Friday, December 07, 2007

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Transgender Identity

Transgender Identity
To the Best of Our Knowledge

*"Being a man, like being a woman, is something you have to learn." That's what Aaron Raz Link says. And Link should know. He began life as a girl named Sarah. And he started a new life as a gay man twenty-nine years later. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll meet Aaron Raz Link, and his mother, Hilda Raz, as we explore issues of transgender identity. Also, the gender-bending speculative fiction of Kelley Eskridge. Eskridge talks about her captivating character, Mars, whose gender remains a mystery. And mystery novelist Jason Goodwin introduces us to his detective, Yashim... a Turkish eunuch.

SEGMENT 1:



Aaron Raz Link and his mother, Hilda Raz, are the co-authors of a collaborative memoir called "What Becomes You." Aaron was born female and lived the first 29 years of his life as a girl named Sarah. He then went through the hormone and surgical therapies to become male and lives now as a gay man.

SEGMENT 2:



Genesis P-Orridge is a conceptual artist who calls himself a cultural engineer. He was born male but is re-inventing himself as a "pandrogyne," or hermaphrodite by choice. Joining him in this endeavor was the woman he married. Doug Gordon talks with Genesis P-Orridge, and we hear music from his latest ensemble, Psychic TV.

SEGMENT 3:



Jason Goodwin won the Edgar Award for "The Janissary Tree," his first novel featuring Yashim Togalu, a eunuch who lives in 19th century Istanbul. Yashim is back in "The Snake Stone." Goodwin talks with Anne Strainchamps about Yashim and his similarity to other classic detectives. Also, Kelley Eskridge is a fiction writer, essayist and screenwriter. Her latest collection of short stories is called "Dangerous Space." Three of the stories feature a compelling character named Mars whose gender is never revealed. Eskridge tells Jim Fleming what she was trying to accomplish with Mars and how people have reacted.



To Listen to the Episode

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