To our knowledge the Sci:dentity project was the first time young trans people had had the opportunity to come together as a group to explore and interrogate medical and scientific models of sex and gender. The project was a notable unique opportunity to work with professionals from the arts, social research and medicine in the field of sex and gender. Additionally, by offering young trans people a place to gather together and participate in this project we also provided opportunities for them to increase their confidence, social and cultural capital and their learning as young people, not only in educational terms.

The understanding and critical awareness of the science of sex and gender that was gained over the duration of the project was developed and shaped over four residential weekends in 2006.

The arts workshops asked the participants to express and explore their understandings of the biomedicine of sex and transsexuality through a range of creative practices. These included filmmaking, photography, performance, painting, sculpture, creative writing, and music. The structured nature of the project and the involvement of the various specialists who contributed, alongside the dialogue and peer education that the project facilitated, created opportunities for learning.

Jay Stewart interviewed Catherine McNamara (project co-ordinator) and Liselle Terret (Drama Facilitator) about the facilitation model used in the creative arts workshops. Extracts of this interview form part of the 24min documentary.

Between workshop weekends, we had a fortnight away from each other. The young people and the project team were asked to keep a working journal throughout and these are some of the questions we asked people to reflect upon after weekend one:

Thinking about this first Sci:dentity weekend:

1. Was there anything in particular that worked for you/ that you liked about the weekend?

2. Was there anything that didn't work for you/ you didn't like?

3. Thinking over the different activities:

i) Is there anything you would like to see more of?

ii) Is there anything you would like to see less of?

4. What was the most challenging aspect of the weekend for you?

5. Was there anything that you didn't expect, or came as a surprise?

6. What were your expectations before you came for the weekend?

7. How did the weekend compare with what you expected?

We drew on what people had written in reflection and evaluation sessions in various ways, and our aim was to respond to what came up, as we planned for the next day/ weekend.

One of the key features of the Sci:dentity project was the ways in which the Sci:dentity participants engaged in scientific creativity. Rather than being passive recipients of science education, science and art were things that they did and things they made use of in the workshop space, and beyond. 

At the heart of this process was a biographical narrating of being transsexual and transgendered, which often contrasted with the current medical diagnostic version of transsexuality. In this process the participants were able to communicate the far-reaching consequences and difficulties of living as a young trans person whilst simultaneously developing individual and collective critiques of the science and medicinal practices which reproduce the coherence of sex and gender.