Kai D. Janik
no decision (2019)
Writer/Director/
Editor:
Cast:
Camera:
Voices:
"gatekeepers":
Kai D. Janik
Alice Oehninger, Kai D. Janik,
Hannah Hebel, Francesco Fiorentino
Julia Huber, Kai D. Janik,
Anne Draskowitsch, Madlen Müller,
Eileen Noerenberg
Alice Oehninger, Max Meister,
Simon Bosch, Kai D. Janik,
Julia Huber, Madlen Müller, anon.
Fancesco Fiorentino, Kira Della Ducata, Halima Bruce, Madlen Müller, Maike Geier, Marlene Tritschler, Yasmin Habaal, Josefin Mader, Hannah Lingel, Anastasia Leicht, Leoni De Marco, Katrin Festl, Eva Schellhorn, Lara Marie Arntz
„What kind of decision is this supposed to be? As if it was a decision to stay in this hole, suffering, waiting until you die, or to climb out and live.“
[gatekeeper]
In the LGBTTIQ* (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, inter, queer...) context gatekeeping stands for oppression of LGBTTIQ* individuals and groups. Gatekeepers are people or institutions who decide if LSBTTIQ* people are allowed into a certain goup or about their access to certain servides, like in Germany where court decides about trans people`s change of name and gendermarker. Gatekeeping questions self-determination. The only person who can inform about someone's sexual orientation and gender, is this person themself.
Installation setup:
Two rooms, two bouncers, every visitor is only allowed into one of the rooms, they are given a colour coded admission wristband. Inside, the videos are shown in the cubicles of a public toilet.
The video shows the everyday struggle of two trans people, having to pick up the courage that is needed for daily tasks that most cis people never think twice about. The stories in video and audio were collected from different trans people, some of them recorded by allies for protection of privacy of those who wish to remain anonymous.
[to misgender someone]
Means assigning a wrong gender to someone. Typically the gender someone was assigned at birth instead of their real gender.
[to deadname someone]
Means referring to a trans person with the old name they had before tansitioning.
Especially when this is done deliberately, they are both very aggressive, offensive actions that are deeply hurtful for tans people and can have long lasting impact on their mental health.
Between 1st of October 2017 and 30th of September 2018, 369 cases of killings of trans and gender-diverse people were reported. This is an increase of 44 cases compared to the previous year and 74 cases compared to 2016. It doesn't include the numbers of suicides. 40% of trans people attempt suicide.
[non-binary]
Everything that doesn't fall into the binary genders male and female, is non-binary. Some non-binary people belong to multiple genders at the same time. Many non-binary people suffer from body-dysphoria and/or gender-dysphoria. It is an umbrella term for agender, genderfluid, bi-gender, genderqueer, demi-boys, demi-girls, and others. In christian cultures the binary gender system is the standard. In non-christian cultures, it isn't.
Being trans is not a mental disorder. The new DSM5 and ICD11 rectified this mistake in the diagnostic criteria.
Gender dysphoria is the distress a person feels due to their sex assigned at birth not matching their gender identity. Being forced to go through the wrong puberty ist traumatising.
[coming out]
Coming out means the process of disclosing ones sexual orienttion or gender, which i necessay because society expects everyone to be heterosexual and cis gender (= correct gender was assigned at birth). The coming out process is often accompanied by fear of rejection and social isolation and loss of the means to make a living. At the same time most people experience it as very liberating, because it gives them the opportunity to be seen as themselves and to be open.
Outing is the aggressive action of disclosing someone else's sexual orientation or trans background withouth that person's consent.
Sexual orientation is completely unrelated to gender identity. Trans people can be gay, straight, bi, asexul or anything else. Just like cis people.