Mirha-Soleil Ross

Mirha-Soleil Ross is a transsexual video-maker, performance artist, sex worker, and activist. Her work from the early 1990s to the present day in Montreal and Toronto has focussed on transsexual rights and access to resources, advocacy for sex workers, and animal rights.

Mirha-Soleil Ross
Born 1969
Montreal, ON, Canada
Other names Jeanne B
Known for Transsexual activism, sex worker activism, animal rights activism, films

Early life

Mirha-Soleil Ross grew up in a poor neighbourhood in Montreal. As a teenager in the 1980s she physically transitioned and started working as a sex worker.[1] Ross says that while people often ask her what it is like to try to pass as a woman, she struggled much more when she was trying to “pass” as a boy, and was often attacked for looking too feminine.[2] During her teenage years Ross also became a vegetarian and got involved with animal rights activism.[1]

Ross left Montreal in the early 1990s and moved to Toronto, where she continued to work as a sex worker and began producing zines and videos.

Gendertrash

From 1993-1995, Ross and her then-partner Xanthra Phillippa MacKay published gendertrash from hell, a quarterly zine that “gives a voice to gender queers, who’ve been discouraged from speaking out & communicating with each other.”[3] The two women also ran the zine’s publisher, genderpress, which distributed the zine as well as other transsexual pamphlets and literature, corresponded with local organizations, and sold buttons.

Assembled in the traditional format of a zine, gendertrash featured an eclectic combination of art, poetry, resource lists, serialized fiction, calls to action, classified ads, illustrations and collages, movie reviews, and other formats. The zine was specifically by and for TS/TG/TV people, gendertrash addresses gender experiences at the individual and societal level, prioritizing sex workers, low-income queers, trans people of colour, and prisoners.[3] Articles frequently address the erasure of transsexuals within lesbian/gay/bi/queer communities and their co-opting of trans identities and issues.[4] Five issues of gendertrash were published, and the run ended in 1995.[5]

Videos

Ross’ videos, which are mostly short films, centre on themes of gender, sexuality, animal rights, and displaying the humour and beauty of the transsexual body. Her films have been shown at queer/LGBT, trans, and sex worker film festivals all over Canada and the United States and internationally.[6] Ross’ videos are distributed by V tape in Toronto.[7]

Videography

Title Date Credits Length Summary
Chroniques 1992 Mirha-Soleil Ross 12:00 Clips from Ross' video diary in which she recounts situations where she had unsafe sex with a client.[8]
An Adventure in Tucking with Jeanne B 1993 Mirha-Soleil Ross 5:00 A humourous video that shows Ross attempting to tuck with scotch tape before meeting a client.[9]
Gendertroublemakers 1993 Mirha-Soleil Ross and Xanthra MacKay 20:00 Ross and MacKay speak frankly with each other about their sexuality and negative experiences with gay men.[10]
I never would have known: A conversation with Peter Dunnigan 1997 Mirha-Soleil Ross 24:00 An interview with Toronto activist and trans man Peter Dunnigan about his transition, sexuality, addiction, and recovery.[11]
Dysfunctional 1997 Mirha-Soleil Ross 9:00 A response to society's fascination and repulsion of transsexual bodies.[12]
Journée Internationale de la Transsexualité 1998 Mirha-Soleil Ross 38:00 A documentary about the trans women's event hosted by l'Association des Transsexuels-les du Québec.[13]
G-SPrOuT! 2000 Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky 12:00 "A cyberspace encounter turns into a trans/polysexual vegan-docu-porno featuring urban veggie lovers speaking out on dating, intimacy and sex in a meat-centered culture."[14]
Tales from the Derrière 2000 Mirha-Soleil Ross 24:51 A video of Ross 1999 performance of the same name which featured stories from her work and stories about her anus.[15]
Tremblement de Chair 2001 Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky 3:40 "A poetic meditation on the beauty, perils and power of sexuality in a transsexual woman's body."[16]
Madame Lauraine's Transsexual Touch 2001 Mirha-Soleil Ross, Viviane Namaste, and Monica Forrester 34:00 A film on safer sex between transsexual sex workers and their clients.[17]
Lullaby 2001 Mirha-Soleil Ross 4:00 A video produced as part of Ross performance art piece where she simulated pregnancy for 9 months.[18]
Yapping Out Loud: Contagious Thoughts from an Unrepentant Whore 2002 Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky 74:00 A film of Ross' one-woman show by the same name.[19]
Proud Lives 2002 Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky 5:00 Film footage of Ross as the grand marshal of Toronto's Pride Parade in 2001.[20]
Allo Performance! 2002 Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky 13:00 A video of Ross at the Golden Gate Bridge as part of her 9-month Pregnancy Project.[21]
Materstina (Langue Maternelle) 2003 Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky 11:40 "A Czech woman speaks about her exile in Canada and about her sense of loss as it relates to language and her relationship with her children."[22]
Live eXXXpressions: Sex Workers Stand Up 2006 Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky 15:00 Footage of Forum XXX, a four-day sex workers' activist event held in Montréal in May 2005.[23]
Brandee aka Lana Lamarre 2007 Mirha-Soleil Ross and Mark Karbusicky 3:00 A memorial video for the performer Brandee, who passed away in 2007.[24]
Les Vérités Vo(i)lées 2007 Mirha-Soleil Ross 31:45 A look at sex workers' response to panic and scapegoating of sex workers for the spread of HIV/AIDS and other STIs.[25]

Performance art

In 2002 at the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts and in 2004 at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Ross produced a one-woman show, Yapping Out Loud: Contagious Thoughts from an Unrepentant Whore based on her experiences with sex work and activism.[26] The show aimed to educate viewers about issues facing sex workers and refute a variety of anti-sex work stances that contribute to violence towards sex workers.[27] Yapping Out Loud also incorporated Ross’ animal rights activism, featuring images of coyotes and comparisons between oppression facing sex workers and coyotes, inspired by the American sex worker organization Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics.[26]

In 2001-2002, Ross embarked on a 9-month Pregnancy Project, appearing in public with a prosthetic belly to create conversations about gender, motherhood, and the possibility of womb transplants for transsexuals.[28]

Counting Past 2

In 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2002 Ross ran Counting Past 2 (CP2), a transsexual and transgender film, video, performance, and spoken word festival. The festival aimed to provide a space for transsexual and transgender people to speak for themselves without catering to the aesthetic standards or curiosity of cisgendered viewers.[29] CP2 worked towards a goal of being more inclusive and encouraging of trans artists than mainstream gay and lesbian film festivals by centring trans voices, accepting less-polished work, and including cabaret and performance components rather than restricting submissions to films. Featured performers included Aiyyana Maracle and Max Wolf Valerio.[30]

Ross reflects in a 2007 interview with Viviane Namaste that her efforts with CP2 to create specifically transsexual spaces that existed outside of a lesbian and gay framework had failed, and regrets that those spaces have either disappeared or been absorbed into a broader “LGBT” community.[31]

Social service work in Toronto

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Ross was highly involved in social service work for transsexual and sex worker communities in Toronto.

In 1999 she was hired as the founding coordinator of Meal-Trans at the 519 Church Street Community Centre, a drop-in program that offers meals and peer support to trans people. She was also involved in expanding trans programming at the 519 more generally, providing services for transsexuals who are HIV-positive or sex workers, and founding separate peer support groups for trans men and trans women with her colleague Rupert Raj.[32]

During her time in Toronto, Ross and her friends committed sustained effort towards improving access to social services for transsexuals, particularly those who were sex workers, HIV-positive, low-income, or immigrants.[33] She worked with women’s shelters, community centres, and sex worker organizations like Maggie’s to remove barriers to access and educate service providers.[34]

As a sex worker herself, Ross was also involved in pushing back against residents’ organizations in the Gay Village and Allan Gardens areas that worked to kick sex workers out of their neighbourhoods, which made them more vulnerable to violence and harassment and made it harder for outreach workers to distribute safer sex supplies and information.[35]

Awards

Ross has been the recipient of several grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and her video, Mateřština (co-directed with Mark Karbusicky), won the Marian McMahon Award at the 2004 Images Festival in Toronto.[36] In 2001, Ross served as the Grand Marshal of Toronto's Pride Parade.[37] In 2011, she was inducted into Canada's Q Hall of Fame.[38]

References

  1. 1 2 "Satya Oct 03: Interview with Mirha-Soleil Ross". satyamag.com.
  2. ↑ Bell, Shannon (1995). Whore Carnival. New York: Autonomedia. p. 141.
  3. 1 2 Mackay, Xanthra Phillippa; Ross, Mirha-Soleil (1993). gendertrash from hell, vol 1. Toronto, ON: genderpress.
  4. ↑ Namaste, Viviane (2011). Sex Change Social Change: Reflections on Identity, Institutions, and Imperialism. Toronto, ON: Canadian Scholars' Press. p. 121.
  5. ↑ Mackay, Xanthra Phillippa; Ross, Mirha-Soleil (1995). gendertrash from hell, vol. 5. Toronto, ON: genderpress.
  6. ↑ "VIDÉO". VEGANBUMS.
  7. ↑ V Tape (n.d.). "Artist: Mirha-Soleil Ross". V tape.
  8. ↑ "Chroniques". V tape.
  9. ↑ "An Adventure in Tucking with Jeanne B". V tape.
  10. ↑ "Gendertroublemakers". V tape.
  11. ↑ "I never would have known: A conversation with Peter Dunnigan". V tape.
  12. ↑ "Dysfunctional". V tape.
  13. ↑ "Journée Internationale de la Transsexualité". V tape.
  14. ↑ "G-SPrOuT!". V tape.
  15. ↑ "Tales from the Derriere". V tape.
  16. ↑ "Tremblement de Chair". V tape.
  17. ↑ "Madame Lauraine's Transsexual Touch". V tape.
  18. ↑ "Lullaby". V tape.
  19. ↑ "Yapping Out Loud: Contagious Thoughts from an Unrepentant Whore". V tape.
  20. ↑ "Proud Lives". V tape.
  21. ↑ "Allo Performance!". V tape.
  22. ↑ "Materstina (Langue Maternelle)". V tape.
  23. ↑ "Live eXXXpressions: Sex Workers Stand Up". V tape.
  24. ↑ "Brandee aka Lana Lamarre". V tape.
  25. ↑ "Les Vérités Vo(i)lées". V tape.
  26. 1 2 Salah, T. (2007). What's All the Yap? Reading Mirha-Soleil Ross's Performance of Activist Pedagogy. Canadian Theater Review.
  27. ↑ "Sex trade imbalance". Xtra!. April 17, 2002.
  28. ↑ Brown, Eleanor (June 13, 2001). "Pride's special people". Xtra!.
  29. ↑ Namaste, Viviane (2011). "Examining Transsexuals' Access to the Media: Beyond Image Content". Sex Change Social Change: Reflections on Identity, Institutions, and Imperialism. Toronto, ON: Canadian Scholars' Press. pp. 67–68.
  30. ↑ Ross, Mirha-Soleil (1998). Counting Past 2 Program.
  31. ↑ Namaste, Viviane (2011). "“Activists can’t go on forever acting in the abstract.”: An Interview with Mirha-Soleil Ross". Sex Change Social Change: Reflections on Identity, Institutions, and Imperialism. Toronto, ON: Canadian Scholars' Press. p. 121.
  32. ↑ ""When she was a boy"". Xtra!. June 15, 1999.
  33. ↑ Namaste, Viviane (2011). "“Activists can’t go on forever acting in the abstract.”: An Interview with Mirha-Soleil Ross". Sex Change Social Change. Toronto, ON.: Canadian Scholars' Press. p. 118.
  34. ↑ "The Toolbox: What Works for Sex Workers (p.38-41)" (PDF).
  35. ↑ Rebecka Sheffield, “Trans Programming at the 519 Church Street Community Centre: A Case Study in Social Entrepreneurship” (Toronto:CAMH, 2011), 7.
  36. ↑ Irving, D. "Against the Grain: Teaching Transgender Human Rights."Sexualities (2013): 319-35. Print.
  37. ↑ "Pride Toronto | June 2015". m.worldpridetoronto.com.
  38. ↑ "Inductees Q Hall of Fame". www.qhalloffame.ca. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
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