I have not been doing much by way of blogging because I have been holidaying in Port Stephens, where I caught up with friends and family, and consumed my body weight in alcohol, crisps, and corn chips (hey, I'm sure some of the major food groups got at least a small look in with that lot). The day after my return I was rostered to work, and have been doing so since. I've also been organising book promotional stuff, and reading, watching You Me Her on Netflix, and scrolling through my Twitter feed.
Today, I'm kind of wishing I hadn't. I've been reading about a person who identifies as female, and who has lodged complaints to the Human Rights Council against beauticians in British Columbia who have declined a service requested by her. I use the pronoun 'her' because if this is how the person identifies, then all well and good. She was assigned the male gender at birth, but believes she is female. I respect that. I support the rights of marginalised people in the LGBTQI community. Known as 'Jessica', she still has male genitalia. The service she has requested is a waxing of her scrotum. The beauticians who have declined to carry out this service are small business owners, some operating from home, are NESB, and possibly have cultural issues with touching male genitalia. Another thing to be considered is waxing a ball bag is perhaps not like waxing someone's legs because the scrotal skin has a different integrity and higher sensitivity. Perhaps not every beautician is trained in this, and it could be very specialised. I liken it to people who gripe about the barber not cutting their daughter's hair, when the said barber specialises in men's cuts.
I suppose we will have to strap on the skis, or climb onto the toboggan, to navigate this oft-used ubiquitous 'slippery slope' that is always segued, but although Jessica maintains people are using their own cultural beliefs and religion to deny a service to a person who is LGBTQI, I don't think we can use the old 'Christian baker should still bake a cake for a same sex wedding' argument. In what universe is it acceptable to force a woman to touch genitalia that she doesn't wish to touch (I'm not talking about a nurse or doctor carrying out a medical procedure; that's a whole different kettle of fish)?
Jessica, do you want to go to a person who doesn't specialise in this procedure, and have your scrotum scorched with hot wax, and then pulled and yanked and stretched like ball of pizza dough, just to prove a point? Not every beautician is comfortable doing waxing on male hair, be the male cis or a transgendered female. It can be physically difficult if the hair is strong, and if the beautician is a sole practitioner, she might refuse male customers on safety grounds (the woman I used to see when I lived in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs had this policy because she was often on her own at night). Not every beautician will carry out waxing the intimate areas of males OR females because it's not their cup of tea. But guess what? For all these beauticians that won't wax your Mudgee mail-bags, there will be other beauticians who WILL! Do your research. The male back-crack-sac wax has been around for many a year. All you had to do was take your business elsewhere, rather than try and destroy someone. What you're doing is just - ahem! - nuts.
I honestly don't think this is a case of discrimination against the LGBTQI community, but rather an assertion of a woman's rights to not carry out a service that involves touching genitalia if she is uncomfortable, and is under no obligation to carry out.
Okay, now I'm two cents' poorer, but I think I'm making sense (if not cents).
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