Andrea James
Andrea Jean James (born January 16, 1967), is an American film consultant, actress, LGBT rights activist, and transsexual woman. In 2003, James co-founded Deep Stealth Productions with a business partner, Calpernia Addams, to create educational materials for transsexual women, to raise awareness about the epidemic of violence perpetrated against transpeople, and to combat the poor image of transpeople in the media.[1] James is the host of the Deep Stealth Productions instructional film Finding Your Female Voice.[2]
Career
After earning a bachelor of arts degree in English, Latin, and Greek from Wabash College in 1989 and a masters degree from University of Chicago in 1990, James wrote television commercials for ten years. She transitioned while working in advertising.[3]
On February 21, 2004, James was a member of the first all-transgender cast, as well as a producer, of The Vagina Monologues, performed on V-Day in Los Angeles. She gave the welcome alongside Calpernia Addams, and performed the monologues "The Woman Who Liked to Make Vaginas Happy" and "They Beat the Girl Out of My Boy - Or So They Tried 04", and took part in the introduction of the Vagina Warriors, along with Addams and Monologues writer Eve Ensler.[4] She has also consulted for the production of a documentary film project about the 2004 V-Day performance entitled Beautiful Daughters and appeared in this film.[5]
James was a script consultant for the 2005 film Transamerica[6] and also consulted with actress Felicity Huffman for her role in the film.[7] She also made a brief appearance, in an excerpt from her voice video, shown at the opening of the movie.[8] James appeared in the HBO production Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She, which aired on 6 December, 2005.[9] In 2007, James directed the 7-minute film "Casting Pearls."[10] James appeared in the reality dating television series Transamerican Love Story, which aired on Logo, an LGBT channel;[11] she was confidante to Calpernia Addams as she selected from among eight suitors.[12]
Transsexual activism
James also operates the free TS Roadmap website, a source of information for transsexuals, concerning physical, social, and legal aspects of transition.[13] The section of TS Roadmap on hair removal proved so popular that James spun it off into its own site, Hair Facts[14], with a companion discussion forum called Hair Tell.[15]
One section of TS Roadmap criticizes the controversial work of psychology professor J. Michael Bailey and of Ray Blanchard and others describing their theory dealing with biology and sexual orientation as scientifically unsound, outdated, and defaming of transsexual people.[16][17] Bailey denies this characterization of his work and has provided his own account of the controversy.[18]
References
- ↑ Addams, Calpernia and Andrea James (July 22, 2003). Transformations. The Advocate
- ↑ Hopper, Douglas (March 5, 2006). Helping Transgender Women Find a New Voice. All Things Considered National Public Radio
- ↑ http://www.wabash.edu/news/displaystory.cfm?news_ID=6330
- ↑ LesbianAlliance.com interviews DeepStealth's Andrea James. Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
- ↑ Teaching resources: Beautiful Daughters. Feminist Teacher Vol. 18 #2 (2008) p. 179-180
- ↑ Nangeroni, Nancy and Gordene MacKenzie (2006). GenderTalk Episode #555
- ↑ Keck, William (November 21, 2005). Felicity Huffman is sitting pretty. USA Today
- ↑ Von Metzke, Ross (December 30, 2005). Interview: Calpernia Addams and Andrea James. gaywired.com
- ↑ Addams, Calpernia (2006). Lesbians We Love! Frontiers
- ↑ Adelman, Kim (July 18, 2007). "Pariah" Leads The Pack of Outstanding Shorts at Outfest '07. Indiewire
- ↑ Mitovich, Matt Webb (November 29, 2007). What If The Bachelor Were Transgender? TV Guide
- ↑ Kearns, Michael (2008). Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Frontiers Vol. 26 # 20
- ↑ Garvin, Glenn (March 15, 2003). Breaking Boundaries. The Miami Herald
- ↑ Painter, Kim (March 26, 2006). Who qualifies to zap hairs? USA Today
- ↑ Grossman, Anna Jane (June 5, 2008) Zapping teenage torment. New York Times
- ↑ James, Andrea. Categorically wrong? - A Bailey-Blanchard-Lawrence clearinghouse. Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
- ↑ Surkan, K (2007). Transsexuals Protest Academic Exploitation. In Lillian Faderman, Yolanda Retter, Horacio Roque Ramírez, eds. Great Events From History: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Events, 1848-2006. pages 111-114. Salem Press ISBN 978-1-58765-263-9
- ↑ Bailey, J. Michael (October 9, 2005). Academic McCarthyism. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.