This page features computer generated text of the source audio. It may contain errors or omissions, so always listen back to the original media to confirm content. You can search the text using Ctrl-F, and you can also play the audio by clicking on a desired timestamp.
Um how would you describe your identity? Um, I am as sexual a romantic and a gender awesome. Um, do you want to talk a bit? About what? Some of those What? All of those words mean to you, Um, as sexual and a romantic mean that I don't experience sexual or romantic attraction to other people, respectively. Um, a gender means I don't really [00:00:30] feel that the concept of gender applies to me or is a useful way for me to describe myself or how I interact with other people. Um, and I would prefer it not to be a factor in how other people react to me and interact with me. So, um, how did you come to find those, um, that words and community or way of identifying? Um, I [00:01:00] kind of figured out I was There's something going on with the ice stuff. Um, when I was about 15 or 16 after, um, several interestingly failed relationships like hm. Maybe something's going on, um, and started making up all these crazy long words and ways to sort of struggling to explain it to people. And then, um, a friend of mine [00:01:30] just mentioned, like, offhand that one of their friends was as and I was like, Oh, and we Googled it and it was like, Ah, that's nice. They exist. Um, And then the gender stuff kind of came about as a result of that. Like, I'd always assumed that I was straight just because I didn't really have any compelling evidence to the contrary. Like, I you know, I didn't wanna I don't wanna have [00:02:00] sex with women. So therefore, must be straight. Um, I hadn't really thought that hard about the fact that I didn't actually want to have sex with guys either. And then, yeah, once, I kind of realised that that was what I'd been doing. I started kind of wondering if I was doing the same thing with gender. Like, you know, I didn't feel like a guy, so yeah, I didn't really considered that I might not actually be [00:02:30] female either. Um, figured that out. Which was good. Started identifying as non binary publicly in first year of university. Um, Aromantic has kind of been a bit of a a bit of a journey. Um, I don't feel like the relationships I have and seek [00:03:00] out are, um, tied enough to what is like romantically coded for that to be a useful way of describing them, like starting off describing like, you know, this is a romantic relationship but tends to take more time than this is not a romantic relationship. But, um, I don't really identify with, you know, conventional narratives of romance and, [00:03:30] like, sort of one on one relationships and pair bonding and not something I've ever really been interested in. So, um, have you found many other kind of people Internet? Not in New Zealand that you can relate to? Yeah. Um, yeah. And it's not huge numbers of asexuals around, but I've I found quite a few, actually. I tend to meet them through completely [00:04:00] non queer related stuff, which is quite interesting. I think I've met one other ace fiction person through an explicitly queer event and about four or five through, like poetry and, you know, film clubs and stuff, which is cool. Um, one of my flatmates is also asexuals and a gender, which is quite nice. We can complain about everyone else together. So [00:04:30] is that important to you to have kind of a sense of, like, community or belonging to that, or just knowing other people. It's important to have a sense of definitely important to have a sense of community. I feel like the nightmare needs for the community are largely filled by the queer community, um, queer community in the sense of actually diverse and representative [00:05:00] of all the spectrums rather than white gay boys. But, um, yeah, I don't really feel the need for a specifically AEX community, for example. Um, that said it is nice to know them that yeah, no, the queer community is a good place to be. Do you feel like the queer community is inclusive and kind of encompassing of people? Queer community [00:05:30] is very, very fragmented in Dunedin. And I think in most places, um, bits of it are definitely, um, have you been involved much in in clear events or like stuff that happens at the end of this year? Um, I'm an intern at the University Queer Sport Centre, so that means I'm involved in, um, sort of running staff trainings and peer support. And, um, like putting in a lot of the behind the scenes [00:06:00] work and all the events that the centre runs, which is nice. Um, on the uniq committee, which is like the Queer Social Club for the university. So that's mostly like parties and and movie nights and stuff. But it's Yeah, it's still a lot of fun. And it's important to have you know, that as well as the more pastoral support side of things. Um, yeah, those are the two main [00:06:30] ones at the moment. And have you experienced much, I guess. Transphobia from I my friends. How many people I got? Um I got quite a bit of shit for being quit in year 13, but, um, yeah, the dude that came from So I was a lesbian, [00:07:00] so I don't know if that actually counts the, um yeah, And then I was in, um, the Hall of residence first year, which was kind of, um there was never anything directed towards me, but just the general environment was very unwelcoming. Sort of. Yeah, just like that kind of high school casual use of slurs [00:07:30] and stuff. It was It was pretty gross and made me quite uncomfortable. Um, but since leaving there, I found most people tend to be way better with it than you think they're gonna be once you explain it? Um, there's a few kind of like, Oh, that doesn't exist, which is a bit rubbish. But people have way more trouble with the gender stuff I find, um, right, [00:08:00] possibly. Just because it's more visible, like, you know, you're not gonna get yelled at on the street for being a But people can often tell if you're presenting very sort of gender nonconforming, Um, which hasn't happened too much recently. But, um, like, in 1st and 2nd year. Um, just because of the parts of, like, the student area I had to walk through to get home, Um, I [00:08:30] get, you know, yelled at, and it's like the the groups of dude bros drinking on their lawns in the late afternoon or, like throw bottles and shit, which isn't isn't brilliant. Um, and then I go up, grabbed once, Um, because yeah, they were yelling at me, and I was like, Yeah, boy, go. And I just didn't answer. And so they came over and grabbed me until I talked to them, which wasn't fun, but [00:09:00] yeah, I don't know, Like it hasn't been. It hasn't been that bad. Um, my family, my brother, is cool. with it, but he's supremely chill and pretty cool with everything. Um, I only came out to my parents a few months ago, and I honestly can't quite tell how they're taking it because they don't like to talk about stuff very much. Like my dad just kind of went real [00:09:30] quiet and hasn't mentioned it since I talked to him, and I'm not super keen to restart that conversation. Um, my mother, I don't think she got it. But then she I told her I was, um, applying to change the gender marker on my passport and she started crying. I was like, Oh, fuck. But then a couple of weeks later, she, um, just out of the blue like, sent me enough money to cover the passport change fees. It's like, Ah, [00:10:00] like she's not the kind of person who would ever acknowledge like, Hey, that was fucked up. Sorry I did that. But I, I think that's what she was going for. So, yeah, I think it's just kind of a matter of thinking about it a little while because it's a bit outside the sort of realm of experience. Um, how does it feel to kind of constantly have to be like explaining or educating people about your identity [00:10:30] is so shit, I don't know, like this is there are definitely benefits, I think, to flying under the radar in terms of you don't get sort of so much explicit. Um, bile beauty, I suppose. But yeah, just, um at least if you say you're gay, people know what that means. Like, I don't know. It's [00:11:00] kind of I don't, um I don't feel comfortable being read as straight or it makes me really uneasy, but it's just it's not something you can like drop into conversation. You need to be prepared to do, like, a half hour or 101 with everyone you talk to. Bye. It's taken way longer than it should. So it's frustrating more than anything. Whereabouts. Did you grow up [00:11:30] Christchurch and, um, Lyon in France for a little while, but mostly Christchurch. Um, have you seen much difference between how I guess phobia or how people are treated between Christchurch and, um, I didn't start. Um, I didn't start identifying as queer until quite late in high school, and [00:12:00] then I moved down here. As soon as I finished um so I'm sure that would have an influence on her. But, um, I feel like a lot of it is actually what kind of bits of town you're moving around and like, in Dunedin, like, I live in the student area, and then you have the uni and town, and it's all kind of very close together and very populated. Um, and I don't really [00:12:30] I I've never You know, I've never felt particularly unsafe. Like, you know, you get people yelling at you, but it's just drunk people being idiots. Um, like most of the instances of violence in Dunedin have been more like out in suburbia. Um, which is not somewhere I ever really go in Dunedin because I don't need to. Like, everything I need is in this quite small radius. Um, I don't know. [00:13:00] I mean, I guess because in Christchurch I was at school. There was a lot of, you know, the kind of high school kids being being dicks and stuff, which I'm sure goes on here. But I'm not in school anymore, so I don't see it. Um, yeah, it's quite difficult to compare, Like university to high school, I think, Um Do you see Facebook and social media playing a part, Um, in the way that you [00:13:30] will ever, um, we connect and kind of find information. And like most of, um, well, most of our events are organised primarily through Facebook just because it's easier. Um, and the fact that you can do kind of public events and stuff makes it easier to reach people who might not necessarily feel like they have, like an end to the community, which is quite cool. It is something we're definitely working on. Um, [00:14:00] and then kind of the prevalence of, um, blogging and sharing sites is definitely making a huge difference in terms of education. I think, like just because what you're able to access is not explicitly education material like it's not kind of someone's sat down to teach you about the thing. It's like [00:14:30] you can actually come like find people talking just about their experiences and about their own lives, which is in terms of actually kind of understanding people, rather than knowing facts about them is a lot more helpful, I think so. What do you think are some of the biggest issues facing current trans people in New Zealand at the moment, I think just kind of casual, um, casual homophobia [00:15:00] and queer phobia. And like a range of smaller identities, like just that kind of constant low level stuff is still a huge deal. Like it just it wears you down so much. And it would be really nice if that stopped gonna give some examples of how I look like, Well, I mean, the Eurasia, you don't tend to see queer people portrayed in [00:15:30] media or anything, unless it's for a narrative purpose. Um, like using sexuality as a plot device rather than something that just, you know, people just have, um yeah, especially. And even even then, it's generally gay men, sometimes lesbians, if you're lucky. Um, I don't think I can think of any ice characters. [00:16:00] Oh, I suppose, Sheldon. But that's not exactly It's like a shiny example of healthy ace representation. Um, what does that look like? It's just, um, the kind of around her sexuality. There's a lot of tropes about, um, you know, being, um, there's a really strong, um, kind of socially enforced correlation [00:16:30] between asexuality and forms of autism, which is shit for both a and autistic people because it's not true like, um and you know, like, that's not that's not helping either community. Um and yeah, the kind of like no social skills, reclusive, hyper genius thing. It's a big stereotype, massive stereotype [00:17:00] when it is in the media, it's really it's very stereotype, and you get that with a lot of other stuff as well. Um, it's just, yeah, it's just frustrating. Like so, you know, you kind of every piece of media you can see it's like, This is suffocating. No one like me or my friends seems to exist in these worlds. Yeah. Have you seen any, um, anything in the middle of where they are? Everything include people. [00:17:30] Um, there are definitely some out there. Um, this kind of the whole like, television revolution thing that's happening at the moment has been really, really brilliant for it, because it's finally, um, beginning to democratise media creation in a way that hasn't happened for, like, 50 years. Um, which is incredibly exciting. And it means that you're getting, you know, people who have less, um, [00:18:00] sort of political power and institutional power in, um sort of the centres of media creation being able to tell their own stories. Um and so you're getting things, you know, like orange is the new black and all black and, um, house of cards and all those kind of like, little little things that are people are finally able to make that wouldn't have been able to be made even like five or 10 years ago. Um, that's incredibly exciting. Um, [00:18:30] I feel like the same thing hasn't happened with film just because, Like, the way, um, the way the Internet sort of revolution thing has happened is really only affecting TV in that way at the moment, um and so film is still controlled by the same people and the same kinds of people that it has been for decades. And [00:19:00] so nothing's changing and also because that's all that is available. People still go. People still consume their media, And that then means that those people can point and be like, Look, people are still consuming the media. We don't need to change anything, um, which is unfortunate. And I don't think anything's going to change about that with any speed. Unless something [00:19:30] similar happens to the film industry to kind of radically restructure where the power of creation lies and give more power back to the consumer. I'm not sure if it's the thing that's gonna happen, it would be nice. Do you think Where do you think we might be in, like, 10 years with With in relation to both media and Other like issues and anything? Hm? I'd like to think we've gotten a bit better at general health care. That would be nice. [00:20:00] Um, my, um my flatmate has been in and out of, um, emergency psych and psych wards for the last few weeks and just how unbelievably difficult it is to get people to actually use non-binary pronouns. And just especially when it's a psych issue. And it's just like you are making this worse, like you [00:20:30] are actively making this worse. And it's it's very frustrating. Um, yeah, thankfully, they're home now, but it would be nice to for that to kind of not be an issue and, um, sort of in especially trans identities. But other queer identities as well still tend to get pathologize in a way that, um, impedes treatment of other issues like it's not even [00:21:00] directly queer related stuff like, you know, trans healthcare and, um, sexual health and stuff like that, which obviously needs more work. But, um, just the way queerness gets, like, tangled in and pathologize with other stuff. Um, like, they ended up, um, speaking to a psychiatrist about, um, the stuff that was going on and then when they were discussing medication, mentioned that they were planning to go on hormones. [00:21:30] Um, just because they wanted to kind of cover all their bases in terms of, you know, medicine, interactions and stuff. A psychiatrist like seized on this as a you know, a huge part of their problem is like, No, they can be. They can be trans without that being part of the psych issues. Um, and yeah, like, I was, um, refused treatment for depression by one counsellor because I refused to also attempt to solve my sexual [00:22:00] problem. Um, which was a bit rubbish. And, yeah, just stuff like that. Like the patho organisation of queer identities. It would be nice to see that change, and I think it's just it's just an education thing. Um, but I think for that to change education needs to target medical schools like it just seems like a huge waste that we're not doing that. Like, we've got sort of the entire [00:22:30] population of medical practitioners bottlenecking through two centres in the country like there's a perfect opportunity. Um, so hopefully that'll be something that could happen. That would be nice. Do you engage much with kind of, um, politics in New Zealand around and stuff? Um, probably not. As much as I feel like I should, um, I yeah, I mean, I'm I'm only 19, so I haven't had to vote yet, but I'm gonna have to do research and figure out what to do when [00:23:00] that comes around. Um, yeah. I don't know. I'm kind of involved in political stuff. More on a, um I guess, Like, grassroots level kind of stuff. Like university university campaigns. And, um yes, yes. Supporting things like the quest centre and rape crisis and stuff like that. Um, sort of actual [00:23:30] active, I guess. Active politics, like, you know, sort of working in politics as opposed to political activism, is not something that interests me at all. Um, I admire people who can do it, but it's not for me. Really. Um, if you could give a message to young [00:24:00] or non binary people out there. What would it be? You You exist. It's real. Um, try not to second guess yourself too much, I guess. Mhm. Um, when you finish up, what's your favourite thing about being a young and good person in New Zealand? The community that I have met so many indescribably amazing people that [00:24:30] I don't think I would have met otherwise. And also being exposed to things that make me a much better person, like the sort of, you know, sociological discourse and discussion of like how our world and our society works is not something I think I would have come across to anywhere near the same degree. And I'm, you know, I'm very glad I did, [00:25:00] because I think it's made me better.
This page features computer generated text of the source audio. It may contain errors or omissions, so always listen back to the original media to confirm content.
Tags