Ivan Coyote: Why we need gender-neutral bathrooms
Ivan Coyote: Waarom er sekse-neutrale toiletten moeten komen
Ivan Coyote believes that a good story can help inspire us to invent a better future. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
that all of us need.
die iedereen nodig heeft.
lucht nodig om te ademen.
nodig om te drinken.
We need shelter and love.
We hebben onderdak en liefde nodig.
een veilige plaats nodig om te plassen.
into the gender binary,
in een seksehokje past:
zou kunnen bewegen,
gender-neutral bathrooms
sekse-neutrale toiletten maken
of mainstream media attention lately.
veel in de media geweest.
has been focused
anymore about where they're going to pee
te piekeren over waar ze gaan plassen
in hun gemeenschapsschool,
at their community college,
into their gym strip
in hun sportoutfit
these television star trans people
deze tv-trans-sterren
have to tackle on a daily basis.
elke dag moeten aangaan.
since as far back as I can remember,
al zo lang als ik me kan herinneren,
predominantly estrogen-based organism.
overwegend oestrogeen-gebaseerd organisme.
public bathrooms and change rooms
zijn openbare toiletten en kleedkamers
to be questioned or harassed.
en lastiggevallen word.
attacked behind their doors.
vaak verbaal aangevallen.
with my pants still halfway pulled up.
met mijn broek nog half opgetrokken.
screamed at, whispered about,
naar me gestaard en geschreeuwd,
by a little old lady's purse
met haar handtas in het gezicht.
I took home that day
waarmee ik die dag thuiskwam,
70 dollars of rolled up small change
tenminste 70 dollar aan kleingeld
most of the time these days.
zonder probleem de mannentoiletten.
my change room dilemmas, does it?
zijn daarmee nog niet opgelost.
because I'm not a man.
moeten gebruiken, want ik ben geen man.
these fearmongering politicians
toiletwetten in te voeren.
these bathroom bills.
to try and force people like myself
that they deem most appropriate
die zij het meest passend vinden
I was assigned at birth.
bij de geboorte heb gekregen.
ever get their way,
will not be a legal option for me either.
niet meer legaal kunnen gebruiken.
brings one of these bills to the table,
zo'n voorstel op tafel legt,
go about enforcing laws like these. Right?
gaan controleren, toch?
of bath change rooms at public pools?
bij toiletten en kleedkamers?
or ethical or plausible way
of plausibele manier
om angst te bevorderen
more dangerous for some of us.
gevaarlijker voor sommigen.
or they opt out of life altogether.
of trekken zich terug uit het leven.
and gender-nonconforming youth
in traditionele vakjes wensen te passen,
when accessing pools and gyms,
in het zwembad of bij de sportschool,
on how they treat us in airports.
op luchthavens worden behandeld.
worden voor iedereen,
openbare plaatsen te noemen.
into one of two gender boxes,
geslachtshokjes passen,
She's the daughter of a friend of mine.
Ze is de dochter van een vriendin van mij.
and bug jars, the whole nine yards.
en bokalen met insecten.
wat haar favoriete kleur was.
what her favorite color was.
at school were harassing her
omdat de andere kinderen op school
de meisjestoiletten wou gebruiken.
to stay out of the boys' bathroom.
uit de jongenstoiletten te blijven.
of that red juice
van dat rode sap gedronken
that red juice, right? It's so good.
weerstaan? Het is zo lekker.
were four years old.
waren vier jaar oud.
of the so-called public bathrooms.
openbare toiletten te beoordelen.
the brutal lesson
no bathroom door at preschool
that welcomed people like her.
zoals zij verwelkomt.
were going to be a problem,
een probleem gingen worden,
to talk to her little daughter,
om met haar dochter te praten
were going to march on down
naar de school zouden gaan
en dat het probleem weg zou gaan,
and the problem was going to go away,
going to get better when she got older,
beter ging worden als ze ouder zou worden,
the story of what had happened,
te vertellen wat er gebeurd was
wat er met haar gebeurd was.
what had happened to her,
if I had ever peed in my pants before.
in mijn broek geplast had.
how you hit, like, 42 or 43,
I don't know, you pee a little bit
ik weet niet, een beetje plast
or you're stretching.
of wanneer je aan het stretchen bent.
your bladder is going to grow bigger, too.
je blaas ook groeit.
to hold your pee for way longer,
op haar gemak te stellen.
gender-neutral bathrooms
kleedkamers bouwen
into your gym clothes.
om te kleden in mijn sportkledij.
niet in een handomdraai veranderen
a safe and private place
wat veiligheid en privacy bieden
who is sitting out there right now
in your head why this is not a priority,
waarom dit geen prioriteit heeft,
a trans person a safe place to pee
een veilige plaats geven om te plassen
that you feel offends your morality,
die volgens jou je moraal beledigt,
that probably, hopefully,
dat waarschijnlijk, hopelijk,
the rest of the population.
to care enough about people like me,
om te geven om mensen zoals mij,
with body image stuff going on?
met zijn lichaamsbeeld?
who is a foot shorter than his classmates,
die veel kleiner is dan zijn klasgenoten,
or who need assistance in there?
nodig hebben op het toilet?
who, for whatever reason,
om welke reden dan ook,
of what a body should look like?
van hoe een lichaam eruit zou moeten zien?
in front of our peers,
onder het oog van onze leeftijdgenoten,
laten niet die angst toe
als lichaamsbeweging te doen?
transphobic minds overnight,
niet in een handomdraai veranderen,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ivan Coyote - Writer, performerIvan Coyote believes that a good story can help inspire us to invent a better future.
Why you should listen
Ivan Coyote was born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. An award-winning author of eight collections of short stories, one novel, three CD’s, four short films and a renowned performer, Ivan’s first love is live storytelling. Over the last nineteen years, they have become an audience favorite at music, poetry, spoken word and writer’s festivals from Anchorage to Amsterdam.
Ivan began performing in 1992, and in 1996 co-founded Taste This, a four person performance troupe that combined live music, storytelling and performance poetry to create a text-driven genre-busting collaborative exchange. Taste This toured North America extensively and in 1998 the four artists published Boys Like Her, a critically acclaimed book that took the stage show to the printed page. Boys Like Her sold out three editions and continues to be considered a notable Canadian contribution to the dialogue around gender identity and sexuality.
Ivan teamed up with Arsenal Pulp Press in 2000, and has since released nine more books. Close to Spiderman (2000), One Man’s Trash (2002), Loose End (2005), Bow Grip (2006), The Slow Fix (2008), Missed Her (2010), Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme (2011), One In Every Crowd (2012) and Gender Failure (2014).
Ivan is still fascinated by the intersection of storytelling and music, and works with a number of well-established Canadian musicians, including pianist and composer Veda Hille, songwriter Dan Mangan, folk artist Rae Spoon, cellist Cris Derksen, and violinist Lyndell Montgomery. Ivan has released three CDs of storytelling with music, You’re A Nation (2003) and You Are Here (2007) and Only Two Reasons (2010).
In 2001 Ivan landed a little gig teaching short fiction at Capilano University in North Vancouver. This little night school class led to an accidental discovery: Ivan loves to teach creative writing. Coyote continued to teach short fiction and classes and workshops, and in 2007 was invited to become Carleton University’s writer-in-residence. While in Ottawa, Coyote taught a third year fiction class, and three memoir-writing classes for senior citizens. It was while teaching seniors that Ivan realized their true calling. Ivan strongly believes in listening to the stories of our elders, and encouraging them to write down their lives.
Coyote has since been honoured to be the writer-in-residence at the Vancouver Public Library (2009), The Carol Shield’s writer-in-residence at the University of Winnipeg (2011) and the writer-in-residence at The University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario (2012).
In addition to these literary and teaching accomplishments, Ivan continues to tour extensively throughout North America and Europe, telling stories not only to festival audiences but to high school students, social justice activists, adult literacy students and senior citizens all across the continent. Ivan believes in the transformative power of storytelling, and that collecting and remembering oral history not only preserves a vital part of our families and where we come from, but that a good story can help inspire us to invent a better future.
Ivan Coyote | Speaker | TED.com