The good way to start a day is to take an energiser! That’s what we all did – we played a card game. All the participnats were given a card. The moderartor draws out a card and shows it to everybody. So, depending on the colour of the card the participants either move to the place next to their seat or stay at their places, if they have a different colour. The winner of the game is the one, who comes back to his or her original seat.
After this nice wake-up game we separated into small groups and took a tour around the house. This was an opportunity to get to know this building better, as well as to pick up some useful information on the region, the house and the public services. During this tour we did some tasks, which included a name game, ‘creating’ a body machine, rehearsing our singing abilities and others. The outcome of these efforts was presented to the whole group.
We then got some information on the program and the various media groups that we can take part in. We were asked to choose a media group according to our personal preferences and interests.
After lunch we went out, enjoying the nice weater. We biked around the countryside and discovered Werftpfuhl’s ‘Sehenswürdigkeiten’!
Later on, during the international evening we had the pleasure to taste some delicious food from all over Europe. And then, lying on matresses, we watched the wonderful movie ‘Women Love Women’.
As usual the day began with an energizer that left the participant a little more awake and the furniture a little bit kaput.
Transgender theory is a breakthrough of the borders of gender, body and role. In other words it goes beyond the idea of only two, and only physical factors based, genders. This new idea questions these concepts and shows that it common yet not natural to belong to one of these genders. Jannik, our speaker on this subject explained “The body you have sends a message to others but it’s not always the message you want to send. It’s your decision to change it but it also depends on you the way you do this change.”
Transgender – can include different things in between male and female characteristics; it can include drag queens, drag kings; can but doesn’t have to be a daily routine, part of the scene or a political statement. Very often transgender people are incorrectly defined as lesbians or gay.
Transsexual – a medical term, clearly defining those people, who identify themselves as the other sex and want to get treatment to get to the other sex. Transsexuality is still considered to be a mental disease/mental disorder.
Transvestite – a person, who get sexually excited by crossdressing.
Intersexuality – it refers to people born with physical signs that do not clearly define them as male or female. The law of Germany requires that within 24-hours after birth the sex of a child has to be officially registered. Often when physical features of both sexes are present the doctors decide to “produce” a girl. In the words of one German specialist: “It’s easier to make a whole than a pole”.
Workshop of daily problems of transgender people.
In two small groups the participants discussed the legal and social problems that transgender people are, or can be, faced with in their daily life’s. These range from legal matters like not being able to correct their sex status in official documents and not being able to get married or to join the army to social and economical
problems.
This was the day to be informed about other cultures. There was the EXOTICA workshop done by Uwe, the stereotypes discussion by Artur and the Western European discussion led by Servaz.
Uwe thought us about the Navajoh Indians, who raise their children independent from their sex, but dependent from their gender, their social behaviour. Vlada also had much input in the seminar. More about his knowledge from other cultures you can find on this website.
And then, the biggest moment: the trip to Berlin. After we stuffed some meatballs on bread in our hungry mouths we ran to the train, because these high-speed trains from Eastern-germany you do not want to miss. It was a pity that Kati was ill, so she could not guide us, but Ingo took over her role fortunately.
The wheather was just lovely and the first people our group bumped into, were the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Nice religious Transvestites with white faces to indicate their innocence waved to us and Tobias embraced them even. He is in touch with these special scenes...
The weather turned colder so it was time to go inside and drink and eat. The naughty group (the Serbs, some Polish and David) were first going to this Gogo restaurant and after to the real Berlin leather Scene. The Serbs and David even went to Club Connection. This is the Sodom and Gomorrah of Berlin. The stories after were tremendous! The others went, like we promised, to SchwuZ (schwulen zentrum) where it was a nice atmosphere. We even danced in the disco (after I grabbed some of our group, Assia, Azer, Tobias) out of the queue outside. At 2 o'clock the first group arrived at werftpfuhl but stayed at the red sofas discussing, while Boris explored his new girlfriend in the Kellerbar. After a Match ´Who Knows The Most Capitals In The World´ we started to explain surnames to eachother. 4 o'clock it was bedtime. Ajeto!!!