Transman Lee Harrington may have the key to your spiritual and sexual fulfilment. He spoke to Andrew Shaw ahead of his visit to Melbourne.

Lee, I heard a rumour you won the Arizona LeatherSir competition in Phoenix this month – is that correct?

It's true! At the beginning of November I ran for my first Leather competition, and was named the Arizona LeatherSir 2010. It was an amazing experience and huge ordeal. I was standing before a panel of judges discussing ideology one moment, tying up hot men on stage the next, and suddenly answering questions in nothing but boots and a jock strap just a few minutes later. Totally wild!

What are you going to be doing here in Australia?

I am teaching some amazing classes, everything from hands-on rope bondage skills to helping folks create the relationships of their dreams. Erotic hypnosis, spirituality and adventurous sex, Leather identity... all kinds of great stuff. The folks at Transformed Self, who are bringing me in, have selected a great line-up as far as variety is concerned. There is something for everybody, from the curious to the experienced.

What do people always want to know about you when they meet you?

That really depends on where I am! When doing university lecturing, I get asked a lot about how I make a living following my dreams. In galleries where I show my artwork I get asked where my inspiration for my work comes from. At sexuality events, folks want to know about the variety of places I've been and people I've met on my travels, and my favourite sex tips, tricks and advice. At relationship conferences, I get asked a lot about how I balance a full career and my own relationships.

You’ve said, “My primary identity is as an artist.” Can you explain what you mean?

As an educator, a transgendered person, a kinky person, a shaman, an author, an omnisexual individual, a child, a lover, a friend... I have a lot of labels. When I say that my primary identity is as an artist, I am referring to the fact that my artistry, my world vision, my creativity, my passion and my soul come first for me. I've been a woman and a man, I've had an adventurous sexual life in all directions, I've held all sorts of jobs but it always comes back to passion, to soul, to art.

I imagine it would be such a major physical thing undergoing a sex change operation that I would need to create a new ‘me’ to guide my head through it. Could you comment on your own experience?

That is not my experience. My journey with gender is not about sex change operations and complete self re-creation. I am still me. I am the woman who worked on world peace conferences. I am the boy who was a queer street punk. I am the child of amazing parents who taught me to embrace my greatness. I am the hot dominatrix who was in a lot of porn. I am the author whose voice transcends gender. I am the nice guy who talks faith until 2am. I am all of these things.

I have read that in many tribes shamans are transsexual or have some quality about them that makes them ‘different’.

The work of a shaman is to intercept on behalf of humans or humanity to the spirit world, and to bring information, wisdom, energy and more from the spirit world back to humans or humanity. It is to go between. Thus, those who are between in some way already have some of the skills it takes to do the job.

You are a “one on one erotic authenticity coach” – can you tell me how that process works?

When someone says they want to work on their own erotic authenticity, my first step is to see where they are coming from. How can we use a roadmap if we don't know where we are starting from? Once that is established, we sit down together and do a series of exercises and have extensive conversations about what their dreams and fantasies are, the things their inner self longs to be or do, and create space for that inner wisdom to speak.

Lee Harrington workshops and appearances from November 27, 2009 at Gasworks Arts Park, 21 Graham St, Albert Park. Bookings/details: gasworks.org.au or (03) 9699 3253. Lee’s site: passionandsoul.com/australia09

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