, making her the first transgender person to serve in such a role in that country. This comes after years of hard work fighting for the rights of the LGBT community, as well as for the rights of other marginalized communities -- the elderly, the disabled, and anyone else facing discrimination.

She didn't set out to become an activist. When she left home, she was simply trying to escape the oppressive environment of her small Hindu community, where she faced bullying by her peers and had few opportunities to live life on her own terms. She dropped out of school and moved to Islampur, a small city in the Uttar Dinajpur region, where, although she was able to find some work as a dancer in wedding ceremonies, she still had trouble finding a safe place to live and was often forced to beg for money to survive.

But she began to meet other transpeople, and after talking to them she founded her activist organization, 'Dinajpur Notun Alo Society' (Notun Alo means "new light") to help address some of their needs. "I started counseling sessions in hopes of reducing stigma by inviting relatives and family members of transgender persons. We showed films on the problems faced by the community. Further, sensitization of teachers and students in government and private schools and colleges started, and street plays at bus stands and other popular spaces were performed." She also began taking correspondence classes, and eventually earned a degree in law.

Her organization began looking for ways to assist other marginalized groups, and extend their outreach efforts beyond LGBT issues. "When I came to Islampur around nine years ago, my job was restricted to working for the rights and development of the transgender and LGBT community. But as I slowly progressed and got in touch with district administration officials, I felt the urge to work for all people and not just [the trans] community."

They began by addressing the needs of sex workers in local brothels, helping them register to vote and obtain identity cards, as well as locating services to help them with food and lodging. Then they began talking with the elderly members of their community. "We visited every house in the area for six months and shortlisted around 200 needy elderly people. We have submitted a proposal to the government for the construction of shelter home for elderly people."

Her work caught the attention of Judge Subroto Pole who appointed her as a Lok Adalat judge last year. Through her dedication to improving the lives of others, she has also made a huge change in her own life. "It gives me great satisfaction to know I have broken gender stereotypes. It is also gratifying to see those who once taunted me about my gender, stand before me with folded hands waiting for a judgment on their case."

For more reading:

Women's eNews "Meet the First Transgender Judge in India"

She The People "Meet Joyita Mondal, India’s First Transgender Lok Adalat Judge"

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Music Break - Miley Cyrus, Joan Jett and Laura Jane Grace

I really like this version of "Androgynous!" I was a Replacements fan way back in the day (a long, long time ago, in the dark ages before the Internet), and have always liked this song. It's such a sweet, upbeat song about love and joyful self-expression.

Joan Jett did a cover several years ago, with a great video, which you can watch here.

And more recently she joined up with Against Me! (founded and led by Laura Jane Grace), making an already great cover that much more awesome. Watch it here.

So, it seems only natural that when Miley Cyrus launched her Happy Hippie Foundation benefiting homeless LGBTQ youth, she'd pick these two amazing ladies to help her, and that they'd record a performance of this great song. So appropriate! So rockin'! This makes me so very happy!

They look like they're having such a great time!



Why is this so important? Joan Jett has long been an inspiration to young women who don't fit into the girly-girl mode. That she's joined up with singer and trans activist Laura Jane Grace is wonderful in itself, bringing more attention to the issues around gender and gender identity. That Miley Cyrus is using her platform to assist homeless youth, and especially the most vulnerable, is truly commendable.

Just a few statistics from the Happy Hippie Foundation:

• 1.6 million youth are homeless each year
• 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBT, and family rejection is the most common reason LGBT youth experience homelessness
• 25% of homeless youth were previously physically or sexually abused
• Nearly one in three transgender people have been turned away from shelters

So brava ladies! Brava!

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SRPS Shout-Out: Alex Heberling - author and artist of The Hues

Last week I raved about The Hues in my Kickstart This post. I'm totally in love with this project and managed to get in touch with Alex Heberling, the fantastic author and artist responsible for my latest and newest comic obsession and talk with her about her love of magical girls and the importance of supporting diversity in comics.



What is it about magical girls that attracts you? Why create your own?

Sailor Moon was my introduction to magical girls, so it's really my biggest influence in that regard. SM was like an even awesomer Power Rangers that was ALL girls! So I was smitten from the very beginning. That, and color-coded characters are a particular weakness of mine.



I've seen a couple of quotes by you about your choice in characters and your reasons for making them so diverse (body size, color, gender expression, etc.). Would you care to elaborate on that a bit?

I've learned a lot about representation, and the ridiculous lack thereof, over the last several years, and when I decided to resurrect The Hues, which was something I first concieved nearly two decades ago, I knew that more diversity was one way to make this magical girl story fresh-- tell a story with the kinds of girls that mainstream media never gives the time of day. I'll admit that The Hues spent a long part of its' existence as a pretty boring and derivative story, full of white people with a sprinkling of token non-white characters that weren't really given any thought or care. So the first thing I did was "recast" my main lineup of girls, and put in a mix of ethnicities, backgrounds, body types, and so on.



Are these characters based on people you know? Friends or a composite of people? Or are they mean to represent a wider range of character than we typically get?

Yes and no, and all of the above! I think a lot of writers draw from the people around them when writing characters, and there are specific traits that I pull from myself and the people around me. Lauren, for instance, is the type of brash, badass gothy girl that I might've idolized in high school. It's all part of the fun of getting to explore characters. And part of the challenge is writing the things that are NOT like me, as well, and putting myself in someone else's shoes.



What makes these young women especially "kick ass?"

They are perfect and beautiful cinnamon rolls. But then, I'm rather biased in their favor. ;) I think they kick ass because they don't back down from challenges, they support and help each other and everyone around them, and they never give up.



If you haven't already done so, please go check out her blog, and then her Kickstarter page and consider backing her! We desperately need more of these kinds of stories about diverse and kick ass young women!

If you like the work I do here on SRPS, please support me!

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Follow Friday - Inside Out

I've been meaning to share this great project with you all for a while now, and I'm sorry I haven't yet. With the death of Leelah Alcorn, I realize it's past time to get the word out about what these amazing folks are doing.

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Kickstart This!

Do we really need yet another Sherlock series? I mean, we've got Beetleton Cumberbun Brandenburg Upperclass Bendandsnap Humperdinck Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman on one hand, and on the other hand we have Jonny Lee Miller (who?) and the ever amazing Lucy Liu. And that's just the TV teams. Remember Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law?

Well, the folks behind S(her)lock think so. And I agree.



The mythology behind Sherlock Holmes is infinitely malleable and easily accessible, which is evident from it being pretty much the basis for most crime stories on television or movies. As such it is a perfect vehicle for exploring all kinds of relationships.

If you look at modern television, nearly all procedures are Sherlock Holmes. A brilliant male protagonist with a "photographic memory", "amazing deductive skills" and "an oddball, not a team player" attitude. Then there's the female sidekick, who's there to log their encounters and be his mental soundboard. House. The Mentalist. The X-Files. Castle. All derive from Sherlock Holmes. Even Sherlock Holmes is a take on Poe's Dupin.

Why not go right back to the source material and play with that? By exploring femininity via the character, our production team can honor Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's canon while producing a totally fresh narrative.

I love these types of mysteries, as I know most of you do as well. I am excited about seeing them told through a diverse cast (albeit still a predominately white cast). I have been craving this kind of exploration of these stories for ages. Genderswapping, transfolk, and even a drag performer make for a compelling and highly nuanced way to tell all new stories.

And it's high time we started telling these stories!

“It’s not enough to sit on Tumblr all day and complain about the lack of diversity and inclusive media on our television shows,” says Tracy. “We have to produce our own. It would be damn hypocritical to not create a series that doesn’t stand with our inclusive feminist ideals. Since I watched Alias for the first time, I knew I wanted to write for television and run a television show. It’s the only dream I’ve had for over a decade. I want this. I care about these characters and this series. I truly believe that we can create something fun, unique, and special.”
(source: Portland Phoenix)

While Elementary does have a transwoman as Ms. Hudson (who is seriously awesome) she is only a sometimes character. I am eager to see a transwoman play Watson, a key role, supporting a cis female Sherlock. This changeroo over the standard model will be fascinating to watch play out through the series. I cannot wait to see what Katherine Tracy and her team comes up with!

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Weekend Reading

Welcome to the weekend! We made it! As celebration, here's a collection of longer reads for your pleasure!


Wonder Woman, introduced in 1941, was a creation of utopian feminism, inspired by Margaret Sanger and the ideals of free love. Jill Lepore uncovers the remarkable and complex feminist background of Wonder Woman in her New Yorker piece, The Last Amazon

Superman débuted in 1938, Batman in 1939, Wonder Woman in 1941. She was created by William Moulton Marston, a psychologist with a Ph.D. from Harvard. A press release explained, “ ‘Wonder Woman’ was conceived by Dr. Marston to set up a standard among children and young people of strong, free, courageous womanhood; to combat the idea that women are inferior to men, and to inspire girls to self-confidence and achievement in athletics, occupations and professions monopolized by men” because “the only hope for civilization is the greater freedom, development and equality of women in all fields of human activity.” Marston put it this way: “Frankly, Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world.”

For another fantastic and detailed piece about women in comics, check out Lisa Hix's piece Women Who Conquered the Comics World in Collectors Weekly.

Messick’s sexy and stylish character, which took great inspiration from Nell Brinkley, eluded kidnappers, jumped from airplanes with a parachute, and got stranded on desert islands. “One of my favorites is where Brenda Starr joins this teenage gang,” Robbins says. “The gang leader is a blonde, and all the other members wear blonde wigs. She disguises herself with blonde hair and pretends to be a teenager so that she can join this gang of girl juvenile delinquents. Another time, she’s kidnapped by this albino Polynesian princess and winds up on this island where she discovers that her true love, the Mystery Man, Basil St. John, who is also being held prisoner by the Polynesian princess because she wants him to marry her. Messick came up with great stuff.”

[TW: rape, sexual assault, domestic violence]
Sara Bernard has a poignant story about a group of folks in rural Alaska who are taking on abusers in their midst: Rape Culture in the Alaskan Wilderness

Then, last year, Jane joined the Tanana 4-H club, a newly minted outlet for local youth of all ages to gather and play games and craft things like blueberry jam and beaver hats. It’s run by Cynthia Erickson, owner of Tanana’s general store and native of Ruby, a village 100 miles downriver. Erickson says she started the program because of suicide: Three years ago, there were six in Tanana. At first, she just wanted to give Tanana’s kids a place to do things with their hands, to go on field trips, to feel supported. But what began as a diversion quickly became a safe place for kids to share all kinds of traumas they were witnessing and experiencing: sexual and domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse, death after brutal death. The discussions they’d have were rarely prearranged, Erickson says. Instead, the kids would launch the conversation by saying, “Did you hear what happened?”

Joann Weiner has a fantastic interview with up-and-coming Rwandan activists, Nadine Niyitegeka: I’ve seen the future of Rwanda, and her name is Nadine

Spend just a few minutes with a charismatic 22-year-old Rwandan woman with bright, sparkling eyes and a lilt in her voice and you’ll know you’ve seen the future of Rwanda.

That beacon of hope is Nadine Niyitegeka, a woman whose photograph as a shy 2-year-old is displayed on the wall of Kigali’s Genocide Memorial Center as one of the thousands of innocent children slaughtered in Rwanda’s genocide 20 years ago.

“I’m still alive,” Nadine needlessly explained during our hour-long interview. “And I’m going places!”

In his photo essay, The Women of West Point, Damon Winter captures the daily life for the U.S. Military Academy’s 786 female cadets.

From its founding in 1802, on George Washington’s earlier recommendation, until 1976, West Point admitted no women. Since then, more than 4,100 have followed in the steps of the first 62 female graduates in 1980. Many more are on the way, too, now that the American military will be opening combat positions to qualifying women by 2016. The 263 female cadets who started at West Point this year made up 22 percent of the incoming class, a record number, up from 16 percent last year.

They and their fellow first-year cadets, or plebes, reported for Reception Day on July 2, which marked the beginning of six weeks of cadet basic training, a k a Beast Barracks, and the end of their civilian lifestyles. “I knew I was going to need to step it up in the physical realm,” Danilack says, referring to her own early days on campus. “But I never knew it was going to be as hard as it turned out to be.” Upon graduating, she and her classmates received their commissions — and their bars — as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army.

Meet CEO Martine Rothblatt, a transwoman who founded Sirius radio, pioneered AI, and so much more!

In person, Martine is magnificent, like a tall lanky teenage boy with breasts. She wears no makeup or jewelry, and she inhabits her muted clothing—cargo pants, a T-shirt, a floppy button-down thrown on top—in the youthful, offhand way of the tech elite. Martine is transgender, a power trans, which makes her an even rarer species in the corporate jungle than a female CEO. And she seems genuinely to revel in her self-built in-betweenness. Just after her sex-reassignment surgery in 1994, her appearance was more feminine than it is today—old photos show her wearing lipstick, her long, curly hair loose about her shoulders. But in the years since she has developed her own unisexual style. She is a person for whom gender matters enough to have undergone radical surgery, but not enough to care whether she’s called he or she by people, like her 83-year-old mother, who occasionally lose track of which pronoun to use.

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