Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She premiers on December 6th at 9:30PM on HBO.

Synopsis:

The latest documentary by award-winning filmmaker Antony Thomas (HBO’s Celibacy), Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She sensitively explores the controversial subject of the blurring of gender as well as the serious social and family problems - even dangers - often faced by those whose gender may fall somewhere in between male and female. Narrated by noted author Gore Vidal and filmed in the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America, Middle Sexes examines the ways different societies and cultures handle the blurring of gender, sexual identity and sexual orientation. Through interviews with transgender, intersexual and bisexual men and women, as well as experts from the scientific and academic communities, the film considers the entire spectrum of sexual behavior, personal identity and lifestyles among people of different backgrounds and cultures. From this, a theme of tolerance and appreciation of diversity emerges in the film.

From an interview with the director of the film, Antony Thomas:

HBO: What is the stigma surrounding the blurring of gender?

Antony Thomas: The social pressure to conform to one sexual standard is huge — and this is true, in varying degrees, throughout most of the modern world. In the ancient and medieval worlds, the position was different, but today anything that causes us to question the validity and truth of that universal standard is threatening; and what we fear, we demonise.

Click here for the complete list of showings of Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She.

The name of the film reminds me of Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, which I never got to complete and returned to the person I borrowed it from. I need to pick up a copy soon. A little about Middlesex from it’s Amazon review:

“I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.” And so begins Middlesex, the mesmerizing saga of a near-mythic Greek American family and the “roller-coaster ride of a single gene through time.”

I created a personal a while ago just to see someone else’s personal (you had to be a member to view other’s profiles). A friend of mine was interested in someone and it wasn’t much fun listening to her talk about them without a pic, so here’s the fake personal:

I’m not looking, but if I were I would be looking for a butch, ftm, trans guy or insert all other masculine and/or male and labeled female at birth identities here who identifies as queer or lesbian and goes weak when I lift my skirt.

From Chinastic:

China’s first autobiographical “Lala” novel by lesbian writer — “My angel my love” has been published by China Theatre Publishing House. This is China’s first novel reflecting lesbians at work, at love and their lifestyle and psychology.

The singular name of Lala is not yet widely known. It is a self-appointed name for a group of lonely people existing in society. The rest of the world called them lesbians.

The author of MAML uses the pen name “Ocean Blue.”

Also: Beijing’s ‘Lala’ scene — A Chinese Lesbian speaks out

[Wendy Magazine]

Ayaan Hirsi Ali says the actors in her upcoming film dealing with gays and Islam, a sequel to her short “Submission” (a fictional study of abused women in Muslim households that led to the murder of Theo van Gogh, its director, by a Muslim fanatic), will be unrecognizable and that there will be no credits at the end of the film.

Van Gogh’s killer, Mohammed Bouyeri, was sentenced to life in prison. It was unclear when and where the sequel would be shown, but Hirsi Ali said she hoped it too would be aired on national television. The first film hasn’t been shown in public since the killing.

“New film by Dutch lawmaker focuses on gays and Islam” at WashingtonBlade.com

More about Ayaan Hirsi Ali here (including a link to download the film Submission)

I can’t wait to see Memoirs of a Geisha (which opens nation-wide on Festivus).

From Xinhua:

As a little girl, Chiyo (Zhang Ziyi) was sold by her fisherman father to an okiya, where she must learn to be a special lady, a geisha, one of the “wives of nightfall” who for centuries have entertained Japanese gentlemen with delicacy, wit and a mastery of such arts as flower-arranging, calligraphy, singing and dancing.

At 15, Chiyo has these graces only in embryo; but a famous geisha, Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), sees how they might flower. She begins the girl’s education sternly.

And slowly the eager student with the “watery” gray eyes grows into a captivating woman known as Nitta Sayuri. She attracts the attention of the Chairman (Ken Watanabe), a powerful man whom Sayuri has adored since she was a little girl and he showed her kindness.

Sayuri’s rise doesn’t suit Hatsumomo’s (Gong Li) ego. The reigning bitch-goddess of the okiya accurately sees Sayuri’s promise as a threat. With magnificent hatred, she spits a warning at the girl: “I will destroy you.”

Get Memoirs of a Geisha: A Novel and watch the movie trailer here.

Paul Fischer interviews Gong Li here.

Check out “Bob Mondello’s Holiday Movies Preview” at NPR for more holiday movie previews.

Over two dozen gay Arab men were arrested at what United Arab Emirates police called a “mass homosexual wedding” at which some men, prepared for their marriage ceremony to each other, dressed as “female brides” while others wore traditional male Arab clothing. Homosexual behavior is banned in the United Arab Emirates and the men now face government-ordered male hormone treatments, jail time and lashings.

Last week it was reported that two gay men were hung in Iran for the crime of “lavat,” penetrative and non-penetrative sexual acts between men.

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