Kelly Atkinson

10 November 2015
Gen-X
Byrd
Event Reflection: Ian Harvie
The event I attended was Ian Harvies stand up comic act on October
27,2015. Ian Harvie has experienced two sides of the gender spectrum. He
was born a girl, sexualized as female, and transitioned into a man in his early
twenties. Ian Harvie was full of energy and funny relatable stories.
Outspoken from UNCC hosted the event with assistance from, Chancellors
Diversity Challenge Fund, the Alliance for Full Acceptance, Womens and
Gender Studies, UNC Charlotte Counseling Center, and the Multicultural
Resource Center.
The program relates to our Gen-X class because Ian was bringing
issues not normally discussed so openly, up for discussion. Ian was born into
a female body and for 19 years went by the name Janet. He talks about how
women are overly sexualized and treated differently if they identify as a
woman. Ian understands what it is like to be a woman and a man in todays
society. This all relates back to our class because we are trying to
acknowledge issues that are not normally discussed, such as gender identity,
sex lives, and the sex-obsessed society we live in. As a class we have been
discussing inequalities and discrimination towards women and Ian

experienced the same and also different discriminations because of his

transition.
Ian Harvies program was the first event I have ever attended that
discussed the issues it did. I got a first hand perspective of what it is like to
be trans or queer and learned that they have to prove themselves. A tough
experience for one of this nature is in the restroom because they have to
prove whether they belong in the corresponding bathroom. I would have
never realized how difficult or scary of a place that might be for someone
who is transitioning.
While discussing issues of transitioning I also learned a lot about
masculinity and femininity. Being masculine is rapidly increasing the
dramatic standards a man has to live in. Men are held to high standards on
how muscular, strong, hard, tough, and how much sex they have. Most of
the things that are positive for men have a negative outcome on women.
Due to the issues men are facing about sex is causing them to rape more
women or treat women more negatively. Men are living behind a mask,
believing that they cannot have feelings, emotions, or opinions. They feel
just as trapped by societys barriers than we believe they might.
Men should not always be required, in societys eyes, to stand up
and women should feel empowered enough and have confidence to stand up
and not be put down. I learned ways boys are trying to show they are hurt
and how society is not listening. We are ignoring our boys and teaching
them to fight and be violent. This is having an effect on them academically

as well. I will absolutely use the information I have learned to have a

positive influence on the men in my life. I want them to know it is okay to
have feelings and not live up to typical masculine stereotypes. Especially for
the younger men in my life, closer to my age, I do not want them to believe
being smart is un-masculine. Doing things because they want to and feel it
is necessary to succeed to their fullest potential, is what I want the men in
my life to do.
One thing I will take from this event is something I connected with on a
very deep level. Ian, who was previously named Janet and identified as a
female, had a grandmother who had Alzheimers. Before the transition, Janet
and her mother forgot to tell the grandmother that she was going to become
a man. Once the grandmother lost capacity to have object permanence and
know who people were in her life, she could not grasp the idea of Janet being
Ian. She became very frightened when a man was taking the place of her
granddaughter Janet, when in reality it was still Janet she had just become
Ian. They ended up telling her that Ians girlfriend was Janet to make things
easier. I can relate to this because my grandfather had Alzheimers and he
declined very rapidly for about 10 years. He never remembered who people
were and I can imagine myself in Ians shoes trying to talk my grandfather
into something that he could just not comprehend. It is difficult trying to
discuss issues with someone whos brain has digressed back to the state of a
toddler. I can imagine Ians struggle while talking to his grandmother and
having to result to telling her someone else was Janet.

The Gender Excellence class has been my first exposure to any of

these issues. I had never heard of feminism or realized all of the differences
between standards of men and women. We are not held to worse standards
but they are different in a negative way. Women are pressured into living up
to the expectations held by man which is creating issues with self esteem
and confidence. The issues with confidence are then turning into deadly
consequences. Ian has experienced two sides on the sexual spectrum and it
was very fascinating to listen about the differences he has experienced. It
was brought up in a funny way making the feeling a little lighter and easier
to openly discuss. I would recommend anyone to attend an event of Ian
Harvies. He was not too harsh in his approach and kept me entertained the
entire program.
Sometimes when such big issues, or forbidden territories, are exposed
it makes an audience feel uncomfortable but this was not the case with Ian. I
learned a lot about issues with femininity, masculinity, bathroom situations,
and transitions between genders. This program has definitely opened my
eyes about the struggles one may be going through. I also learned a lot
about myself by attending this program. Before this class I would most likely
not have attended this program on my own. I have enjoyed learning and
discussing issues that I always had questions about. Ian has opened my
eyes to realize that feminism and standing up for equality in a better society
is within our grasp. It begins with one and will spread like wildfire.
http://www.cdc.gov/lgbthealth/youth.htm