For Concordia Middle School math teacher Janet Huang, 45, there is no formula explaining why God trapped her in a man's body.
For modern medical science, however, freeing Huang from her corporal cage is as simple as adding and subtracting above and below the waist, respectively.
"Since I was three or four, I've felt like a female," Huang said to CtiTV yesterday following a scandal over whether Huang's Christian school in Chiayi County would fire her for seeking "sex reassignment."
Although her metamorphosis from man to woman isn't unique in a country boasting a few transexual celebrities, Huang's case puts the phenomenon of sex change in an everyday, small-town light.
Huang isn't young and sexy like TV talk show host and former man Li Jing (
Huang probably can't belt out a tune, either, like transexual singer Tang Fei (
Huang, a homely teacher in rural Taiwan, drives home the reality of how a community reacts to a husband and father of four deciding to dress in drag, grow breasts and trade in his penis for a vagina.
"One day in class, before I announced that I intended to get a sex change, a student said to me, `Mr Huang, your chest is getting big!'" Huang was quoted as saying in reference to his estrogen therapy.
Huang said he has been popping hormone pills for two decades in an attempt to grow breasts.
Stoking a media maelstrom was Huang's recent announcement that he is seeking sex reassignment, a two-year process of medical evaluations culminating in a surgical operation.
The local media has reported that Concordia was nonplussed by the announcement and pressured Huang to quit after 17 years of teaching at the school.
Speaking to the Taipei Times, a secretary to the school's principal yesterday rebutted reports that the school had pressured Huang to quit.
"We have a counselor helping Teacher Huang through the evaluation process," the secretary said on the condition of anonymity.
In a statement yesterday, Huang confirmed that Concordia hadn't tried to fire him, and that the counselor wasn't "keeping tabs" on him, as some reports said.
However, Huang said that he felt pressure when the school allegedly asked him if he wanted to resign.
"I don't feel that [my superiors seek] to provide me with psychological counseling; my mental state is stable," Huang added.
Also receiving "counseling" are Huang's students, who are experiencing mixed reactions to Huang's gradual transformation, the secretary said.
"Teacher Huang's colleagues and students are reacting differently to this. Some support his decision, others oppose it," the source said, adding that Huang's rights as an employee would be protected.
How much at loggerheads Huang is with his school and family over his plans to become a woman isn't clear beyond official statements.
What is clear, however, is that Huang represents the reality of changing sexes in a society used to seeing transexuals on TV, not in the classroom.
And while Huang's change draws media spotlight, more significant changes are afoot in the thinking of his colleagues, students, children and wife, who are said to be learning to accept Huang for what he, or she, is: a good person.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS