Selected Story Sample in full, as published: globeandmail.com, Saturday, January 4, 2003
'I never fit well as a girl' Aaron Devor was 50 when he abandoned his life as a masculine lesbian and assumed his new identity as a man.
‘You reach a point in mid-life where you realize that you don't have forever,’ the leading academic tells VIVIAN SMITH
VIVIAN SMITH
Special to The Globe and Mail.
Holly Devor was, by Aaron Devor's account, a strange, conspicuous woman. Even though she did a pretty good "woman" act, it became increasingly like contortionist's work and, ultimately, not very persuasive to others. "I never fit well as a girl or woman," said Mr. Devor, whose announcement that he is going to live as a man recently swept the University of Victoria campus.
Today, the university's Dean of Graduate Studies appears happy to conform to a conservative image more typical of men who run $3-million enterprises: Striding into his spare, elegant office, Mr. Devor projects confidence and control. He wears a dark grey suit and black tie with a blue shirt just over-large enough to hide any shape that might suggest he was once a woman.
He looks much younger than 51, with smooth skin, thick hair and light blue eyes that appraise from behind large-lensed glasses. In the manner of men used to commanding space, even at 5-feet-6, his hand gestures are expansive, the right leg crosses the left widely when he sits, he shrugs his shoulders loosely.
Aaron Devor is a man in full, if not in anatomy.
A former portrait photographer himself, he peppers a photographer with questions about the best way to pose: It is suggested he might stand beside a stunning portrait of Katharine Hepburn by Canadian artist Myfanwy Pavelic that hangs in his office. Mr. Devor says no, the juxtaposition might reflect his feminine side too much. That would be inappropriate.
Like many hitting 50, Holly Devor wanted sweeping changes in her life. So the sociologist was thrilled last spring to win her big, new job as graduate studies dean at UVic. Recently, she announced her name would be Aaron H. Devor and she would be living as a man.
"You reach a point in mid-life where you realize that you don't have forever," Mr. Devor said. The time had come to move closer to "a better representation" of who he is, and that feels good. He is keeping H as his middle initial as a reminder of his former life.
Although Mr. Devor knew when he applied for the $102,000-a-year job that living as a man might be in the cards, he didn't talk to university officials about it. "It was a private matter," he said, "and not relevant to my qualifications. I wanted to get the job based on my record."
As dean, Mr. Devor orchestrates more than 100 graduate programs that involve 2,400 students and scores of faculty and staff. In such a position, he is well-placed to bring to the mainstream all kinds of debate to challenge the status quo, and he is an internationally recognized expert in one area that has been brewing in university lecture rooms for more than a decade: gender, sex and sexuality. Once a marginal area, gender studies are gaining ground as formerly hidden and isolated members of the "transgendered" community discover each other via the Internet and research opportunities grow.
Mr. Devor says his work indicates that two genders aren't enough -- that people can define their own place on a sexuality continuum. And while gender researchers say the genitalia usually associated with being a man or woman does not determine gender identity, many people are working hard to get the sexual hardware they want.
When and how young Holly started to feel ill at ease as a female is not open for discussion. Mr. Devor would speak about personal struggle only in the vaguest terms.
"I don't want to spend a lot of time talking about the dim, distant past. My ability to conform [as a female] has been challenging from the beginning."
Holly Devor studied psychology at York University, and after moving to Vancouver in 1975, she held a variety of jobs including portrait photographer and printer, as well as being involved in feminist, gay and lesbian politics. Then she zigzagged through studies in physics at Simon Fraser University, a master's degree in communications at SFU, then a PhD in sociology at the University of Washington. After arriving at UVic in 1989, her academic ambition became clear: Holly Devor moved from visiting lecturer in sociology through various levels of professorship and gained tenure, which ensures job security, eventually becoming associate dean of social sciences and finally dean of graduate studies.
She has a reputation as a superb instructor, one of only 10 recipients in Canada of a 3M fellowship in 2000 that recognizes excellence in teaching as well as leadership and commitment to the improvement of university teaching. She received the 1995 University of Victoria Alumni Teaching Award, which cites the professor's fairness, scrupulousness and innovative techniques. She has written two books. One is called Gender Blending, in which she examines the social construction of gender. Another, called FTM: Female-to-Male Transsexuals in Society, tracks individuals who make the same kind of change Mr. Devor is making.
While "transsexual" typically describes people who have had at least some sex-change surgery and who take hormones to further the change, "transgendered" is a broader term referring to people who live as the other sex, whether or not they have had sex-change surgery. Transgendered people may feel they are neither gender, or both, or they may feel they belong to a gender other than what their sexual organs would dictate. According to Mr. Devor, people can be transgendered on the basis of their feelings about themselves and may appear "ambiguously gendered" to others.
Holly Devor always dressed in pants and presented herself as a masculine woman: The only change people on campus say they have seen in the dean lately is a shorter haircut. His voice is clearly male.
Mr. Devor wouldn't reveal whether he is undergoing surgery for his transition, which can include anything from removal of breast tissue to construction of a penis. He would say only that he is transgendered and making physical changes. "Those are intimate details," he said.
His partner of 13 years, he said, is having a tougher time losing that identity. Rather than being Holly's lesbian partner, Lynn Greenhough is now the wife of Aaron. He expects she will rise to the challenge: As well as having the support of family and friends, the two are involved with Victoria's tightly knit Jewish community. Ten years ago, they were united in a Jewish commitment ceremony.
Life is less angst-ridden now that he has made his choice, Mr. Devor said. He had worried before applying for the dean's job that a possible gender change might be career-ending. Or it might force search committee members into choosing Holly Devor even if they had valid reasons not to, simply to avoid appearing biased. "I felt I was protecting all of us" by not discussing the issue, he said.
By the time he actually took over the dean's office in July, Mr. Devor said, he knew he would be going ahead with his decision to live as a man. He discussed it with UVic president David Turpin, who called the dean's move courageous. "Aaron is an incredible scholar and teacher and is doing an amazing job," Mr. Turpin said.
Because they must abide by federal contract rules, universities hire and promote with equity in mind. So is the search committee dismayed that they have ended up with a straight white guy in a suit rather than the woman -- and a lesbian at that -- who they believed they were promoting? "No, I didn't lose that check mark in my equity box," said search committee chair Jamie Cassels, who says this particular position was not officially "preferential," a situation that does require a certain profile of candidate. "Yes, we have one less woman around the deans' table, but we have a transgendered dean. It is an educational moment for us."
Mr. Turpin's letter to the advisory council and senior faculty urges the university community to co-operate with Mr. Devor and to be supportive. "We understand fully that it may take some time to adjust to this," says the letter, also signed by Mr. Cassels and Mr. Devor. "Dr. Devor would, for example, prefer from now on to be addressed using masculine pronouns."
While Mr. Devor reports nothing but total support, off-the-record reactions are across campus. Comments vary from shock to yawns to worries about one-on-one meetings. There are bawdy jokes as well as bravos.
Only one thing seems to prevent life as a man from being a totally happy thing for Mr. Devor: He will miss the intimate friendships women have in which they talk about their feelings openly. "Men are simply not accustomed to [doing] that," he says. "That's a big price to pay."
Copyright 2002 | Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc.
'I never fit well as a girl' Aaron Devor was 50 when he abandoned his life as a masculine lesbian and assumed his new identity as a man.
‘You reach a point in mid-life where you realize that you don't have forever,’ the leading academic tells VIVIAN SMITH
VIVIAN SMITH
Special to The Globe and Mail.
Holly Devor was, by Aaron Devor's account, a strange, conspicuous woman. Even though she did a pretty good "woman" act, it became increasingly like contortionist's work and, ultimately, not very persuasive to others. "I never fit well as a girl or woman," said Mr. Devor, whose announcement that he is going to live as a man recently swept the University of Victoria campus.
Today, the university's Dean of Graduate Studies appears happy to conform to a conservative image more typical of men who run $3-million enterprises: Striding into his spare, elegant office, Mr. Devor projects confidence and control. He wears a dark grey suit and black tie with a blue shirt just over-large enough to hide any shape that might suggest he was once a woman.
He looks much younger than 51, with smooth skin, thick hair and light blue eyes that appraise from behind large-lensed glasses. In the manner of men used to commanding space, even at 5-feet-6, his hand gestures are expansive, the right leg crosses the left widely when he sits, he shrugs his shoulders loosely.
Aaron Devor is a man in full, if not in anatomy.
A former portrait photographer himself, he peppers a photographer with questions about the best way to pose: It is suggested he might stand beside a stunning portrait of Katharine Hepburn by Canadian artist Myfanwy Pavelic that hangs in his office. Mr. Devor says no, the juxtaposition might reflect his feminine side too much. That would be inappropriate.
Like many hitting 50, Holly Devor wanted sweeping changes in her life. So the sociologist was thrilled last spring to win her big, new job as graduate studies dean at UVic. Recently, she announced her name would be Aaron H. Devor and she would be living as a man.
"You reach a point in mid-life where you realize that you don't have forever," Mr. Devor said. The time had come to move closer to "a better representation" of who he is, and that feels good. He is keeping H as his middle initial as a reminder of his former life.
Although Mr. Devor knew when he applied for the $102,000-a-year job that living as a man might be in the cards, he didn't talk to university officials about it. "It was a private matter," he said, "and not relevant to my qualifications. I wanted to get the job based on my record."
As dean, Mr. Devor orchestrates more than 100 graduate programs that involve 2,400 students and scores of faculty and staff. In such a position, he is well-placed to bring to the mainstream all kinds of debate to challenge the status quo, and he is an internationally recognized expert in one area that has been brewing in university lecture rooms for more than a decade: gender, sex and sexuality. Once a marginal area, gender studies are gaining ground as formerly hidden and isolated members of the "transgendered" community discover each other via the Internet and research opportunities grow.
Mr. Devor says his work indicates that two genders aren't enough -- that people can define their own place on a sexuality continuum. And while gender researchers say the genitalia usually associated with being a man or woman does not determine gender identity, many people are working hard to get the sexual hardware they want.
When and how young Holly started to feel ill at ease as a female is not open for discussion. Mr. Devor would speak about personal struggle only in the vaguest terms.
"I don't want to spend a lot of time talking about the dim, distant past. My ability to conform [as a female] has been challenging from the beginning."
Holly Devor studied psychology at York University, and after moving to Vancouver in 1975, she held a variety of jobs including portrait photographer and printer, as well as being involved in feminist, gay and lesbian politics. Then she zigzagged through studies in physics at Simon Fraser University, a master's degree in communications at SFU, then a PhD in sociology at the University of Washington. After arriving at UVic in 1989, her academic ambition became clear: Holly Devor moved from visiting lecturer in sociology through various levels of professorship and gained tenure, which ensures job security, eventually becoming associate dean of social sciences and finally dean of graduate studies.
She has a reputation as a superb instructor, one of only 10 recipients in Canada of a 3M fellowship in 2000 that recognizes excellence in teaching as well as leadership and commitment to the improvement of university teaching. She received the 1995 University of Victoria Alumni Teaching Award, which cites the professor's fairness, scrupulousness and innovative techniques. She has written two books. One is called Gender Blending, in which she examines the social construction of gender. Another, called FTM: Female-to-Male Transsexuals in Society, tracks individuals who make the same kind of change Mr. Devor is making.
While "transsexual" typically describes people who have had at least some sex-change surgery and who take hormones to further the change, "transgendered" is a broader term referring to people who live as the other sex, whether or not they have had sex-change surgery. Transgendered people may feel they are neither gender, or both, or they may feel they belong to a gender other than what their sexual organs would dictate. According to Mr. Devor, people can be transgendered on the basis of their feelings about themselves and may appear "ambiguously gendered" to others.
Holly Devor always dressed in pants and presented herself as a masculine woman: The only change people on campus say they have seen in the dean lately is a shorter haircut. His voice is clearly male.
Mr. Devor wouldn't reveal whether he is undergoing surgery for his transition, which can include anything from removal of breast tissue to construction of a penis. He would say only that he is transgendered and making physical changes. "Those are intimate details," he said.
His partner of 13 years, he said, is having a tougher time losing that identity. Rather than being Holly's lesbian partner, Lynn Greenhough is now the wife of Aaron. He expects she will rise to the challenge: As well as having the support of family and friends, the two are involved with Victoria's tightly knit Jewish community. Ten years ago, they were united in a Jewish commitment ceremony.
Life is less angst-ridden now that he has made his choice, Mr. Devor said. He had worried before applying for the dean's job that a possible gender change might be career-ending. Or it might force search committee members into choosing Holly Devor even if they had valid reasons not to, simply to avoid appearing biased. "I felt I was protecting all of us" by not discussing the issue, he said.
By the time he actually took over the dean's office in July, Mr. Devor said, he knew he would be going ahead with his decision to live as a man. He discussed it with UVic president David Turpin, who called the dean's move courageous. "Aaron is an incredible scholar and teacher and is doing an amazing job," Mr. Turpin said.
Because they must abide by federal contract rules, universities hire and promote with equity in mind. So is the search committee dismayed that they have ended up with a straight white guy in a suit rather than the woman -- and a lesbian at that -- who they believed they were promoting? "No, I didn't lose that check mark in my equity box," said search committee chair Jamie Cassels, who says this particular position was not officially "preferential," a situation that does require a certain profile of candidate. "Yes, we have one less woman around the deans' table, but we have a transgendered dean. It is an educational moment for us."
Mr. Turpin's letter to the advisory council and senior faculty urges the university community to co-operate with Mr. Devor and to be supportive. "We understand fully that it may take some time to adjust to this," says the letter, also signed by Mr. Cassels and Mr. Devor. "Dr. Devor would, for example, prefer from now on to be addressed using masculine pronouns."
While Mr. Devor reports nothing but total support, off-the-record reactions are across campus. Comments vary from shock to yawns to worries about one-on-one meetings. There are bawdy jokes as well as bravos.
Only one thing seems to prevent life as a man from being a totally happy thing for Mr. Devor: He will miss the intimate friendships women have in which they talk about their feelings openly. "Men are simply not accustomed to [doing] that," he says. "That's a big price to pay."
Copyright 2002 | Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc.