A journey in genders Documentary explores the challenges of area transgender com

[Shana A]

Thursday, September 29,2011
A journey in genders
Documentary explores the challenges of area transgender community members
By Rachel Wells

http://www.illinoistimes.com/Springfield/article-9152-a-journey-in-genders.html

Tall and thin with long blonde hair, trim eyebrows and manicured fingernails, Shayla Thomas feels feminine. Given a passing glance, the Springfield resident, engineer, parent, two-time divorcee and friend, might look it too. But give her a closer look, and her face and body give away the fact that Shayla, according to genetics, is a male.

As a transsexual transitioning from male to female, Shayla's perception of herself is most congruent with society's perception of who a female is supposed to be, but her own sense of identity, and the way she wishes to present that identity, doesn't match up to society's perception of who Shayla's genetics say she should be.

[...]

It's that identity struggle that Shayla, along with two other downstate Illinois transgender residents, explains in the documentary film This is My Journey, by Kate Brickman, a Dwight native who finished the film this summer as part of a graduate program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.