Abstract
Abstract
To date, little research has been conducted into the lives of trans Indigenous Australians, also known as sistergirls and brotherboys. The author recently completed a 3-year research project into the lives of trans people living in Australia's remotely located Northern Territory as well as sistergirls and brotherboys. This research is groundbreaking because it analyses, for the first time, the issues impacting these populations. This article draws out the most pressing difficulties sistergirls and brotherboys experience, that is, transphobia within traditional Aboriginal communities. It has become a push factor for many sistergirls and brotherboys to leave their communities, yet, migrating to large residential areas leads to further discrimination. There may be racism within predominantly white trans communities and difficulties with language because, for example, English, for many Indigenous Australians, is their third or fourth language. Furthermore, sistergirls and brotherboys may experience a loss of identity because community and country are essential aspects of Indigenous Australian's sense of self, well-being, and spirituality. Transphobia in traditional Aboriginal communities manifests in the so-called custom of payback, through which retribution for social transgressions is brought on community members. To illustrate this custom, this article focuses on Crystal, one of the author's interviewees. Crystal is a sistergirl from the remote Tiwi Islands on the north coast of Australia and, for decades, her family and community enacted payback because she is a sistergirl. This payback took the form of verbal harassment, physical assault, and rape not only against Crystal herself but also immediate members of her family, and, as a result, several committed suicide. She rejects the notion that payback should be a protected custom; rather she demands that it is her human rights and the human rights of all sistergirls and brotherboys that need protecting. Crystal refuses to be silenced and she advocates on behalf of sistergirls and brotherboys. In 2012, Crystal was elected to the local Tiwi Island council and, in doing so, became the first sistergirl and trans woman to be elected to an Australian government office. Crystal is known as Aunty because she helps the younger generation, but because she has won the respect of her community, she is now also known as Elder.
Introduction
A
In a review of the extant Australian trans literature, the author (Kerry 2014) argued that trans Australians experience a range of issues, such as economic instability, social exclusion, mental illness, and abuse. In the author's 3-year research project into the lived experiences of trans people living in the NT and sistergirls/brotherboys (see also Kerry 2017, 2018), it is argued that while they do experience the same issues, they are aggravated by the NT's masculinist culture and the tyranny of distance. For sistergirls/brotherboys, the fact that traditional ways of life throughout the NT, especially in remote areas, have remained dominant directly impacts their health and well-being and their sense of self, which is deeply embedded with community, country, and spirituality, known as The Dreaming.
Sistergirls and brotherboys
The difficulties sistergirls/brotherboys face often force them to make a choice between being transgender and being Aboriginal. For example, brotherboy Kai Clancy (2015, p. 109) of the Waka Waka and Wuli Wuli nations in Queensland wondered: “Would I lose my culture for this transition?” In a report following the National Indigenous Sistergirl Forum (Costello and Nannup 1999), Nannup (cited in Costello and Nannup 1999, p. 4) states some sistergirls “have left their home country, just so they may have some kind of a life. But we all know that without family and country we are sunk.” The tension between being transgender and being Aboriginal is born from Aboriginal communities' reactions to sistergirls/brotherboys. Aboriginal communities often deny the existence of other sexualities and they argue sex/gender diversity is a modern, western phenomenon. In Peopling the Empty Mirror (Dunn-Holland et al. 1994), the first critical work of queer Indigenous studies, the authors (Dunn-Holland et al. 1994, p. 10) state: “This business about homosexuality being a white man's disease is just not true, it's basically a lie. I think there are lots of examples in Aboriginal societies of people expressing their sexuality in a lot of different ways.”
For 200 years, genocide, forced relocations, and the decimation of ATSI culture have resulted in unresolved tensions. One such example is the Stolen Generations, which occurred between 1905 and the 1970s. Children who were of ATSI descent (especially those of mixed race) were removed from their families and taught to reject their Indigenous heritage. In her interview with the author, Crystal Johnson, who will be the focus of this article, says the term “sistergirl” emerged in the 1920s and 1930s within the artificial communities created by the Stolen Generations. Indigenous women would protect “gay, flamboyant trans people” and while they were stigmatized, there was a place for them. But there wasn't a word, so they were called “funny people.” The term “sistergirl” emerged through the interactions between the women and the “funny people.” Crystal said: “It was in the Stolen Generation, who made that word, tidda, like sisters. If they see a feminine man, it was like ‘hello tidda.’” More recently, the term has acquired a very distinct meaning of its own. Kooncha Brown (2004, p. 25), a sistergirl from the Wallaga Lake region of New South Wales, noted it:
Is a self-adopted term, recognising that western definitions of transgender […] do not reflect the culture and lived reality of [ATSI] transgendered people. The term “sistergirl” is also used in many indigenous communities in northern parts of Australia to refer to transgendered people and to also replace the derogatory terms that were used in the past.
The oral tradition within Indigenous cultures reveals that several communities have terms for sistergirls. In her contribution to the anthology, Colouring the rainbow, Brianna Curtis (2015, p. 37) notes that the Arrernte people use the term “gwarregwarre,” the Luritja people use “kungakunga,” and in the Warlpiri language they say “karnta-pia.” Moreover, there is evidence that sistergirls undertake the social role of women. In Crystal's appearance on the television program Insight, she says “sistergirls go hunting with all the women, because we have our role as women, not as men” (Johnson cited in Brockie 2013). In the documentary Sistergirls (ACON 2010), Francene, a sistergirl from regional Queensland, states:
Mothers would ask you to be their babysitters, with the children caring, because they knew you cared for them. You were like a mother, you played that mother, you gave them comfort, feed them and do all the things a mother would do. And sistergirls do this today. I did it in my day. I don't think it's changed at all (cited in ACON 2010).
Despite these indicators of social position, many sistergirls/brotherboys risk, at best, rejection from family and community or, at worst, having payback enacted on them, often in the form of verbal harassment, physical assault, and rape.
This article argues that payback is an example of transphobia with traditional Aboriginal communities and is retribution for social transgressions brought on community members. Finnane (2001, p. 293) suggests that at the heart of payback is “a restoration of the pre-existing order.” Arguably, in the case of payback enacted against sistergirls/brotherboys, the pre-existing order is the myth of a gender binary. As noted above, this article focuses on Crystal, a sistergirl from the remote Tiwi Islands on the north coast of Australia. Crystal has been chosen by the author for two reasons. First, she refuses to be silenced. She rejects the notion that payback should be a protected custom. Moreover, she demands that it is her human rights and the human rights of all sistergirls and brotherboys that need protecting. The second reason Crystal is the focus of this article is because she has become well known across Australia for her advocacy on behalf of sistergirls and brotherboys. In addition, in 2012, Crystal was elected to the local Tiwi Island council and, in doing so, she became the first sistergirl and trans woman to be elected to an Australian government office. Crystal is known as Aunty, because she helps the younger generation, but because she has won the respect of her community, she is now also known as Elder.
Methods
Between 2014 and 2017, the author conducted an online survey, in-depth interviews, and analysis of first-person narratives. Ethics approval for the online survey was obtained in mid-2014 (Approval No. H14020). The online survey was hosted by Survey Monkey and consisted of ∼70 closed and open-ended questions sorted into five categories: demographics, relationships, health, transgender status, and life in the NT. Between April 2014 and July 2015, 13 people * completed the survey and a thematic analysis of responses was undertaken. The results were subsequently published (Kerry 2017). The success of the online survey, as well as the informal positive feedback the author received from the community, lead to the decision to extend the project to in-depth interviews. Ethics approval was obtained in 2015 (Approval No. H15002) and the in-depth interview schedule relied less on predetermined questions and focused on an open conversation style based on the themes of family, relationships, health, and being transgender. A Facebook page was set up and a media release was sent out by the Charles Darwin University's media center. Subsequently, the author was interviewed by local, national, and international print, radio, and television news media. Between May 2015 and February 2017, 13 people † were interviewed; 7 in-person and 6 via phone/Skype. A thematic analysis of the responses was undertaken and key issues such as life growing up, relationship with family of origin, chosen families, dating, and accessing health services were identified. A full report of the findings has also been published (Kerry 2018). A limitation of the project was that only 4 of the 26 participants identified as ATSI. Therefore, the author extended the project to include an analysis of sistergirls/brotherboys' first-person narratives as told in print, television, and online. In addition to complementing the views expressed in the survey and in-depth interviews, these first-person narratives honor the oral traditions of Australia's First Peoples, which have been largely overlooked by the literature.
Results
In her interview with the author, Crystal describes payback as “being about society, Aboriginal society” and she went on to say that “white people don't understand what ‘payback’ means. That's why, when people come to ask me what ‘payback’ means I tell them.” Payback is not restricted to the individual who transgresses social norms, it also extends to his or her family. For example, while Crystal's mother was respected and had a name in the Tiwi Island community, this did not stop her being bullied, spat and pissed on, and bashed. When Crystals' mother tried to protect her from physical assault:
She would put me behind her back, and my father's family would slap my mother around and then piss on her. Like a dog. They would turn around and say your son is a queer cunt. That's why I have a problem with the word queer. It affects me in a bad way.
In her contribution to the anthology, Colouring the Rainbow, Crystal elaborates on an incident on her 18th birthday. Her mother called Crystal and other family members to a local park. Crystal's mother said: “Well, I want this for you. Here, your debt has been paid.” At which point, as Crystal (Johnson 2015, p. 24) tells the story: “She just grabbed the knife from the birthday cake and she cut her throat in front of me. My uncle and I tried to stop the bleeding but the cut was just too deep. My step-father called the ambulance but she died instantly.”
“Men's business” and “women's business”
ATSI cultures are highly sex segregated and rituals of attaining adulthood are embedded within “men's business” and “women's business.” Crystal was forced into “men's business” by her father, even though he knew she was a sistergirl. In “men's business,” she and her brothers were raped as part of payback. Through tears she tells the author:
When they abused my brothers in business camp … they still don't talk to me. They raped my brothers, for my sexuality. And I said, why can't they stop? Why can't they rape me? I've been raped, I've been gang raped. But don't do it to my family and my brothers.
She went on to say that, like her mother, her brothers tried to protect her:
When they did that to my brothers, my little brothers stood up, just took everything. When you go on men's business, you've got no clothes. They cut me in the head, my brother got stab marks all over his body […] They stood in front of me. I said, let them kill me. I am proud to die who I am. My brother did it for me.
Silence
In her anthology entry, Crystal states that she and her family were pressured to stay silent. She was warned: “they would go around to my family's house and shoot them” (Johnson 2015, p. 23). Similarly, when talking about her sister being raped in business: “I tried to report it to people, but if I did it would be big controversy with my family, mother's family. It's why I moved away from my community.” One of her brothers died during “men's business.” In her interview with the author, she said: “It was like death in custody and I couldn't report it. I knew I had to keep my silence. […] we couldn't say anything. When its men's business you can't say anything.” Crystal believes that while her brother committed suicide by overdose, it was her father who took his life away. Crystal told the author does not view the deaths of her mother and brother as suicide: “All of my family committed suicide. But it's not suicide, it's family guilt.” Within the so-called custom of payback, suicide is seen as a way of paying a debt. Incidences attributed to payback also occurred outside of ”men's business,” she tells the author, “they do it in business and they do it on the street” and “it would also include the silent treatment. They abused my mother, my mother's sisters would turn away.” Payback was also enacted against other members of Crystal's immediate family: “they speared my grandfather and other women cracked my grandmother's head with an Aboriginal spike.” She emphasizes this is a long and entrenched tradition: “It's been passed on from generations.” However, she is adamant that she wants to tell her story. She wants others to know what has happened to her, her family, and what is happening to sistergirls: “Silence is not the way to go because people die from silence. Silence is a killer.”
Intersectionality
By standing up to this custom, Crystal demands her human rights and thereby arguing that her human rights and the human rights of all sistergirls/brotherboys overwrite ATSI customs. She said to the author:
I see people suffer everywhere, right around the world, and I am suffering in Australia, land of opportunity. Where was human rights for me? Where was the gay movement for me? Where did I stand as a person? As a transgender lady? Where were the people to protect me and my people? I say to people; you don't know what it's like to be a black transgender woman […] A lot of people say, it's only a black thing. It's not a black thing. It's everybody's thing.
This emphasis on what it is like to be a “black transgender woman” draws attention to another issue that sistergirls/brotherboys often face; racism within the predominantly white trans community. Trans Indigenous people often find it difficult to align with trans non-Indigenous people. Sistergirls/brotherboys are not the first to struggle with the intersectionality of gender and race and gender/race as multiple locations of oppression. Hooks (1986, p. 27) writes that the “racial conflict between white women and women of colour continues to be one area of struggle.” Black feminism of the global north has inspired Aboriginal feminism, and Huggins (1991, p. 7) is of the view that “white women are not sincerely committed to bonding with black women to fight sexism.” Moreover, while Bell (1991, p. 18) argues that using feminism is “divisive” and “a further cause for injury of their menfolk” Huggins (1991, p. 8) asserts that ATSI men are threatened by “assertive women.” Nonetheless, Aboriginal feminism's negotiation between gender and race offers sistergirls/brotherboys a scaffold from which to keep their “connectiveness” to country, but not at the expense of their human rights. So too does the discursive field of transgender theory. On the one hand, the nascent discipline is predominantly white and based in the global north, such that Stryker (2006, p. 15) states that transgender theory “is impoverished by the relative lack of contributions from people of color, and is therefore ultimately inadequate for representing the complex interplay between race, ethnicity, and transgender phenomenon.” Yet, on the other hand, Roen (2006, p. 662) argues addressing “race, indigenousness and colonisation might provide more discursive pathways for indigenous people struggling to live in gender liminal ways.” Thus, it is necessary, when discussing the difficulties faced by sistergirls/brotherboys, to acknowledge the intersection of gender/race. Arguably, for Crystal and other sistergirls or brotherboys, the “struggling to live in gender liminal ways” manifests in, as Crystal says on the Insight program, having “to adapt, because being colonised, being modernised, being trans and being different we have to mix and match with everything in our communities” (cited in Brockie 2013).
Conclusions
After her mother died, Crystal left the Tiwi Islands and moved to Sydney. On reflection with the author she says, “I lost my culture.” However, it did not take long for her to realize “my culture was waiting for me […] something told me to come back home. I could make a change […] My heart just belonged back to my community.” Back home she worked hard to advocate for sistergirls/brotherboys in the Tiwi Islands as well as across the NT and Australia. In 2012, Crystal was elected to the local Tiwi Island council and, in doing so, became the first sistergirl and trans woman to be elected to an Australian government office. Crystal is known as Aunty, because she helps the younger generation, and because she has won the respect of her community, she is now also known as Elder. During the filming of the documentary Eye (McCrum and Canny 2010), the Tiwi Island sistergirl community held pukumani, a death ceremony, for the sistergirls of their community who had committed suicide. They were joined by the entire community. In the documentary, Crystal says:
This is the first us sistergirls, actually having the first ceremony and today we defy everything. […] It showed that there are acceptance in our community. Because, you know, Tiwi Island people are the most loving people in the world (cited in McCrum and Canny 2010).
Underlying this ceremony was the sistergirls letting the wider community know that while they are sistergirls, their Aboriginality, that is, their community, country, and spirituality all remain central to their sense of self. This is one example of how sistergirls and brotherboys are able to come out from under the shadow of the stigma within Indigenous communities as well as the pain caused by customs such as payback. As Crystal said to the author:
When you have a spirituality you sit under a tree and you were born under the tree, that's your Dreaming, your totem. This is your country […] Everybody has a title, everybody has a name, everybody has a country and a song and a place of birth. That's what make Aboriginal people tick.
The purpose of this article is to highlight the intersectionality of being transgender and being Aboriginal. For many sistergirls and brotherboys, there are ongoing tensions between these two aspects of their lives, which may never be resolved. However, if there is a resolution to come then it is not through silence, to repeat Crystal's words to the author: “Silence is not the way to go because people die from silence. Silence is a killer.”
Footnotes
Acknowledgments
In Australia, it is customary to make the following statement as a sign of respect: I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Larrakia people, on who's land this article was written. I pay my respects to their Elders, past and present.
Author Disclosure Statement
No competing financial interests exist.