Veronique Renard
Encyclopedia
Véronique Françoise Caroline Renard (born 26 May 1965 in Jutphaas
, the Netherlands
) is a Dutch author. She is also known as Pantau, a name that was adopted after meeting the Dalai Lama
at an audience at his home in McLeodganj, Dharamsala
, India in 2000. The name Pantau (also written in Roman as Phentok), means "to be helpful" or "beneficial". Pantao (蟠桃) is also a Chinese name for a flat, small peach, reputed to be food for Taoist fairies.
Renard speaks (in order of fluency) Dutch, English, German, French, Thai and Tibetan.
, a British model who appeared in the 1981 James Bond-film For Your Eyes Only
with Roger Moore
). Initially unaware of the phenomenon of transsexualism and Gender Reassignment Surgery, Renard conveys in her 2007 memoir that the international media attention around Cossey in 1982 regarding her gender change helped Renard to self-diagnose her own gender identity disorder. The day after reading about Cossey in a Dutch tabloid, Renard consulted her GP and shortly after the Amsterdam Gender Team. Renard was diagnosed with Klinefelter's syndrome
, having 47 chromosones (XXY). Females have an XX chromosomal makeup, and males an XY. Renard started Hormone Replacement Therapy shortly after. Renard was rushed through her physical transition which was completed 18 months later in 1984.
Renard was one of the first 150 persons to receive contemporary Gender Reassignment Surgery in the Netherlands. Prof. Dr. Louis Gooren M.D. Ph.D. (professor of endocrinology at the special chair of transsexology at the Free University Amsterdam) guided Renard through the process of her gender reassignment. The medical team involved in Renard's gender reassignment included plastic surgeons Dr. Auke de Boer and Dr. J. Joris Hage as well as gynaecologists Dr. C. Jager and Dr. A. Drogendijk.
In 1984, at age 18, Renard learned from the Amsterdam Gender Team that she was most likely the youngest person in the world to receive complete contemporary Gender Reassignment Surgery. In October 1984, the Dutch Government granted Renard permission to have her legal gender corrected on her birth certificate. Renard is most likely the first post-operative Male to Female transsexual in the world to be legally recognized as a female.
In the early 1980s, Prof. Louis Gooren put pressure on the Dutch parliament to discuss the option of legal recognition of post-operative transsexuals in the Netherlands. The Netherlands became the first country in the world to legally and fully recognise post-operative transsexuals by accepting a new law in 1985.
Fearing rejection and discrimination, Renard never volunteered to mention her gender reassignment to friends, colleagues and lovers.
in the Indian Himalayas
. There she focused on her activities as a writer and pro-Tibet
activist. Concerned with the well-being of the Tibetan people and preservation of Tibetan culture, Renard hopes to create more awareness regarding the Tibetan plight by means of the written word. In 2000 and 2001 she published three books in the English in India and Nepal regarding the Tibetan Freedom Struggle (Pantau in Dharamsala, The Fire of Hell, Pantau in India). A Dutch version of her autobiography Pantau in India has also been published in the Netherlands and Belgium in 2003. In 2006, Pantau in India has also been published in the English in the United States.
In June 2007, Renard published her follow-up memoir, Pholomolo - No Man No Woman. This book focuses on her experiences with Gender Identity Disorder. After living in the Himalayas for nearly seven years, Renard permanently moved to Thailand
in October 2006. Currently, Renard is carrying out research in China and Thailand for a new fiction novel. In November 2009, Renard signed a book deal with the American publisher PD Publishing.
Jutphaas
Jutphaas is a former village and municipality in the province of Utrecht in the Netherlands. The municipality merged with Vreeswijk in 1971, and is now the northern half of the town of Nieuwegein....
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
) is a Dutch author. She is also known as Pantau, a name that was adopted after meeting the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
at an audience at his home in McLeodganj, Dharamsala
Dharamsala
Dharamshala or Dharamsala is a city in northern India. It was formerly known as Bhagsu; it is the winter seat of government of the state of Himachal Pradesh and the district headquarters of the Kangra district....
, India in 2000. The name Pantau (also written in Roman as Phentok), means "to be helpful" or "beneficial". Pantao (蟠桃) is also a Chinese name for a flat, small peach, reputed to be food for Taoist fairies.
Early life
Renard was raised and educated in the Netherlands. She is the daughter of Annie Garda Van Unen (1931), a former senior accountant of the Breda Candy Company FAAM, and Wilhelmus (Wim) Gerardus Renard (1931–2009), a businessman who founded the REACS Company in 1956. Renard is a descendant of the renowned German composer/conductor Paul Albin Stenz who was awarded the Gold Medal of Orange-Nassau by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. One year prior to his death in 1918 he was naturalized as a Dutch citizen. Renard's grandfather, Johannes (Paul) Renard was a cityscape painter in Rotterdam.Renard speaks (in order of fluency) Dutch, English, German, French, Thai and Tibetan.
Gender Reassignment
In 1982, at the age of 17, Renard transitioned from male to female with the full support of her family, friends and the people in her hometown. Renard's mother renamed her Véronique. In 1983, Renard was granted permission by a court in Utrecht to change her legal male given names into female given names. Renard added her second name Françoise (after her best friend), and third name Caroline (after Caroline CosseyCaroline Cossey
Caroline "Tula" Cossey is an English model. She is one of the world's most well known transsexual women, having appeared in a James Bond film and been the first to pose for Playboy...
, a British model who appeared in the 1981 James Bond-film For Your Eyes Only
For Your Eyes Only (film)
For Your Eyes Only is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It marked the directorial debut of John Glen, who had worked as editor and second unit director in three other Bond films. The screenplay by Richard Maibaum...
with Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
). Initially unaware of the phenomenon of transsexualism and Gender Reassignment Surgery, Renard conveys in her 2007 memoir that the international media attention around Cossey in 1982 regarding her gender change helped Renard to self-diagnose her own gender identity disorder. The day after reading about Cossey in a Dutch tabloid, Renard consulted her GP and shortly after the Amsterdam Gender Team. Renard was diagnosed with Klinefelter's syndrome
Klinefelter's syndrome
Klinefelter syndrome, 46/47, XXY, or XXY syndrome is a condition in which human males have an extra X chromosome. While females have an XX chromosomal makeup, and males an XY, affected individuals have at least two X chromosomes and at least one Y chromosome...
, having 47 chromosones (XXY). Females have an XX chromosomal makeup, and males an XY. Renard started Hormone Replacement Therapy shortly after. Renard was rushed through her physical transition which was completed 18 months later in 1984.
Renard was one of the first 150 persons to receive contemporary Gender Reassignment Surgery in the Netherlands. Prof. Dr. Louis Gooren M.D. Ph.D. (professor of endocrinology at the special chair of transsexology at the Free University Amsterdam) guided Renard through the process of her gender reassignment. The medical team involved in Renard's gender reassignment included plastic surgeons Dr. Auke de Boer and Dr. J. Joris Hage as well as gynaecologists Dr. C. Jager and Dr. A. Drogendijk.
In 1984, at age 18, Renard learned from the Amsterdam Gender Team that she was most likely the youngest person in the world to receive complete contemporary Gender Reassignment Surgery. In October 1984, the Dutch Government granted Renard permission to have her legal gender corrected on her birth certificate. Renard is most likely the first post-operative Male to Female transsexual in the world to be legally recognized as a female.
In the early 1980s, Prof. Louis Gooren put pressure on the Dutch parliament to discuss the option of legal recognition of post-operative transsexuals in the Netherlands. The Netherlands became the first country in the world to legally and fully recognise post-operative transsexuals by accepting a new law in 1985.
Fearing rejection and discrimination, Renard never volunteered to mention her gender reassignment to friends, colleagues and lovers.
Early career 1982 - 1999
Renard started her career in 1982 working for a local travel agency. Thereafter she was employed as a management assistant with Philips Electronics and Mercedes Benz. As from 1984 she held various functions with the University of Utrecht. In 1987 she moved on by working as the personal assistant of the Vice President of Amdahl Netherlands. In 1989 Renard was hired by Amdahl’s main competitor IBM. As she felt dissatisfied with IBM’s corporate atmosphere, she found new employment with TNT-XP. Renard left the company already after 6 months. In 1990, while working as a temp for ExpoConsult, she was contacted by a business partner of ExpoConsult, the US-based publisher Conway Data Inc. The president asked her to set up a European branch office, launch a European edition of their business magazine Site Selection and represent the organisation at international events. She also functioned as the administrator of IDRC Europe (Industrial Development Research Council). In 1994 Renard left the company in order to concentrate on her academic studies. She attained a Ph.D. in Dutch Literature in 1997. In 1997 Renard started working as an office manager for Lucent Technologies. Five months later, Renard was informed by one of her colleagues that there were rumours within the organisation regarding Renard’s alleged transsexualism and upcoming lay-off. Renard threatened Lucent to take them to court, accusing them of discrimination. The dispute was settled out of court. Renard’s last employment started in January 1999 as an office and relocation manager with Davilex, a fast growing computer game company which was in the process of building a new head office. Days after Renard successfully completed the company’s relocation project, the president asked her to leave the company. Renard received word that the board of directors found out about her transsexualism. Renard threatened Davilex to take them to court and make a major media hype out of her dismissal. Davilex and Renard's lawyers eventually settled the case out of court.Current career 2000 - present
In the spring of 2000, Renard moved to the hometown of the exiled Dalai LamaDalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
in the Indian Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
. There she focused on her activities as a writer and pro-Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
activist. Concerned with the well-being of the Tibetan people and preservation of Tibetan culture, Renard hopes to create more awareness regarding the Tibetan plight by means of the written word. In 2000 and 2001 she published three books in the English in India and Nepal regarding the Tibetan Freedom Struggle (Pantau in Dharamsala, The Fire of Hell, Pantau in India). A Dutch version of her autobiography Pantau in India has also been published in the Netherlands and Belgium in 2003. In 2006, Pantau in India has also been published in the English in the United States.
In June 2007, Renard published her follow-up memoir, Pholomolo - No Man No Woman. This book focuses on her experiences with Gender Identity Disorder. After living in the Himalayas for nearly seven years, Renard permanently moved to Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
in October 2006. Currently, Renard is carrying out research in China and Thailand for a new fiction novel. In November 2009, Renard signed a book deal with the American publisher PD Publishing.
Pantau Foundation
In May 2000, Renard established the Pantau Foundation to raise funds and help destitute Tibetan refugee children living in exile in India. Together with her Dharamsala-based spokesperson, Jonathan Blair, and New York-based friends Bobby John Parker Jr. and Sebastian Bond, the foundation supports a growing number of Tibetan children.Works
- Pantau in Dharamsala, by Veronique Renard (2000) English edition published by Everest Press, New Delhi, India
- The Fire of Hell, by Lobsang Yonten and Veronique Renard (2001), published by Pilgrims Publishers, New Delhi, India
- Pantau in India, by Veronique Renard (2001), First English edition published by Pilgrims Publishers, New Delhi, India
- Pantau in India, by Veronique Renard (2003), Dutch edition published by Aspekt Publishers, Soesterberg, The Netherlands
- Pantau in India, by Veronique Renard (2006), Revised English edition published by IUniverse, Lincoln, New York, Shanghai
- Pholomolo - No man No Woman (2007), English edition published by IUniverse, Lincoln, New York, Shanghai
External links
- Veronique Renard's personal website
- Veronique Renard's Press & Media page An overview of newspaper, magazine articles, books, and press releases, in both the Dutch and the English.