Interview with Lea Amanda Svensson

Monika: Lea Amanda Svensson is my lovely guest today. She is a Swedish physician, biker girl, high heels lover, hobby photographer, and proud transgender woman who chronicles her transition on social media. Hello Lea! Thank you for accepting my invitation.

Lea: Thank you for your invitation, Monika! I apologize for the lack of my availability but I was extremely busy during the last month. Being a doctor and a single parent is not really easy. Time and energy meet each other rather seldom in my case.

Monika: No problem! Could you say a few words about yourself?

Lea: I am a 46-year-old trans woman coming from Russia, Saint-Petersburg. I moved to Sweden 6 years ago to work as a doctor in a little village in the southwest part of this beautiful country. I moved here to go through my transition also because Russia has never been a friendly place for trans people. It took extremely much time and energy to take me here, but I never had a single regret about it. I am finishing my education and soon I will be a specialist in general practice.

Interview with Sheila Newsom

Monika: Today I have the sheer pleasure of meeting Dr. Sheila Newsom, an American physician, published author, public speaker, successful entrepreneur, experienced producer, and lifelong student. Sheila can boast a military background, including graduation from West Point and service as an Airborne Ranger. She spent 22 years in private practice focusing on nephrology and critical care. She is is the founder of Finding Metis, an in-home ketamine therapy service, and the author of A Calling from the Bones (2018), a biographical book that covers different aspects of her transition. Hello Sheila!

Sheila: Monika, I am honored that you would ask me to contribute.

Monika: Our road to womanhood is usually long and winding. Was it the same in your case?

Sheila: The first forty-two years of my life I constructed the persona of an alpha male. I was raised in West Texas within the bosom of a close and loving family. My parents were intelligent, supportive, hardworking people who were not afraid to display affection. My father owned the local grocery store that was the heart and soul of the community. Yet, paradoxically I see them now as an elegant pair, a power couple living in the bardoland.

Interview with Lisa O'Connor

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Lisa O'Connor, an American physician, health care provider, and therapist to the transgender/gender variant community from Stirling, New Jersey, the owner of Healthy Transitions. Hello Lisa!

Lisa: Hiya, Monika! Thanks for having me. Poland is lovely this time of year. It’s only the second time I’ve ever visited.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Lisa: Hmm, well, the usual opening line is that I was born and raised in New York City. Thankfully, your readers will not have to suffer through my Metropolitan New York English accent. By the way, you are very kind for not mocking me.

Monika: The name of your company highlights the word “healthy? What does a healthy transition espouse?

Lisa: This is one of those €64,000 questions. We could talk for hours on this topic. It is huge. As a matter of fact, it is one of my guiding principles for Healthy Transitions, LLC: healthy and happy.

Interview with Petra De Sutter

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Petra De Sutter, a Belgian gynecologist, academic, senator, Professor and Head of the Reproductive Medicine Department at Ghent University, Executive of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), a member of the Royal Belgian Academy of Medicine, a former member of the Belgian High Health Council and of the French Biomedical Agency, author of over 300 journal articles. Hello Petra!

Petra: Hi Monika!

Monika: What did you feel when in July 2014 it was announced that you were appointed to the Belgian Senate as a Green Party nomination?

Petra: I was very happy and proud. I hope I can contribute to a more equal and just society, and although the Green Party is a small party (just under 10%), we can influence things and make our world greener, more sustainable and also more equitable.

Interview with Carys Massarella

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Carys Massarella, a doctor of emergency medicine at McMaster University and Lead Physician of the Transcare Program at Quest Community Health Centre in St. Catharine’s, Canada. She grew up in Sudbury, Ontario, and graduated from the University of Western Ontario. Hello Carys!

Carys: Hello Monika!

Monika: You are one of few ‘non-pathologizing’ trans-care health providers in Ontario. Could you explain what ‘Non-Pathologizing’ stands for?

Carys: A non-pathologizing approach to transgender care essentially implies that there is no diagnosis to make with transgender people. The idea that this is a pathologic process is patently absurd. There is no inherent biological risk in being transgendered.

In that I mean by being transgendered there is no measurable biological effect in a negative way. The documented poor outcomes for trans-identified individuals are a product of issues related to the social determinants of health that affect all such marginalized populations such as poverty, homelessness, access to health care, and violence. These are corrected at the political level with advocacy from health care providers and transgender activists as key players.

So for me, there is no diagnosis essentially to make. I allow transgender people to claim their identity and then provide safe and medically appropriate access to cross-gender hormone therapy and surgery plus support through the transition. That is the essence of what I do.

Interview with Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad, a physician, sexologist, and professor of sexology, known as one of Norway's most prominent transpeople. In 2002, her son Even Benestad presented her story in the documentary All About My Father (Alt om min far). In 2007, she participated in the reality TV series Skal vi danse. She was also a political candidate for the Liberal Party, a social liberal political party in Norway. Hello Esther!

Esben Esther: Hello Monica and thanks for including me in your row of interviews! 

Monika: You are the author of several textbooks about transgenderism, including “Kjønn i bevegelse” (2001), Transseksualisme - hvor går vi og hvor står vi? (2002) and Transekjønn og diagnoser (2004), and Sexologi I Praksis (2006). Is it difficult to study and write about the phenomenon that you face yourself in your life?

Esben Esther: An era of therapeutic thinking emphasized the neutrality of the therapist, one should not “over-identify” with the clients. In the wake of this thinking, one came to consider it wrong for homosexually talented people to offer therapy to other homosexuals, and certainly also for the transgifted to offer therapy to their kinds.

Interview with Dana Beyer

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Dana Beyer, an American transgender advocate, the executive director of Gender Rights Maryland, a civil rights and advocacy organization supporting Maryland's transgender community. In addition, she is a columnist at HuffPost and a Democrat politician. I am going to discuss with her the role of transgender women in US politics. Hello Dana!

Dana: Hi Monika! Good to speak with you today.

Monika: Could you say a few words about your career so far?

Dana: I’ve had a few, actually. I’ve been a physician and surgeon. I’ve done research on endocrine disruptors and human sexuality, as well as other public health issues. Then there’s been my work as an LGBT and trans civil rights activist.

Monika: What are the current issues on the transgender advocacy agenda?

Dana: The main issue facing many trans persons in the US today is still making life after transition. Even with federal employment protections, people find it hard to manage in a generally ignorant and, unfortunately, still hostile world. Persons of color are still targeted for assault and murder. Health care is hard to come by, though we’ve seen major improvements on that front.