Channel 4 have announced plans to broadcast a brand new
documentary about transsexual life in Great Britain.
Debuting on 8 November, the show - entitled My Transsexual
Summer - is a four-part series which follows seven transgender men
and women as they share their experiences of changing
sex.
Subjects include a former policeman called Karen, 52, who is
preparing herself for full gender re-assignment surgery, and Lewis,
22, who is looking to raise money for a double mastectomy and a
phalloplasty - penis construction.
The show also follows the journey of a North London man called
Max, 25, who has already undergone 'top surgery' - a double
mastectomy and male chest sculpting. He is hoping to become
Britain's first transgender Rabbi.
For him, he has few problems "passing" as male in everyday life,
but has participated in the series to raise the profile of trans
issues in wider society - because, although he is happy in
himself, others are less tolerant.
"I love being a man. I mean, what's not to like?"
"That said, based on 2009 statistics, a trans person is murdered
somewhere in the world every 72 hours. That's a reality to me and
people like me.
"I experience a certain degree of fear most of the time."
