User:Jokestress/Biography

Note:
 * The text below is proposed text I prepared for my biography in response to a number of dead link tags added on 26 February 2012.
 * It is for discussion purposes and is not an official biography in article space.

Proposed text
Andrea Jean James (born January 16, 1967) is an American producer, writer, director and LGBT rights activist.

Life and career
James grew up in Indiana and attended Wabash College, where she majored in Latin and Greek. She then attained a Master's degree in English from the University of Chicago. After graduating, she wrote ads at Chicago advertising agencies.

In 2003, James co-founded Deep Stealth Productions with author and entertainer Calpernia Addams, to create content by and for transgender people. James is the host of the instructional program Finding Your Female Voice.

For a 2004 V-Day benefit performance, James produced and performed in the first all-transgender cast of The Vagina Monologues, debuting a new piece created by Eve Ensler for the event. She also consulted on and appeared in Beautiful Daughters, a documentary film about the event.

James was a script consultant for the 2005 film Transamerica and consulted with actress Felicity Huffman for her role in the film. James appeared in the 2005 HBO documentary Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She. In 2007, James directed the short film "Casting Pearls." She was a consulting producer and appeared in the 2008 Logo reality dating television series Transamerican Love Story. In 2009 she directed the short film "Transproofed."

Writing and activism
James writes on consumer rights, technology, pop culture, and LGBT rights. She is a contributor to Boing Boing, QuackWatch, eMedicine, and The Advocate.

In 1996, James created Transsexual Road Map, a consumer website for transgender people. One section of the site criticizes a transsexualism typology promoted by psychologist Ray Blanchard and others, including psychologist J. Michael Bailey in his 2003 book The Man Who Would Be Queen. Critics of James' tone and tactics accused her of personal harassment that went beyond the limits of civil discourse, and they said her efforts had a chilling effect on academic freedom. James characterized Bailey's book as a "cure narrative" which harmed transgender children and said the case report which frames the book has never been independently confirmed.

She also created HairFacts, a consumer website on hair removal, and HairTell, a companion discussion forum.

James founded the nonprofit GenderMedia Foundation in 2004. In 2007, she was appointed to the Board of Directors of TransYouth Family Allies, a nonprofit that supports transgender youth and their families. In 2008, she was appointed to the Board of Directors of Outfest, where she was involved in the restoration of the documentary Queens at Heart.