Stephen Whittle
Encyclopedia
Professor Stephen Whittle OBE
, PhD (b. 29 May 1955) is an active member of the United Kingdom TransActivist organisation Press for Change. Now (2007), Whittle is Professor of Equalities Law in the School of Law at Manchester Metropolitan University
.
Cottage Hospital, where his grandmother was a senior nurse, he was a sickly child who was born with rickets. He was the middle child of the 5 children in his family. In 1955 the family lived in Wythenshawe
. At that time, Wythenshawe
was said to be the biggest council estate in Europe, providing workers for the Trafford Park
estate.
After several years of Sun Lamp treatment for his rickets, at St Mary's Hospital
, he was considered well enough to attend Havely Hay Primary school at the age of 5. In 1963 the family moved to Withington
village, an inner suburb of Manchester
. From the age of 8 he attended Old Moat Junior school.
In 1966 his mother, Barbara Elizabeth Whittle (née Stead), being concerned at how different he was from his sisters, entered him in the examination for Withington
Girl's School
. Being, that year, one of the highest scorers in the city in the 11 plus examinations, he received a scholarship to attend.
It was during his time at Withington Girl's School that he started reading medical books in the corner of his local library. He knew he was romantically attached to other girls at school – he never told them, and so his love was not reciprocated – but he also knew that he was sexually attracted to men. On top of that was a strong desire to be a man, to grow a beard and to have a hairy chest. He had read articles about people like Della Aleksander and April Ashley
who had had a 'sex change
', but never realised that might be him. Eventually in 1972, at the age of 16, whilst visiting his doctor about a sore throat he read about a female to male transsexual person.
In 1974 Whittle came 'out' as a (FTM) Transman, after returning from a women's Liberation Conference in Edinburgh, which he attended as a member of the Manchester Lesbian Collective. He has been active in the transsexual and transgender
community ever since the age of twenty when in 1975 he co-founded the Manchester TV/TS group, the very first support group for transsexual people in the United Kingdom. In 1979 he joined the former army officer and then royal sculptor, the trans woman Judy Couzins in the Self Help Association for Transsexuals (SHAFT). According to Whittle, nobody liked to tell pensioner Judy what 'Shaft' meant in ordinary life.
In 1989, after working with many organisations including The Gender Trust
and the Beaumont Society (named after the Chevalier d'Eon
de Beaumont, a mid 18th century cross dressing French spy) he founded the UK's FTM Network which he coordinated until November 2007. In 1992, along with Mark Rees, the actress Myka Scott and the airline pilot Krystyna Sheffield, he founded and became vice-president of Press for Change. He still is one of the vice-presidents (there is no president, and never has been as it is a consensus group), and Press for Change has gone from being the most unlikely group to succeed, to being called as early as 1994 'one of the most successful lobby groups seen in the last 25 years' by Lord Alex Carlile, Baron Carlile of Berriew
at the reading of his Gender Reassignment Bill, which failed and which, according to Whittle, would have made dreadful law, but "for 40 minutes members of parliament discussed trans people which without it, would have never happened".
Whittle has actively worked towards changing the laws and social attitudes surrounding transgender and transsexual lives. He has participated in many radio and television programmes. In 'Make me a Man' (2002) Sarah and Stephen allowed the television cameras to follow their lives as he underwent phalloplasty surgery
whilst continuing his other work at the university, his campaigning, and raising his children.
Though unable to marry legally in the UK until the passing of the Gender Recognition Act 2004, he and his partner (now wife), Sarah Rutherford, have four children by artificial insemination
. The Whittles' efforts to gain recognition of Stephen as their children's legal father led to the important case of X, Y AND Z v. THE UNITED KINGDOM before the European Court of Human Rights(1996).
The Gender Recognition Act 2004 came into force in April 2005, and Whittle obtained a new birth certificate. He and his partner Sarah legally married on 18 June 2005, and jointly adopted their children, so making Stephen the children's legal father, in April 2006.
In 2002 Whittle was given the Human Rights Award by the Civil Rights group Liberty
, for his commitment and dedication to ensuring the advancement of rights for transsexual people through judicial means in the UK, Europe, and around the world.
In the Queen's New Year's Honours list in 2005, Whittle was made an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire
) for his services to gender issues. And in 2006 he was awarded the Virginia Prince Lifetime Achievement Award by the USA's International Federation for Gender Education.
He has also written and spoken extensively on his personal journey, most notably in his praised autobiographical statement in Will Self
's essay for David Gamble's photography collection 'Perfidious Man'. His writings have included, among other things, an article on the ground-breaking transsexual employment discrimination case decided on by the European Court of Justice
. In 2005 he was awarded The Sylvia Rivera Award for Transgender Studies by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies
for the monograph ‘Respect and Equality’. In 2007, along with his co-editor, Susan Stryker, he was awarded a Lambda Literary Award
for their annotated collection of 50 key historical and contemporary transgender science, political and theory texts; 'The Transgender Studies Reader'.
In 2002, Whittle was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
. Having experienced a variety of health problems since his early 20's, he had had suspicions and was neither surprised, or terrified by the diagnosis. His multiple sclerosis has been an increasing problem since late 2005, yet he continues in his full time university post, and his fight for the human rights of trans people throughout he world. In recent years, he has collaborated with other members; Paisley Currah, Shannon Minter and Alyson Meiselmann, of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health
(WPATH) on amicus briefs to courts in many jurisdictions. In 2007, he was he first non-medical professional and first Trans person to become President of WPATH.
Whittle continues to write extensively on the law and policy surrounding transsexual and transgender people, along with several recent academic articles returning to the question of the law and trans people. He also continues (2007) to work on what he hopes will be the defining history of transgender, and the sources of the many theories surrounding gender variant people.
Throughout his very busy life, Whittle has maintained an interest in the avant-garde
of the arts, and in recent years he has started to collaborate with the photographer and Lecturer in Fine Art at Wimbledon College of Art
, Sara Davidmann.
In early 2007, along with Dr Lewis Turner, he published the research report; 'Engendered Penalties: Transsexual and Transgender People’s Experience of Inequality and Discrimination' for the Equalities Review which was instrumental in ensuring the inclusion of trans people in the remit of the new Commission for Equalities and Human Rights
.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, PhD (b. 29 May 1955) is an active member of the United Kingdom TransActivist organisation Press for Change. Now (2007), Whittle is Professor of Equalities Law in the School of Law at Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
.
Biography
Born a female at AltrinchamAltrincham
Altrincham is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on flat ground south of the River Mersey about southwest of Manchester city centre, south-southwest of Sale and east of Warrington...
Cottage Hospital, where his grandmother was a senior nurse, he was a sickly child who was born with rickets. He was the middle child of the 5 children in his family. In 1955 the family lived in Wythenshawe
Wythenshawe
Wythenshawe is a district in the south of the city of Manchester, England.Formerly part of the administrative county of Cheshire, in 1931 Wythenshawe was transferred to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a massive housing estate there in the 1920s to resolve the problem of its inner...
. At that time, Wythenshawe
Wythenshawe
Wythenshawe is a district in the south of the city of Manchester, England.Formerly part of the administrative county of Cheshire, in 1931 Wythenshawe was transferred to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a massive housing estate there in the 1920s to resolve the problem of its inner...
was said to be the biggest council estate in Europe, providing workers for the Trafford Park
Trafford Park
Trafford Park is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. Located opposite Salford Quays, on the southern side of the Manchester Ship Canal, it is west-southwest of Manchester city centre, and north of Stretford. Until the late 19th century it was the...
estate.
After several years of Sun Lamp treatment for his rickets, at St Mary's Hospital
St Mary's Hospital, Manchester
St Mary's Hospital is a hospital in Manchester, England. It is part of Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It was founded in 1790. St Mary's provides a unique range of inter-related services specifically for women and children...
, he was considered well enough to attend Havely Hay Primary school at the age of 5. In 1963 the family moved to Withington
Withington
Withington is a suburban area of the City of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies south of Manchester city centre, about south of Fallowfield, north-east of Didsbury, and east of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, near the centre-to-south edges of the Greater Manchester Urban Area; in the...
village, an inner suburb of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. From the age of 8 he attended Old Moat Junior school.
In 1966 his mother, Barbara Elizabeth Whittle (née Stead), being concerned at how different he was from his sisters, entered him in the examination for Withington
Withington
Withington is a suburban area of the City of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies south of Manchester city centre, about south of Fallowfield, north-east of Didsbury, and east of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, near the centre-to-south edges of the Greater Manchester Urban Area; in the...
Girl's School
Independent school (UK)
An independent school is a school that is not financed through the taxation system by local or national government and is instead funded by private sources, predominantly in the form of tuition charges, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and so is not subject to the conditions imposed by...
. Being, that year, one of the highest scorers in the city in the 11 plus examinations, he received a scholarship to attend.
It was during his time at Withington Girl's School that he started reading medical books in the corner of his local library. He knew he was romantically attached to other girls at school – he never told them, and so his love was not reciprocated – but he also knew that he was sexually attracted to men. On top of that was a strong desire to be a man, to grow a beard and to have a hairy chest. He had read articles about people like Della Aleksander and April Ashley
April Ashley
April Ashley is an English model and restaurant hostess. She was the first British person to be outed as a transsexual, which was by the Sunday People in 1961...
who had had a 'sex change
Sex change
Sex change is a term often used for gender reassignment therapy, that is, all medical procedures transgendered people can have, or specifically to sexual reassignment surgery, which usually refers to genitalia surgery only...
', but never realised that might be him. Eventually in 1972, at the age of 16, whilst visiting his doctor about a sore throat he read about a female to male transsexual person.
In 1974 Whittle came 'out' as a (FTM) Transman, after returning from a women's Liberation Conference in Edinburgh, which he attended as a member of the Manchester Lesbian Collective. He has been active in the transsexual and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
community ever since the age of twenty when in 1975 he co-founded the Manchester TV/TS group, the very first support group for transsexual people in the United Kingdom. In 1979 he joined the former army officer and then royal sculptor, the trans woman Judy Couzins in the Self Help Association for Transsexuals (SHAFT). According to Whittle, nobody liked to tell pensioner Judy what 'Shaft' meant in ordinary life.
In 1989, after working with many organisations including The Gender Trust
The Gender Trust
Formed in 1990, The Gender Trust is a UK organisation supporting transsexuals and others suffering from Gender Identity Disorder by promoting public education about transgender issues and providing information to those affected...
and the Beaumont Society (named after the Chevalier d'Eon
Chevalier d'Eon
Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d'Éon de Beaumont , usually known as the Chevalier d'Éon, was a French diplomat, spy, soldier and Freemason whose first 49 years were spent as a man, and whose last 33 years were spent as a woman...
de Beaumont, a mid 18th century cross dressing French spy) he founded the UK's FTM Network which he coordinated until November 2007. In 1992, along with Mark Rees, the actress Myka Scott and the airline pilot Krystyna Sheffield, he founded and became vice-president of Press for Change. He still is one of the vice-presidents (there is no president, and never has been as it is a consensus group), and Press for Change has gone from being the most unlikely group to succeed, to being called as early as 1994 'one of the most successful lobby groups seen in the last 25 years' by Lord Alex Carlile, Baron Carlile of Berriew
Alex Carlile, Baron Carlile of Berriew
Alexander Charles Carlile, Baron Carlile of Berriew, QC is a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords.-Early life and career:...
at the reading of his Gender Reassignment Bill, which failed and which, according to Whittle, would have made dreadful law, but "for 40 minutes members of parliament discussed trans people which without it, would have never happened".
Whittle has actively worked towards changing the laws and social attitudes surrounding transgender and transsexual lives. He has participated in many radio and television programmes. In 'Make me a Man' (2002) Sarah and Stephen allowed the television cameras to follow their lives as he underwent phalloplasty surgery
Sex reassignment surgery (female-to-male)
Sex reassignment surgery from female to male includes a variety of surgical procedures for transsexual men that alter female anatomical traits to provide physical traits more appropriate to the trans man's male identity and functioning....
whilst continuing his other work at the university, his campaigning, and raising his children.
Though unable to marry legally in the UK until the passing of the Gender Recognition Act 2004, he and his partner (now wife), Sarah Rutherford, have four children by artificial insemination
Artificial insemination
Artificial insemination, or AI, is the process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse or natural insemination...
. The Whittles' efforts to gain recognition of Stephen as their children's legal father led to the important case of X, Y AND Z v. THE UNITED KINGDOM before the European Court of Human Rights(1996).
... masculinity is facing a massive crisis. What it is to be a man, has in itself become
so inherently devalued – probably rightly so, through feminist discussion, theory and
argument ... But there's no new model of masculinity... I think ... that (as) transsexual men, we've worked very hard to provide an alternative model of masculinity. Because we've inculcated ...(feminist)... values (into being a man).
The Gender Recognition Act 2004 came into force in April 2005, and Whittle obtained a new birth certificate. He and his partner Sarah legally married on 18 June 2005, and jointly adopted their children, so making Stephen the children's legal father, in April 2006.
In 2002 Whittle was given the Human Rights Award by the Civil Rights group Liberty
Liberty (pressure group)
Liberty is a pressure group based in the United Kingdom. Its formal name is the National Council for Civil Liberties . Founded in 1934 by Ronald Kidd and Sylvia Crowther-Smith , the group campaigns to protect civil liberties and promote human rights...
, for his commitment and dedication to ensuring the advancement of rights for transsexual people through judicial means in the UK, Europe, and around the world.
In the Queen's New Year's Honours list in 2005, Whittle was made an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
) for his services to gender issues. And in 2006 he was awarded the Virginia Prince Lifetime Achievement Award by the USA's International Federation for Gender Education.
The problem of who I legally am in the world I live in has been vexatious throughout my adult life ... I face an inadequate legal framework in which to exist. We are simply ‘not’ within a world that only permits two sexes, only allows two forms of gender role, identity or expression. Always falling outside of the ‘norm’ our lives become less, our humanity is questioned, and our oppression is legitimised
He has also written and spoken extensively on his personal journey, most notably in his praised autobiographical statement in Will Self
Will Self
William Woodard "Will" Self is an English novelist and short story writer. His fictional style is known for being satirical, grotesque, and fantastical. He is a prolific commentator on contemporary British life, with regular appearances on Newsnight and Question Time...
's essay for David Gamble's photography collection 'Perfidious Man'. His writings have included, among other things, an article on the ground-breaking transsexual employment discrimination case decided on by the European Court of Justice
European Court of Justice
The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...
. In 2005 he was awarded The Sylvia Rivera Award for Transgender Studies by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies
Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies
The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies was founded in 1991 by professor Martin Duberman as the first university-based research center in the United States dedicated to the study of historical, cultural, and political issues of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals and communities...
for the monograph ‘Respect and Equality’. In 2007, along with his co-editor, Susan Stryker, he was awarded a Lambda Literary Award
Lambda Literary Award
Lambda Literary Awards are awarded yearly by the US-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works which celebrate or explore LGBT themes. Categories include Humor, Romance and Biography. To qualify, a book must have been published in the United States in the year current to the award...
for their annotated collection of 50 key historical and contemporary transgender science, political and theory texts; 'The Transgender Studies Reader'.
In 2002, Whittle was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
. Having experienced a variety of health problems since his early 20's, he had had suspicions and was neither surprised, or terrified by the diagnosis. His multiple sclerosis has been an increasing problem since late 2005, yet he continues in his full time university post, and his fight for the human rights of trans people throughout he world. In recent years, he has collaborated with other members; Paisley Currah, Shannon Minter and Alyson Meiselmann, of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health
Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health, Inc. is a professional organization devoted to the understanding and treatment of gender dysphoria. The organization was originally named after Harry Benjamin, one of the earliest physicians to work with transsexuals...
(WPATH) on amicus briefs to courts in many jurisdictions. In 2007, he was he first non-medical professional and first Trans person to become President of WPATH.
Whittle continues to write extensively on the law and policy surrounding transsexual and transgender people, along with several recent academic articles returning to the question of the law and trans people. He also continues (2007) to work on what he hopes will be the defining history of transgender, and the sources of the many theories surrounding gender variant people.
Throughout his very busy life, Whittle has maintained an interest in the avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
of the arts, and in recent years he has started to collaborate with the photographer and Lecturer in Fine Art at Wimbledon College of Art
Wimbledon College of Art
Wimbledon College of Art is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London and is one of London's major art institutions. It is located in Wimbledon and Merton Park, South West London.-History:...
, Sara Davidmann.
In early 2007, along with Dr Lewis Turner, he published the research report; 'Engendered Penalties: Transsexual and Transgender People’s Experience of Inequality and Discrimination' for the Equalities Review which was instrumental in ensuring the inclusion of trans people in the remit of the new Commission for Equalities and Human Rights
Commission for Equalities and Human Rights
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is a non-departmental public body in Great Britain which was established by the Equality Act 2006 and came into being on 1 October 2007. The Commission has responsibility for the promotion and enforcement of equality and non-discrimination laws in England,...
.
Roles
- Press for Change founder and Vice-president
- FTM Network, founder and coordinator
- Professor of Equalities Law at Manchester Metropolitan UniversityManchester Metropolitan UniversityManchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
Books
- (with Turner, L.) (2007) Engendered Penalties: Transsexual and Transgneder Experience of Inequality and Discrimination by Trans People, London: Cabinet Office
- (with Stryker, S., eds) (2006) A Transgender Studies Reader, New York & London: Taylor & Francis: Routledge
- (2002) Respect and Equality: Transsexual and Transgender Rights, London: Cavendish Publishing
- (2000) The Transgender Debate: The Crisis Surrounding Gender Identities, Reading: South Street Press
- (with More K, eds) (1999), Reclaiming Genders: Transsexual Grammars at the fin de siecle, London: Cassell Publishing
- (with McMullen. M.]]) 1998, The Transvestite, the Transsexual and the Law (4th edition); 1996 London: Beaumont Trust (3rd Edition); 1995 London: Beaumont Trust, (2nd Edition); 1994 London: The Gender Trust ( 1st Edition.)
- ed. (1994), The Margins of the City: Gay Men's Urban Lives, Hampshire: Arena Press, Hampshire
Chapters in Books
- (2007) Transsexual people in the Military, In J. Barrett ed. The Practical Management of Adult Disorders of Gender Identity, Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing
- (2007) The Gender Recognition Act 2004, In J. Barrett ed. The Practical Management of Adult Disorders of Gender Identity, Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing
- (2006) Impossible People: Viewing the Self portraits of Transsexual People in A. Rogers ed. Parody, Pastiche and the Politics of Art: Materiality in a Post-material Paradigm, University of Central England in Birmingham in association with Ikon Gallery
- (with Watson, K.) (2004) Slicing Through Healthy Bodies: The media of body modification In M. King and K.Watson, Representing Health: Discourses of health and illness in the media London: Palgrave pp. 104–136. pages: 35
- (2005) Sustaining Values: Feminist Investments in the Transgender Body, In Y.W. Haschemi and B. Michaelis, eds.. Quer durch die Geisteswissenschaften. Perspektiven der Queer Theory. Berlin: Querverlag, pp. 157–168, pages: 10
Journal Articles
- (2007) “Respectively a Man and a Woman”: The Failures of the Gender Recognition Act 2005 and the Civil Partnership Act 2005, Lesbian and Gay Psychology Review http://www.bps.org.uk/lesgay/lg_review/lg_review_home.cfm, Vol.8, no.1, Spring
- (with Turner, L.) (2007)‘Sex changes’? Paradigm shifts in ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ following the Gender Recognition Act?’http://www.socresonline.org.uk/12/1/whittle.html, Sociological Research Online, Volume 12, Issue 1, January
- (2006) 'The opposite of sex is politics – the UK Gender Recognition Act and why it is not perfect, just like you and me' Journal of Gender Studies http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/carfax/09589236.html, Volume 15, Number 3, November.
- (with Witten, T.M.) (2004)TransPanthers: The Greying of Transgender and the Law http://www.deakin.edu.au/buslaw/law/dlr/pdf_files/vol9_iss2/10.pdf, Deakin Law Review http://www.deakin.edu.au/buslaw/law/dlr/, 4(2) pp. 503–522
- (with Hartley, C.F.) (2003)'Different Sexed and Gendered Bodies Demand Different ways of Thinking About Policy and Practice, Practice' A Journal of the British Association of Social Workers, 15(3) pp. 61–73
- (with Poole, L., Stephens, P.) (2002) 'Working with Transgendered and Transsexual People as Offenders in the Probation Service' Probation Journal http://prb.sagepub.com/, 49(3) pp 227–232
- (with Little, C., Stephens, P.) (2002)'The Praxis and Politics of Policing: Problems Facing Transgender People' QUT Law & Justice Journal http://www.law.qut.edu.au/about/ljj/, 2(2)
- (1999) 'New’isms: Transsexual People and Institutionalised Discrimination in Employment Law' Contemporary Issues in Law http://www.lawtext.com/lawtextweb/default.jsp?PageID=2, 4(3), pp 31–53.
- (1998) 'The Trans-Cyberian Mail Way' Journal of Social and Legal Studies http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journalsProdDesc.nav?prodId=Journal200832, 7(3), pp 389–408
- (1998) 'Editorial' in The Journal of Gender Studies http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/carfax/09589236.html: Special Edition – Transgender, 7(3), pp 269–272