Thursday, October 11, 2012

Transsexual, Transgender Dissertation!

Hi everyone, I'm still here.

I just received an email from an Amy Rotherforth. She is asking to interview me as well as other transgender/transsexual people for a research dissertation paper. Has anyone else received this email, and if so, does anyone know anything about her. She sounds legitimate, but it would be nice to hear from someone who actually knows her. She certainly sounds like she could be an ally for our community.

Here for your reading pleasure is the email that I received, just in case anyone has not received it:

Hi, I have found your e-mail on your blog; I hope you don’t mind me getting in contact with you! J This email is a little long, really sorry about that, I just wanted to make sure everything I can think of is said!

Anyway, a little bit about me, my name is Amy Rotherforth. I’m from Yorkshire in England and studying Psychology with Counselling studies at the University of Huddersfield. I am in my final year and have to complete an 8000 word research dissertation on any topic. My research interest is the transgender and transsexual community and I hope after completing this final year at uni I will work as a psychologist/therapist working with individuals undergoing transition and also the aftercare of patients undergoing sexual reassignment surgery.

My interest on this topic comes from people I have met who are transgender, TV programmes, blogs and academic research. I feel that there isn’t enough research and hope that through people speaking about and educating others on trans issues more and more; the discrimination and transphobia which is still out there could be greatly reduced! (In a perfect world, disappear!) I myself am not transgender or transsexual but I consider myself an ally. Throughout my career I hope to make a difference to the lives of people and feel very strongly and passionate about it. I feel that the social barriers and the conflicts which individuals have to go through to live in the gender they chose e.g. coming out, family issues, spouse issues, jobs, ignorant people etc. are all issues which need to be addressed and people’s attitudes need to be challenged. 

To give a bit of information on the research… I have to submit an ethical approval on the 17th November to the university so that they can monitor us and make sure we’re doing everything to the book. So I won’t be able to start with the research until early December, I’m just writing now to see if any participants are interested J It will be an interview, nothing too personal and won’t be too long! It can be done in anyway you find easiest, skype, phone, instant messenger, email, letter, you choose J any questions which you don’t want to answer can be left, you can also change your mind at anytime throughout the whole process and your data will be destroyed. It will all be kept anonymous and you can have full access to the results when its done if you would like J The interview questions will be about gender identity, discrimination and your stance on surgery and treatment. The full aims and questions will be put to a focus group who can assist me in deciding if the questions are appropriate and I can give you more detail about all that after the ethics approval when everything will come together (on the 17th October)! 
 
If you feel you would like to help me and take part, would you please respond and just let me know, and then in December I can make a start! To make you feel more comfortable I can answer any question you may have, I can also leave my university email which is u0956377@hud.ac.uk if you would feel more comfortable using that one. Any question you have, or information you would like about me or the project is more than welcome J Also, if you don’t feel comfortable in answering questions but could help me by being part of my focus group (helping me before I start, deciding on appropriate questions) then also let me know, any help is much appreciated J 

Thanks for reading , hope this all makes sense, hope to hear from you!

Hope to hear from anyone who has received this email, and what they may or may not know about her, or just your thoughts about the whole matter. 

Hugs,

Cynthia

PS: I have Amy's personal email address also, if anyone would like it.